English Chess Forum

"In his memoir, the Duke of Sussex describes killing 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as "chess pieces taken off the board"."

I think we can all call this into question and suggest that the number should be between 1 and 15 rather than 25 regardless of whether HRH was using the Black or White pieces.

Maybe a variant would allow 25 captures? Where is David Pritchard when one needs him?

Crazyhouse allows arbitrarily many captures.

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:56 pm

Crazyhouse allows arbitrarily many captures.

I am indebted to your knowledge Jack.

You could increase the number of pieces taken off the board by considering pawn promotions as the removal of that pawn and then subsequent capture of the promoted piece counts twice but even so it wouldn't add up to 25

Obviously it was four-handed chess; even at the partnership version you can take up to 30 opposing men.

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:57 am

Obviously it was four-handed chess; even at the partnership version you can take up to 30 opposing men.

With my Woke / PC hat on I believe we are no longer permitted to say "men"

Pieces (or pawns) it must be.

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:59 pm

You could increase the number of pieces taken off the board by considering pawn promotions as the removal of that pawn and then subsequent capture of the promoted piece counts twice but even so it wouldn't add up to 25

I never knew that when a pawn is promoted it is considered to have been captured. When was this notion introduced?

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:36 am

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:57 am

Obviously it was four-handed chess; even at the partnership version you can take up to 30 opposing men.

With my Woke / PC hat on I believe we are no longer permitted to say "men"

Pieces it must be.

But piece has a technical meaning in chess that excludes pawns

Tim Spanton wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 11:06 am

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:36 am

John Clarke wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:57 am

Obviously it was four-handed chess; even at the partnership version you can take up to 30 opposing men.

With my Woke / PC hat on I believe we are no longer permitted to say "men"

Pieces it must be.

But piece has a technical meaning in chess that excludes pawns

I am indebted Tim and have amended a previous post accordingly.

Piece has three different technical meanings in chess, which usually have to be distinguished by context, and one of those includes pawns.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:36 am

With my Woke / PC hat on I believe we are no longer permitted to say "men"

There's more than one cryptic crossword compiler who'll be sorry to hear that.

I agreed with Angus. Whilst many of John's posts in this forum have interest, he not infrequently posts the sort of dross he would himself be quick to criticise if posted by others. Could do better

Maybe he played more than one game.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:37 am

Joey Stewart wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:59 pm

You could increase the number of pieces taken off the board by considering pawn promotions as the removal of that pawn and then subsequent capture of the promoted piece counts twice but even so it wouldn't add up to 25

I never knew that when a pawn is promoted it is considered to have been captured. When was this notion introduced?

Well the fact that it is removed from the board when it promotes - the prince harry quote didn't mention capturing Taliban fighters, just 'removing' them.

I also came up with an alternative solution to this numerical problem - he took the 25 pieces off over the course of multiple games

The Spare, represented in diagrams by a bearded pawn, may choose any piece adjacent to a friendly piece and delete it from the board. The opposing player may at all times have one piece secretly designated immune; attempting to capture the immune piece results instead in the loss of the Spare. This causes the King to be sad and unable to move for one turn. The Spare may promote to any piece other than a Queen.