Kriegspiel

Cincinnati-style kriegspiel rules

These rules are based on David Moeser's article "Kriegspiel - Cincinnati style", which reportedly appeared in the March 30, 1977 issue of J'ADOUBE!, The Cincinnati Chess Magazine.

The idea of Kriegspiel

The idea of Kriegspiel is this: The player on move attempts either to make a legal move, or to make moves called “tries” which have as their prime objective the obtaining of insight as to what the real position is. Any move or “try” which really is a legal move stands as that player's actual move in the game.

Official and unofficial pieces

On his own board, each player's own pieces are “official”, and the Kriegspiel version of “if you touch you move” applies to them. They are for real, and their position must be identical to that shown on the Referee's board.

The opposing pieces have no formal standing. Each player may set up pieces of the opposing color anywhere he wants, or not set them up at all; and he may move them any time he wants.

The Referee must completely ignore opposing-color material on each player's board. It is not “official” and it may be on wrong or even absurd squares. The Referee must not allow himself to be confused by it.

The touch rule and tries

The Kriegspiel “touch” rule applies only to each player's own material: The Player is not allowed to touch his own material except for the purpose of making a try. That is, trying to make a legal move.

If a “try” is legal, it stands as the Player's real move. If it is not a legal move, the Player is not required to move (or try) that piece again.

The best procedure is for the Referee to require players to acquit (let go of) the piece they make a “try” with, and to say nothing until they do so. This requirement eliminates the kind of sticky situation where the Referee blurts out some information but the player says, “Oh, I didn't really mean to play that move!” and insists on the right to take it back because he is still holding onto the piece.

Referee procedure

After each legal move is made, and before the Opponent begins his turn, the Referee records the move, makes it on his own set, and makes the announcements required by these rules.

It's important that the Referee announce all the information required by the rules -- and nothing else. All announcements must be heard by both players. Also, spectators must not talk openly about the game, for even casual comments can give away valuable information. Finally, the Referee must endeavor to be 100% correct, or else the game is likely to be ruined.

Referee announcements

If a “try” is a legal move, the Referee simply announces that the Player has moved. “Black has moved”, he says. Or “White to move”. After a while the Ref is likely to abbreviate this notification: “White”. “Black”. “White”, he'll say.

However, if a “try” isn't a legal move, the Referee says “No” or “Illegal”, and that try must be retracted. If the move is impossible, and the player must know it for some reason, like trying to capture one's own pieces, the Referee's appropriate response is “Nonsense”. The “Nonsense” announcement discourages a Player from wasting time or attempting to use the Referee to mislead the Opponent.

The player continues to try to make a move until he finds one that is legal.

When a legal move is completed, the Referee announces whichever of the following information is appropriate:

  1. If a capture has been made, the fact of the capture and the square the captured piece is to be removed from. (Keep this wording in mind for an en passant capture.)
  2. Whether the captured material was a pawn or a piece — but if a piece, not what kind of piece.
  3. If a check has been made, the fact that the Opponent is now in check, and the direction of check with respect to the Opponent's King: whether that King is in check on a file, on a rank, on the long diagonal, on the short diagonal, or by a Knight.
  4. Pawn captures:
    • a. If any of the pawns of the Player on move can capture anything, the Referee announces that the Player now has a “pawn capture”, which means that at least one of his pawns can legally capture something (anything) of the Opponent's. The Referee does not tell where on the board any such capture is. The Player may now try to make captures with his pawns, or he may not. He may make tries with pieces, then tries (either possible moves or possible captures) with pawns, go back to pieces, then go back to pawn tries, etc.
    • b. Due to the pawn's unique capturing power (its capturing “vector” is different from its move), a Player who attempts pawn captures when the Referee has not announced there are any is trying nonsense. In this instance the Referee announces “Nonsense” so the Opponent is not unfairly confused. (For example, the Opponent would be led to believe the Player still has a lot of material on the board when he really does not.)
    • c. Knotty point: If a Player is in check and has a pawn capture on the board, but no such pawn capture will remove the check, does the Referee announce the pawn capture? Answer: no.
    • d. As long as at least one pawn capture is on the board, the Referee must announce that a pawn capture is possible -- and continue to do so every time the Player on move has a pawn capture available. (Note: This is because announcements apply only to the move on which they are announced.)

What is not announced

The following rules elaborate on certain prohibitions:

  1. If a piece, non-pawn, can capture something, that is not announced.
  2. Promotion of pawns is not announced. Each player should be supplied with extra promotion material at the beginning of the game.
  3. The Referee may not give a count of material on the board during the game.
  4. On the Referee's board such moves as castling or pawn promotion must be made silently and without any noticeable delay, so as not to reveal the nature of these unique movements. It is in the players' interest to do likewise. This is why the players should have promotion material available at the start of the game.

Source note

This page was taken from the appendix in La Scacchiera Invisibile (PDF), because the original David Moeser article has not yet been found.

Please email [email protected] if you have the original article or a better source for it.