There is usually something interesting or relevant in any passage written by Poul Anderson. Sean has just revised his "Andersonian Chess" article. See here.
Venator spies:
"A screen displayed a chessframe, and he deduced that the game was not simply three- but four-dimensional; the pieces "matured" and "aged" with time. Hench was playing against a computer. The rationale of the moves on either side was beyond Venator's comprehension." (p. 100)
Hench, a metamorphic Intellect, more intelligent than Leonardo or Einstein, must nevertheless set the computer at his level and, like the Lunarians, is another disaffected metamorph.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Of course I have heard of variants of chess, but a version in which the pieces "matured" and "aged" with time strikes me as very odd indeed!
I am not sure if I should mention or include this strange, "four dimensional" in my article "Andersonian Chess." It focuses on the ordinary form of chess, after all. But mention of this variant of chess by Anderson does show he kept an interest in the game in his later years.
Sean
I recall playing a variant of tic-tac-toe on a 4x4x4 cube.
It could likely be analyzed & 'solved' with a bit more difficulty that 3x3 tic-tac-toe.
Extending it to 4 dimensions would be hard for humans to play at all.
Any 3 or more dimensional variation of chess or even checkers would be much harder to play.
Kaor, Jim!
And way above my mental "pay grade" as the glorious Barry Obama might say!
Ad astra! Sean
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