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  • Old merels/chess variant

    From robertreid1878@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 19 06:22:14 2017
    Here are some details of an old board game which may be of some interest: The Amateur Chess Magazine, in its second issue for 1872, featured a game called 'Block' invented by an H.E. Heath. It's played on a merels board (with diagonals) using eight
    pawns and a king on each side. The rules are distinct from and more complex than those of merels and the aim is to capture the opponent's king by surrounding it.

    Block must have generated some enthusiasm since further issues of the magazine continued to devote a section to it, with games and problems sent in by readers. 

    You can find the (monthly) issues for 1872 on Google books by searching “amateur chess magazine”.  The rules are on pp. 21-2 and the later entries on pp. 32, 42, 53-4 and 66-7. The magazine seems to have lasted until 1874, but I've not been able to
    locate digitised versions of the later issues.

    Robert

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  • From Richard Vickery@21:1/5 to robertr...@gmail.com on Sat May 20 03:14:05 2017
    Thanks Robert,

    Looks interesting. Uses the 'mill' in a new way which is nice.

    The magazine makes interesting reading overall.


    cheers
    Richard

    On Friday, 19 May 2017 23:22:16 UTC+10, robertr...@gmail.com wrote:
    Here are some details of an old board game which may be of some interest: The Amateur Chess Magazine, in its second issue for 1872, featured a game called 'Block' invented by an H.E. Heath. It's played on a merels board (with diagonals) using eight
    pawns and a king on each side. The rules are distinct from and more complex than those of merels and the aim is to capture the opponent's king by surrounding it.

    Block must have generated some enthusiasm since further issues of the magazine continued to devote a section to it, with games and problems sent in by readers. 

    You can find the (monthly) issues for 1872 on Google books by searching “amateur chess magazine”.  The rules are on pp. 21-2 and the later entries on pp. 32, 42, 53-4 and 66-7. The magazine seems to have lasted until 1874, but I've not been able
    to locate digitised versions of the later issues.

    Robert

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  • From robertreid1878@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 21 03:09:43 2017
    Thanks, Richard. The rules could be clearer, though!

    Robert.

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  • From M Winther@21:1/5 to robertreid1878@gmail.com on Sun May 21 15:50:05 2017
    On 19/05/2017 15:22, robertreid1878@gmail.com wrote:
    Here are some details of an old board game which may be of some interest: The Amateur Chess Magazine, in its second issue for 1872, featured a game called 'Block' invented by an H.E. Heath. It's played on a merels board (with diagonals) using eight
    pawns and a king on each side. The rules are distinct from and more complex than those of merels and the aim is to capture the opponent's king by surrounding it.

    Block must have generated some enthusiasm since further issues of the magazine continued to devote a section to it, with games and problems sent in by readers.

    You can find the (monthly) issues for 1872 on Google books by searching “amateur chess magazine”. The rules are on pp. 21-2 and the later entries on pp. 32, 42, 53-4 and 66-7. The magazine seems to have lasted until 1874, but I've not been able to
    locate digitised versions of the later issues.

    Robert


    Couldn't you have posted the rules here instead, since you have dug it
    up already? It seems suitable to implement in Zillions.

    Mats

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  • From robertreid1878@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 21 11:12:43 2017
    Yes, certainly. I'll post them up as soon as I can.

    Robert.

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