Almost Chess Almost Chess Almost Chess is a chess variant invented by Ralph Betza in 1977. The game is played using a standard chessboard and pieces, except the players' queens are replaced by chancellors, which combine the moves of a rook and a knight. Almost Chess was featured in NOST magazine "Nost-algia", beginning with issue 205. Other than the replacement of queens by chancellors (notated "C"), the game follows all the rules and conventions of standard chess. The Fool's mate in Almost Chess begins 1.Cc3. Replacing queens with chancellors imparts a radical change to the nature of the chess game, despite the
First-move advantage in chess AlphaZero, playing 100 games against Stockfish, won 25 and drew 25 as White, but won 3 and drew 47 as Black. Joseph Bertin wrote in his 1735 textbook "The Noble Game of Chess", "He that plays first, is understood to have the attack." This is consistent with the traditional view that White, by virtue of the first move, begins with the and should try to extend it into the middlegame, while Black should strive to neutralize White's initiative and attain . Because White begins with the initiative, a minor mistake by White generally leads only to loss of the initiative,