CAMELOT OPENINGS
Paul Yearout, its author, is one of the few expert Camelot players in the world.
FIRST THOUGHTS ON CAMELOT OPENING PLAY
by Paul Yearout
Open spaces around the initial placement of Camelot pieces raise the possibility of a flanking attack—sending a small force scurrying around the enemy. Logistics quickly discourages that notion. The defender has shorter paths to deploy impeding troops, while the erstwhile attacker, with pieces tied up in supply lines, has a reduced army to fend off the opponent’s advance. So rare were such early attempts that only scores of frontal attacks remain.
Holey Wars
A cautionary tale: 1.g6g8 e11e9, 2.f6f8 e10e8, 3.d7:f9:d9 d10:d8:f6:h8, 4.i7:g9:e11 i10g12e10:e12 (This puts Black up by an exchange, though that need not be decisive.) 5.h6g7 c11e11, 6.d6e7 j11i12, 7.e6e8 h11h9, 8.g8:i10 i11:i9 (Diagram 1).
Diagram 1 – Position after 8....i11:i9
Black is tempting White with 9.j6h6h8:j10, after which 9....i12h11 yields a second exchange. 9.c6d7 i12h11, 10.j6h6?? e12e10g12i10i8:g6:g8:e6:c8. This elicited the plaintive, "What have you done with my men?" White’s oversight may be somewhat excused by Black’s ninth appearing to be a defensive move in an early try at the game. The caution is that squares adjacent to pieces of both sides, such as f9, g9, h8 or i8, demand careful scrutiny.
[Notational aside: Traditionally, a number was printed on each individual square for record-keeping purposes—the algebraic system used in these articles was only recently adopted officially by the World Camelot Federation. The 1930 rules state that the board numbering has no significance other than record-keeping. Despite that, it can be otherwise used. Parity refers to the evenness or oddness of an integer. Within the central 10x12 rectangle (extending from a4 to l13) a canter or jump maintains parity, as well as square color. Considering the position after 9....i12h11, the square i8, numbered 87 (in one orientation of the board), is not accessible to the knights at e11 or j6, they being on the wrong color, nor to the knights at d7 or h11, which, while correctly colored, are even rather than odd. So either side can focus on e12 (35), as the pertinent knight of the position. Parity considerations can eliminate the drudgery of tracing paths or it can suggest moves to construct them. Moreover, if alpha-numerics are replaced by Cartesian coordinates (i.e. a –>1, b –>2, etc.), parity applies to each coordinate individually anywhere on the board.]
After 9....i12h11 the squares f6 and g6 may be thought of as holes in the White forces, hazardous for White and adventitious for Black—if Black can get a knight to h8 or j8 (which are adjacent to pieces of both sides), he can make a capture.
Diagram 2 shows a game position, White having just moved 11.i7g7e9, adding a hole at i7 to the one already present at g7. Black, contrariwise, has what I call a U-hole (because of the shape of the surrounding pieces) at e10.
Diagram 2 – Position after 11.i7g7e9
Black may have been considering an end-run, for the game continued as follows: 11….j11k11, 12.e8e10 d11:f9:d9, 13.e6e8:c10:c12:e12:e10:c10. Black’s missed opportunity was 11….g11i11, 12.e9:g11:g9 c11e9:g7:i7:k7:i5:i7. White might try 12.e7g9:g11 in the hopes of drawing off f10, but 12....i10g12:g10 or i10i12g10:g12 allows complete devastation of the White army.
Next, in two moves Black makes three holes: 1.d6f8 h11h9, 2.i6g8 f11f9. Although White did not take advantage of 3.e7g9 f10:h8, 4.f8:f10:h12:j10:j12 h8:f8, 5.f7:f9:h11:j9, Black only lasted a dozen moves anyway.
Forceful Dealings
The last game also illustrates the power of forcing an opponent’s captures, which sometimes results in a free move as well. To follow that line of thought, look at the following game: 1.c6e8 e11e9, 2.f6f8 h11f9, 3.h6h8 c11e11, 4.g6g8 j11h11, 5.j6j7 f10d8! (Diagram 3).
Digram 3 – Position after 5....f10d8!
The man at f8 cannot take advantage of the hole left at f10 without leaving behind a more deadly vacancy. 6.e8:c8 e11c9:c7:e5, 7.d7f5:d5 d11d9, 8.f8:f10:d8 d9:d7:f5 (Diagram 4, opposite).
A certain ambivalence goes with the man at f5. Materially, the forces are even, with relief of some initial tensions. Positionally, f5 has the potential for disrupting White later in te game. That menace can be reduced by threatening f5, say with d5d6. Actually, f5 falls to h8h6, nullifying the cleverness of Black’s fifth move. However, White gave Black a ruinous gift: 9.g7f6?? e10e9, 10.f6:f4 i10g12e10e8:g6:i8:k6, leaving d10 and h11 poised for further devastation.
Looking back to Diagram 2, rather than ending White’s thirteenth move with ...e10:c10, ...e10:g12 h11:f13, 14.e7g9:e11:c9 increases White’s advantage with a forcing move.
Finally, an opening using forced captures, with changes of fortune, and missed opportunities. 1. f6f8 g10h9, 2.e6c8? h9h8 (Why not 2....i10g8:e6:e8:g8?) 3.g7:i9 (Why not 3.c6e8g8:i8?) 3....c11e9:g7:i5:k7, 4.i9h8 f11d9, 5.c8d8 (Why not 5.c6e8:c10:e12?) 5....h11h9? (Diagram 5, opposite). 6.f7g7 (Why not 6.c6e6g8i8:g10:g12? Black dare not capture g12 because of the Knight’s Charge from i7. Incautiously retreating 6....h10h11 gives White the free move 7.f7f8 for a different charge from i7.) 6....k7l6, 7.e7c9 (Still, why not 7.c6e8:c10:e12? Least damaging is 7....d10f12:d12, leaving d7 two ways to capture three pieces.) 7....d10:b8, 8.d8:d10:f12 j11h11f11:f13, 9.i7g9:e11:e9 b8a7, 10.e9e10 d11:f9, 11.c6e8:g10:g12:e14 l6k5, 12.d6d8 k5j4, 13.d7d9 h9g9, 14.h8:f10 i10g10:e10:c8:e8, and Black took twenty-six more moves to win.
Diagram 4 – Position after 8....d9:d7:f5
Diagram 5 – Position after 5....h11h9?
Closing Thoughts
While not a technical game-theoretic term, delicate is quite descriptive of Camelot—small oversights or apparently innocuous moves can have dire results. Of nearly thirty opening scores, only two come out with equal forces, another five with numerical equality, but with fewer knights on one side, and the rest with sometimes drastically imbalanced forces.
All pieces having equal value in castling, a gain of one piece, whether man or knight, can be hoped to be a winning edge, unless position outweighs material. An old Chess adage becomes applicable: when ahead, trade.
Less significant may be the chessic emphasis on the center of the board, though there is a tendency toward the center among these openings.
A few highly tentative Camelot maxims suggest themselves: fill holes quickly, as with e6e8, c6e6 or e6g8, c6e6. f6f8 was another opening choice, though never followed by j6h8f6, likely as good as e6 for positioning a knight. Directly attack the enemy with extreme caution, fearing the free move. Remember that even remotely positioned knights can travel fast. Seek early trades.
Despite Camelot’s age the level of play remains primitive. Many more well-played games must be examined before more useful insight will appear.
