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Progressive Chess

Recognized! Recognized Variant of the Month for July 2002. Twelve times per year we will select a Recognized Variant for special consideration. Its web page will be reworked and improved and a connecting link displayed on all of our CV Pages. We hope to encourage CVPhiles to read about, play and explore this featured variant.

Moves in the first round of the 1st WWW Championship Progressive Fischer Random Chess.

Moves in the second round of the 1st WWW Championship Progressive Fischer Random Chess.

Moves in the third round of the 1st WWW Championship Progressive Fischer Random Chess.

The second WWW Championship Progressive Fischer Random Chess.

Portuguese Progressive Chess. Progressive variant where each piece is moved at most once. By Joao Pedro Neto.

Progressive Chess is perhaps the most widely played of all variants. It is unique in that each player makes one more move-per-turn than his opponent has made: White makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves, and so on. The game quickly reaches a 'critical mass' as each player's move rate continues to grow. Games are intense, and few last for more than seven successive turns.

Boards and pieces

Although the Progressive Chess concept can be applied to almost any variant, the game is typically played as a variant of orthodox chess with orthodox board and pieces.

Variants

There are three main variants of Progressive Chess: The rules for each variant are listed below:

Rules

Italian Progressive Chess

FIDE rules apply, with the following exceptions:

  1. Players alternately make a sequence of moves of increasing number: White makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves, and so on.

  2. Each sequence of moves must be completed. Inability to complete a sequence counts as a 'progressive stalemate' (provided one's King is not in check).

  3. A check can be given only on the last move of a completed sequence.*

  4. A check can be nullified only in the first move of a sequence.

  5. If a check cannot be nullified without checking the enemy King, the game is lost by a 'progressive checkmate'.

  6. En passant capture permitted on the first move of a sequence only.

  7. If neither a Pawn is moved nor a piece is captured in 10 successive sequences, and neither player can show an impending mate, the game is a draw.

*NOTE: According to D.B. Pritchard, in the Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, a premature check means forfeiture of the game.

English Progressive Chess

FIDE rules apply, with the following exceptions:

  1. Players alternately make a sequence of moves of increasing number: White makes 1 move, black makes 2 moves, white makes 3 moves, and so on.

  2. When a player gives check prior to the end of a sequence, he forfeits any remaining moves. His opponent's subsequent turn is not truncated, so the number of moves allowed for any given turn, is only dependent on the turn number.

  3. Pieces move in democratic cycles: Each mobile piece must move once before it can move twice, and each mobile piece must move twice before it can move thrice, and so on.** (If a blocked piece becomes mobile in a later cycle, it may not make 'catch-up' moves.) A just-promoted piece is considered having moved. Castling counts as having moved both King and Rook.

  4. A player may not expose his King to check during a sequence of moves, even if the check is only temporary.

  5. A check must be nullified on the first move of a turn. Failure to do so is checkmate.

  6. En passant capture is not allowed

  7. If a player moves into a stalemate position before completing his turn, the game is a draw.
**NOTE: Incompleted cycles do not carry over to the next turn. At the beginning of each player's turn, a new cycle begins.

Scottish Chess

The rules are the same as those for Italian Progressive Chess, with one important difference:

Notation

It is customary to number the sequences consecutively, according to their length:

for instance...is preferable to...
1. e2, e41. e2 e4, e7e5 f7f6
2. e7e5, f7f62. Ng1h3 Bf1e2 Be2h5+,
3. Ng1h3 Bf, 1e2 Be2h5+3. etc...

I strongly urge players to adopt this notational system.

Additional Information

Italian Progressive Chess

There are a great number of Italian Progressive Chess tournaments:

The best players are:

Bibliography

English Progressive Chess

This game is played regularly in Italy, USA and Ukraine.

Best players

Tony Gardner (USA) and Alessandro Castelli (Italy) co-champion - 1st International Championship.

Bibliography

Tony Gardner, Tactics and Theory of ENPR, privately printed 1995

Scottish Chess

Scottish Chess is the oldest of all progressive chess variants, probably originating in Great Britain (or possibly Scotland) just before World War II. The game is also known as Scotch Chess, Blitz Chess, Lightning Chess, Speed Chess, Avalanche Chess (which is also used for another chess variant), Scottish Progressive Chess, or just Progressive Chess.

The variant is very popular. Two email tournaments were held, one in 1992/1993, and one in 1996.

Computer Play

This game can be played via email on Richard's Play-By-eMail Server.

Originally written by Alessandro Castelli. Edited by John William Brown.
WWW page created: 1995 or 1996. Last modified: July 2, 2002.

The above was authored by: Alessandro Castelli. .
The above was edited/posted by: Hans L. Bodlaender
Created on: 1996. Last modified on: July 03, 2002.

See also:

Fibonacci Chess. Players can make multiple moves per turn, the number determined by the fast growing Fibonacci sequence Author: Hans L. Bodlaender Inventor: David Bradley
Portugese Progressive Chess. Progressive chess variant where you move each piece at most once By: Joćo Pedro Neto
Progressive Chess. An online guide to Progressive Chess. (Link) Author: Doug Hyatt
Promotion progressive chess. Progressive chess variant where a piece `promotes' when it takes By: Fabio Forzoni
English Progressive Chess. Author: Ed Friedlander
Italian Miniature Progressive Chess. 5x5 progressive game as played in Italy Author: Ed Friedlander
Italian Progressive Chess. White moves once, black two times, white three times, etc. Check is only allowed at last move of series. Author: Ed Friedlander
Scotch Chess. Author: Ed Friedlander
Italian Progressive Chess. Problem based on an actual game position.
Progressive Chess. A collection of variants with increasing numbers of moves each turn (Zillions of Games file) Author: Young-Hyun Joo

Comments

DateNameRatingComment
2005-01-14 Good
2002-08-03David Howe NoneI have made the appropriate changes. Thanks for the correction.
2002-08-02 None
The concept of 'cycle' has been added to the ENPR rules.  I don't know the
origin of this, but it is completely wrong!  Each TURN stands on its own,
and is not dependent on what pieces were moved (or how often) or not moved
in any previous turn.  Think of it as a 'clean slate' approach.

There are several people I want to recommend this page to, but I don't
want them to get the incorrect impression of the game.
2002-07-09David Howe NoneThanks for the corrections Tony. I've made the appropriate modifications to the English Progressive Chess section.
2002-07-08Tony Gardner Good
The rules for English Progressive Chess (ENPR) are not correctly reflected
here.  Part 2 states, 'When a player gives check, he forfeits any remaining
moves in that sequence.  His opponent will then add one more move to this
truncated count.'  The first sentence is right, but the second sentence is
wrong; therefore, the third sentence is irrelevant.

The turn number dictates the possible number of moves.  For example, if
White, on the 9th turn, checks on the 6th move, it is then Black's turn
with ten moves allowable.  The truncation of White's 9th turn is just that,
and nothing more.

Also, the language in Part 3 is misleading.  The opening sentence is a good
rough guide, but doesn't withstand literal scrutiny.  More precisely it
should begin with 'In each turn' rather than 'In each sequence'.  In ENPR
jargon, a sequence is a series of movements with a turn whereby all mobile
units have moved, making it possible for another sequence to commence in
that same turn.  So, in a single turn, some units may move twice while
others move only once or are unmoved (immobilized).  It should further be
noted that a player may move to block friendly units in order to achieve
second sequence moves for prominent pieces.  However, third sequences and
beyond are very rare.

This item has a total of 4 comment(s), 2 rating(s), and an average rating of Good. View all comments for this item.

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Last modified: Friday, May 20, 2005