==== MAD MONTY CHESS ==== A variant on the game of chess Mad Monty Chess was created during the summer of 2020 by Monty Newborn, in cooperation with friends, Milo Nelson, Karen Patterson and Zoran Lazetich. Milo, Karen and Zoran went along with Monty's ideas to introduce a new dimension to the game, an extension of the well-known chess960 and/or Fischer variants. These variants randomly first place the White pieces on the first rank (with some constraints), and then place the Black pieces opposite their counterparts on the 8th rank. Chess960 gets its name from the fact that there are 960 different ways that the pieces can be so arranged. For Mad Monty Chess, there is the assumption that you are a bit mad at your opponent when the game begins. Otherwise why is it that you enter into a battle aiming to kill its king! With Mad Monty Chess you have the opportunity to make life difficult for your opponent even before the first move is made. Of course, it could do unto you as you do unto it! The game is played on the standard 8x8 chess board with the standard pieces, and with the 16 pawns initially placed on their usual squares. Then a coin is flipped to determine who plays White and moves first. White then places one of Black's pieces on one of the eight squares a8-h8. Then Black places one of White's pieces on one of the eight squares a1-h1. Players alternately place, one at a time, the opponent's remaining 7 pieces on a8-h8 for White and a1-h1 for Black. The regular game of chess follows though there is no castling, and though both bishops can be placed on squares of the same color. The idea is to place your opponent's pieces in such a way as to make life for she or he as miserable is possible! There are many more than 960 ways that the pieces can be so arranged. Let's take a look at a game recently played between Milo and Monty. Newborn (White) Nelson (Black) Piece placement phase: 1. Nh8 Bd1 2. Bf8 Ra1 3. Ng8 Nh1 4. Rb8 Kb1 5. Re8 Be1 6. Qd8 Rc1 7. Ka8 Qf1 8. Bc8 Ng1 Regular play: 1. e4 b5 2. d4 d5 3. Bf3 e6 4. Qd3 c6 5. Nh3 Ng6 6. a3 Nf6 7. Ng5 Qc7 8. e5 h6 9. exf6 hxg5 10. fxg7 Bxg7 11. g3 f5 12. Bd2 Bf6 13. Bh5 Rg8 14. Bxg6 Rxg6 15. f4 g4 16. Nf2 Rh6 17. Rh1 c5 18. dxc5 Qxc5 19. Be3 d4 20. Bd2 Bb7 21. b4 Qb6 22. h4 gxh3ep 23. Rxh3 Rxh3 24. Nxh3 Rh8 25. Nf2 Rh2 26. Qf1 d3 27. Be1 d2 28. Resigns