Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent every five moves

Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by Townley on Saturday February 15, 2025 @10:40PM (#43065097)

My teenage niece is getting solid at chess, but I can still beat her handily. So we came up with a fun handicap the last few times we’ve played:

Every third turn, my four year old daughter gets to move for me. She doesn’t know the rules so she chooses a piece and we give her the full rundown of options where that piece can legally move. Neither of us can influence her choice, but there’s some degree of psychological play allowed for everyone’s entertainment

It’s been unexpectedly rich and fun for everyone involved:

- My daughter is slowly learning the game and likes hamming up the choice

- I exercise a different part of my brain around guarding eventualities and conservative movements

- Pure cackles of joy and glee from my niece whenever my daughter reaches for the queen

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Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by bpev on Sunday February 16, 2025 @12:31AM (#43065619)

tfw "defensive play" is actually just blocking your own pieces on purpose

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Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by ryannevius on Sunday February 16, 2025 @02:29AM (#43066126)

This reminds me a bit of Hand and Brain [1], another fun variant with kids. We usually switch to normal chess after a predetermined number of moves.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_and_brain

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Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by jarofgreen on Sunday February 16, 2025 @03:28AM (#43066369)

That's so close to a variant we once invented. There were 4 of us, 2 of us good at chess and 2 beginners. We played in teams, a good person and a beginner on each team. We took it in turns to move and you couldn't tell your partner ANYTHING.

As the good player, you had to come up with a good move for the board but also for what your partner might do next. Was fun!

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Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by SonOfLilit on Sunday February 16, 2025 @04:32AM (#43066729)

In Go this is known as Rengo and is the most popular couples' tournament format.

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Re:Show HN: Blunderchess.net – blunder for your opponent eve... by eviledamame on Sunday February 16, 2025 @05:17PM (#43072290)

I love that! A very similar situation was also the inspiration for this variant- a beginner friend and I wanted to play but make the game less serious and more funny

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