V. R. Parton

Vernon Rylands Parton (1897–1974) was an English chess enthusiast and prolific chess variant inventor, his most renowned variant being Alice Chess.^[1] Many of Parton's variants were inspired by the fictional characters and stories in the works of Lewis Carroll. Parton's formal education background, like Lewis Carroll's, was in mathematics.^[2]

I have distinct memories of sitting on his knee and listening to these [Lewis Carroll] stories, and not a book in sight.

He had a favorite uncle, who was blind, and Vern was content to escort him around.

Vern never wanted to benefit financially from his work, but asked only for a contribution to charities for the blind.

— Peter Parton^[2]

Parton wrote a series of nine monographs published from 1961 to 1974 detailing his inventions. Parton died at age 77 on 31 December 1974. The same year, variant inventor Philip M. Cohen created the variant Parton Chess in his honor.

Contents 1 Cubic Chess 2 Mad Threeparty Chess 3 Cheshire Cat Chess 4 Tweedle Chess 5 Chess variants 6 Checkers variants 7 Monographs (with section headings) 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Citations 11 References 12 External links

Cubic Chess

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

In this 6×6×6 3D variant by Parton, boards are denoted A (bottom level) through F (top level). Each side has six pieces: king (K), queen (Q), bishop (B), unicorn (U), knight (N), and rook (R); and twelve pawns.^[3]

Game rules

Pieces move the same as in Raumschach, except that pawns move and capture one step forward (either orthogonally, diagonally, or triagonally), but not directly upward or downward. As in chess and Raumschach, the objective is checkmate.

• White's starting position: KAa1, QAb1, BAc1, UAd1, NAe1, RAf1; pawns on Aa2–f2 and Ba1–f1
• Black's starting position: KAf6, QAe6, BAd6, UAc6, NAb6, RAa6; pawns on Aa5–f5 and Ba6–f6

Variation

Parton made a variation of Cubic Chess for the same gameboard: In Compulsion Cubic Chess, capture is compulsory, there are no checks, and the object is capture of the opposing king.

Mad Threeparty Chess

This variant is for three^{[note 1]} players on a 10×10 board. Each player has a standard set of pieces in his own color, including an extra king,^{[note 2]} but no pawns.

Game rules

The board starts empty. Players take turns, in clockwise rotation around the board, placing one of their pieces on any vacant square. Kings are placed last, but must not be placed in check.

The two kings of each player are marked differently. (For example, of a player's two kings, one might be marked with a star.) Each player attacks the marked king of the opponent to his left, and the unmarked king of the opponent to his right. It is not permitted to check the opponents' other kings.

The first player to checkmate a king wins the game.

Cheshire Cat Chess

Game rules

In this variant, all normal chess rules apply, except: "Whenever a piece moves from its square, then that particular square must at once completely disappear out of the chessboard!"^{[note 4]}

Parton suggests using checker pieces to mark "disappeared" squares. Once vanished, a square may not be occupied again; however, pieces may move through disappeared square(s), including giving check through them.

Since castling is impossible in Cheshire Cat Chess (pieces which normally clear a path for castling cause needed squares to "disappear"), Parton permits the kings to be moved like queens once per game, on their first move.

Variation

The game can also be played using a regular 8×8 board and set, but Parton suggests the 10×10 board with two extra rooks in the corners as "best".^[4]

Tweedle Chess

Each player has two kings^{[note 5]} and two queens on a 10×10 board. A player wins by checkmating either one of the opposing kings.^{[note 6]}

Game rules

The normal chess rules apply, except that kings and rooks can only castle "short" (i.e. with kings shifting two squares toward the nearest corner), and pawns can move one or two steps at any stage.

Comments

"While his pair of Queens will provide the player's main hopes for victory, his twin monarchs King Tweedledee and King Tweedledum jointly provide his sequence of headaches!"^[5] Parton makes note that the only way a player can escape mate from a fork on his two kings is by capturing the checking piece.^{[note 7]}

Boyer remarked that the variant yields "magnificent games" (Nouveaux Jeux d'Echecs Non-orthodoxes, Paris 1954) because there are two directions of attack and two points to defend.

Chess variants

Checkers variants

• Good-for-Nothings
• Dragon
• Kinger, Simple Kinger, and Grand Kinger

Monographs (with section headings)

See also

• Chess variants
• Three-dimensional chess

Notes

Citations

References

• Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. 
• Parton, V. R. (1974). Chessery for Duffer and Master. 
• Parton, V. R. (1970). Chesshire-Cat-Playeth Looking-Glass Chessys. Part II. 
• Parton, V. R. (1961). Curiouser and Curiouser. 

External links

• "Vernon Rylands Parton (1897–1974)" by Jean-Louis Cazaux, The Chess Variant Pages
• BrainKing.com play Racing Kings online

Persondata
Name	Parton, V.R.
Alternative names	Vernon Parton
Short description
Date of birth	1897
Place of birth	Cannock, Staffordshire, England
Date of death	1974
Place of death	Toxteth, Liverpool, England