Elements Of Go

Some have toyed with the idea of mixing Chess and Go.

These efforts have met limited success. Aside from both being venerable and respected, the two games have little in common. GESS and CheGo are interesting games in their own right, but aren't much like either of their parents. Go with Chess pieces is a clever generalization of Go using Chess pieces, but has very little Chess feel to it.

Can elements of Go could be incorporated into games with a Chess-like feel?

One good candidate is drops. Just as one drops a Go stone into place, one can drop pieces in Shogi and many variants inspired by it. What about a game that allowed one to drop ordinary Go stones in place of a normal move?

Let's say that stones are treated like any other piece - they can block allies or enemies and can be captured. Because they are immobile, they appear on the board only when dropped on an empty square.

What about attack? Immobile pieces cannot move, and so cannot capture, but Go stones could be given an attack, of sorts - if four of them surround an enemy piece's orthogonal liberties, the piece is captured (whether the piece is an orthogonal mover or not). This wouldn't be a powerful attack, as it would take four moves to pull off, but might be a useful tool for the harassment of anchored enemies.

The number of stones possessed by each player should probably be limited, unlike in Go. Otherwise players may drop them over and over to perform null moves. Each player should probably begin with a set number, perhaps one for each file on the board.

Could such an element be useful and entertaining, or would it likely be pointless and annoying?


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