Turnover Chess - Valuing Pieces Talk

Turnover Chess - Valuing Pieces Talk

Created by Lúcio José Patrocínio Filho

In Turnover Chess, the way pieces are valued is different from standard chess. The value of each piece is based on its role in the game, its mobility, and its ability to control the board.

Correspondence with traditional chess:

Tower: Rook
Fort: Bishop
Citadel: Queen
Fortress: Knight
Castle: Pawn, King
Wall: Pawn

It is common to assign the Tower (Rook) a value of 3 points, the Fort (Bishop) a value of 2 points, and the Wall (Pawn) a value of 1 point, as this reflects the relative strength of each main piece and the role it plays in the game.

The Tower is a powerful piece that can control a large area of the board and can be used for attacking and defending, as well as promoting a Fortress to the last row. However, the Tower start the game as central pieces of each Castle and as the game progresses, they tend to end up positioned in the rear, which limits their movements due to friendly pieces.

The Fort is a versatile piece that can control a diagonal area of the board and can be used for attacking and defending, as well as supporting the turning of Towers into Citadels or Walls into Fortress, and to perform forward attacks as a Citadel (Joan of Arc move) as shown below.

In standard chess, both the Fort and Tower are considered strong pieces. In Turnover Chess, players have access to 8 Towers and 8 Forts at the same time, making it a dream come true for any chess player.

Joan of Arc move

In Turnover Chess, the Wall may be considered the least valuable piece, but it still plays an important role in the game. It can be used to control the center of the board and can be promoted to a Citadel. Additionally, it can be used in combination with a Fort to transform into a Fortress on the opponent's row.

It can be challenging to determine a set formula for calculating the value of pieces in Turnover Chess as it depends on various factors such as the piece's ability to combine with friendly and enemy pieces, its intrinsic power, mobility, and the role it plays in the game. The value of a piece may also depend on the player's strategy and the specific configuration of the board.

One possible way to calculate the value of pieces in Turnover Chess is to take into account the piece's power, mobility, ability to combine with friendly and enemy pieces, as well as its ability to take pieces off the board. However, it's important to note that it's still open for discussion and is ultimately up to the players to decide on the best approach to evaluate the value of pieces.

Power + Mobility + Turning + Take

Power: It's a measure of how much an individual piece can influence the game.

Tower: +3
Fort: +2
Wall: +1

Mobility: It's a measure of how many squares a piece can control and the potential for the piece to influence the game. This factor is also a numerical value, from the number of squares a piece can move to.

1 or 2 squares = +1
3 squares = +2
Multiple squares = +3

Tower: +3
Fort: +3
Citadel: +3
Fortress: +2
Castle: +1
Wall: +1

Turning: It's a measure of the piece's ability to combine with another piece, like a Wall with a Fort or a Fort with a Tower, this factor is also a numerical value, which adds +1 or +½ for each ability to combine, not considering if it is a friendly or enemy piece, as well as the range.

Tower: +2 points

Combined with Fort, becomes a Citadel
Combined with Fortress, becomes a Castle

Fort: +2 points

Combined with Tower, becomes a Citadel
Combined with Wall, becomes a Fortress

Citadel: +2 points

Combined with Tower, becomes a Citadel
Combined with Wall, becomes a Fortress

Wall combines in frontward and diagonal forward: +1 point

Combined with Fort, becomes a Fortress ½
Combined with Citadel, becomes a Castle ½

Promotion: becomes a Citadel

When reaches a Citadel on the last row

Fortress: +3 points

Combined with Fort, becomes a Fortress
Combined with Citadel, becomes a Castle

Promotion: becomes a Citadel
When reaches an empty square on the last row

When reaches a Citadel on the last row

Castle not in check: +2 points

in frontward 1-2 squares:

Combined with Fort, becomes a Fortress ½
Combined with friendly Citadel, becomes a Castle ½

Promotion: becomes a Citadel

When reaches a friendly Citadel on the last row

in diagonal forward 1 square:

Combined with friendly Fort, becomes a Fortress ½
Combined with friendly Citadel, becomes a Castle ½

Promotion: becomes a Citadel

When reaches a friendly Citadel on the last row

Castle in check moves in any direction one square: does not combine with any piece

Take: It's a measure of the piece's ability to remove an enemy piece from the board, like a Wall to a Castle or a Fort to another Fort, this offensive factor is also a numerical value, which adds +1 or +½ for each ability to take.

Tower: +4 points

Takes Tower
Takes Castle
Takes Wall
Takes Citadel

Fort: +4 points

Takes Fort
Takes Castle
Takes Citadel
Takes Fortress

Citadel: +4 points

Takes Fort
Takes Castle
Takes Citadel
Takes Fortress

Fortress: +4 points

Takes Wall
Takes Castle
Takes Tower
Takes Fortress

Wall takes in diagonal forward: +2 points

Takes Wall ½
Takes Castle ½
Takes Tower ½
Takes Fortress ½

Castle not in check takes in diagonal forward: +1 point

Takes Tower ½
Takes Fortress ½

Castle in check takes in any direction: +3 points

Takes Castle ½
Takes Tower ½
Takes Citadel ½
Takes Wall ½
Takes Fortress ½
Takes Fort ½

Last Castle in check takes in any direction: +3 points

Can not take if the target is a checked square
Can not be promoted
Takes Castle ½
Takes Tower ½
Takes Citadel ½
Takes Wall ½
Takes Fortress ½
Takes Fort ½

In conclusion, with this formula, at any turn of the match, players can calculate the values on board to better understand how good he is performing the match and as Turnover Chess is much more complex than standard chess, its formula could not be less complex, maybe it will need an app to easily take the results.

The final result will be as follows:

Citadel: 14
Tower: 12
Fortress: 12
Fort: 11
Castle: 10
Wall: 5

The final proposal will be as follows:

Citadel: 3
Fort: 2
Tower: 2
Fortress: 2
Castle: 1
Wall: 0

Joan of Arc move
White position strength: 17 points
Black position strength: 14 points

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