 leeping Beauty is a
wonderful fairy-tale which is well known in many parts of Europe, including Germany and Russia. It was included in
Grimm's famous collection of fairy tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Göttingen, 1812-1822), and Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm
were among the first scholars who acknowledged the value of German folk literature for the education of children. In
1890 Tchaikovsky wrote the ballet "Sleeping Beauty," and in 1902 the German composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who was
influenced by Richard Wagner, used the tale in a popular opera. The story of Sleeping Beauty means that love conquers
not only evil, but also even death itself. It is about the old human hope of rebirth after the sleep of death.
I invented Sleeping Beauty Draughts in 1986 in Tübingen, Southern Germany. The German name of the game,
Dornröschendame, was coined by Jürgen Winkler, a friend who was, like me, an enthusiastic Go player. The
game was influenced by Anglo-American Checkers (henceforth, just "Checkers"). However, unlike this great
game, it cannot end in a draw.
Rules
The game is played on the 32 dark squares of a Chess board. The bottom side of each piece is covered with green felt. The initial position is shown below.
White moves first. The men move one square at a time diagonally forward into vacant squares, as in most traditional
Checkers variants. They capture adjacent enemy men by the short leap forwards, but adjacent enemy ladies
(the equivalent of kings in Checkers) by the short leap backwards. It is permitted to capture several pieces in
one move. If there are several options, one must take the greatest number (as in International Checkers).
If a man reaches the opponent's back rank, he is
promoted to a lady (by stacking another piece of the same color on top), provided the player does not have already a
lady; otherwise, the man is promoted only to a sleeping beauty (and turned upside down). A player can never have two
or more ladies at the same time. Promotion always ends the move.
A lady moves one square at a time diagonally forward
or backward into vacant squares, as the king in Checkers. A lady may either capture in the Chess way by replacement (so
that she moves like the Ferz in Shatranj), or by jumping over opponent's pieces by the short leap forward or backward
(exactly as the king in Checkers). A lady may only capture one piece by replacement per move, but may capture several
pieces by jumping over them in a sequence, just as multiple captures are made in Checkers. It is not allowed to combine
both ways of capturing in one move. Capturing by replacement is not compulsory, whereas capturing by jumping is.
Consequently, jumping always takes precedence over replacement, unless a lady can capture the opponent's lady. Then
the lady that captures has the choice between both ways of capturing, which is called Royal Privilege. However, if a
lady can capture more than one piece, she must capture the greatest number possible.
A sleeping beauty (marked with a star in our diagrams)
may not move or capture, nor may she be captured.
To clarify some important points: a capturing sequence
must be completed before any pieces are taken from the board; a piece may not be jumped over more than once in a capturing
sequence, but a vacant square can be crossed several times; capturing by jumping is compulsory, and majority capture always
take precedence, the types of pieces captured being irrelevant.
A player must wake a sleeping beauty (if he has one)
when he has lost his lady in his opponent's last move. She then becomes the lady. This does not count as a move.
If the player moves his new lady immediately after she has been woken up, she is permitted to make a jump of joy, and
move two squares diagonally in a straight line. However, a jump of joy is only permitted if the square crossed over
is (1) vacant and (2) not "threatened" (or "guarded" in Chess terminology) by the opponent. A lady may not capture by
replacement while making a jump of joy. The only time a lady may make a jump of joy is immediately after being woken up.
The jump of joy was inspired by the Kurierspiel (i.e., "The Courier Game"), an old German Chess variant that has a similar
rule.
In a continuous sequence of moves in which only
ladies are moved, a particular lady is not permitted to move onto the same square twice after the full board position
has been repeated once (even if the lady occupied this square before the position was repeated). This rule is only
important in exotic board positions that in real play almost never occur.
The object of the game is to leave the opponent
without a valid move, either by capturing all his pieces, or by blocking them completely. A draw is not possible.
There is a point scoring system in Sleeping Beauty
Draughts. The winner gets as many points as there are still pieces on the board at the end of the game (men, ladies,
and sleeping beauties of both colors all counting equally). The loser gets zero points, even if he has still pieces
left (in the case of a blockade).
| Problem 1: |
White to move and to win by five points! (R. Gering, 1988) |
| Problem 2: |
White to move and to win by one point! (R. Gering, 2002) |
| Problem 3:
|
"Gundi's Position." The white lady and two men are stronger than five black pieces: one
lady and four sleeping beauties. White to move and to win by one point! (R. Gering, 2002) |
| Problem 4: |
This is the "Dungeon Position". White has just moved f2e3. What will happen? (R.Gering, 1988) |
| Problem 5: |
This is the "Castle Position". White has just moved g3f4. What will happen? (R. Gering, 1988) |
Solutions
Awakening a sleeping beauty is indicated with a '*'. Promotion to a sleeping beauty is indicated by 'sb.'
Problem 1: 1.d2c3! d4:b2 2.d6c7 a7b8 (or a7b6), 3.c7:b8 (or c7:b6, respectively). Black cannot move.
Problem 2: 1.a1b2 a3:c1sb, 2.e3f4 e5:g3, 3.h4:f2 c1*:e3:g1, 4.e1f2 g1:e3, 5.h8*:f6:d8:b6:d4:f2.
Problem 3: 1.d4e5 g7h8, 2.e5f6 h8g7, 3.f6:g7 a1*c3, 4.g7f6 c3d4, 5.a7b8sb d4c3, 6.f6e5 c3b2, 7.e5d4 b2a1, 8.d4c3
a1b2, 9.c3:a1 g1*e3, 10.c7d8sb e3d4, 11.a1b2 d4e5, 12.b2c3 e5f6, 13.c3d4 f6g7, 14.d4e5 g7h8, 15.e5f6 h8g7, 16.f6:g7 e1*c3,
17.g7f6 c3b4, 18.f6e5 b4a5, 19.e5d4 a5b6, 20.d4c5 b6:c5, 21.b8*c7 c5d4, 22.c7d6 d4e3, 23.d6e5 e3f2, 24.e5f4 f2g1, 25.f4g3
g1h2, 26.g3:h2 c1*d2, 27.h2g3 d2c3, 28.g3f4 c3b4, 29.f4e5 b4a5, 30.e5d4! a5b6, 31.d4c5 b6:c5, 32.d8*c7 c5d4, 33.c7d6 d4e3,
34.d6e5 e3f2, 35.e5f4 f2g1, 36.f4g3 g1h2, 37.g3:h2 wins.
Problem 4: 1....h2g1, 2.a7b8 g1h2, 3.b8a7 (First full-board repetition, Black h2g1 is no longer permitted.)
3....c5b4 (Black must lose a tempo.) 4.a7b6 (White breaks out and wins the game.)
Problem 5: 1....e1f2, 2.d8c7 f2g1, 3.c7b8 g1h2, 4.b8a7 h2g1, 5.a7b8
(First full-board repetition.) 5....g1f2, 6.b8a7 f2e1, 7.a7b8 (Black has no good move left as e1f2 is
not permitted.) |
