Ralph Betza

Ralph Betza (born 1945) is a FIDE Master and inventor of chess variants such as Chess with different armies, Avalanche chess, and Way of the Knight.

Invented chess variants

• Multiplayer Chess (date unknown)
• High-Low Chess (1968)
• Strange Relay Chess (1970s)
• Coordinate Chess (or Co-Chess) (1973)
• Conversion Chess (1973)
• Co-Relay Chess (1973)
• Double Conversion Chess (1973)
• Heterocoalescence Chess (1973) by Philip Cohen based on an idea by Betza
• Inverter Chess (or Switch Chess) (1973)
• Metamorphosis (c. 1973)
• Pinwheel Chess (1973)
• Reversion Conversion Chess (1973)
• Transportation Chess (or Transchess) (1973)
• Watergate Chess (1973)
• Weak! (1973)
• Biflux Chess (1974) a variant of Co-Chess
• Brownian Motion Chess (1974)
• Cassandra Chess (1974)
• Orbital Chess (1974)
• Overloader/Restorer Chess (O/R Chess) (1974)
• Put-back Transchess (1974)
• Almost Chess (1977)
• Ambition Chess (1977)
• Autorifle Chess (1977) after Bill Rawlings
• Avalanche Chess (1977)
• Blizzard Chess (1977)
• Buzzard Chess (1977)
• List Chess (1977)
• Plague Chess (1977) after S. Walker; variants are Biological Warfare Chess, and Immunity
• Twinkle Chess (1977)
• Very Scottish Chess (1977)
• Ghostrider Chess (1978)
• Incognito Chess (1978)
• Liars' Chess (1978)
• Tutti-Frutti Chess (1978) with Philip Cohen
• Chess with different armies (or Betza's Chess, or Equal Armies) (1979)
• Suction Chess (1979)
• One-Shot Chess (1980)
• Swarm Chess (1980)
• Koopa Chess (1990)
• Way Of The Knight (WOTN) (1992)
• Chess on a Really Big Board (or Four Board Chess, or Chess on Four Boards) (1996)
• Earthquake Chess (1996)
• Narrow Chess (1996)
• Taxi Chess (1996)
• Trapdoor Chess (1996)
• Game of Nemoroth, The (2002)

References

• Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
• Pritchard, D. B. (2007). Beasley, John, ed. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.