Diagram 1.
 FEN: 8/8/8/8/8/5Q2/4kp2/4QK2 |
So what do you think? White wins? Black wins? Draw?
We'll come back to this position a bit lower down so hold your breath if you don't know the answer :)
Let's start with some mates: Take a look at this position (black to move):
Diagram 2.
 FEN: r7/pp5k/5p2/8/3Pp2P/2N5/1PP2PK1/7r |
Of course black plays Rg8 Mate:
Diagram 3.
 FEN: 6r1/pp5k/5p2/8/3Pp2P/2N5/1PP2PK1/7r |
Look at this position. It is mate, but why?
Because white have no legal moves that stop black from taking the king next move
So we reach Rule #0:
Rule #0: It's mate when the mating side can explode the king if it was it's move and the side that is mated have no legal moves that stops the mating side from exploding the king next move.
I know Rules #0 sounds a bit weird, so I'll try to break it down in easier parts:
Look here (Black to move):
Diagram 4.
 FEN: r1bqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/1B6/8/7N/PPPP1PPP/R1BQK2R |
White looks very menacing having checked black king, but it's all just illusion, because according to earlier rules black can ignore check and explode white king with Qxd2 BANG:
Diagram 5.
 FEN: r1b1kbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/1B6/8/7N/PPP2PPP/R6R |
As you can see a check (or mate) have lower priority than explosion.
Lets see if you understand this position:
Diagram 6.
 FEN: 5k2/5Q2/8/5p2/5P2/8/4p1p1/4K1R1 |
It's black's "move" but he has no moves because his king will be exploded whatever he moves. And if white were to move he can explode black. So, this position is mate.
Now, let's see the position I showed you on top of the page (Black to move):
Diagram 1. (again)
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Ok, whatever black move he will be exploded. But, the difference is that white can't explode black if it were his move
(according to rule 3 on the Rules Page)...
So the position is a STALEMATE, DRAW.
Finally we're going to look at some FICS/ICC specific rules
FICS and ICC are two different servers where you can play atomic, you can find more about them here
There is one main difference. On ICC you can ignore check and mate completely. You can even castle while in check. That you cannot do on FICS
To illistrate here is a diagram (white to move):
Diagram 7.
 FEN: r3kb1r/pp6/2p3pp/q3p2B/3P2b1/5P1N/P1P3PP/R2QK2R |
If played on FICS white is totally lost because the king can't escape:
1. c3 Qb5! 2. Qd3 (forced) exd4 and winning (or 2.c4 Qb4 also winning)
Diagram 8.
 FEN: r3kb1r/pp6/2p3pp/1q5B/6b1/2P2P1N/P5PP/R3K2R |
But on ICC, white have a saver-move:
1. O-O!
Digram 9.
 FEN: r3kb1r/pp6/2p3pp/q3p2B/3P2b1/5P1N/P1P3PP/R2Q1RK1 |
Of course black is still much better, but the move prolonged the game a couple of moves :)))
That's all about the rules so far. Hope you enjoyed it