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Nice! We made some mathematical games for adults, and we also had the problem to make the computar not play optimal. I guess when I played your game IIRC in a

Nice! We made some mathematical games for adults, and we also had the problem to make the computar not play optimal. I guess when I played your game IIRC in a case the computer could have trapped me but it didn't. Perhaps I had an escape route that I didn't see. (How is the maximal theoretical length of a game?) My 9 y.o. daughter likes it, but she wants to play as the Kings too.

patrickdavey 10mo ago
Yup, I'm going to build out the reverse play when I find time in the next few weeks hopefully! I'll try to remember to comment here :) Quite probably you did just run up against a bug in it! I'd have to see the position though. Great question on the maximal theoretical length. Being pedantic I'd imagine infinite if I just move a knight back and forth and you move a king back and forth. (Though I disallow repeat moves for interests sake)
- gus_massa 10mo ago
  I mean the maximal length if both players play perfectly. If the Kings advance in the 1)"b", 2) "d" or "e", 3) "g" column in a synchronized way, they form an horizontal wall of 3 ranks that will trap the Knight at the bottom of the board. This takes 5 * 3 to go from "7" to "2" plus 1 movements to take the Knight, so in 5 * 3 +1 = 16 they should win, and the maximal amount of movements for the Knight is also 16. This use a little of hand waving, so I may be missing some corner case or brilliant strategy for the Knight. I also may be missing some obvious strategy for the Kings to win earlier. So add a few question marks here and there in the provious paragraph. > I'm going to build out the reverse play when I find time in the next few weeks hopefully! :)
  - patrickdavey 10mo ago
    May well have bugs as I just finished it (and really it should be baked into the UI so you can easily reverse)... however... here is the reverse play: https://minichessgames.com/#/play/kings-vs-knight https://minichessgames.com/#/play/kings-vs-knight Hope your daughter likes it.

patrickdavey 10mo ago

Yup, I'm going to build out the reverse play when I find time in the next few weeks hopefully! I'll try to remember to comment here :) Quite probably you did just run up against a bug in it! I'd have to see the position though. Great question on the maximal theoretical length. Being pedantic I'd imagine infinite if I just move a knight back and forth and you move a king back and forth. (Though I disallow repeat moves for interests sake)

gus_massa 10mo ago
I mean the maximal length if both players play perfectly. If the Kings advance in the 1)"b", 2) "d" or "e", 3) "g" column in a synchronized way, they form an horizontal wall of 3 ranks that will trap the Knight at the bottom of the board. This takes 5 * 3 to go from "7" to "2" plus 1 movements to take the Knight, so in 5 * 3 +1 = 16 they should win, and the maximal amount of movements for the Knight is also 16. This use a little of hand waving, so I may be missing some corner case or brilliant strategy for the Knight. I also may be missing some obvious strategy for the Kings to win earlier. So add a few question marks here and there in the provious paragraph. > I'm going to build out the reverse play when I find time in the next few weeks hopefully! :)
- patrickdavey 10mo ago
  May well have bugs as I just finished it (and really it should be baked into the UI so you can easily reverse)... however... here is the reverse play: https://minichessgames.com/#/play/kings-vs-knight https://minichessgames.com/#/play/kings-vs-knight Hope your daughter likes it.