V. R. Parton
English inventor of Alice chess and Racing Kings.
Vernon Rylands Parton (2 October 1897 – 31 December 1974) was an English chess enthusiast and prolific inventor of chess variants, best known for Alice chess and Racing Kings. Many of his variants drew inspiration from the fictional characters and stories of Lewis Carroll. Parton's formal education, like Carroll's, was in mathematics, and he was a strong advocate of Esperanto.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Vernon Rylands Parton
- Born
- 2 October 1897
- Birthplace
- Cannock, Staffordshire, England
- Died
- 31 December 1974
- Place of death
- Liverpool, England
- Occupation
- Teacher
- Known for
- Alice chess, Chess variant invention
Facts from the source article.
Life
V. R. Parton learned from his father, who ran both Cannock Grammar School and a small international boarding school, and later helped out there. After studying mathematics at Chester Teaching College, he returned to teach older children privately in subjects including Latin, French, German, English, shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, and mathematics. During the 1920s, he took over the school while his father taught in state schools, but poor health forced him to stop teaching. In 1960, he left Cannock for a terraced house near Penny Lane in Liverpool, where he wrote nine monographs between 1961 and 1974, with one released after his death in 1975. He died of emphysema in Liverpool on 31 December 1974, aged 77. That same year, Philip M. Cohen invented Parton Chess in his honor.
Some chess variant inventions
Parton devised a 6×6×6 3D variant with boards labelled A (bottom) through F (top). Each side has a king, queen, bishop, unicorn, knight, rook, and twelve pawns. Pieces move as in Raumschach, but pawns move and capture one step forward orthogonally, diagonally, or vertexally, not directly upward or downward. The goal is checkmate. White begins with KAa1, QAb1, BAc1, UAd1, NAe1, RAf1; pawns on Aa2–f2 and Ba1–f1. Black starts with KAf6, QAe6, BAd6, UAc6, NAb6, RAa6; pawns on Aa5–f5 and Ba6–f6. Parton also created compulsion cubic chess on the same board, where capture is compulsory, there are no checks, and the object is to capture the opposing king. His most famous variant, Alice chess, is played on two adjacent boards. A piece completing a move on one board vanishes and appears on the opposite board, provided the destination square there is vacant. Capture occurs only on the board where the piece currently stands. Another variant is for three players on a 10×10 board. Each player has a standard set plus an extra king, but no pawns. The board starts empty; players take turns placing one piece on any vacant square. Kings are placed last and must not be in check. Each player's two kings are marked differently; a player attacks the marked king of the opponent to the left and the unmarked king of the opponent to the right. Checking the other kings is not allowed. The first to checkmate a king wins. Also known as twin orthodox chess or double-king chess, this variant gives each player two kings and two queens on a 10×10 board, and a player wins by checkmating either opposing king.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was V. R. Parton born?
V. R. Parton was born on 2 October 1897 in Cannock, Staffordshire, England.
When did V. R. Parton die?
V. R. Parton died on 31 December 1974 in Liverpool, England.
More in Chess Variant Inventors
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