[Retros] I'll say it again...cooked!

[Kevin Begley]

It seems to me that Ryan has it right. 

Problems which predated improvements in the rules of vertical-cylinder, which were correct in their day, but cooked after the emergence (read: discovery) of 2 new castling possibilities, should be viewed, quite simply, as "cooked." 

Which is to say, if they cannot live up to today's accepted rules for the condition, they should not be viewed as vertical-cylinder problems (either the diagrams should be corrected, or some additional fairy conditions must be attached to them).
 
There is some precedent to this, of course, to be found in chess problems which predate rule changes in the game itself. Problems which were   published prior to the adoption of the en passant rule, for example, cannot be considered sound if they no longer live up to today's rules. We have a long history of correcting such problems, and of course, crediting the original author (yes, an author's good problems can live beyond even discoveries which alter the very rules of play). When corrections are impossible, merely stipulate the additional conditions below the diagram (e.g., "en passant capture is not allowed").

It is therefore important that the rules of a new fairy condition be carefully considered by the creator -- special case situations (castling, en passant, promotion) should be clearly defined!  Had the creator of vertical-cylinder foreseen the possibility that multiple interpretations of the castling rules could be applied to his cylinder, we might have avoided the need to correct 70 years worth of problems (which also failed to notice these possibilities!).  Which is to say, the author should have correctly realized that the 4 castling options naturally "shake-out" of the simple rule change he intends to apply ("first and last columns are adjacent," as defined by Problemesis).

We cannot deny that some rules will naturally evolve over time. When the tide of discovery washes away a cherished castle, we simply must endeavor to rebuild it. It does not serve the previous architect to curse the moon (for the tide).

Kevin Begley.
kevin_begley at hotmail.com







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