(somewhat mischievous) thought about g*thic chess

[Michael Yee]

Here's a thought I had today about g*thic chess that I think highlights the "strangeness" of patenting a starting position...

As it stands, it seems that a person wanting to implement capablanca random chess (CRC) would need to prevent users from entering and using the g*thic start position. However, the program could instead just ask the first move (or first moves for both sides) and start from there. I'm guessing that the patent doesn't cover all possible positions that can *result* from the g*thic start position (since these would include positions that can be reached from capablanca's start position, too).

Important Note: I'm not trying to encourage getting around the law (although I think it is a valid loophole). But I guess I still have some ill feelings towards the reckless use of patents in general these days.

Michael

P.S. Moderators -- feel free to remove this post if you feel it's too off topic or could be classified as inciting a flame war.