Mathletics Cup

Edit: This is now a Random Pieces Jumpscare because I thought this would definitely get accepted and I think it was actually an autodecline because I couldn’t find any testing games for this variant.

Edit 2: I found one lol

A revised version of Mathletics Cup, which was a variant I made in September 2020, before the merge between the 4PC server and the Variants Server. Recently, @ChessMasterGS stated that this variant got removed due to it being too luck based. However, this version removes the element of luck, but adding various elements of skill and strategy.

Mathletics Cup v1 used to be one of the most popular 3P wofs before the merge. In 2021, 332 people were competing in one single 24h Mathletics Cup WOF tournament. The winner of that tournament played 265 games in one day!!! Due to the amount of people who I was competing with, I was only 17th place, even though I won 18/27 games.

There are many different strategies that players can take to achieve a first or second place victory. Here are some of the strategies I found while I was testing this:

Strategy 1: Rushing a Royal Amazon. This strategy rarely works but it is useful against new players. By rushing an amazon, you can get the hill quite early. However the player above you can place their xiangqi horses in a position that blocks the promotion square. This is shown in https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/68437387

Strategy 2: Stalemating your self. This strategy was taken over from Mathletics Cup v1. In Mathletics Cup v1, you could stalemate yourself when Red's rando pawn was blocking your king. However, this strategy now exists in this revision. You can place your xiangqi horses in a certain way so you can't move them, nor can you move your royal pawn. You can do that then suicide your pawns to achieve stalemate and guarantee 1st or 2nd place. Additionally, this strategy is effective against new players, as they will likely take your 'free' pawns. More experienced players will not take your last pawn, therefore, you can enjoy a free amazon. This is shown in https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/68437057/51/4

Strategy 3: Rushing the Middle. You can move your pawns in the center of the board at the start so you can potentially get an Amazon.

Strategy 4: THE HILL. You can promote your royal to an Amazon so you can get to the hill in the endgame.

Strategy 5: Berolina. If the person on the right moves their berolina, you can use your right sergeant to sneak into that player's pawn starting rank, therefore giving you a free amazon.

Changes: Both 1+ and 10th Rank Promotion to Amazon were also in Mathletics Cup v1. I added KOTH so the royal amazons can reach the hill in the endgame. The red zombie was swapped with a red player, which makes the game fair for all players. Changed the four pawns so there is no free capture at the start.

Inspiration: I made the first variant when I was in primary school. The name 'Mathletics Cup' came from the Mathletics worksheet 'The Mathletics Cup'. Copy and paste this link to see the worksheet (https://prnt.sc/RH9ILlcUGhTQ). I liked that activity, it was fun doing the activity with my friends. Luckily, we did this before the Covid Pandemic!

Original Mathletics Cup Submission: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-mathletics-cup

The Time Control (9.27192575 min) was taken from the ID of my most popular Scratch Game, which is a remake of Roblox Bedwars on Scratch. It currently has over 280,000 views. Play now at https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/927192575/

Overall, I like this variant and I think I did a really good job making it. I spent a while writing this description. Even though I didn't incorporate some brain surgery or a Random Pieces Jumpscare, I hope this gets accepted. I would like to thank the admins for accepting the original variant and my playtesters. I would also like to thank you for reading till the end.