Dameo is a
draughts/checkers variant inspired by
International draughts and a variant of
Turkish draughts called Croda invented by Ljuban Dedić. Dameo utilizes all 64 squares of the checkerboard and uses both orthogonal and diagonal movement, although capture is orthogonal only. It also introduces linear movement of men where lines of men of any length may move forward together, similar to
Epaminondas or Bushka. This was added to speed play, enhance tactics, and curtail draws. "Considerable work has already gone into analyzing Dameo, and some remarkable discoveries have been made in the area of endgame positions with just a few pieces left."
Grand Chess utilizes the same
compound pieces as
Capablanca Chess, but the starting setup the
rooks, giving immediate freedom of movement and "yields the better game" . Internet Grand Chess World Championships have been held, and NOST sponsored yearly tournaments beginning in 1998. A Grand Chess tournament in Yerevan in 1996 attracted 21
chess masters.
Havannah, a
connection game using hexagonal cells like
Hex, offers "a subtler strategy and much more varied tactics" . The game was published by
Ravensburger in 1981 and marketed for ten years, winning critical acclaim. In 2002, Freeling offered a €1,000 prize for any computer program in ten years that could beat him in even one game in a 10-game match, believing the nature of Havannah made the game difficult to program and therefore best played by human strategic thinking. In October 2012, via Internet, a 10-game match was conducted between Freeling and three Havannah bots. Freeling won by +7−3=0, losing two games to Lajkonik (Poland) and one game to Castro (Canada).
Hexdame exactly translates
international draughts rules to a hexagonal gameboard, increasing options for moves and tactics, and reducing draws. The
World Draughts Federation (FMJD) has actively promoted Hexdame as an alternative to the 10×10 game. ==Personal life==