A Partial Game of Recursive Chess

Chung van Gog, 24 July 2022

White and Black play a game of recursive chess (Figure 1).

The starting position of chess.
Figure 1: starting position.

On they go. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 (Figure 2)

Black wants to capture White’s pawn: 6. …, d*?c4.

Figure 2: position after 6. Bh4.

Now the black pawn will play a game of chess against his white counterpart on c4.

For Black to win, his pawn needs to win the following position against the white pawn.

If the black pawn draws, Black must choose another move to play. If his pawn loses it will be White’s turn.

It’s the white pawn’s turn (Figure 3).

Figure 3: the starting position for the battling pawns.

The pawns begin their battle: 7.1. Qc2 Be7 7.2. e4 O-O 7.3. Be2 Nh5 7.4 B*?e7 (Figure 4).

Figure 4: the position after 7.3. ..., Nh5.

The white bishop wants to take the black bishop. But he will need to prove his worth!

If he wins, he captures the black bishop. If he draws, the white pawn can retreat him to the safe square g3.

But if he loses, the turn passes to black! And black might try to capture him on h4.

It’s the black bishop’s turn (Figure 5)

Figure 5: the starting position for the battling bishops.

7.4.1. …, Qe7 7.4.2. O-O-O, …

And on the game goes, deeper and deeper. But eventually the game will terminate.