By Eden Weizman (USA) and Donia Wakid (Israel)

Mentor: Dr. Oded Suchard

Department of Technology and Science Education

Technion, Israel Institue of Technology

Introduction
Game Theory is the study of decision making in situations where
the outcome of a decision is largely determined by another
players choices(1). It is mainly used in economics, political
science, and psychology, logic, and biology.
Game Theory has been used find the winning solutions to many
games, but is unable to solve complicated games like chess
because of their huge number of possible moves.

The Game
Link Chess is played on a 8x8 chess board while each
player has 12 chess pieces placed at facing sides of the
board, each piece moves as it moves in a regular chess
game.
The winner is the player whose pieces are all attached
together whether vertically, horizontally, or diagonally

Our goal: Make a new, interesting version of chess and see what
interesting strategies and solutions may exist.
Methods
We began by solving simpler versions of our game. To analyze
them, we ran through each possible situation by making decision
trees and by playing the game and then backtracking through
moves using a java program we had created. We stress tested
these strategies by programming an artificially intelligent
opponent.
Results

Table 1: Winner if the Optimal Moves are Made

No Captures (Black is Player One)

3x3

4x4

5x5

Pawns Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Kings Only

BLACK

BLACK

Queens Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Bishops Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Rooks Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Knights Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

4x4

5x5

Pawns Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Kings Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Queens Only

BLACK

BLACK

BLACK

Bishops Only

nobody

BLACK

Rooks Only

BLACK

Knights Only

BLACK

6x6
X
BLACK

Figure 2: 5x5 Pawns; No Capturing Allowed Strategy

2.

Table 2: Winner if the Optimal Moves are Made

Captures (Black is Player One)
Pieces/Board Size

Pieces/Board Size 3x3

Discussion
Player One was found to have a huge advantage over Player Two.
Full 8x8 Link Chess is more than likely unsolvable (for now). The
difference between the number of valid game states on a 3x3
board and a 4x4 board was over 8,000. The program was unable
to handle the amount of 5x5 combinations. Link Chess is also
similar to chess, which has so many combinations that it is cannot
be solved by the most powerful supercomputers developed by this
point in time.
Our theory is that when the optimal moves are found, Player One
will win, due to the advantages we found to the first player
through strategies, and knowing that in all of the small board,
Player Two never won once.

1.

Figure 1: Standard Game of Link Chess

References
1. "Game Theory." BusinessDictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/
definition/game-theory.html>.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Player One has a distinct advantage in
games of Link Chess in small boards. By analyzing
possibilities and strategies, we were able to find the
optimal moves to carry out for most boards for Player
Ones victory to be assured, if in fact it can be won
without making mistakes. We found the most efficient
method for developing strategies was backtracking using
the program. However, the best result came from
combining methods and using the information and using
the results from each one together to draw conclusions and
to check the others results.
We can assume that the game cannot currently be solved
in its full 8x8 form. However, with the information
available, it seems the player who goes first in Link Chess
no matter the board size or types of pieces available is
always the winner.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Dr. Oded Suchard for being
such a kind and helpful mentor and for playing Link
Chess with us every now and then. And to Prof. Orit
Hazan for hosting and guiding us through our research in
her lab.We would also like to sincerely thank The Gilbert
Foundation for their generosity and donation.