Game Over,Arimaa? 1

Abstract

In an earlier article (Lewis, 2015) I introduced Kingpin readers to Arimaa, a recently invented and hitherto almost unknown chess variant. I argued that Arimaa has a comparable beauty and complexity to chess, but a much higher potential (given the lengthy history and extensive theory of chess) for creativity and originality.

This article recounts the extraordinary events of the Arimaa 2015 Computer Challenge. It offers a third-party, non-technical account of one of the key innovations that led to the triumph of SHARP & David Wu. It poses the question whether there is any reason left for Arimaa to exist, suggesting that even to survive it must rapidly emulate the technical innovations introduced within Chess in the past two decades. Finally, it reflects on how the community might regroup following Omar Syed’s sad announcement (May 2015) that he will step down as leader of the Arimaa world.