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Comments by GeorgeDuke
The Heavy Brigade. Naming of leaping pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In spirit of TREBUCHET, Underwood in 1877 US Patent #186,181 calls the orthogonal three-square leaper 'Cavalry', and Michael King in 1995 US Patent #5484157 calls it 'Large Tank'. This article fails to name 'Knight-Trebuchet' compound. That one should be the most useful, being colour-changing for counterbalance with colour-bound CAMERZ(Camel+Ferz).
'Wizard' of Omega Chess is the (Camel+Ferz=CAMERZ,for one coinage)and goes logically for design with yet unnamed(TREBUCHET+Knight). In Encyclopaedia Chess Variants (1994) p. 227 under 'Pieces', the seven-by-seven schematic leaves only (0,3) and (3,3) squares unnamed. For (0,3) not strictly never named (since 1877 US Patent 186181 calls it Cavalry) Trebuchet is fittingly military to go with more recent use of Large Tank in 1994 USP 5484157.
Multipath Chess Pieces. Suggests adding "multi-path" pieces to leapers and riders classification of pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]CVP has Billiards Progressive Chess link that shows Gilman is right that, as Queen can be double-pathed off one bounce (to certain squares), both Bishop and Q qualify off two or three reflections as dual-pathed. For Betza's Rose too, I think however return all the way to departure square after full circuit is better dis-allowed, though not a null move since they may be blocked. Thanks for suggestion of Crooked Bishop for follow-up, 'Multipath' being more general category than 'Leaper' or 'Rider' and having countless examples. http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/DefiningtheAbstract.shtml http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSpartnershipcha
Recognized Chess Variants. Index page listing the variants we feel are most significant. (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I am the one who points out orthodox 'e4' creates the dread undefended pawn, as last time my comment 04-08-04 under Grander Chess. (Like Fergus Duniho's Grotesque's form of castling originating with Falcon Chess claims in the dark ages before CVP existed) And I also discuss how each of 2000 games within CVP can establish random openings creating millions not to say (facetiously?) a googol different games to play-test.
Unfortunately, as already indicated by intervening comment, a different philosophy governs CVP that I for one disagree with. It's devil-may-care, anything goes, Fergus Duniho somewhere likens it to '007' (James-Bond-style), no holds barred. Immediately, look alphabetically under 'Interview with Hans Bodlaender', and David Howe's question early on, relating to Duniho's Enneagram applied to Chess. They think one game(permutation) is about as good as another. In the interview, all concurring in Category '5' there, whose believers think 'Chess is like a box of Legos or Tinker Toys, mixing and matching various rules, pieces and boards to try out various possibilities. While 'Fives' may employ standards in creating their games,...' [and on and on] Fundamentally there are unconcern about quality, comtempt for anyone who does not profess to be or conform to described '5'; and anyway analysis, playtesting too much work the forms being myriad.
Robert Fischer's interesting last comment might be partially parsed or summarized as follows: a so-called 'prolific game inventor' is often someone who did not get it right in the first place and so designs, designs, designs -- eventually not even knowing whether prioritizing quantity OR quality. Maybe each designer should specify his/her one contribution to Chess, a single own recognized (self-created)variant, one permutation, to save everyone else time and trouble. Or, Roberto Lavieri's idea is better solution to the problem of 'bad game pollution': a top 50 (I would make it 20 or 10). If only 5 CVs are given close scrutiny for a month(s), to near exclusion of other CVs, (maybe in a special section for the period) then some filtering of a different sort occurs than your Game Courier popularity. Game analyses would then have to be made. Standards would emerge for both play and design. The simpleminded set heard from less frequently, the easy bromide assaulted by the rigour of precedent, the prima donna banished to the fringes, more serious abstractions could take hold; and none of Fischer's prospective dread lowest common denominator.
I think he might be Bobby Fischer. He talks like Bobby Fischer. 'Let a thousand flowers bloom and one hundred schools of thought contend' applied to CVs sounds fine, so long as not cover-up for totalitarianism or a great purge. Fergus, I appreciate reminder of your reference Juan-Romeo-Bond that I could not locate, a nice metaphor. Needless to say, having written 700 lines of Chess poetry, I think of Chess as more than one-dimensionally writing up game rules.
Two telling sentences in Fischer's last comment: 'A randomization of
quality does not approach an average. Instead it approaches the lowest
possible value since the definable nature of quality involves order and
structure.' How low? Probably low enough for Fischer to be considered a
'1' or '3' in Enneagram terms. (See Recg.ChVs. comments) Moreover,
there may be one Ultima-like ideal CV from an infinity of those, and also
one from the Carrera-Capablanca family, and so on, the ones actually
adding up to many games. A chemical analogy might be to trans-uranium
elements, having islands of stability, or simply isotopes, finite numbers
of ('semi-ideal') forms(species). By what standards for CVs? Many still
to be revealed or discovered, but one would be a full second row pawn rank,
at least as probabilistically more aesthetically satisfactory and more likely to be
associated with quality, if one will.To your comment on intelligent selection, Roberto, I like a quote by scientist George Wald: 'Several years ago a thought struck that at first seemed so aberrant as to embarrass me. That was that mind, rather being a late product of evolution, had been there from the start; and that this became a life-breeding universe because the constant and pervasive presence of mind had guided it in that direction.' I think Fischer's chess-driven comments too intelligent to be from anyone else; if he does not simply say he is not the grandmaster within a day or two, I assume about 50-50 he is.
Thanks to Robert Fischer for coining the phrase 'bad game pollution'. I address that problem a year ago under 'Slide-Shuffle' ( a type of Fischer-Random-Chess game). I think Fischer states the case better cutting as he does across several chess-related disciplines. His figure of 10,000 games is realistic, my projection of 10 to the 100th (googol) permutations an obvious over-dramatization. Yet of 2000 CVP games how many are examined thoroughly for playability? Not more than 5 or 10 have been analyzed for strategy, tactics, openings, end games except superficially. Over 1900 games are less advanced than 'mad Queen' (present 'FIDE') Chess in Andre Danican Philidor's day 225 years ago. Incidentally, how many CVs were widely known in 1750's, the time of Philidor's early playing career? 1750 is chosen conveniently as near halfway from 1475, the earliest date Chess may have acquired its now orthodox embodiment, to the present. Author of 'Analyze du Jeu des Echecs', actually Philidor was an experimentalist too, known to give knight odds and play multiple blindfold games simultaneously.
Because of 'bad game pollution' and volume (2000 games mostly unknown to most viewers), I think you need something like this. Focus on a couple games as being played, with kibbitzing, would be a start. I kibbitzed a couple GC games, but the players themselves stayed walled off without comment. No one followed your Tournament #1, not a single game in progress, just published declared winners. So you can make umpteen game rules, what else can you do?
Greg is already strong at Switching, so he would catch on to Rococo immediately. Those are my votes.
This could be from the same group who posted last April 1,2004, under 'Sue
D. Nym': 'Today 04-01-2004 the United Nations declared the game of Chess
against international law etc.' Or else Paul Leno of 'Gridlock' has
changed his style of writing considerably. Hopefully CVP will publish Leno's 3-D version promised after 'Gridlock'game within CVP.
I'm finishing my fourth win at Rococo now in GC; one against Lavieri is not recording. I think one annotated game played would be worth 10 stupid variations such as adding rifle piece to a perfectly-designed game like Rococo. That is Robert Fischer's main point in comments under Recognized Chess Variants and I take the same offense he does at designers derelict in their duties. Switching Chess, Strong and I are 1-1, so it would be tie-breaker. I'll save comments for the games you start. A tournament you would not want concurrent Kibbitz for players to see, but as I see it this is to explicate rather unknown games.
The Open Kibbitz games are under way in Game Courier and participants are free to use computer analysis. Tony Quintanilla suggested the idea in Dec.1 Comment where his last sentence refers to 'what I believe Kasparov suggested for human-computer competition after being crushed by Deep Blue (in 1997)'.It entails using computer advice throughout game and match, and they call Kasparov's idea 'Advanced Chess'. There were yearly tournaments of Advanced Chess in Spain, but I am not sure they held one in 2004.
Jetan. Large variant from the book The Chessmen of Mars. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I somehow never work Jean-Louis Cazaux's article into text of my recent 'Multipath Chess Pieces'. Cazaux's Jetan description provides the rules I am most familiar with. Larry Smith's Jetan article is more difficult confronting as it does contradictions in interpreting the rules. However, I use a Smith version for Thoat, as non-jumping, both for being more effective implementation of the piece and for convenience to explore 'Multipath' topic. That way keeps fully six multipath piece-types from Jetan.
Novo Chess. War game chess variant from the Netherlands, 1937. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]1937's Novo Chess' central idea is predecessor to Greg Strong's 2004 Chess With Terrain. CWT's Mountain squares really just holes in the board (like Jacks & Witches'), CWT has River and Forest squares causing restrictions. Novo has Water and Railroad squares only certain pieces traverse. Novo's Land pieces are mostly restricted from Water squares, but most land pieces use the railroad tracks. This game has 13 piece-types on 96, CWT 10 piece-types on 201 squares not counting the 24 Mountain squares.
Maxima. Maxima is an interesting and exiting variant of Ultima, with new elements that make Maxima more clear and dynamic. (Cells: 76) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A better embodiment than Ultima, to whose family Maxima belongs. Yet does Maxima have one or two too many features(rules), such as its multiple winning conditions? Or maybe it has one more piece-type than optimum for natural play.
Achernar. ACHERNAR is a mix of the game ALTAIR and Western Chess. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Achernar's pieces can conditionally switch to squares in a different rank at option, in lieu of a move. Would not that kernel of an idea be better embodied in a 3-D version? Relying on adjacency, variously defined, 3-D Chesses more or less try to extend 2-D notions(motions) to 3-D. Instead, think of a piece's moving to, say, the perimeter of a 2-D board, then being able to 'advance' to overlaying or underlying game board(s) (3-D levels) to a number of squares a la Achernar. Achernar certainly has unrealized potential if the too-numerous piece enhancements were scaled back. Hypothetical three-dimensional Chesses, relying on positional as opposed to motional criteria, would retroactively broadly include the fifty-year-old Alice Chess (though not 100-year-old Kriegspiel)too as notionally 3-D.
Vyrémorn Chess. Large variant on two overlapping square boards. (Cells: 132) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Is there not a GC preset for Vyremorn yet? It seems balanced with 14 piece-types on 132 squares, close to what is theorized for an ideal form (8-12%) most likely to be playable?
Altair. Altair is a modern game with an oriental flavor. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Altair, Roberto Lavieri points out, is precursor to Achernar. With ten piece-types on 81 squares, this may be where Reducer originates. Or does Reducer come from still another game? I notice that Mage re-appears in Maxima but not in Achernar. Why does a 'triple rank switch' work best in Altair and Achernar both? And why call them 'files' when standard terminology is 'ranks'? It seems to me this maneuver, inherently more powerful than say castling or pawn promotion, if only because allowed repeatedly, calls for an actual 3-D embodiment, as Lavieri suggests. Altair's piece-types are less familiar than Maxima's, which largely come from Ultima. The cannibal provision seems to be attempt to counteract the extreme piece mobility.
I would play Altair if you make preset, while thinking about 3-D. One of Mage, or Gryphon, movements is Falcon-like. (See Falcon Chess) There is slight overlap between Gryphon and Falcon in patterns and squares they reach. Since Rook and Bishop are long-range, Gryphon does not add anything, but in fact detracts from the various pieces' mutual effectiveness. In games with standard Rook, Knight, Bishop, the Falcon in my view is the natural complement, as it is the mathematical complement, making four standard pieces. In general, you would not want to utilize Gryphon, Lavieri's Mage, with Rook and Bishop. And Lavieri figuring out the same thing leaves it out of Achernar.
Kramnik defended his title 7-7 by winning the last game against Leko. December 4,2004, at ChessBase English site Kasparov discusses Fischer Random Chess: Because of 'volume of opening theory', 'several million games', Kasparov cites the 'possibility of playing not all 960 position but to downsize them in number to 20-30 positions. Simply pick a position and play it for a year. Next year a different position. In actual fact from the 960 positions 95% of them, frankly speaking, are poison to your eyes.' Pritchard's 1994 Encyclopedia of CVs, page 10: 'John Warbis, chess editor of 'The Statesman' proposed that a governing body should announce a new array on the first day of each year which would operate for the next twelve months(Chess Amateur 1928).' That suggestion was made 75 years ago.
Altair. Altair is a modern game with an oriental flavor. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The CHANGE is in the nature of a liberal drop, always available for Lion, Overtaker, Diamond, and Grand-Bishop. No licentious drop as in Shogi, and in fact no promotees at all, just the 8 piece-types on 81 squares. The HORIZONTAL is a more restricted drop applying to Pawns also. The Mage is 800-year-old Gryphon. I don't expect to use the bizarre cannibal provision. Three long-range D,M,B; and five one- or two-step K,U,E,P,L. In comparison, Achernar, having standard pieces, is weak sister.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I play Chaturanga again now in GC, but have not yet checked Murray's 'HOC' about this apparent ambiguity. 1000-1400 yrs. ago there were not so many programmers or lawyers to obsess every eventuality. Seriously, pieces are much more active than the one-step-only pawns, so it hardly comes up. I interpret that if you move Pawn to an 8th square, when ineligible to promote, it sits there and cannot move again.
Charles Gilman does not describe Chaturanga promotion as it was played from yr. 600 for many centuries. It looks like Chat. Pawns stop and cannot move from the last rank on any one of three conditions: (1) if at e1 or d8 (2) if at d1 or e8 and Ferse is still in play (3) if at any other square-8 and one's paired same-array-filed pieces are on board. Shatranj, overlapping historically by yr. 700, primarily changes the very promotion rule to Ferse-only (what it is eventually called), eliminating those no-promotion cases. Makruk (What's New last week) preserves to present day that 'weak-Queen' ferz promotion. To players, no promotion at times after 6 steps brings to bear strategic considerations. It can mean waiting at rank 2 or 7; or moving to 1 or 8 and not promoting, but blocking or abetting checks, or even winning by forcing stalemate.
Closing Time. During certain turns, you must move pieces out of a central area of the board (`the pub'). (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]No. No. e4-e5 is legal. Betza refers to a King checked in Pub moving to another of the eight Pub squares, when Pub closed, rather than having to move out of it; presumably others can (occasionally)move within the 8 squares too. Mostly they would be busy having to move out. Betza intends that e4-e5 become 'illegal' when another move is required, namely a pawn's or piece's moving out of the eight squares on Move 8-9-10, or the usual getting King out of check from any square. Betza could explain this better, but he always got carried by his ideas. Is it required? I don't think Betza intends e4-e5 followed by e5-e6 to be required even though this version has Pub closed for three moves in a row. Both questions point to lack of clarity in the description. Betza says here 'A Chess Variant Tournament played with randomly chosen games which are less often played would take away the advantage of specialists.' Interesting: there's more than one way to skin a cat, i.e. pick games for tournaments, than stuffing the ballot box.
Index page of The Chess Variant Pages. Our main index page.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Congratulations to CVP upon completing ten yrs. Carrying on Sam Trenholme's tradition, CVP's first post was Jetan probably 15.1.95, this week. CVP's first 5 yrs. tilted towards serious alterations of standard western Chess: Fischer Random, review of ancestral mainstays Chaturanga and Shatranj etc. However, countervailing trend, oblivious to the idea of perfectibility, was already apparent. For close-to-FIDE forms, 8x10 became the favourite board size. Piece mixes were often unchanged from 400-yr-old Carrera's, yet never was there discussion of Marshall's(Chancellor's) being inherently flawed piece, detracting from both R&N. Another missed opportunity was when Deep Blue beat Kasparov in 1997, but to this day orthodox world is also house divided about implications of computer dominance. The second 5 yrs. saw Ralph Betza defying the usual bell-shaped design trajectory in vanishing right upon completion of his 2-3 most prolific yrs. Since 2000 CVP games more often add bizarre rules hardly intended to be played, and blend Shogi-derived and Xiangqi-based pieces with western types, and thankfully(!?) no end in sight. So far nothing by Sam Loyd and very little T.R.Dawson or Martin Gardner, probably because David Pritchard in ECV overlooks them too. Almost all CVP-recognized games predate 1995, as do thousands of other curiosities not within its scope. Excluding those, the best form devised within CVP's domain during the ten yrs. 1995-2004? I vote Switching Chess and Rococo, appropriately one from each of the two schools, standard heterodox and free-form.
Anti-King Chess. Each player has both a King and an Anti-King to protect; Anti-Kings are in check when not attacked. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Though V.R.Parton is mentioned in 2002-2004 comments and the write-up, Anti-King is extreme form of his CONTRAMATIC Chess 1961, not yet cited: (Summarized from p.70 Pritchard's ECV) (1)One's own move, that puts or leaves enemy King in check, loses. (2)If opponent's King is in check, a player must move to remove that check. Of course Aronson's version has King too and required continual checks for A-K etc., but it looks like special case with new array from among Parton's Contramatic games.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In accompanying Comment under Chaturanga here 11.May.02(Scroll down), Ralph Betza says, 'The average of my chess skill and my variant skill is far higher than anybody else--and I am not ashamed to claim that my average of the two skills is higher than the divine Parton or the superman Fischer...' Interesting. All the more unfortunate no word from Betza since about August 2003 precisely when Game Courier was coming aboard. Imagine play of Chess-Different-Armies at some Fischer level a la Betza.
Anti-King Chess. Each player has both a King and an Anti-King to protect; Anti-Kings are in check when not attacked. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I guess the large bold-face type and spacing convey emotion...or power? Seriously, the 2x2 matrix of alternatives is logical and useful, Peter. Here is even simpler more chess-like logic: in 1961 Parton's Contramatic Chess invents the contrary-win condition, that if the player who has just moved gives check, he loses. Anti-King Chess sets up initial arrays in which both players have that very losing condition imposed at the start. So, inevitable logic (without adding new element beyond the specified array) is that the one who removes that condition for himself, wins. That is how Anti-King derives from and is special or extreme form of Contramatic Chess. Nothing wrong with that: for ex., en passant added to FIDE-like rules is special case or possible logical extension. Four-fold table of most interesting instances for win in this obscure chess byway is absolutely worthwhile.
Duke. Piece from RennChess that steps one orthogonally then slides diagonally, or slides diagonally then steps one orthogonally.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The 'transcendental prelate' of David Paulowich's forced mate example goes to 'any square of the opposite colour adjacent to any of the squares a normal bishop can go to'--Chess Cafe's Tim Harding Kibitzer #31, invented by George Botterill in 1960's. This is unique way to present a problem with up to three alternative pieces that work. I estimate Transcendental Prelate, new here in CVP, to be less than Queen value, 8 or 9 points depending on board size and piece mix.
Fischer Random Chess. Play from a random setup. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]David Paulowich mentions playing against '2100 level opponent', meaning FIDE Chess at expert level. How would typical FIDE player do at CVs? Ralph Betza says (under Chaturanga)his 'average of the two skills is far higher than anybody else' including Parton and Fischer. It would be expected a 2300 Master or even 2600 Grandmaster maintain the level in extensive play of Carrera's or Capablanca-Random, or Grand Chess, because of the familiar piece moves. On contrary, a Grandmaster forced to play a lot of Ultima, Maxima, Chess-Different-Armies may never rise above 'Class A 1999'[in CV rating] however calculated. As far as that goes, why conflate general chess skill and success at FIDE game?
Of course I mean a 2400 Senior Master would stay that within FIDE chess. Ralph Betza's idea is for a combined rating. Suppose 9 CVs are equally rated with FIDE Chess making 10 games. Playing at 2000 for the 9 would come in at 2040 for fully-combined rating in this hypothetical case. Obviously it can help performance to know a variety of mind sports, like cross-training in athletics. Betza spoke of his being Master, so say he has been FIDE-rated 2200. He may very well have reached some 2700 at CVs, having played them 30 or more yrs. His combined rating, 2600 or whatever depending on the system and weightings, would be hard to beat. (Such CV ratings do not exist, but are further suggested by Paulowich's Comment here about PBM and Orthodox Chess.)
Falcon Chess 100. Falcon Chess played on an expanded board of a 100 squares with special Pawn rules. (12x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a good alternative I can endorse(US Patent 5690334). A Grand-Chess-like array works to keep Pawns fully engaged, and the promotion option is less radical for chess purists than original FC100. I prefer conversion to F and R both always being available because they are so equal in value, and that simple alternative is always a tough choice.
There is no promotion to Queen in standard 8x10 FC (USP5690334). There in actual play, promotion choices turn out roughly as follows: Rook 40% of the time, Falcon 40%, Knight 10%, Bishop 10%. So, unlike the old orthodox chess, a player really wants a N or B sometimes. Given the constraint of 100 squares, Aronson's version here is about as good as my FC100. Simply Aronson adds the empty back ranks to standard 8x10 FC and complexifies promotion rules, to distinguish a new version. That's fine:(FC patent claims cover all 453,600 initial positions including these two.) For serious chess, I don't like two promotion Zones as well, like in both of these 100-sq. FC forms. Thanks for the attention to my invention.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, I should have noted Ralph Betza's CVP comments too are signed 'ghohmon', when quoting his (Chat. 11.May.02) statement 'the average of my chess skill and variant skill is far higher than...divine Parton or superhuman Fischer.' The very same Comment here begins, 'Chess variant people often like to make new rules more than they like to play the games; and often also they are less skillful at playing the games...' Lots more insight in just that one comment.
Falcon Chess 100. Falcon Chess played on an expanded board of a 100 squares with special Pawn rules. (12x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In USP5690334 Independent Claim One covers the one preferred embodiment 'Robert Fischer' refers to. The second independent claim 9 covers the 453,600 permutations I refer to. Having only skimmed 'Fischer's' comment, I shall now read it and respond more fully.
Who is Robert Fischer and what is his interest in Falcon Chess? Not a CVP member, his 'Poor' for Falcon Chess 100, the game under review, makes no chess insight; I think it is quite a nice game. Besides copyright, which Chess Variant Page always conscientiously respects, Falcon Chess is covered by USP5690334. Independent Claim 1 is for the one most preferred form as in drawings. Independent Claim 9 covers all the symmetrical permutations of initial arrays. Operable words in claim 9 (not in the CVP text) are 'all at predetermined locations.' True, I did my own legal work by way of undergraduate law courses I had at Harvard University toward my degree there and use of David Pressman's 'Patent It Yourself'. Go ahead and challenge it in court since you have the threatening tone; or pay the $9000(approx.)fee for re-examination. I believe I have correctly followed US Patent practice to the letter and USPTO allowed my amended claims, which include the multiple arrays. Sorry you resent our 100-year-old games-patent tradition, including such venerable stalwarts as Scrabble and Monopoly(They too were broadly claimed--why they did not have significant copycats). For Peter Aronson and other colleagues at CVP, I welcome Falcon variations that respect the Fischer-Random-Chess-like nature of its patent claims. Examples using Falcon already are Antoine Fourriere's Bifocal Chess and Aronson's and my Complete Permutation Chess.
Respecting copyright and for the record, FRNBKQBNRF, what Aronson is now calling 'Decimal', I name 'CHEOPS FALCON CHESS'in my 03.October.04 Comment under Falcon Chess Patent Excerpts here in CVP. For any historical interest,'FRNBKQBNRF' is first written down in 1994 in my Inventor's Notebook, with each page signed and periodically witnessed. At that time I wrote out all 120 'paired-piece-symmetrical' variations of the ten spaces (5x4x3x2x1) figuring K-Q as the fifth 'pair'. Of course, I did not attempt to list all 10,000 to 400,000 possibilities, virtually all of them being of no real chess interest. Even among the 120, there are only a handful that are important. FRNBKQBNRF is certainly one of them for 10x10 or 10x9; and it is called CHEOPS but DECIMAL is okay too.
Another peculiar assertion of 'Robert Fischer' begins 'If US Patent examiners were competent in the field of chess variants...' Well, USPTO Examiner William Stoll, who handles Falcon Chess, together with Benjamin Layno are highly competent, specializing in this class, the two having examined most of the games patents during 20+ yrs. I imagine they have knowledge commensurate with our CVP regulars and would even fit right in here. The decisions about Falcon Chess came in 1997, when USP5690334 issued, based on disclosure 11.January.95, coincidentally days before Chess Variant Page's first post, a time of course when Internet chess hardly started and this website's evolving culture did not exist. Think of Falcon Patent and Copyrights -- and other such CV material -- as pre-existing conditions for development of on-line chess play.
Bifocal Chess. A game without capture : win by checkmate with a neutral piece! (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Bifocal and my Dice-Mate Chess were both invented under the constraint that Roberto Lavieri laid down last summer for no captures. This Bifocal implementation utilizes my two favourite chess pieces, Falcon and Cannon/Canon. I wonder whether Falcon could also be worked as a variation into Fourriere's two games I played in Game Courier, Jacks and Witches highly-recommended and Pocket-Polypiece43, the latter on a larger-than-43-square board that Fourriere once speculated about.
Capablanca's chess. An enlarged chess variant, proposed by Capablanca. (10x8, Cells: 80) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Carrera's, Bird's, Chancellor, Capablanca, Grand, Grotesque, Aberg's Capablanca, New Chancellor's, Cagliostro's, Gast's, General's, Arch-Chess, Grander -- [That's only thru 'G' so far.] -- each and all have the very same 8 types of pieces and relative merit. Each version argues for a particular initial position and somewhat trivial promotion or castling differences. Personally I rate Grand Chess in the lowest because of all the wasted space in 40% piece density: the Knights are just lost there. Capablanca 10x10 is cumbersome too and he knew it, so he went to 8x10. No one tries a 'Capablanca 10x12', presumably because Pawns nine-steps-apart fly in the face of some (instinctive?) unarticulated standard. It does not take much feel for the game, or sense of chess geometry, to reject some algorithms out of hand and even for sake of experimention, to rule out certain combinations, pieces and boards.
Big Battle
. Large (10x10), commercial variant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Never commented, Big Battle at least attempts to solve the spacing problem inherent in 10x10. Here Pawns always have 1, 2, or 3 option if not capturing. Prince is Amazon(Q+N). Queen is enhanced by ability to leap over adjacent piece. Knight may double hop from initial position. King becomes more elusive as 1- or 2-square leaper. Conservatively only seven piece-types: usually 8 or even 9 is ideal when a decimal variant is sought. The extreme power of the new piece-pair Prince is offset by powerful Pawns. Nice try.
Big Board Chess. On a 10 by 10 board with individual opening setup. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Big Board here has similarity to Quintanilla's Switching Ch., and to last week's Lizarzaburu's XYMYX (a version of earlier Synchronous), and to any 'Random Chess' for that matter, in the following respect. All of them can in turn be applied to any other CV. Schonfelder's idea is to have a placement phase instead of an initial array. That gets rid of opening theory right away. In Schonfelder's preferred embodiment, 25 pieces would take a long time to place (anywhere in own half of board). See the sample game of Schonfelder, Beyer and Buntz. Now we can also combine further. For ex., take Brown's Centennial Chess, a relatively unheralded game. Play it with Schonfelder's placement (for the first 26 'moves') and Quintanilla's Switching adjacently throughout: Big-Board-Switching-Centennial Chess, theoretically very playable.
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Described in third from last paragraph above, 'Generic-Advanced-Pawns' 10x10, with G = Generic piece: rank c xxxppppxxx, rank b pppGGGGppp, rank a RNBFQKFBNR. A second recommended array 'Falcon-Back': rank c pppppppppp, rank b RNBGKQGBNR, rank a xxFxxxxFxx, centering Falcon behind Bishop. I declare both are substantially like claims of USP#5690334 by the legal doctrine of equivalents. I recently requested Quintanilla to make pre-sets for some Falcon games for anyone to play, but with the string of 'F's for it since year 2000, I don't know what the issue is or that I seek attention for FC. Who saw this week's PBS Jack Johnson story? Methods Patents are not some latter-day Mann Act. Play Falcon Chess on your Gothic Chess board all you want, in order to condemn it.
Rolling Kings. Kings must move along a predetermined path. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is so suitable a fit for '32-Turn Contest', it's almost as if someone invented the game and then made up a contest to go with it. Not really how it happened to be designed, Rolling Kings' drawback is in being more like a study than a game to play, as paucity of Game Courier scores shows. Here you learn what 'bustrophaedonically' means, that 'oxlike' is not the same as 'bullheaded'.
Positional 3-D Chess. 3D games using position to determine how to move from board to board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thanks, Fergus. Yes, Tony Quintanilla said he would be busy until February. These three games in Positional 3D Chess Quintanilla said he has provisional presets and to cross-index as games. Otherwise I shall ask Roberto Lavieri if he can help make presets, since we agree to play 8x8x2 in current Kibitz.
Rococo. A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Game Courier 'Open Kibitz' game of Rococo is apparently dropped after just a few moves. There had been a move a day extensively kibitzed last month. I don't think, upon write-up of a 'new' CV, we can sanctimoniously say 'Have you played it?' unless there is serious play at a variety of levels. Missing ingredients are game scores well-annotated and focus occasionally on a CV as actually played. The endless string of method-of-exhaustion 'What's-New' Game-Rules til kingdom come could lead to something more trenchant at times.
Jumping Chess. Pieces capture by jumping. Board has extra edge squares making it 10x10. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Jumping Chess is another contest winner (Aronson won several contests). This one is not recommended, mostly because generalized jumping eliminates the uniqueness Knight has. There are only two Game Courier log-scores the last one a year ago, indicating an apparent verdict. Besides, somewhere Aronson himself says jumping-chess concepts, or jumping pieces generally, were invented before. I did not bother to look that comment up, or jumping predecessors in Pritchard's 'Encyclopedia Chess Variants'. This set of rules is just one from a potentially infinite set of sets of game rules featuring jumping pieces. All that said, the board is important towards development of later Rococo. Also, jumping Pawn was a work-in-progress to its Cannon Pawn. With David Howe's contribution, they hit a home run with Rococo! Jumping Chess is a strike out.
Chess-Battle. War variant from the Soviet-Union, 1933. (12x12, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In this 1933 game from Russia, Cavalry is (Knight+Camel), but over enemy pieces it requires a specific pathway, only one being allowed. Both (N+C), or 'Gnu', and (N+Zebra), or 'Gazelle', have been used sometimes under varying names, both compounds about ten times in Pritchard's 'ECV'. Only once in Pritchard is there a piece that is (N+C+Z), a triple-compound leaper. Cazaux's 2001 Gigachess here in CVP re-uses that thirty-year-old (N+C+Z)leaper calling it Buffalo. Gilman's 2004 Great Herd is apparently the first ever use of (C+Z), or 'Bison', in a game.
Chess on a Really Big Board. Chess on multiple chess boards. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Continuing alphabetically thru the 'Large CVs', informally and retrospectively, 'Chess on a Really Big Board' is more like Ralph Betza's changed style by 2001-2004. Gradually Betza becomes equally interested in being entertaining as CV analysis. Making his game rules, or piece-value methods, clear was more of a priority in 1970's and 1980's. Never fatuous, Betza's sarcasm always has a point and this makes another 'fun' Betza 'read'. However, sorting out the CVs proposed from the irony becomes problematic. Is Betza serious or not about a 256-square board? Here he is both serious, and he is not, about 576 squares in a Chess embodiment. Somewhat prolix bombast and in-your-face leave-taking come to mark Betza's last 20-30 CVP pieces(and Comments).
Carrera's Chess. Large chess variant from 17th century Italy. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Mark Thompson in the classic article 'Defining the Abstract' uses the term 'their present perfection' referring to families of games including chess. Unfortunately CVP has never reprinted that article. I probably would have changed use of verb 'perfect' if Thompson's comment had not intervened. I mean 'to make better'. I think of the various Carrera embodiments as like rolling terrain with higher hills hard to discern with our tools which protrude, but with limited time we make the best estimate, and give supporting facts, including game scores.
Ultima. Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In contrast to the Carrera family, which have less differentiation, Ultima-like games are more sharply delineated in their features, metaphorically like USA Colorado's 54 'fourteeners', not somewhat similar hills of Carrera-Capablanca terrain. I would much rather have invented the 'Rococo peak' within the Ultima family than the 'Gothic hill' in its family; yet that one stands out within its environment.
Chessma 84. Game with elements of Chess and Ultima on a board with two levels with special corner squares. (2x(10x10), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Continuing alphabetically retrospectively thru 'Large CVs': Do not be deceived by seeing 132 squares. Most of the squares are common to both halves, and there are only 84 unique spaces to move. There are 14 piece-types, the same number as Large Variant Contest winner Vyremon Chess on its 132 squares. The independent two rows of the two halves evince vague similarity to Altair, which comes later. Antoine Fourriere knows I like Jacks & Witches, Pocket Polypiece, Bifocal, and Chess on Larger Board, all his inventions. This Chessma might be too complex to go in detail into its strategy.
Alpha Centauri. A very complex game, somewhat exotic, with some elements from Rococo. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since Lavieri's Altair turned out to be a superlative game, to my surprise beyond Excellent, Alpha Centauri probably is too. Further a priori evidence for that is Maxima's being Excellent, as everyone knows. Ten types of pieces on 81 squares is within the realm of playability. The coloured board facilitates 'Change' and 'Horizontal' movements, too technical to explain in one sentence. Read the rules. Alpha Centauri's Change and Horizontal are obviously works-in-progress towards Altair, having those same features.
Coherent Chess. Variant on 9 by 9 board with special knights. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Having rated Carlos Cetina's Coherent Chess 'Excellent' before, I like the annotated sample game from 1998 that actually takes up most of the text. Sissa squares overlap Rook squares, some Crooked Bishop squares, and Nightrider squares. Sometimes Sissa is two-way, sometimes four-way.
Alpha Centauri. A very complex game, somewhat exotic, with some elements from Rococo. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]How do you rotate anyway? Orthogonally, or diagonally, or a combination? Why not just drop the Rotor and put in a Falcon, or a Mage, or a Cannon/Canon? --in order to make it a playable game like Altair. Actually, Rotor does as a piece very much what Fourriere's Pocket Polypiece does continuously for the entire game.
Carrera's Chess. Large chess variant from 17th century Italy. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]What was really written 'years ago': Carrera's Chess was written up about 1617. This one's eight-piece mix is still being debated. I guess it stood the test of time. 'Mad-Queen', now 'FIDE' or Orthodox, Chess developed about 1480. Mediaeval ingenuity had more common sense than we do today. Or, think about the heyday of Chess Variants and novelties (before these poor degenerate times): Sam Loyd (1841-1911), Henry Ernest Dudeney (1847-1930), Thomas Raynor Dawson(1889-1951). Use the hat-pin method to pick any game developed after 1950. Would Loyd or Dudeney or Dawson devote more than an hour or an evening, if that, to 99% of them? They did not need a method of exhaustion to allocate their time, because they still had standards. (Actually Dudeney is fond of looking at every possible permutation for his number puzzles.)
Assassination Chess. On a 10 by 10 board with teleporters and assassins. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Still in the 'ABC's in review of Large CVs, here's one never commented, never played probably except by Blanchard and Hogarty. Despite the name 'Assassination'(1998), it appears the game will revolve around the ten Teleporters. A T switches any other piece to its own square and then itself goes to Home Row, i.e. rank 3(8). I think there is only same-colour 'switching', but it is not entirely clear. This 'swap' is like Swapper of Rococo (V.R. Parton's Chimaerine), except the T goes elsewhere. That makes it different from Switching Chess' way of swapping too. The disruption in established positions 'T's can wreak is reminiscent of Lavieri's Alpha Centauri and its Rotor, just commented; and having a whole row (the Home Row) for the Teleporter to go connects to 'Positional 3D Chess', itself a panoply of games featuring promotion to any square in an entire row.
Riveting discussion (including remarks under Gothic Ch). Not having read the 'View Entires', this discussion is reminiscent of Chess-Variant-Page-encouraged posts in 2003 of 72-times-commented Constitutional Characters about the nuances of 'triagonal'. For all the intelligent remarks: -- How many angels CAN stand on the head of a pin? How about 100 lines of computer code right about here? Or that deus ex machina 'Robert Fischer' popping in? Only partly flippantly, I mean to convey [that a lot of] this topic does not do much CV analysis.
Beastmaster Chess. Large chess variant with a fantasy theme, emphasizing leaping pieces. (8x11, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yet within the 'ABC's of 'Large CVs': Some games have to be judged by their unifying concept more than playability. It is a subtle distinction that needs to be made with the proliferation of forms because of computers. One example is 'Rolling Kings', a fine 'idea game'. Beastmaster Chess is centered around the plan of having all leaping pieces. That has only been tried a few times before: an instance is Cavalier Chess, though the latter is not a Large CV and has one non-leaper. Beastmaster extends the leaps up to five steps away in the 'Wyvern'. By 'leapers' we tend to mean 'oblique leapers'. Of dubious playability, Beastmaster is still a great notion. It does not go so far as to include any of Charles Gilman's Bemes(11,3), Soll(7,4), Albatross(9,2), Deacon(8,7), Stork(7,2) etc. of 'From Ungulates Outward'.
Bird's Chess. Chess variant on 10 by 8 board from 19th century England. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Bird's Chess deserves its first comment. After 250 years Carrera's natural compounds (R+N) and (B+N) are moved toward center in initial position for first time by Henry Bird, a chess master. Is the further centralization of Bird's 'Guard'(R,N) in Gothic Chess a slight improvement? I think so. Is Knight centralized to d,e,f,or g also playable? Yes. It's better to cover all Pawns in array when there are so many long-range pieces. Bird fails to do this since c-pawn is not protected, but credit him with playtesting his own inventions. This family of chess has four Knight-capable pieces out of ten in the array.
Camblam. On a 12x12 board with archers, catapults and other enhanced pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The squares are not in fact skewed, like Ultra-Slanted Elevator has squares offset. It's the programming, I can visualize it fine. Nine piece-types is minimal for 144 squares. Six of them sound FIDE-like but mostly they're not. Bishops and Rooks enhanced by four-way one-steps their other way (Shogi-promotion-like), and up-to-three-step Pawns make sense. Knight enhanced is where this falls apart: in addition to own Knight-squares, N goes more or less to Camel AND Gilman's (1,5) Zemel squares. (Gilman never intends Zemel squares actually to be used.) There are Rook-modified 'Catapults', rifle-like 'Archers', and quasi-Sissa-like 'Prince'. Enough said, P-rated.
Bird's Chess. Chess variant on 10 by 8 board from 19th century England. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Charles Gilman is one interested in names and has used Bird's 'Equerry'. From David Pritchard's ECV: To fight 'book knowledge', in 1874 Bird's version went to 10x8, d1 and g1 representing generic pieces. Quickly he recommended (R+N) at d1 and (B+N) at g1. He had 9x8 alternately but that one's piece was (R+P)! There were other 9x8 forms trying Camel(1,3 leaper). Since Ben Foster's Chancellor Chess(9x9) toward 1900 picked up on (R+N) and Capablanca after 1920 (R+N) and (B+N), we tend to highlight Bird's RNB(R+N)QK(B+N)BNR.
Al-Ces. Variant on 10 by 10 board with 30 pieces per player. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABC' Large-CV thread: Charles Gilman's Comment here is concerned with the naming. I would cite the 13 piece-types in making strategy difficult to picture. Having different moving and capturing capabilities for three of them results in effectively dealing with 16 piece-type-moves. 16/100 (= 16%) for piece-types is rather unfriendly to players. However, the mix of FIDE types and exotic pieces is usually good practice.
Bach Dang Chess. On board with 100 squares, with crafts and other special pieces and rules. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABC-Large-CV thread': 'The rules are simple' says Vu Q Vo. 8 piece-types, after predecessor Quang Trung Chess has seven. Do its piece powers overcome the low 'Xiangqi-like' piece density of 40%? At first blush, no, Counsellor is weak, and Elephant(=Camel) is weak and unpopular. Chariot here is a nice piece as a cross between classical Cannon and T.R.Dawson's Grasshopper. However, Chariot does not have enough supporting material. Why call the Bishop-mover a 'Cannon'? That's confusing even though just nomenclature. Also confounding is having a central 'palace' between files c and h for two pieces but maybe that works. The new piece 'Ship' is somwhat Sissa-like. The game is reminiscent of Outback Chess in being an unusual mix of piece-types. This Bach Dang would have to be played. It may have unexpected merit.
Alice Chess. Classic Variant where pieces switch between two boards whenever they move. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating](Large CVs 'ABC' thread): David Pritchard says 'Alice Chess is confusing. Blunders are commonplace.' Antoine Fourriere's excellent script on strategy added within clarifies a lot. Still Alice Ch. is more of an 'idea game' than one of the highest playability. Alice is compatible with 'Positional 3D Chess' concept in article of that name.
Bach Dang Chess. On board with 100 squares, with crafts and other special pieces and rules. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The previous 'Good' is for Quang Trung Chess, an okay-enough embodiment. The inventor says about the 'Ship' added in Bach Dang, 'Please figure out why it is so!', dividing board into quadrants. Answer: to visualize 45-degree and 225-degree turns. One group of Ship's destination squares is 'Zebra squares' at (2,3) distance from departure square. Ship is a failed piece, worsening Quang Trung. QT establishes unique alternative winning condition: Pawn in the last row remaining uncaptured. That is the sense of the special c to h range. Maybe Excellent were QT played.
Avon. Four-player game; two players sharing the White and two the Black pieces. (8x10, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABC,LargeCV': 'The form of partnership is suggestive of the card game Bridge, appropriate for a river with two such distinguished cities on it and thus so impressive a range of bridges.'--Charles Gilman, supporting the provision that one player drops out at times, becoming 'Dummy' like in Bridge. When the theme cuts so sharply across the rules, it probably detracts from play-worthiness. Excellent 'theme': a third criterion to judge games, to go with playability and central idea. There are 8 Marshalls(R+N).
Beau Monde Chess. Large variant where pieces move with variations of the Queen move. (11x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV' -- Beau Monde has 100 squares, a decimal variant. Queen, Amazon; 'Marquis' and 'Baroness' are Falcon and Hunter from Falcon-Hunter. 'Beauty' is a cross between Renaissance Chess' Duke and Cavalier. 'Princess' is (Cannon + Canon). 'Duchess' moves queenlike but diagonally must reflect once off either an edge or a piece. 'Countess' is a rifle piece that after a radial move fires at 45 degrees. Having half a dozen extreme-heterodox features, some original, could better be distributed over several different games. Having both FIDE and Berolina Pawns, on top of everything else, even more convoluted.
Attrition Chess. Played on an 11x10 board, each player starts with 33 pieces. (11x10, Cells: 110) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': 11x3=33 pieces to start. Forfeit one: 33-1=32. Now the game begins. The idea here is not to checkmate but to achieve bare King. Each turn is both a forfeit of one own piece and a move. The goal reduces to whoever makes more captures wins.
The Courier Game. Description of Courier Chess, with printable pieces and board. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Two Couriers move modern-Bishop-like and with Rooks are the strongest pieces. One 'Man' is non-royal King-like mover. One 'Schleich' moves like Wazir (Weijden's 'Spy' of Novo Chess is more interesting). With or without the four-fold assize-mobilization shown in the other Courier Chess link, b-Pawns, i-Pawns, and k-Pawns are all unprotected in initial position. Quelle horreur! Three unguarded Pawns in array against four long-range units! Apparently Courier Chess culture lasted 600+ years.
Delegating Chess. 84 square variant in which pieces delegate moving powers. (7x12, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Moving on to 'DEF' (with some 'ABC' ones yet to review), the triads help organize another brief exegesis. Delegating Chess is one that has excellent central idea but lesser play-worthiness. The concept is that a piece gains its movement ability from any friendly piece that can presently move to its square. This specific embodiment of a rule used before makes sense in having strong pieces and narrow board, so King cannot slither away.
Chancellor Chess. On a 9 by 9 or 9 by 8 board with a piece with combined rook and knight moves. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Never commented since posted 8 yrs. ago, Chancellor Chess studies were devised by the American problemist par excellence Sam Loyd(1841-1911) around the turn of the 20th century. Puerto Rican Gabriel Maura's Modern Chess also has 9x9 embodiment, invented in 1960's, but has 'Minister'(B+N) rather than Foster's 'Chancellor'(R+N).
Divergent Chess. All pieces capture different than they move without capturing. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': All pieces move in capture like their 'opposite', loosely taken to mean that B-R, K-Q, and Knight-Guard are opposites. So, for ex. Bishop captures like a Rook (but otherwise moves its own Bishop way); King captures like a Queen; and so on. Knight goes diagonal-straight to capture, else the reverse; the new piece 'Guard' goes straight-diagonal to capture, else the reverse. Pawn already has 'split' capability between capture and non-capture. The central idea is fine, but 14 ways of moving (Michael Nelson's move-type density?), more or less, despite duplications among pieces, are confusing to play. Promotion of pieces(yes, pieces) is not clear: I think it means a piece at last rank reverts to FIDE normality. That is not logical here for King which would lose power. The particular set of rules has a few problems.
Cardmate. Chess variant on board with 100 squares, inspired by card games. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Before reading on, peruse 'Cardmate' and make a salient comment for practice. Cards and chess are used together in Knightmare Chess, adapted from Tempete sur l'Echiquier. Dice and chess were used for centuries from year 600. 'Fortunately these rules can be relaxed at will.' That sounds suspicious. 'Games usually last around 80 moves, give or take 40 moves.' That clinches it as a hoax: not altogether incoherent, characteristic of any charade. A special deck has variously from 52 to 56 cards. The cards and suits correspond to specific assizes. They stand as well for a position and a move, like 'diagonally forward', never mind 1,2,or 3. 'Vous transformez l'un de vos Cavaliers en Chameau' works a lot better. Stay with Knightmare if necessary. Cards and Chess still have unrealized potential.
Free Chess. Dissociate movement-abilities from physical pieces. The opening setup is an empty board. (13x13, Cells: 156) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': 'The grammar is convoluted, but the rule should make sense (if you read it a few dozen times.)' --Scarmani, at 'Objective'. No thanks. Just one or two rules derived from Free Chess might make a good game. Of no real playability as it is, this 13x13 has great unifying idea and ties in with today's Divergent Chess. The latter separates pieces' attributes as to move or capture. Free Chess abstractly sets up empty board and 'attribute reserve' numbering 32 in hand. Each turn either places an attribute or moves a piece. Several may stand on the same square because they may be attributes or combinators. A combinator-attribute may be captured without its even being a piece. One clever rule: an attribute's, placed on opponent's piece, subtracting that one's same attribute. That combinator-Kings may move through check: also true in Divergent Chess. Critique: (1) 'Opawn as 1- or 2-mover is arguably Queenlike. (2) What is the incentive to use a royal attribute? (3) Why two Knight attributes becoming Nightrider, as there are other possibilities?
Dabbabante Chess.. Played on a 10x10 board with Super Dabbabah pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Good write-up by Peter Aronson of what is nevertheless a poor game. Reaching only one-fourth of the squares, Dabbabante does not add anything to chess, making Dab. Chess an inadequate 'idea' game not worth playing. The weak novelty stems from un-chess-like division of basic pieces into Wazir, Ferz, Alfil and Dabbaba, whence Dabbaba-Rider('-Leaper') as some inevitable derivation. Alfil itself at least, as in Shatranj, by movement transverse to 'orthogonal' Pawn, creates interesting chess combinations. Yet the piece Dabbabante might become compelling with Berolina Pawns instead, together with minor change of other piece(s) in 10x10 array. V.R. Parton shows no inclination to follow through in plopping Dabbabante in lieu of Chancellor and Archbishop in decimal chess.
Eight-Stone Chess. On an 8 by 9 board with eight neutral stones. (8x9, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Heretofore unrated: great game for all of its novelty, play-worthiness, clarity of rules. One-rank extension of board, and own-piece-adjacent swap with Stone, and no immediate reversal of a Stone step or leap -- these appear to solve any problems in the simplest way.
The Duke of Rutland's Chess. Large variant from 18th century England. (14x10, Cells: 140) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Judgment about each game occurs within its 'environment' of related games and historical precedents. One term used in patents worldwide is how 'crowded' the 'prior art' is. One principle used by CV designers is novelty, as applied to both pieces and rules. Here Crowned Rook(R+K) non-royal makes debut as new piece, whilst the other heterodox long-ranger Concubine is used before by Carrera. Also facing the exigency of having ten ranks is Pawn's three-square option. Chess master Philidor played Duke of Rutland's Chess in mid-18th century. There is one unprotected Pawn initially, the l-Pawn, versus Courier Chess' three unguarded. DRC would probably play a lot like most of the older Turkish Great Chesses I-VI. Estimate their average number of moves typically around 60-80 per score.
Cobra Chess. Variant on 10 by 10 board with new pieces, including the Cobra. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': The main novelty is the 'Cobra'; Peterson is wrong that 'Duke' as (N+K) is a new piece: there are usages of (N+K) found in Pritchard's ECV. Cobra moves like the Rook in Xiangqi along points, but occupies all four adjoining squares. Lavieri's comment about high-power density shows Cobra's vulnerability. Peterson is off the mark that it would be of Queen value here; instead more like 5 or 6 versus any of its Carrera-compound's 8 or 9. Cobra can capture one or two at a time, but can itself be captured at any of its four squares by any piece. Average innovation that will be useful in establishing a baseline for other pieces that occupy, or have effects over, more than one cell (like we use Sissa to compare riders which change direction in that group).
Russian fortress chess. An old Russian variant for four players. (Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Once upon a time in Russia, Queen had the added power of the Knight. There have also been grandmasters openminded and not locked in the perpetual 64-sq. thought-rut; so it seems Capablanca and Tchgorin played this Fortress Chess in London. Virtually, any mate wins because that one's pieces are removed from the partnership. Though 192 squares, with four players games are not necessarily extremely long. Critique: What about cheating signals of word or gesture not considered a problem in present-day computer play?
Black Hole Chess. Variant on board with 100 squares with hole in middle of board, combination pieces and hiding squares for kings. (9x11, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': (9*11)-1+2=100. 14th-century Tamerlane Chess(112 sqs.) also has one square tacked on at each end for King to hide if he wants to. Maxima(76 sqs.) has two extra sqs.(Goal) per side back of the pieces and supplemental winning condition. Beau Monde(100 sqs.) has 1x2 hole in the center of its board. The Central Squares(100 sqs.) and Jacks and Witches(84 sqs.) both have 2x2 center holes. The Pit(84 sqs.) has 4x4 vacancy centrally.
Game Courier Tournament #2. Sign up for our 2nd multi-variant tournament to be played all on Game Courier.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If I have skimmed the thread correctly, I did not play in Tournament 1, now sign up for #2 early.
Drop Chess. Players can select from nine chess armies on an 8x8 or 9x9 board. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': 'Drop Chess' a misnomer, it is a Chess-Different-Armies copycat. Nine armies mean eighty-one new games. None of Ralph Betza's elan or panache here, no Betza-style reasoning and rigour. 'I would just like someone's else's opinion if the armies are equally balanced or not' --McKinnis. Sweep this one aside and start from scratch if wanting to add teams to 25-year-old Chess-Unequal-Armies.
Cross-Eyed Chess. Two player variant on cross-shaped board. (12x12, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Cross-Eyed Chess makes good use of unpopular Camel, which can turn corners annoyingly here. And Nahbi itself of course is one-path rider to the eight Zebra squares and eight Knight squares, plus Cannon-pawnlike (requiring intervening piece) Dabbabah in noncapturing mode. The Pawn's becoming Wazir-moving Ferz-capturing within the sixteen squares enhances the interest.
Extinction chess. Win by making your opponents pieces of one type extinct. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Excellent ideation, average playability. (The extinction-notion could apply to those CVs >71 (or >79) squares, the subject matter of this cross-thread.)
Medieval Chess played in GC now is perfect example of Larry Smith's 'advantage in exchange'. In both GC games there has been one piece exchange so far after close to 30 moves[a 3rd game, zero]. Four pieces are of about the same value: Knight, Longbowman, Seer, Swordsman. 'If a game were populated with pieces of near equal value, the advantage of the exchange might not be significant.' --Smith in this thread. Few sacrifices suggest themselves for positional advantage; Medieval Ch. is from its onset like Orthodox FIDE Chess in rewarding caution.
The mathematical formula I worked out a year ago for M(=#Moves) helps explain the flatness of play in Medieval Chess in Game Courier. It simply can be expected to have a large number of turns on average for its 76 squares. Building on Smith's Exchange Gradient, #M = 3.5N/(P(1-G)), with P Power Density and G calculated as (PV1/PV2 + PV1/PV3...+ PV1/PVn + PV2/PV3...+ PV2/PVn...+ PV(n-1)/PVn))/(n(n-1)/2). That gives Gradient, but we want (1-G) for right directionality. For Medieval with Q9, P1, R5, and excluding K all the other pieces 3 points, G is 0.614, very high, representing not much benefit in exchanges. Plugged in above, it translates to predicted long-term average of 62 moves, long games for 76 squares. Contrast that to Orthodox Chess(64sq) Design Analysis giving just ave. 34 #M and Capablanca(80sq) ave. 38 #Moves in Comments there.
Back-to-Back Chess. Both sides start "Back-to-Back", seperated by an uncrossable line on a specially-shaped 100 square board. (14x8, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': 'The middle four columns of the central rows cannot be crossed.' Unusual way to add to 100 sqs., the odd array is relatable to two 84-sq. ones: yesterday's Cross-Eyed Chess and also Viking Chess, where both B & W arrays face the same direction. Any Random Chess serves the same purpose for those who cannot let go. Pawn's going laterally too makes it playable: Average, not worth a Poor because we reserve that for real botch-ups.
Field Chess. On an 8x12 board with 8 extra pieces per side (Archers). (8x12, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Written up admittedly as sort of exercise, Field Chess is a good enough practice. Archers are strong Pawns though not of Cannon Pawn value, because Archers are 'progressive' going forward only. They go straight forward 1 or 2 whether capturing or not, or one diagonal only to capture. It looks to be important to get B and N through to start picking off what amounts to 16 pawns, worth thinking about; which would work better with additional back rank piece (Falcon would be perfect there). Or, a good embodiment is just Archer-Pawns numbering 8 and no Orthodox Pawns on the elongated board.
Besiege Chess. Double height chess board, where black is surrounded by white. (8x16, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': This is notionally like today's Back-to-Back Chess in being a different array here doubled. Gilman thinks it has merit, but Black is disadvantaged by centralized King.
Game Courier Tournament #2. Sign up for our 2nd multi-variant tournament to be played all on Game Courier.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is also a Positional Advantage Equation, to go with the Move Equation, both of which I am incorporating into an article to submit, following Mark Thompson's suggestion. There will be rigorous definitions and supporting examples applied to specific sets of rules. We used this thread at will mostly a year ago to test ideas for formulaic evaluation of CVs.
Courier 'de la Dama'. Courier Chess with a Modern Queen and Crooked Bishops. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': In the more conventional Courier 'de la Dama' several changes, the major adding the modern Queen, eliminate the three unprotected Pawns of Courier Chess. Fortunately, unlike with Carrera's Chess copycats, only a handful have seen fit to re-design classic Courier Chess, despite the three array-unguarded Pawns. I would opt to play that original, even with its slower pace, for historic interest and this one's being rather uncreative alteration.
Flee!. Variant on 16 by 16 board with strong royal piece. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': 256 squares. 'The 3rd to 14th rows start off empty.' Of seven piece-types, five are described in Betza funny notation. On 16x16 some pieces (not Pawns) have directional ranges of one square. King is 'BRAND'. So, King goes like Bishop or Rook or Knight or Alfil or Dabbabah. That way games will last a lot longer. No rating for 6 years til now.
Conveyor Chess. Large variant with conveyor belt on middle of board. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': 'Its main feature is the central conveyor belt.' Would that were so. The main feature is 14 piece-types. There are three types of pawns; the pieces are the regular and stock variant ones. This conveyor fails because any movement along it dumps piece to f7 or g6 only. Novo Chess has better conveyor-like embodiment in its Railroad and Water paths, where any stopping-square is possible.
Archchess. Large chess variant from 17th century Italy. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': With low piece-density(40%) and Pawn's needing strengthening by later CV standards, Archchess from about 1683 features a new piece Centurion. Squirrel is now the favoured name for the type of three-directional two-square leaper. One good use of Centurion/Squirrel is 2002 Quintessential Chess. Contrast the power density here with 17th-century Carrera Chess' high power density. Archchess has not so many major pieces and two more rows than Carrera's; both factors contribute to its relatively low PD. The two forms of chess originate in southern Europe which had the best players then.
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