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Comments by GeorgeDuke
Courier 'de la Dama'. Courier Chess with a Modern Queen and other changes for more dynamic play. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Crooked Bishop must turn 90 degrees each step. It is a multipath chess piece after my article of that name. To its (0,2) squares CB is two-pathed. To others of its squares, however, it is single-pathed. Ralph Betza's Crooked Bishop is not very effective since it implements variably depending on the squares. There are better ways to define a change of direction of 90 degrees or 45 degrees in a chess piece. Cetina's Sissa(45- or 225-) is superior to Crooked Bishop because it is easier to visualize the destination squares.
Personally I would not bother using Sissa or C.Bishop in a CV. Frequent reference to Sissa is for comparison when running across multi-pathers. Raven(R+NN) and S appear about the same value since Sissa has four paths to its Rook-squares, both near Queen value. Raven too does not generally fit well into any quality CV. I like Sissa better because of originality and well-known arrival squares.(The Courier de la Dama Furious uses CB.) Crooked Bishop so-called is only somewhat less vacuous than 'Crooked Rook':--is that already invented? [Yes of course, in same article Betza re-invents CB]
Wildebeest Chess. Variant on an 10 by 11 board with extra jumping pieces. (11x10, Cells: 110) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'WXYZ,LargeCV': Schmittberger discusses values of Camel and Zebra, the latter not used here. A board this size makes C and Z very close; three points are useful for each in most comparisons. A nice 'idea' game more than one of highest play-worthiness; and Camel not Z completes its thesis (See other Comments). Low piece density reminds one of 17th-C. Turkish Great Chesses, and Wildebeest plays similarly. 'Gnu' is preferred name now for 'Wildebeest'(N+C).
Fantasy Grand Chess. Variant of Grand Chess with different armies and fantasy theme. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': (In contrast, Drop Chess is one that fails to add anything to Betza's Ch-Diff-Armies.) This Fantasy Grand Chess tries to extend C-D-A to 10x10 and at least has some good pieces to extract. Somewhat thought out, teams are not so equally power-matched as Betza's: Elves are stronger, Druids not so. Under-utilized pieces within these several Fantasy links recommended (in varying degree): Mage, Cannon, Cyclops, Two-headed Cyclops, Titan. Not recommended: Pegasus, Crooked Bishop, Crooked Rook. Maybe a computer could determine the worthwhile match-ups of Armies. This analysis is not comprehensive.
Chivalry. With 30 pieces on a 10 by 10 board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Knight goes like Camel, or like Zemel(5,1), but not Namel(7:1). Put another way, these are the 'non-Rook' Crooked Bishop squares close in except Ferz ones, but Chivalry's N just leaps there. It transits to later Camblam N, that also goes to Rector(4,5) and Antelope(3,4). That is just the modality of the Knight. I do not believe Paul Leno is behind this.
Europan Chess. A 14x14 board with extra pieces. (14x14, Cells: 196) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': A 'solemn duty' to make this game, says Mark Hedden. Standard men with four heterodox pieces on 14x14; Pawns have 1,2,3,4,or 5 initial option. Crooked Bishop. 13th Century Gryphon(Grande Acedrex) is accurately pegged at seven points. Hedden's insight: 'Even if you don't know how to use it well, it is still worth 5 or 6.' Archer is Camel or Knight if not capturing; and stopping rifles a second step along either path to capture. Last, Supercomputer is compound of Trebuchet(3,0), Camel, and Alfil(2,2). Creative but opaque combinations.
Edge of the World (EOTW) Chess. Pieces have momentum on 12 by 12 board. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,Large CV': 'A player may use his move to stop a piece before or after a piece has move(sic) it's full momentum.' That suggests either simultaneous moves (like XYMYX) or move retraction. This is one of those half-sense rules descriptions. What computer evaluates attempt at humour? Michael Fryer: 'R C7:C7 This stops the Rook at C7.' Get it?
Giant Chess. 16x16 board with the same pieces as Turkish Chess, but also the "Dev" piece which takes up four squares. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCVm': 'Shogi' is Xiangqi Cannon, and Elephant is its diagonal equivalent, Vao or Canon, invented by Thomas Dawson early 20th century. The innovation in this game is the Deve, which occupies four squares(2x2) at once. Deve's move is two-square(in a block) never one-square(See diagram). Cobra Chess starts 'sub-cross-thread' of pieces that move to, or have effects over, more than one square. Whilst same-coloured pieces cannot stand at either one's squares, Cobra occupies a single point, or intersection, and can move 'between' same-coloured pieces along grid-lines. Both Deve and Cobra always have effects, and vulnerability, over four squares. More mobile Cobra can be captured at any of its four positions. Deve capture is accomplished by three-square control and fourth-square arrival by opponent.
Excelsior. At certain moments in the game, pieces are moved to an additional 5 by 4 area. (2x(8x8), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': What goes to 5x4 upper level: any Pawn promotee, any checking piece, any capturing piece. There is not room there for potentially thirty-four units, nor provision to return to the main board from the twenty squares.
Big Outer Chess. Large variant with concentric circles on the board, so there is less concentration on the centre. (12x12, Cells: 148) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Chess with self-modifying rules may be long-term solution to the computer problem. Hopefully not. Big Outer pieces lose power toward the center within three zones. So, pieces have positionally self-modifying rules of movement. Ralph Betza's Turning Chess, Polypiece Chess, and 'Many Rules in One Game' use more extreme alterations of piece(s) and rules within a game. Antoine Fourriere's Pocket Polypiece is specific embodiment where two different of six types of pieces on both sides change their way of moving almost every turn. David Howe's Mega-Chess has pieces that are themselves recursively games of chess. A fully self-modifying game would not anticipate its own sets of rules ever-changing. In limited sense of continually modifiable rules in unusual methodology for CV, Big Outer is evaluated here as being original 'idea' game.
Alekhine Chess
. Named in honor of Alexander Alekhine, World Chess Champion 1927-1935, 1937-1946.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Only about 10 (not so many as 20) of about 400 large CVs in CVPage have the kind of perfect symmetrical ideal Derek Nalls must mean. Over 95% of them do not. That shows it to be a rejected standard.
Twenty-First Century Chess. An updating of Chess for the video game generation, on a 10x8 board with Barons and Jesters. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'1ABCLargeCV': This has normal symmetry; no one bothers with east-west symmetry. Dominique Leste's Archbishop Chess last month has exact same initial position, and two of Carrera-Bird-Capablanca's (N+B=Cardinal) were done before year 2000 too(Janus Chess). One Pawn's additional power of forward-only Ferz: any of a hundred other rather innocuous powers might work as well to confound opening theory; no creativity there. Under 'The Play of the Game', do not follow Munzlinger's advice not to castle at a good early opportunity against three strong compounds and two Rooks.
Contest to design a 10-chess variant. Cebrating 10 years of Chess Variant Pages with a contest to design a chess variant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The natural of course is the Pythagorean ascending 4-3-2-1, each square half offset. What is the name for that famous design? Then use just two piece types with maybe self-modifying rule of movement. One completion: piece adjacent one step up at option, else one step down at option; lateral one-step always available. Each one's other piece-type has opposite orientation. Goal: capture the other's two pieces. If no other move available, one step any direction always permitted.
Tetraktys Chess. Squares are Pythagorean ascending 4-3-2-1, each square half offset right and left: in other words, a row of one sits over a row of two squares, over three, over four. Squares are numbered top-down: 1, 2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9-10. Two piece types are drop-placed in the first two moves. Lateral one-step move always available. Piece 'A' has one-step-up option if there is any piece (of either colour) adjacent to it; otherwise 'A' can go one step down. Piece 'K' has one-step-down option if there is any piece adjacent; else 'K' can go one step up. In addition, there is an 'off-board'(notionally one-step sideways) allowed from any of 1,2,3,4,6,7,or 10 to any other non-adjacent and vacant square from among those seven. Squares 5,8, and 9 are excluded from this off-board non-capturing move. Sqs. 5,8,9 can of course be reached variously by normal one-s-u, one-s-d, or ordinary one-step lateral(from one or two of 4,6,7,10). Move is required, no null move. No piece may remain in the 7-8-9-10 row for four turns. If and when only two pieces left, no piece may remain in the 7-8-9-10 row for three turns. Goal: capture the other's two pieces. Inability to move also loses.
9x9 Squares Rotating Chess. Usual set of pieces in different setup and changed movement on 9 by 9 board. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'9ABCLargeCV': Berolina Pawns promote at interesting squares. Rooks move like Bishops. Knight is Camel. So, only Queen is not colour-bound (not counting K and P). 9x9 here not a game worth playing, there should be saving in related 10x10 Multiple Knot Chess from year 1997, Hyperbolic, Fibonacci et al. for their conceptual ideas, some of those being large chesses to review.
Symmetrical Chess Collection Essay. Members-Only Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
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Nomic Chess. Combination of Peter Suber's Nomic with Ralph Betza's Chess For Any Number of Players.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Doug Chatham mentions Nomic Chess in new 'Big Outer Chess' Comment, where I rate as progressively more purely self-modifying the following: B.O.C., Ralph Betza's Turning Chess; Fourriere's Pocket Polypiece, Betza's Polypiece; Betza's Many Rules in One Game; Howe's Megachess, the latter's pieces being recursively a game of chess. The ideal would be a fully self-modifying chess that does not even anticipate its own sets of rules. How could such a game be played strategically? To be brief, probabilistically; for there would still be an environment in which an embodiment is more or less likely to arise. I do not know whether the term for Peter Suber's Nomic 'self-modifying game' originates in Douglas Hofstadter's 'Metamagical Themas'; but that is where I first saw it. Nomic Chess substantially applies Suber's method to chess rules and armies. Yet there is a difference between putative random selection of rules and deliberate self-amendment.
Giant-King Chess. Kings take up four squares each, all of which must be attacked to check. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCVm': A game of perfect initial-array symmetry, Giant-King belongs in the sub-cross-thread including Cobra Ch. and Giant Chess featuring pieces having multiple-square occupancy. King takes up four squares at once and consciously is checked the way Karakus' Giant is captured: a fully four-square attack; whereas Cobra is captured at any of its 4 squares. A worthy chess not at all because of starting symmetry, but for its interesting mix including Gryphon, Wildebeest(Gnu), Cardinal, strong pieces to combat enhanced King. In fact, the King's move's one-step improving that other Giant's two-step, and Pawn's effecting promotion of other pieces, together make for quite the original, balanced CV.
4 Armies. Each player controls two armies. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'1ABCLargeCV': How would this array's symmetry be characterized? It is not to be found in any opening manual. Cardinal appears to be the correct substitution here for Queen. Pawns are omni-orthogonal-directional and not promotable. 'Either army [of one's two] may move first'. In 'Clockwise' variant, each armies' pieces capture only pieces of one of the two opposing armies. Those two rules combined especially point to interesting tactics!
Haynie's Great Chess. A decimal chess variant with Cardinals, Marshals Amazons, Nightriders Commoners, Firzans, Wazirs, Camels, And Zebras. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Incomplete, ill-considered mishmash. Wazir and Ferz weakest for 10x10. Camel and Zebra not good as separate stand-alone pieces.
Gigachess. On 14 by 14 board with 20 different pieces. (14x14, Cells: 196) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCVm': Within its milieu of defiantly large CVs, Gigachess has nice group of pieces. Twenty piece-types over 196 squares equal the recurrent ten percent in not going overboard. One of two Pawn-types is also forward-only ferz. Theme-based too in having animal side and knighted side. Without such an innovation as Giant Chess'(256 sqs.) Giant, among the interesting units are Crossbow(Vao, diagonal Cannon), Lion(F+W+A+D+N), Elephant(F+A), Machine(W+D), Ship(equal half-Gryphon). A table of close estimates for piece values included. Maybe a unique winning condition short of checkmate, or central board feature/mechanism, or just two-three fewer ranks and withal piece-types, would advance Gigachess towards 'excellent'.
Symmetrical Chess Collection Essay. Members-Only Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
Grandkingdom Chess. A decimal variant with several powerful pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,Large CV': Billing as 'a new expansion for dynamic interaction' is dubious with such great power density and Pawns about unchanged. Add to the regular 16 pieces, one Amazon(R,B,N), one Cardinal(B,N), two Marshalls(R,N), two 'Crossbow-Knights(N+Vao), two 'Archer-Lords'(Cannon+Vao). Vao is used here of course to mean the diagonal equivalent of Chinese Cannon. At least there are no (Cannon+N)s or (Cannon+B)s. Yet each one of the eight new pieces are more than 1.5 times Rook-value. There would not be much finesse in play of Grandkingdom Chess.
Gast's Chess. Large 1969 variant using the Cardinal (Guard) and the Chancellor (Archer). (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Looking like a Turkish Great Chess, Gast's is really recent CV with some novelty in Knight and Pawn making a more or less average game. (By ten ranks, something has to help the Pawns and this is a try.) N is (N+Camel+Tripper), Tr. as (3,3); the leaping logic extended for 12x12. 'Archers'(R+N) have that same compound-N power. After its start Pawn goes 1 or 2 forward non-capturing, 1 or 2 diagonal capturing; initial 1,2,3,4. A size like this needs win condition short of checkmate, because any interest is localized interactions in the middle game. In the 14x14 version of Gast, 'Pope' is Amazon(enhanced-Knight-wise).
Gala. Medieval game of German farmers. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': 4 Armies only superficially copies this array, because that one has the six FIDE piece-types; in Gala, also a decimal form, there are only four piece-moves to learn. The informed previous comment calls the deflection lines 'mounds'. Getting both Kings to a central-four square wins; the alternate win condition is to capture the opponent's two Kings. King is its now 1400-year-old counterpart and may also teleport from those holy-site squares. Sometimes Rook turns forty-five degrees to Bishop-direction in move after crossing a mound; the same comment clarifies that in fact two changes of direction are possible in one single move. Correspondingly, Bishop can start as Bishop, switch to R-direction, and back, all in the same move. Pawns are Berolina-like within corner fields and omni-directional in 'central board' area. The T-shaped, or plus-shaped, region is notionally derived from ancient Viking board game Hnefatafl. This CV has more striking originality than Courier Chess. Today Big Outer Chess changes piece ranges based on position. What other variant than Gala, or Pagan Chess, even 500 years later provides for combined Bishop and Rook movement in transition by square pattern?(Differently Gryphon has not been used with such board partitions.)
Geometric sequence of Chess Games. Chess variants as large as you want.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': In sequence 2(to n) x 2(to n), integer n > 0, 8x8 is the first non-trivial case. It is where we find ourselves today. 'The reader may (have) found extensive literature about the 8x8 chess game', featuring mirror-image symmetry.--A. Missoum. With n=4, 16x16: h8,i8,h9,i9 central squares and requisites are for Pawn 1,2,3 initially; Knight as (4,3)Antelope plus (3,2)Zebra. Where n=5, N is (7,4)Ibex + N + Antelope. (n=6) would be quite sufficient. However, exercise covers n=8; for example, number of Bishops is given by X = (An-1)+2(to n-1) with (An-1) = (An-2)+2(to n-2), and so on, so that 62+64= 126 Bishops.
Ganymede Chess. A 12x12 variant inspired by Ralph Betza's Chess on a really big board, Centennial Chess and Adrian King's Typhoon (among others). (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': The offshoot Europan is a definite improvement, because Ganymede's twelve piece-types confusingly have additional ten different promotees; although twenty-two reduces to about 17.0 piece-types, counting the potential group of them 0.5 each for comparison. Spearman borrows from Centennial Chess. 'Wall' takes up two squares at once, moves Rook-like, must rotate to point the other way, and altogether belongs in sub-cross-thread including Giant(Dev), Cobra, and Giant-King--pieces taking up more than a square. Where each of those others cover 4 squares, Ganymede's Wall covers 2 squares. Mark Hedden: 'In this game, like Shogi and its variants, most of the pieces promote'. But Shogi promotions are logical, not these.
Bachelor Kamil. Combines ideas from Bachelor Chess and Wildebeest Chess. (9x8, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Weak back rank means likely promotion to Queen or Gnu(Knight+Camel). Alternative win condition is checkmate of any Gnu. In Doug Chatham's Bachelor Chess there is win by marriage(K,Q adjacent), for which see Gilman's Notes. For all the play on words, Camel, or really any other variant leaper uncompounded, be it Zebra, Dabbabah, Alfil, Trebuchet(0,3), or Tripper(3,3), just do not carry the logic or effectiveness of Knight. Therefore, Alfil is not standard any more; and any CV that uses one of those six exotic leapers quickly scrambles for rules and array to make a playable chess.
Centennial Chess. 10x10 Variant that adds Camels, Stewards, Rotating Spearmen and Murray Lions to the standard mix. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': In 1999 Centennial Chess threw down the gauntlet for decimal form, the strict 100 squares, to wit, 'the holy grail', words of John William Brown. In 2005 Antoine Fourriere in current comment at The Future thread writes, 'If you shift to 10x10, you have problems with the Knights and Pawns. Still I don't like 10x10.' Brown's Centennial has above average piece-mix. Two Pawn-types by the addition of Steward, a 'quadra-Pawn' moving in four possible directions. Camel; Murray Lion; Rotating Spearman, which would be more effectively implemented with capture on retreat too. Theoretically, one can imagine library of thousands volumes Centennial Chess analysis, and so also for hundreds other CVs. Hence the benefits of evaluative criteria, however weighted and discounted, for perfect symmetry, mirror symmetry, number piece-types, power density, board size, ratios leapers/riders etc., in order to help determine which CVs best fit certain selected criteria.
Gridlock Chapter 4. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': 'Half of my team eats drinks, and sleeps Gridlock Chess (they are trying to catch up). The other half of the team is the best'. Chapter Four(10x10) develops Pushing Armour, the Missing Influence, Frozen Acres, Flanking the Crystal, Casting from the Second Sublevel, and Horse of a Different Colour.
Herb garden chess. Variant on 7 by 12 board with additional combination pieces. (12x7, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Too much power in paired Centaurs(B+N) and Champions(R+N) for only seven ranks. Besides, there are the specific flaws already commented like c- and j-pawns threatened by just one Pawn step. At least it names Carrera's Chess, unlike most other Carrera derivatives, and gives thought to its own castling innovation.
Influence Chess. Pieces on the top or bottom layer influence which chess pieces may move on the middle layer. (3x(4x7), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Good central idea bogs down in actualization. A square that a main Middle board piece sits on has corresponding square in Above and Below boards. These locations (departure square) 'influence' whether a move can be considered or not. To make the move, it also must be legal within the Middle board. Sometimes the Above or Below two piece-types move their one- or two-square way, and other times they duplicate a Middle board movement. Rules may very well be interpretable (including moving opponent's piece) in all cases. However, constant re-figuring of rules thwarts development of strategy. How about a simple 'influence' within just one board instead? For ex., Rook/Bishop/Knight based on black/white departure square, or else Berolina/Standard Pawn based on piece adjacent or not. Or an Eight-Stone Chess moving-blockade sort of influence?
Aberg variation of Capablanca's Chess. Different setup and castling rules. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': An important family of chesses, a crowded art(because 50-100 instances extant), Aberg's is a left-right reflection of the original 17th century Carrera's. 'H.E.Bird had made an earlier variation(50 yrs. before) of Capablanca Chess.' And Chinese alchemists made gunpowder 500 yrs. before it was invented in 14th century Europe. Seriously, extreme free castling, where Rook ends up not necessarily even adjacent to King, makes sense. Carrera's and Aberg's spread out the compounds maximally whilst keeping Rooks at familiar corners. Piece-value table shows Bishop ahead of Knight on 8x10 though still close.
Insect Chess. On a 12x12 board. All pieces are insect and arachnid representations, with some unique pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Theme-based on the largest board that works in a CV. Tarantula, which strengthens Edgar Burroughs' Chieftain, is not an insect; and neither is Black Widow. Missed opportunity to make 'Monarch', instead of Praying Mantis, the enhanced King (Butterflies are insects). [Thousands-yr.-old Monarch migration, once a billion, into Mexico's Sierra Madre was down 75% in 2005, because of 'advanced' civilization's intensive agriculture in USA and Canada.] Hornet is Gryphon; Wasp Renaissance Chess' Duke; Locust (D+A+Q). 'La Cucaracha' is never wholly eradicated. Horsefly is Shogi Dragon-king; Mosquito Dragon-horse; Maggot; Waterbug. The playable tip is to keep many pieces together to thwart Tarantula especially. Spiders and insects are 'bugs', saving its theme.
Grander Chess. A variant of Christian Freeling's Grand Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': 'Grand Chess completes the revolution in the game's rules that was started over 500 years ago,' says Kevin Scanlon. Then Grander Chess supposedly improves upon Grand Chess by three features. First, stalemate becomes a win. Second, en passant is dropped in favour of return to passar battaglia. Third, Queen is centralized, shuffling slightly just three pieces in array. Such minor revision is best left in Comment, which unfortunately Carrera's Chess imitators on 8x10 neglect, preferring to write up each version as if it were some new game.
Grande Acedrex. A large variant from 13th century Europe. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Eight piece-types. Gryphon is Arabian mythological 'bird so big it can lift elephants'. Lion is modern Trebuchet(0,3). Alfonso manuscript(1283) pre-dates Chaucer by about 100 yrs. and also widespread introduction of gunpowder into Europe from works of Arabs, who had learned it from the Chinese. Concurrently Alhazen's 'Optics' was translated into Latin and reached Europe in 1270. Gryphon starts one diagonal and can proceed Rookwise outwardly. Unicorn is Knight one move, then Bishop thereafter. Giraffe(1,4); Crocodile as Bishop; Rook; King mediaeval with initial leap option. Promotion to file piece as in Chaturanga. Chessically, Grande Acedrex precedes Timur's Great Chess(11x10), also called Tamerlane Chess(Timur the Lame). Timur's 'Giraffe' differs from G.A.'s Giraffe. In historical timeline, the three markers (gunpowder, Chaucer, and Timur's Chess) come within the century after invention of Grande Acedrex.
Canonical Chess Variants. A family of chess variants that blends Xiang Qi and Western Chess. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCVe': A 64-sq. board becomes 81 locations to move at its points, resulting in different sort of connectivity(unlike hexagonal boards and Fanorama Chess' Alquerque board too). These are Xiangqi points; Ralph Betza turns the board 45 degrees like this somewhere also. Bishop is Cannon-like. Pieces move in oblique directions along the lines, except Knight(Mao-like), which combines lateral and oblique each move, and Queen, which does one or other one-step per move. Maybe not enough distinguishment between Rook and Bishop. N needs strengthening vis-a-vis R and B, since they can slide up to eight spaces. Q and K are weak staying in fortress. This incorporates Western and Xiangqi elements, a sub-cross-thread. 64-space version is 7x7 square board off-oriented 45 degrees. Not clear whether Canonical Ch. has playability to match its originality; it seems play at the blue-cornered regions would be lost to the main action.
Hexmate. A two-player variant on a hex board made up of 127, 3-color hexagons. (Cells: 127) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCVh': 'Left and right sides of the board are mirror images, as is the setup of both opponents'--Michael Rouse. Such perfect symmetry tends to be discounted in this large CV thread. Too high piece density, though tri-colours help see what the pathways are; besides, pieces are prosaic. The case is not made in text for King's being so powerful: it appears games would be > 100 moves. Sub-cross-thread for hexagon-spaced boards starts here, as baseline. A general question: why so many CVs with hexagons in board, whilst triangles are virtually unknown? Triangles tile effectively too. Equilateral triangles throughout would look like subdivided hexagons and might be more visualizable. Triangles would have additional interesting transits, for ex., pieces related to Ralph Betza's Rose and Half-Rose adapted to some mixed 'triangles and hexagons' or 'triangles-out-of-hexagons' game boards.
Circular chesses, though square-based, create different patterns. For ex., Round Table 84 has triangular areas and also characteristics of Cylinder Chess. All sixty hexagonal CVs here can keep their same rules and subdivide each cell into six triangles adding connectivity for (rare) special move(s); this can be visualized in Shankaku Shogi drawings. Most all the 2000 CVP games actually have squares divisible into two isosceles right triangles, so would be playable with rules unchanged plus special-move feature based on triangular subdivision and orientation. Squared and hexagonal areas could also be combined in game boards, regardless discontinuity in tesselation. It would be no more distracting than Ultra-Slanted Escalator's having regions with squares offset.
Imperial Chess. Large variant with new pieces and victory by capture of royal pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Edgar Burroughs' ambiguity was tolerable in 1920's for original creation. Reader should not have to go to Comments or game logs to clarify movements in a version that borrows some rules from Jetan. However, the fairy pieces are interesting in being multi-pathers, and this thread credits effort of artwork or theme. Fifteen piece-types over 144 squares has the 10-percent comprehensibility. Original 'Charge' moves one piece in each of the 12 columns. 'Hitching a Ride' is more clearly explained than Gridlock's 'Mounting'. A third innovation: 'Rapid Deployment'. Still it is vague whether the mixed straight(square) and diagonal moves allow 135-degree changes of direction or doubling back. As another instance, 'move three spaces in circle'? Or, can a charge be mounted with only 11 of 12 columns having pieces? This Chess is not sharply enough defined.
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Cazaux's Comment is inept because even the Falcon article referenced dates from year 2000. It is a simple article tailored for beginners, non-players, and designer-dilettantes. The other more-detailed article on this game, 'Falcon Chess patent text' was written in 1995 and 1996 well before the single use that comment mentions, Cazaux's own (Buffalo=C+Z+N) in 2001 Gigachess. In any event, I submit that a non-jumping Falcon is the correct(mathematical) complement to Rook, Knight and Bishop, and far from obvious at first; whereas any (Camel + Zebra) is extremely over-powerful and moreover totally frivolous addition to Chess never used in any game until Charles Gilman's Great Herd in 2004. Falcon patent is not intended as a CV, but as a replacement for FIDE-type chess, just as FRC and Carrera-Capablanca forms are so held up. FRC is not promulgated as a CV by its adherents but a solution to contemporary problem of computers and memorized opening theory. Hostility to FC is not new, as the number of 'Poor's attest. After all, Chess Variant Page, readers, and members alike have own agenda not overly concerned with state of FIDE Chess. Yet it is peculiar that three of the last four or so games (over almost two years now) by one CVP Editor have featured a Falcon as the main attraction; Falcon thus appears to hold some undisclosed merit. The reference is to Aronson's and my Complete Permutation Chess, Aronson's Horus with the patented Falcon on quite interesting small board, and Prisoner's Escape with Falcon-Hunter. The name Falcon is somewhat inconsequential. I considered 'Phoenix', Horus and a few other terms; and the US Trademark previously approved by USPTO for 'Falcon Chess' is deliberately in abeyance by ourselves at the present time. As to 'anteriority', there is lot more researched material on file at USPTO from disclosure process than happens to appear in the two CVP articles. Most likely I have been aware of Karl Schulz's Falcon-Hunter Chess longer than any other commenter here(now without Betza). That Falcon and Hunter are nothing like the basic chess piece, Falcon. Commensurate in importance with Knight, Rook, and Bishop(actually preeminent to those three, because they would derive from F, not vice versa) is heretofore-undiscovered Falcon, as patented now until November 2017, after which date copyrights and trademarks will effect comparable coverage for many, many years.
Immersed in CVs as a player, personally I like to play other games more than Falcon Chess 8x10. Examples are Rococo, Switching Chess, Altair, and 3D Positional Chess. However, Falcon Chess is the 'correct' expansion of FIDE-type Chess, more so than Fischer Random and Carrera-Capablanca, in their same spirit of an evolving ideal form of chess. Most CV designers have a different philosophy about creating games preferring a multiplicity of versions. Yet imagine going into say a high school chess club and propounding dozens or hundreds of sets of rules one as recommended as another. The hostile environment of CVP to the other method, evidenced in FC, FRC, Capablanca-Gothic, is why Falcon Chess is never to be developed within Zillions of Games. I have told them to remove the Complete Permutation file later this year.
As far as Roberto's analysis, he is going to lose his first Falcon Chess in Game Courier because he cannot castle. The first ten moves in that game have been the ugliest ever(out of hundreds of games since 1992)when he unexpectedly advanced four central Pawns(for which I do need to think of a better defense in future). It has been a formless opening with no piece development. What Black is doing is good enough to win because some nasty forks are brewing. So 'weakness' of Bishops' long diagonal comes about because of the bizarre, imprecise opening moves that should backfire. Sorry this comment belongs in Kibbitz.
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]Intellectual property includes patents, trademarks and copyrights. All CVP games are copyrighted in their very publication. Viceroy patent, Quantum patent, Gothic patent, Falcon patent, Grand patent(a different one) and countless others have not precluded any CV being developed that I know of. Being inventions they open up new possibilities for forms previously untried. There is still the problem of bad game pollution to use 'Robert Fischer's' term. That may not even be strong enough. Somebody said that a 'junk CV ethos' sometimes rules--too extreme a description in my view. Yet just as some topics are over-discussed, there are also taboos never addressed. My progress through 'Large CV' thread ( about 25% so far) exposes games never even played by their inventor. Until about year 2000 most chess forms were published in treatise, magazine, book (copyrighted), or else patented. Now facility with computers lets anyone design something in an hour.
Grandmaster Robert Fischer, soon hopefully to reside in Iceland, has USA patent for a chess clock. The models and rationale are not chess patents per se so much as games patents broadly like Scrabble and Monopoly. The proper question is not what the hack designer-dilettante thinks of patenting games. Instead, the question is what patent holders and traditional registered-copyright inventors think of the present junk game ethos and resultant bad game pollution.
Double Chess. Two sets of pieces on 16 by 12 board. (16x12, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Publication in British Chess Magazine in 1929 evinces sense of humour in the great Thomas Dawson's day. No merit in extreme low piece density about 30%. Reminiscent of 1930's play by Charles Fort(living in London in 1929) on a board of 1000 squares so photographed.
Chess on a 12 by 12 board. Orthodox chess but with additional squares around the setup. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABCLargeCV': Now this one would not be so bad as the previous 'Double Chess'(192 squares), even though it says Jose Capablanca wasted his time playing Double Chess. (A general criticism was that that world champion did not study scores enough.) Despite piece density just over 20 percent, even lower than DC, players just would not use the double outer perimeter a lot. So Chess 12x12 is better than Capablanca-tested Double Chess, conveniently having the same piece-types.
Weave & Dungeon(81 squares)by Dan Troyka 2002 has unusual connectivity and perfect symmetry. Among six piece-types specially suited for its 'weave' board, a sort of counter-tesselation, Triangles > Square > Pentagon > Circle in value.
Double Chess 16 x 8. On 16 by 8 board. (16x8, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Five 'Excellent's cannot be reversed to average, so Not Rated. Two problems are solved for Capablanca-played Double Chess(192 sqs.): no more Pawn 1,2,3,4 because no longer that 1917 Chess' twelve ranks; second, one King instead of two, but the rule is the same, to check one King. Recommended to admire not to play, as hey that is the usual goal in this artwork. Definite improvement over what Capablanca toyed around with. Ralph Betza uses the two-King back rank in some 'Chess On a Really Big Board' set-ups in 1996, so this one King may be new for the same popular 16 files. However, Pritchard 'ECV' has some entry like this between the 1917 one and Betza's not worth looking up.
Invasion. A military inspired Chess variant played on an 84-squares board. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': This is a mature war game, military-themed reminiscent of Yurgelevich's 1933 Chess-Battle(128 squares)among others. The implementation itself is even more similar to 1937 Novo Chess in having terrain. Invasion's 16-square sea is never traversed at all(it exists so to come out 84 squares), whereas Novo's Water and Railroad squares serve both for barrier and transit. Also, Novo's General and General Staff are an even more interacting but comparable pair to Invasion's Headquarters and Flags. Both the H. and Flags figure in alternative win conditions, ordinary checkmate by capture of H. or else placement of Flag where other Headquarters began. That is like mediaeval Gala too in that reaching goal square(s) a certain way wins. Seven piece-types manageable; 'Commando' and 'Paratrooper' borrow the earlier (1999)Divergent Chess' differing modes of moving and capturing. 'Trooper' has been described as quadra-pawn in other CVs(Centennial Chess). 'Bomb', when turned on, is placed anywhere and removes itself and all adjacent, like Rococo's Swapper self-destructs at option with one enemy chosen adjacent.
Gridlock Chapter 3. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Chapter 3 develops Knights of the Grid, the Hollow Horse, Footstools, Gridlock's Stable('Can't whistle for a Colt. Colts only load Riders through the Knights' Footprints'), the Colony Rook Class B, Forrest Rook, Jungle Warfare, and a Thief in the Knight. Future chapters are to divulge 'Taurus Class', 'The Earth Star' and 'Shock and Awe'. 'It takes capturing two Castle Rooks to Possess the Crystal.' 'Use the post off the Jump Gates and Doors and other Footstools you may use to climb.' 'Can you see the strategic advantage of being able to rotate the riding pieces over the Ground Level?' 'The Rook must be part of Tonks Chambers to have its primary armour activated.' That is just an offhand splendid sample.
Gridlock Chapter 5. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Chapter 5 furthers the Jump Gate and presents the Great Diagonal Wall, Pivot Points within the Ruins, Gridlock's Castle, and Bishops Work. 'With effective use of your Ruins, you can fortify holdings, control corners and block off passage through the Outer Row[gold].' 'It has always been my plan to introduce new levels to the game of Chess other than just stacking up boards. The other game promised you up to nine Queens. Did it ever deliver?' 'Knights of course can just jump right over but not on a locked Four Way.'
Double Diamond. Irregular board with diagonal orientation. (9x9, Cells: 73) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': Suspiciously Berolina-like, this same Pawn actually originates not here but in 1998 Missoum's 9x9 Rotating Chess. However, that one has Camels and other errors, and Double Diamond is better implementation. Unlike Berolina, these Pawns have additional lateral-orthogonal capture direction and one fewer(one) 'traveling' direction. Simple ideas with strategic implications are the best, but this is not so original apparently as the great Eight-Stone Chess, because of that other unacknowledged game. Removing the remote portions of the board makes sense in related principle, a minimalist approach whereever possible.
Gess. A Chess variant played on a Go board where pieces are collections of go stones. (18x18, Cells: 324) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCVm': Gess would have to be played, which this cross-thread avoids. Is Gess generalized chess? Ten-year-old article and only 4 Comments. One-piece type is not unprecedented: witness Battle-Chieftain Chess. Sub-cross-thread of 'pieces occupying more than one square' applies to Gess: Gigachess, Giant-King, and Cobra have 2- or 4-square occupancy variously. Gess' 'mega-piece' occupies 9 squares but works differently. There is no piece unless only one side's stones are in a 3x3(See rules). Number of 'pieces'('mega-' and stone alike) will keep changing as configurations of stones change and stones remove. (Perimeter stones within a 3x3 determine directions allowable, as it explain well.) Not appealing that the array is not compelling: it seems any number of alternative starting set-ups and stones could work, such as varying the six 'outlier' stones. Also, no particular inevitability in '1-,2-, or 3-' step, when say omitting '3-step' would not hurt anything. Notice each side starts with one ring and better keep at least one ring, or lose. So, making more rings is part of strategy, but it never says this: a player is supposed to get into the intellection and figure some things out. Though an individual move can be visualized, that is just one move. It is uncertain whether Gess would play really tactically or just afford some claim for such in hindsight for whoever removes the other's ring(s). At least there is no flaw of a draw because somebody is bound to lose rings. Would this 'Go-Chess' hybrid-form Gess be partly 'guess'-work? Or commonly take an hour to find the best move?
In The Bin. Chess on a 9x9 board. Players select pieces from a bin. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Izzard followed up with Philosopher's Chess, which won a 40-square contest, and no doubt is Excellent. As for In the Bin, another inventor's Conveyor Chess in March 1999 came up with idea of pieces on board entering conveyor square and being dumped to a specific square(f7 or g6 there). In July 1999, the similar idea of pieces off-board being 'dumped', or drop-placed, to one of three 'hot spot' squares is here implemented just as unsuccessfully as Conveyor Chess--or successfully making a bad idea worse. 'Bin-State Rule' requires keeping track of every number of every piece (for example, there are ten(10)Wazirs in the bin initially, neutral, so they may become Black or White) at every earlier move in the game. Atomic-orbital-theory-like there is no duplication of state, so as to be a new species(element), could be rough analogy. Already had a 3-8-6-2-1-4-9 for the seven piece-types in the Bin? Then a particular capture etc. is dis-allowed. No thanks, I would rather even make a move at Gess. Philosopher's Chess still looks fine, just calling each one on the merits.
Golden Age Chess On a Really Big Board. Variant on 16 by 16 board with several different pieces. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': First rating ever for Golden Age, Mediocre. GAC and Chess on a Really Big Board now ten years old, Betza's increments for super-size are 64 squares for convenience in pushing boards together. Up to 64 game boards(4096 squares) are described in CRBB with Bishop long diagonal Ba1.a1-h8.h8, where preceding 'le point' is the sub-board itself. GAC is not so ridiculous, just 16x16, four boards. Betza Funny Notation does not make for natural reading. The opposite philosophy is to describe a method of moving in as many words as possible for clarity. 'WDD' is (Wazir + Dababbah-Rider) sitting in the corners on 16x16. So instead of one-fourth the squares DD reaches, WDD can reach all the squares in certain series of moves. Rose; Crooked Bishop; Gryphon; Half-Duck is nice piece, for which see Chess Different Armies. What Betza calls long Knight, others call Camel. What Betza calls long wide Knight, others call Zebra. Betza says, 'Pawns are probably worth less than a 'normal' Pawn.' You bet, even with these Pawns able to 'double-step' up to the mid-line. This GAC is not entirely serious game, but opportunity to expatiate on Funny Notation and Piece Values. Betza is simply wrong writing, 'take no longer to play a game of Golden Age than FIDE.' He gives a 'Foolsmate' which proves nothing about game length. Betza really only analyses half-deeply most of the time and curiously would not stick around to play at his Masters' level.
Jacks and Witches 84. Variant on 84 squares with special pieces and special squares. (12x8, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Done under constraint of 84 squares, the transporter squares might work even better at remote regions of a decimal chess, say a2 etc. or b3 etc. Most likely Witches' dragging is unique and has good potential elsewhere. Games will go over outside Chess Variant Page having exotic pieces combined with orthodox pieces, as in Jacks & Witches. Cannon/Canon as flip piece; Murray Lion; Witch as Immobilizer. Finally, Jack's moving out of its Eye(See Rules) works by definitely-underutilized geometry that could be transposed to normal rectangular board experimentally.
Janus Chess. Variant on 10 by 8 board. (10x8, Cells: 80) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': First comment for Janus Chess, which maybe first proposes Janus(B+N) paired on 8x10, a reasonable idea quarter century ago. CVPage 2004 Archbishop Chess copies the piece-mix and shifts Janus(Cardinal) to d & g. Cardinal is marginally more logical than Marshall(R+N); both compounds go back to 17th-century Carrera's.
A Western Xiangqi Board. Proposal to play Xiangqi on a `westernized' board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'WXYZ,LargeCV': Xiangqi and Shogi are not CVs because they have been played for about as long by the same order of magnitude of individuals as Western FIDE Chess. Yet CVPage will always have each as some exotic CV in its peculiar world-view, and this reminder of ordinary connectivity can help. Even when playing over the normal Chinese grid, players who first learned 64-square chess visualize square-wise best. Somehow this square-picture also shows Xiangqi for what it clearly possesses: low piece density; dominating features of Rook, Cannon, and palace; minimal rules making deep strategy. Imagine any change in structure: just one example, supposing King not confined to palace would make checkmate too elusive. The same total coherence would not apply to Shogi (having different merit) in its family of sets of rules. Comment continues at Xiangqi-thread pages.
IO Chess. Variant on 16 by 16 board with many pieces. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Normally the line is drawn at 12x12 for working coherence. Contrariwise Europan(14x14) and IO(16x16), having lower piece-type density, are superior to Ganymede(12x12). Pawn initial five-step at option. There is the sense to pair the following pieces: Gryphon; Spider as diagonal equivalent of Gryphon; Supercomputer(Trebuchet + Alfil + Camel); two-square-occupancy Wall; and Crooked Knight. The latter is called Straight Narrow Crooked Nightrider by Jorg Knappen in 2002 Nachtmahr. Pieces promote as they do in more recent 2003 Pocket Mutation Chess(hey it's all about promotion, isn't it?). Promotees include Gnu(N+Camel); Fortress(R+N+A); Hippogriff(G+R); Tarantula(Spider + B); Moonrider(NN + Zebra); Quantum Computer(Supercomputer + K + N). A further innovation is that the act of castling itself creates an alternate promoted form of the Rook then and there.
J-Chess. Variant on 10 by 8 board with jesters. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Only one game board(on approx. page 205) is 8x10 out of a thousand chess board drawings within David Pritchard's 1994 'Encyclopedia of Chess Variants'. Clearly before the 1990's eight ranks and ten files were not a popular size. Jester here is nothing but a Camel, the epitome of incommodious, as Roberto Lavieri would aptly put it. For another one, Charles Gilman in 2004 'Great Herd' points to the significance, 'Knight's dual, the 3:1 Camel.' That notion is based on movement two straight(orthogonal) thence 90-degree one-step, as companion movement of two diagonal thence 90-degree one-step. It is certainly one way to look at Chess geometry, in a clutch for symmetry in piece move-rules. Ten-year-old Cardinals Super Chess also has paired 'Camels' called Cardinal there but weaker as non-jumping.
Complete Permutation Chess 
. Members-Only Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
Jumping Chess. Pieces capture by jumping. Board has extra edge squares making it 10x10. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': The pieces tend to just clog in mass of defense. Rook and Queen are different from Xiangqi Cannon, as Bishop and Queen are different from 'Canon'. I.e., Cannon/Canon replace the one they capture after a leap, whereas Jumping.Q/R/B capture the one they leap and move on. T.R. Dawson's older Grasshopper has modified jump along radial lines, leaping one piece one step along the Queen-lines and staying put either in move or replacement capture. These examples show the trouble with hopping along B and R paths; there is no absolute saddle point as to the best modality. Extension to multiple captures turns this Queen into excellent Rococo's Long Leaper. These jumping pieces mimic in varying degree the other 64-sq.(and also 100-) game's one (convertible) piece-type's jump-captures, and must have been re-invented(and discarded) from time to time. Some primary school teacher surely has had occasion to say: 'Wrong game, Roger. That's Checkers. This year we learn Chess.'
Flipworld. Pieces are on both sides of a disc. (2x(6x7), Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'DEF,LargeCV': A novel circular chess, Flipworld may not have erased all ambiguity about transit through its six Nexus cells(triangles), but there will not be the ridiculous bottleneck of Conveyor Chess or In the Bin. RNBKQP get two additions, weak Tocop and strong Starman, which could be explained better. The inner circuits will have most of the action. Really the Nexus, or tunnel, or lift, is not common to both Topside and Flipside, because player specifies which it is on if a piece stops there. Tesselations mixed square- and triangle-boards, like Round Table Chess, stretched topologically to over-all roundness, can play better than hexagonal ones once rules clarify. Games would be brief here for reason of traps, trades, errors.
Complete Permutation Chess . Members-Only Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
Little Cheops. Large variant with extra rules governing game play. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': The uncommented ones are usually interesting because there has not been even self-promotion. First, ignore the links, there are too many of them. 'King one square orthogonal, diagonal, or oblique': what does 'oblique' add to the description? 'Queen any number of squares orthogonal, diagonal, or oblique': like a Nightrider too? These rules are by turns incomprehensible and frivolous, without the irony of Gridlock or humour of Cardmate. Mixed in are some legitimate moves for Pawn, Knight sort of. Who knows what 'the walls of an active Castle' are? Poor.
Leaping/Missing Bat Chess. Large variant on a 16x12 board with many fairy pieces. (16x12, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': This is whimsical and the spirit is there. 19 piece-types over 192 squares is the recurrent 10 percent showing good instinct. Nice logos represent slew of animal(fellow sentient beings) pieces. Tiger is Bishop-mover, Knight-capturer, as in Divergent Chess. Two newly-invented pieces are Bat and Rhinoceros. Colour-changing Bat is Root-65 Leaper(possibly used before), the same as Gilman's (1,8)Ibis plus (4,7)Ibex. Rhinoceros is rider moving circle-like along one of sixteen possible paths from 1 to 8 steps. Fully 8 steps always mean the null move. Therefore, Rhinoceros is able to perform a 'self unpin', nothing but that null move; but self-unpin can be blocked if no pathway is available. Analysis of Alfil and Dabbabah coverage. One would hate to spoil this chess by playing it.
Complete Permutation Chess. Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row. (16x8, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thanks for the information about Zillions of Games. It sounds like a reasonable organization. As to Complete Permutation Chess, this is a good 'idea game' of Aronson. I can evaluate because all I added was the Pawn two-move option. Having parallel in Betza's Tutti-Frutti Chess, the implementation of all possible compounds makes especial sense. Aronson e-mailed two years ago also about opportunity to explore Falcon compounds, meaning F-N, F-B, and F-R. I knew right away that was not particularly worthwhile. Falcon does not work well compounded and in fact doing so confounds or even ruins play of stand-alone B, N, and R. This CPChess is not really a very playable game, nor intended to be. Other 'concept games' would be Divergent Chess, Delegating Chess, Avalanche Chess, and a lot of other Betza games for that matter. Monkeying around with F-N, F-B, and F-R also enables one to see clearly the inferiority of N-B(Cardinal) and N-R(Marshall) too, compared to say Gryphon, Cannon, and Canon. Knight and Falcon are not properly compounded at all in serious Chess. They made the right decision when coming up with Queen(R+B) about yr. 1475 in Italy/Spain.
Kung Fu Chess. On a 14x10 board, the pieces in this variant are based on Kung Fu martial arts styles of combat. (14x10, Cells: 140) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Bostick's Insect Chess is recommended and was conscientiously reviewed here, no small task for many of these. This one is NR because of the format's difficulty even finding out what the pieces are. Yet putative 'Zillions of Games' values are all over the place: Dragon 6.75, which is the Marshall; Monkey 2.25, which is the Knight... Stop there, because guaranteed that that differential(6.75 minus 2.25) is off by at least 1.5 pts. when P(1.0). Wing Chun(10.25), diagonal equivalent of Gryphon, is called Wasp in the superior Insect Chess. RNBKQP are all in there, Disciple being the ordinary Pawn. Ng Mui (9.5 pts.) is conventional Amazon. Insect has better theme and more coherence.
Three Player Chess. Commercial Chess variant for three players.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Neat connectivity. In this case the board itself was patented(and not as a design patent) for use with any and every mix of pieces. Noticing the number 3652091 and comparing it to say Gothic Chess USP6481716, show that almost half of USA patents in all fields were granted in the last 35 years of 200 years altogether. That pattern, typified elsewhere, is partly explained by the flood of high-tech innovations, computers, biotechnology. 'Games' class of (method) patents go back at least to the 1880's when some interesting US Civil War board games appear patented.
Keyles. Large variant with special king capture rule. Variant of Quex. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Central idea a good one: to get King to the final(10th)rank, maybe never used before. In this thread's own words, King is immortal and handed back each time it is captured, to replace some surrogate piece which dies instead. Inventor's vocabulary is better including 'transposed' and 'quid pro quo.' The other game is Quex(yr. 2000), where the pieces are explained for Keyles(yr. 1999) too. Battle Chieftain uses similar method of King reborn. Medieval Gala's King to a central-four square teleports, but that's different. Other games have pieces promoting in last rank, differently since here King wins there. Lavieri's Maxima has occupation of distant goal squares(two) by two pieces possibly including King as win condition, but that's pretty different. So, this is likely a CV novelty certainly in 1999 before proliferation. Too many pawn-types; auxiliary pieces are weak. The 'Lord' is not explained either in Keyles or Quex. Multi-path, i.e. two-path, Prince two-step move is ambiguous, but no worse than a Jetan description, to which two-stepper-types Thoat, Padwar, and Warrior this multi-pather does not appear to correspond exactly.
Complete Permutation Chess . Members-Only Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
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]Gary Gifford and myself are playing steadily at Great Chess, but on the face of it Great Chess games would be expected to be longer on average. So be it. Of course anything can happen.
ChessBase article 21.03.2005 entitled 'Bobby Fischer: ich bin ein Icelander!' says the Althingi there has granted full Icelandic citizenship today.
Jester Chess. Large variant, with four new pieces including Jester that imitates opponents last type of move. (10x11, Cells: 110) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Brown's own Centennial Chess scales back board to decimal and borrows quadra-pawn Steward and M.Lion from Havel's Jester Chess, six yrs. uncommented. 10 piece-types, of which five promote uniquely, only Pawn doing so to an array unit(Steward); so that makes 14 piece-types possible. Jester originally mimics method of movement of last opponent's piece moved. Short-range Archer moves without capturing or captures without moving. It is two moves per turn until one's first capture, a rule which could benefit some other large chesses. This would be more fun, but Centennial's fewer features a more playable-strategy CV.
At ChessBase 23.03.2005: Bobby Fischer is due to be released from the Japanese detention center a few hours from now. Specifically at midnight GMT. 'The passed Fischer pawn has been shepherded home to the eighth rank,' wrote the RJF Committee, 'It can now be promoted into a piece, with complete freedom of movement.' Fischer will leave Japan on Scandinavian Airways and fly to Copenhagen at 12:40 PM on Thursday.
King's Court. Variant on 8 by 12 board with Chancellors and Jesters. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': King's Court, 'advanced chess,' is not Kasparov's Advanced Chess, because the latter merges man and machine. These Jesters are not just-reviewed Jester Chess' Jester, which mimics the last opponent's move's method. Jester here simply steps one or two diagonal to ferz, dabbabah or alfil locations, therefore being two-path(ipso facto multi-path)to dabbabah ones. Visualize the two paths to get used to multi-path pieces. These Chancellors are not Chancellor Chess Chancellors, which as (R+N) are just Marshalls commonly. Instead Chancellors here are restricted, or limited, Queens going one or two steps radially, plus Knights in option. KC has close to Falcon Chess(patent year 1996) method of free castling, though not necessarily allowing the final step to Rook adjacency before the Rook over-step. Add King's flight from the potentially suffocating Chancellor, nice board size 8x12, and otherwise standard features, and King's Court rises to the level of pretty Good. No boring unoriginal, awkward overused Marshalls(R+N) and Cardinals(B+N) here.
Infinite Chess 3D. Extends Chess to larger, even infinite, boards. () [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'GHI,LargeCV': Who has not played Chess infinitely, informally, in everyday life by observing tile patterns or making 'lines-and-squares' steps? Uncommented so far, Infinite Chess has the sense here that RNBKQP are as a cardinal set in western Chess, eschewing the Chess Variant Page extreme variform philosophy. Unfortunately, this write-up just recapitulates in tone(considerably tongue-in-cheek) and substance two others having more refinement and finesse(A. Missoum's and Ralph Betza's). It has some interest, for instance, in Rule 1 within that a move be either finite or infinite: the 'infinite' ones are rather Alice-like. Betza's indexing for boards(Chess Really Big Board) is used exactly A1 to H8, and so on here. It does not seem a problem is solved of decreasing piece density as space enlarges. The main precedent is A. Missoum's 'Geometric Sequence of Chess Games,' which stops at 64x64 squares with its 126 Bishops, but could go on. 'The implications for geometry and the theory of infinite numbers will not be considered here.' Well and good.
Janus Kamil Chess. A crossover between Janus Chess and Modern Kamil Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'JKL,LargeCV': Janus Chess(8x10) first pairs Cardinal(B,N)calling them Janus, a quarter century ago. Archbishop Chess in Chess Variant Page recently mixes up Janus' array. Also under CVPage, 2002 'Modern Kamil'(10x10, or else 84-square 8x10 with four corner tack-ons) uses Camel paired instead: 'in Memory of the Thousand Years of Arabic Chess Tradition.' So what else, but the marriage 'Janus Kamil(JK)', logical. Computer could generate hundreds of alternate initial set-ups (nothing compelling about Rook at b1,b10 etc.)on 10x12, but maybe 8x12 would be better. Knappen's Quintessential Chess sharply tailors pieces to go with its neat Quintessence, also reaching Camel(and N) squares. This Janus Kamil seems more common variety 'cut-and-paste' popular since turn of millennium.
Rococo. A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Can Withdrawer, legitimately on x3, capture x4 by withdrawing across free squares to x0? Or does W only capture by going to x2? The answer to that is a parallel or helps clarify what Long Leaper should be able to do.
Mad Chess. Chess variant with unequal armies on 10 by 10 board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'MNO,LargeCV': Without Comment 5 years, Chess-unequal-sides game should cite Betza's Chess Different Armies, once called Chess Unequal Armies. Contrast 100 squares here to Wittman's recent 6-square Dueling Archbishops and 9-square Knight Court. Under eleven(11)squares are rare and some sizes thankfully nonexistent. White's pieces include Jester(=Marshall) not to be confused with Jester Chess Jester or King's Court Jester; General(N+D+A) dated before 1683 from Italy in Archchess as 'Centurion', called 'Squirrel' in 20th Century; Dragon as (Q + Trebuchet(0,3)); Crazy Footsoldier and Valkyrie both having their move and capture different, as in earlier(1999) Divergent Chess, which established a short-lived trend. Black's all different pieces from White's include Warlord(N + Trebuchet); 'divergent types' Berserker [not Battle Chieftain's Berserker] and Mad Infantryman; Spectre(Q + Tripper(3,3)). Altogether not bad, but with sake of clarity would avoid divergent move/capture pieces where already pieces are distinct between W & B. Yet these two could well be plugged into Ralph Betza's list with across-the-board weakening, such as Mad Chess 'pawns'(See rules).
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 comment is hidden pending review. It will eventually be deleted or displayed.]
Mainzer Schach. Large variant with Janus, Marshall, and different setup. (11x8, Cells: 88) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'MNO,LargeCV': This is simple and different, in itself more likely to mean an improvement, when not artificial like author's Janus Kamil is recently alleged to be. On manageable board size(rare 8x11), Knights Kingside and Bishop-types Queenside would be okay to try once. Not the novelty and interesting pieces of excellent Quintessential Chess. Amazon only by promotion; freer castling might work better.
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 comment is hidden pending review. It will eventually be deleted or displayed.]
Modern Chess. Variant on a 9 by 9 board with piece that combines bishop and knight moves. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'MNO,LargeCV': Contemporaneous Janus Chess has doubled Cardinal(B+N), but with 9x9 board (year 1968)Modern Chess has just one and calls it Minister. Actually, this just takes now over 100-yr.-old Chancellor Chess and substitutes for the Marshall(R+N), making a marginal improvement. Those two, Modern and Chancellor, are both characterized by commercialization. However, same-coloured Bishops throughout are the drawback here. It seems the best CVs preserving the orthodox six(RNBKQP) go all the way to ten files if wanting to introduce new piece(s).
Mad Chess. Chess variant with unequal armies on 10 by 10 board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]That Mad Chess was 'extensively commented'? Seven comments: discount the first by inventor himself. Second comment says in a few words that it makes chess 'unisexual.' Better 3rd and 4th comments do not seem to be aware of Betza's Chess Different Armies. That 4th compares the pieces among themselves; I have tried to add comparisons far and wide among disconnected large CVs. 5th comment cites Betza at last. 6th comment ridiculously compares Mad Chess to Ultima. 7th comment for 'F+' generally pans chess-unequal-armies types. Moderately commented back then, Mad Chess deserves some attention for some interesting pieces.
Armies of Faith 1: The Dawn of Civilisation. The first in of a series of 3d variants themed on various religions of history. (3x(9x9), Cells: 243) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very poor description of Falcon from Falcon Chess (1992), USP5690334. See Comments under another oddball game Horus(2004). Falcon is not 'lame' and invention of Falcon precedes 'Bison' in a game by twelve years, so Bison would be an offshoot, or corruption, of Falcon, not vice versa. Etc.
Falcon Chess articles support Falcon as a Multi-path chess piece, not either a leaper or rider. 'Lameness' is an insulting term applied by Aronson in 2004 to Falcon after Ralph Betza initiated its use in 2003 for a specialized Dabbabah(then Betza disappeared). Pejorative 'Lame' was never used before 2003 for Chess. Actually, confusing the issue, Aronson says Falcon is 'not lame' or different from what a 'lame Bison' would be, without trying to define it. So 'lameness' is now bandied about for Falcon. No other piece that I know of is tried to classify as 'lame' since they came up with that in 2003. Friends use 'Multi-path'. Sorry, David, David P. had no Bison in 1994 ECV, and so what is known Falcon is first mover in a game to those Falcon-Bison 2-4,3-4 squares, and the best implementation, therefore it is Bison deriving. ECV has the 1920's Maus' Cavalry's R-Camel-Zebra leaper of little value since, showing no question compound leapers exist prior to proliferation.
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Editor Charles, Why don't you re-Rate Falcon Chess from 'None', its having half a dozen Poors and nothing else from your most active readership, surely really a compliment. Or why do you bother to solicit a favourable rating from me more or less outsider with one Poor-Average game under byline? Is it a taunt on your part? (Technically I realize you cannot rerate because of not using your CVP-identification, the same as Ralph Betza used to do with 'gnohmon')I can tell you that you have a Poor game to play in Armies of Faith, and I will give you the courtesy of analyzing why in a long paragraph later, the way I Commented systematically on 400 Large Chesses in 2004 and 2005, whereupon my privilege for unscreened Comments was revoked by your people.
AltOrth Hex Chess. Hexagonal variant using pieces moving only one way along each orthogonal. (11x11, Cells: 91) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I agree with Paulowich that Gilman hit a home run here, re-configuring hexagonal fundamentals for all time! Surprising 1 for 150 for Charles now, (you know the saying about finally hitting the fan, or wall, or broadside of a barn) although in fairness many dozens of the other 149 are enjoyable for their theme
and also for their humorous deliberately-pretentious, not to say pendantic, intellectuality. I rated before many Gilman games and articles Good themematically, but this the first Excellent(as one to play). Good work.
Armies of Faith 1: The Dawn of Civilisation. The first in of a series of 3d variants themed on various religions of history. (3x(9x9), Cells: 243) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Chess-Different-Armies type 3-player chess, 3d, 10x11x3 = 330 cells. No erudition in theme but adequate puffery to peak interest. Each team 1K, 4N, 4R, 4 Camels...(incomplete) tapering off to incomprehensibility. Enormous disrespect for reader, no reaching across with clarity in terms like 'root-3', 'root-2', when 'vertex' and 'edge' suffice. 'Triagonal' recalls pedantically its expatiated 100 Comments yr 2003. Redundancies: Occidental King 'must be kept out of check'; three times we are told there is one(1)King per army. Calculating the 'nearest army' for Pawn move is where AOF crashes not only because complications inhibit strategy but also 'nearest' would usually entail two other armies equidistant, whatever the set-up. Forgive Gilman's overreaching since 3p-3d is problematical, generating these poor ideas, or cheap excuse just to plug in such admired themed ones as Ibis(1,8) narcissistically or Falcon (three-square multi-path) spitefully, bad choices for 3d. Ibis' only four, or nine, cubes to move might work on stretched board but this 330 3-deep? Sin omission: no explication of Bishop Root-2 or Root-3? Over years Gilman may often aspire to mock-style of equally-incoherent Gridlock, never matching that one's wit and energy. Sin commission: over-use of leapers like Anu(2d 4,3 or 2d 7,1) etc. Crocodile is a self-described 'cheat' piece, tailor-made differently in each domain, in order to paper over unbalanced design among armies. Yet AOF is less a CV than recapitulation of Gilman's favourite obsessive nomenclature. And please take Gilman's AOF as first approximation, rough-edged, only to be subjected later to a 'refinement'; an awkward position, as Greg Strong says, to be spammed from within, or below.
Gilman's last remark, or question, is posturing nonsense because in this particular write-up, Gilman number 149 or 150, unlike most others, there is no starting array to look at (that's the point), no complete delineation of what each differing Army consists of. I cannot even tell how many Pawns there were. He points to slight error in our Comment about Bishop, because there are none here, I realize, but it states that a few piece-moves (Knight, Crocodile) depend on Bishop's being defined. Sure the usual root-2, through edge, but common dis-service to reader of not stepping carefully through Rules is deliberate, not amateurish obscurantism.
Win by noncheckmate (worth its own development) occurs when Pawn, however many, moves to a promotion-compulsory cube whilst its army's already having their full complement. In other words, Pawn x cannot move farther. 'Crocibised', 'Pawn-Forces', 'Piece Surfeit' --this Win by Noncheckmate figuratively. A fortiori, it defeats at once all other extant Armies in alternate win condition. Gilman's own 'The last player not checkmated wins', innocuous enough, is case thus of being either incomplete or redundant, a peculiar but logical dichotomy forced on the reader (not to say player when it's a Gilman) to select to tell what is meant. (Object of the game here is comparatively rather clear part of AOF write-up)
Game Courier History. History of the Chess Variants Game Courier PBM system.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Several of my games around March 2007 were posted Win for my opponent, and they were definitely not timed or finished games, just delayed moves of 2 or 3 or 4 weeks. My concurrent Kibitz Comment shows Falcon Chess game in progress removed to finished game after my move minutes ago, win 'JeJu'(loss Duke). What happened? I just made my next move 18, or 20, whatever, Rook to e8 Check. Thank you in advance for continuing the game, JeJu, or by way of Editor.
Hex Dabbaba Qi. A Wellisch-style hex interpretation of Xiang Qi, indluenced by Toccata.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Rating: Average, 4 out of 10 highest. 'It was seeing Toccata...' it begins illogically since fine Toccata's only Xiangqi piece is Cannon. References to Glinski(1936), McCooey(1978), and Wellisch(1912) for relevant connection are sham because those three have only RNBKQP analogues not Xiangqi. Notice no links to G,M,W but to Gilman's own instead. Peruse Toccata a few minutes and we know how to play unlike any Gilman. 7 piece-types. Here board's depiction of hexagonal connectivity without hexagons works okay. Gilman avers falsely that General appears in Toccata and Wellisch: wrong, because they have no Palace nine-squares or any area confining their King-type. Why always make far-fetched comparisons? Covetously to try partially to subsume others' solid work into own. Dabbabah 'a stepping one and the halfway square must be empty' is a good phrase, without pejorative 'lame'. (He'll go back to using 'lame' now) Yet thus Dabbabah is far afield from Xiangqi's counterpart Elephant, so even the Xiangqi analogue strains forcibly. In the midst of Rules, on the fly we get citations on origins of piece names and other pieces rejected -- very distracting style of presentation of one's new CV. Logical enough Viceroy's one-step being called 'Knight analogue' another awkward pairing-up and hardly 'what Wellsich did' at all, having rather all FIDE counterparts. Look at the two sentences for the Point (quasi-Xiangqi Pawn), and it is all but impossible to tell how Point moves. Okay, under Rules two paragraphs down, I get how Points move now. Can you? In all, it hangs together as one to play despite convoluted, preoccupied article.
4 out of 10 highest. Zig-zag palace excluding Viceroy squares to equal Xiangqi's nine is unnatural for a hypothetical player, Gilman being preoccupied to play own games. Built-in spin-offs a-plenty cloud description. For ex., it seems to be matter of indifference whether to use three-step Dabbabah 'bound to different sets of cells'. Also confusingly Viceroy on cubic is referred to having purported 8 spaces to move. 'Viceroy is bound', meaning restricted to subset(s) of board, needs explanation, as does the fact that it takes three of them to cover the board. Also not like Xiangqi because no second piece confined to Palace. Just as Aronson's mediocre Jumping Chess is work-in-progress to excellent Rococo's Cannon Pawn(hey a Xiangqi connection), so middling HDQ is missing link(not necessarily chronologically) to excellent breakthrough AltOrth Hex Chess. Intellectual dishonesty noted in first half-Comment stands as to prior art's relevance.
Long Yang. Applying the Nearlydouble principle to a variant with Cannons. (11x16, Cells: 176) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Rating: 3 out of possible 10. Proliferation in Number of games: Ralph Betza 150, Charles Gilman 150 now. CVs. Chess Variants. No direct comparisons intended. 'You've got 13, they've got 13,' says Peter Lorre in 1944 film 'Arsenic and Old Lace,' a comedy. MVs. Murder Victims. 13 + 13 altogether, by arsenic-laced elderberry wine of old sweet ladies in that Cary Grant (initials CG) movie. Leave it at that. Looking at the game Long Yang itself, backreading Introduction as necessary and ignoring Notes, the first picture 9x10 is not the game, but the second one 11x16 is. 'Set-up' is that picture and it's big, but really Jupiter (16x16), Giant Chess(16x16), Infinite Chess and many others are bigger. Seven piece-types are not interesting on 176 square, nowhere near idealized 10 percent. Knight is Knight plus Camel at option, Bishop, Rook, Cannon, King, Canon(diagonal equivalent of Cannon). Three different Pawn regions are a feature out of the mind of a non-player. Just enough of a twist for Gilman to put his byline, I guess, but still too much of a Yang Qi(Duniho) copycat. That Yang Qi itself is not particularly novel, being a competent hodgepodge of known pieces and dynamics.
Strong Yang. Another way of applying the Nearlydouble principle to a variant with Cannons. (13x13, Cells: 169) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Rating: 3 out of possible 10. Fractionally better than Long Yang with all the same reasoning applying but the board is 13 squared, a nice size. I think a cultural Turkish Great Chess or two, be they circa 1650 or 1700 or 1800, are precisely 13x13. Possibly this could have been incorporated into Long Yang itself. Next up is Partnership Mitregi, look it over for what you would say about Partnership Mitregi, above Poor I believe, a recent post 'What's New'.
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