Comments by GeorgeDuke
You can Name the Baby anything you want but over half name it by these 100 in both lists: Top_100. Likewise variant pieces draw from about 100 choices more than half the time (popularity in the eye of the beholder). For convenience in comparison, educated guesswork can deliver specific match-ups: that #1 is Mary/Centaur(BN) about same-percentaged, #2 is John/Patricia/Camel, #3 Jennifer/Alfil, #5 William/Linda/Commoner, #10 Sarah/Cannon, #15 Donald/Champion(RN), #100 Howard/Kathy/Padwar of Jetan, and so on in between.
If we liberally cut piece-types off at 2000 and CVs at about 9000 from all sources, including some subvariants, and assuming about one new type (not rnbkqp) per CV, it means 2%, or 180, CVs use Centaur/Sarah and 90 CVs use Camel/Patricia. Centaur and Camel may be low a bit from more expected 3% and 2% respectively, but most others being employed near 1%, or less, of the time make for good comparability between Babies and Fairy pieces. Remember half of CVs are on small 8x8 where #1 Centaur(BN) appears only rarely, and half again of the 64-square ones may have zero additional pieces. And more pertinently, there are many important specified pieces used only once or twice -- once per 9000 is about 0.01%. Most types will fall in the range 0.009% to 0.7% usage.
Beauty and eventual popularity can come about by developing formulaically: just see the 'Man & Beasts' project. For example, try compound of more frequently-used p-t and infrequently-used p-t. Noting "Howard" is #100 on the Boy's side, and William #5, there is (Commoner plus Padwar -- Padwar moves two steps diagonally allowing the bend). The compound is neat brand new type, and is fitting because William Howard Taft is USA President and Chief Justice. Taft is the ...er heaviest, well fattest USA Pres and Trump number three after Cleveland. In addition to the oldest ever Trump is third in ...weight. What is Donald John Trump's piece-type? See above that is (Camel plus Champion(RN)) already named "Carshall" (or Car-shell? or Car Shill?) by Gilman: Marshall+Camel.
Alphanumerically, trump and truman are only off by one. Trump's butterfly in hope he'll do about-faces on Nature.
Popularity is more elusive to measure the greater the sample size. A plurality of mere 2% could be the number one when voting among 100 or 150 elements. Take the sample space of Baby Names past century: Names of USA excluding Canada etc.
Fairy Pieces are like baby names in having many members not regarded that differently. Mary at 2% could very well be comparable to four-centuries Centaur(BN) after a survey, that is probable #1 whether at 1 or 2 or 3% all variant pieces arrayed however the CVs widely-authored are configured for enumeration. Already #2 "Patricia" is less than 1%, 0.932%, #10 Sarah 0.593%, but #100 Kathy (perhaps less used Padwar of Jetan counterpart, for example) still a healthy 0.2%, or 1 in 500. Is high-rank Sarah popular and Kathy unpopular? Or Cannon(maybe #10 likewise) highly-regarded and #100 Padwar not, even though there is just a factor of three let's say -- to make estimate correspond to the female names such same-ranked -- in their two different usages within separately-defined CVs fully dis-ambiguated at least as to how their pieces move?
Using CENTAUR as widely as possible can only further popularize.
BLUE CENTAUR is on e4 to start. It is owned by both sides, cannot be captured, and does figure in capturing and checkmate normally. Player may move immortal BLUE CENTAUR up to five times in place of regular move. No moving Blue Centaur until Move 11, but of course it blocks off the e4 square as expected the first ten moves too. This problemists' piece as uncapturable BLUE QUEEN could readily be used, but the following score describes BLUE CENTAUR on e4.
1 d4 d5 /Since e-file gets blocked, d-file is important. 2 e3 a5 / Positioning for Rook egress. 3 N-a3 b6. 4 c3 Ra8-a6 /Black Rook safe distance from Blue Centaur. 5 B-d2 B-g4 /Black wants to draw the Queen into harm's way near the Blue. 6 Qxg4 e7-e6 /White Queen cannot resist the bait taking Bishop. 7 0-0-0 h6. 8 Q-h4 Q-d7 / Both Queens jockeying away as Blue Centaur phase nears. 9 K-b1 Q-a4. 10 K-a1 K-d8. Upcoming move 11 Blue Centaur can be moved, and six pieces are in the a-file away from e-file, achieving some safety from the Immortalist. No diagonal from e4 reaches a-file after all. Likely over 1/3 the remaining moves will be Blue Centaur, and games run fewer than 30 Moves, but it's anybody's guess. At first Blue Centaur, whichever side uses him first can only capture Pawn, since pieces have stayed clear of the reaches. White's King is particularly well-disposed on a1, which from e4 is quite a slog.
Play would be different with Blue Queen instead of Blue Centaur, to avoid Blue Queen lines of attack differently.
Designers' most popular piece is the early 17th century Centaur: Bishop+Knight. Glossing over its mythological roots, prissy 19th century started re-naming, in turn into the 20th century: Equerry, Chancellor, Minister, Archbishop as Duniho's piece article above documents.
Centaur. For board 8x10 and for the two Knight compounds, Carrera should be credited, Carrera, not grandmaster Bird or Grandmaster Capablanca. Even recently Grandmaster Seirawan, ignorant of history, emotes that apparently, after all, these fairy pieces are four hundred years old, whoa not original with him and Harper, and of course renaming them yet again. Medieval ingenuity had more commonsense than these degenerate times and modern Chess came about 500 years ago. Then the collective renaissance gemeinschaft richly-layered produces, midst art and science and empire-building Carrera's insight of logical Knight compounds with the separate Queen legs. Carrera's Centaur is invented by 1617, and in 1612 "The Tempest" has scene of chess-playing, Shakespeare's only play in the west hemisphere (Caribbean). [“O, brave new world that has such people in't!â€]
The piece mix R, N, B, K, Q, P, Centaur, Champion(RN) is the only Chess form that accepts "new CV" just by re-arranging the initial array or altering Castling. As a result there are thirty or more separate inventors of slight variants in basic Carrera, counting deepened board 10x10. If you switch Coordinator and Long Leaper where they start in Ultima, it is still Ultima by Abbott. If you exchange Rococo Swapper and Immobilizer in the back rank, that is still Rococo by Howe and Aronson. But any little tweak Carrera-Bird-Capablanca (important earlier ones), then the designer claims a new CV. It has proved the most popular, Centaur especially getting wider play than Champion in CVs that at least change the other six pieces somewhat.
Since this is Piece topic, it is new idea to have one or few pieces that can be moved by both sides (not that it has to be "popular"). Or that could be way to introduce the greatest, most popular all-time piece Centaur(BN): start it on e4 and let both sides own it and optionally move Centaur in lieu of regular move five times a game -- a difference from Seirawan Gating. Necessarily such "Blue" BN is uncapturable but figures fully in capturing opponent and mate. Starting the immortal Blue Queen(BR) or Blue Centaur on e4 will create more a-, b-, and h-file flank-play to avoid her/him, but Pawns may still vie for the center.
I submitted a CV as Blue Queen last fall and will resubmit it in final draft. Blue Queen is the problemists' piece owned by both sides. Actually any of the 2000+ pieces could be introduced this way at central square and available to both on regular 64. This is a whole new class of pieces uncapturable, befitting prefix "Blue." For example, BLUE DABBABAH, or stronger BLUE ALIBABA, not two per team or even one per side, but one for both shared at e4, or d4 or e5 or d5.
Or Gilmanesque BLUE MIRROR WAZIR CAMEL ALTERNATOR, starting at e4, and thus moving Camel-Wazir-Camel...stopping on either type of leg -- and movable by either player (because Blue). By extension, we could carefully sprinkle very large boards with several these very best available immortal Blue pieces, not too powerful to disrupt judicious play.
(On small 8 by 8 the Blue Queen or Blue Centaur phase starts Move 11, precluding 1 e4xe7 #. Blue Centaur quick mate is 1 e4-f6 #, dis-allowed by having ten normal opening moves then up to five optional Blue moves to end.)
In only eight comments here are Lists of specific piece-types clearly defined, one by one, numbering about 2500. 2500 different pieces not enough to choose from?
Suffix Use Charles Gilman's Suffix Index to generate multiples more.
Take the first one ALTERNATOR:
ALTERNATOR after angle (rounded to nearest degree on these pages) and full name of 2 pieces square hex a piece whose move's odd stages are those of the first, and even ones those of the second, piece, each in one direction. An alternator can be prefixed MIRROR to start with the second-named piece, CONTRA- to end with the first-named piece (and start with either), MIRROR CONTRA- to end with the second-named piece (and start with either), and DOUBLE that to be free to start or end with either.
Say you want to combine Wazir and Knight, not as compound but as combination or sequential piece. The first new type of piece is "27 degrees Wazir Knight," meaning a piece that moves first as W then N in the narrow direction as one move. 'Mirror 27 W N' starts with Knight then Wazir, and in a class you may want to keep the naming order the same and so actually use "Mirror." "Contra 27 WN" must stop with a Wazir but can start with either. "Mirror Contra (implied 27) WN" has to stop with a Knight. "Double WN" is higher value because can start or end with either. There are other possibilities including making the angled change of direction 63 degrees for the wide Knight mode. And there is the opportunity to allow both 27- and 63-degree angled changes of direction. Estimate there are about 20 reasonable p-ts by combining Wazir and Knight in different ways as ALTERNATOR.
WEAVER is the last suffix alphabetically. A weaver is an alternator by definition. If we make all the above special-case Weaver instead of plain Alternator, it means the Knight's direction changes systematically every other step in its leg of a solitary move -- that is alternating between Wazir and Knight as well as weaving like a crooked nightrider. Jorg Knappen finds in "Nachtmahr" there are quite a few Nightriders so it needs specification between which two the Knight weaves as part of the ALTERNATOR. That is just a matter of putting two different angles in the piece description, or else using accepted name for it from Knappen.
Probably 100 reasonable piece-types can come about from combination piece -- meaning more than one leg -- of Wazir and Knight. Gilman's system can describe the movements well enough, and it's not worth trying to adapt simple Betzan notation become anachronistic.
By coincidence, Glenn, see Carrillo's Ajax Chess (whose comment intervenes right now) for the one CV already done
with all those Commoner/Man compounds.
Xiangqi has only one piece of interest, the Cannon, a great idea and probably the best Hopper we can think of -- along with its diagonal equivalent Vao by T.R. Dawson. The challenge of Xiangqi then comes from the sections of the board, the Palace and the division into two, not creative pieces like the Japanese were able to do for so long in large Shogis. There is less potential applicability by Chinese Chess to Western Chess, that is real Chess, than say Grande Acedrex or Carrera's or even carefully-chosen Shogi short-range pieces. I will re-make the boards demonstrating unaesthetic positions from BN and RN not engendered by more logical Queen (and company). An argument against Carrera's two is that they do not get paired as individual types. One cannot exist without the other, and there is no way to tell which of the three pairs is best RB and RN, or RB and BN, or RN and BN. Just plugging in all three is too powerful piece-mix up to 81 squares. Here is one CV that does single out Centaur: Janus, dispensing with Champion. Janus may be more effective than Carrera's or Seirawan's or especially low-density Grand Chess, but Janus is not much better than those.
Right, I was just adding to close out the first comment that Muller holds up BN as number one fairy piece. And Seirawan thinks of them, RN and BN, as the essential expansions. They are pretty natural, or at least simple to learn, and should be in the top 15 or 20 variant pieces. You could use Duniho's Gross Chess essay to get what most of us would agree belong in the top couple dozen; I think he has about 20 piece-types explained there.
This topic, BN+RN, was to critique Carreran Centaur and Champion, same as Capablanca Archbishop and Chancellor, same as Cardinal and Marshall. The demonstration boards of weird positions caused by them need to be reformatted. They are still so popular that Seirawan Chess uses them on 64 the way Betza and Cohen did in 1970s Tutti-Frutti. H.G. Muller calls Centaur the best fairy piece of all because of "synergy between Bishop and Knight."
This thread is to place the important piece lists together. Of course there is some or considerable overlap of piece-types, such as Charles' Index under 'J' including all of Christine's Japanese Fairy Shogi pieces from 12th to 18th centuries.
Next there are lists or discussions embedded into CVs themselves. Fergus Duniho's Gross_Chess covers basic Chess pieces, the most popular compounds from 17th century Carrera on, and hoppers all in one essay.
Fantasy Grand, F_Grand, in its six different armies has dozen or more pieces, as compounds or limited movers, not found elsewhere, serving as plausible piece-type glossary. Notice that in the Giant Army the Cyclops is the Ski Rook. Jorg Knappen recently told Dmitry Eskin that his current Asymmetric Chess is using longstanding Ski Rook. Thus Ski Rook is piece-type in two Chess Different Armies: Fantasy and Asymmetric. Eskin must have borrowed the idea from Hatch.
In fact, the first comment here starting this whole topic was that George Jeliss does define Ski Rook: Ski_Rook. What goes around comes around.
For follow-up, Suffix, Gilman develops the Suffix Index which can multiply the 2500+ piece-types formulaically.
Then there are Betza's "Ideal and Practical Values" that also list pieces. The basic or atomic chess pieces: Wazir+. I don't like Ralph's use of "fundamental" for W, A, D, N, F, because fundamental should be reserved for Rook, Knight, Bishop, and Falcon; but those five FWAND are certainly the atomic ones for 5x5 around a starting square.
Just as Winther has "Bifurcators" in earlier list here, Howe has "Mimics": Mimics. There is much unrealized potential in having CVs with Mimic/Mime/Imitator.
Next, I list pieces that are riders with more than one path: Multi-path
Joe Joyce's and Christine Bagley-Jones' Short-Range_Project.
(Negative-value pieces fit this topic as well, Nattering_Nabobs, because Negative Relay, as one way to achieve over-all "minus value," could be generalized as Mutator to cover the 2000 Gilman types and approximately 500 other types in these lists so far Gilman happens to exclude or overlook. Just operate the Mutator not on the game-rules per se but the individual piece-type directly. Presto, 2500 different piece-types become 5000.)
In David Howe's Megachess every piece is a chess game: 32_boards. If putting a unique piece on each square of 32 boards like Megachess has, that suffices to see all of Charles Gilman's approximately 2000 different piece-types and leaves 48 vacant squares for additions and omissions. "The Mega-board (detailed view)" of above article, including the empty squares marked, has all the space needed to number the Gilman types (of course not done in Megachess).
Charles' recording is actually 21 separate indexes, for example 'W' includes W, X, Y, and Z. The 'I' section: I_pieces. The "I's" include 'J' and so "Japan" and there distinctly lists most all of those in Christine Bagley-Jones' article on Shogi Fairy over again. Then one has to look them up for how they move under the Gilman-approved name.
For example, Bagley-Jones: (name Phoenix) (help "Phoenix (Hoo): moves one square orthogonally or jumps to the 2nd square diagonally.") (description "Phoenix\\A Phoenix may move one square orthogonally or jump to the second square in any diagonal direction.") And then Gilman under 'I' above and to "Japan" notes "Phoenix(Hoo) Waffle" and then to "Waffle": WAFFLE square Wazir+Elephant ¢.
Next, Jeremy Good has a short list that's a good refresher: Complementarity.
And Betza's Bent_Riders. That makes 12 separate-authored piece lists. Gilman's are organized into the 19 first letters, with C and S further split into two.
Shogi_Fairy. Christine Bagley-Jones' pieces on the 12x16 board, "Fairy Pieces," are from the historical large Shogi variants pre-19th century. Some more could have been added she explains, but displayed on board in the article are all of Angry Boar to Yaksha for 154 types. Yaksha pictorially is on j10, Coiled Serpent e2, Dark Spirit h2, Strutting Crow d9, Bishop e1, Knight ("el")-1, Rook b8 and so on. Since no one has marked the squares yet by description of the piece, the way to find them is from the definition to the board not vice versa.
Charles Gilman's 2000 piece-types -- his entire work -- could be exhibited together on one board too. To show them all as a CV to play in set array, mirrored for both sides, a chessboard of 64-square suffices. A logical CV with one of each of the 2000 different pieces would dispense with Pawns and add one King, say at ff1 for White and ff64 for Black. Since 64x64 is 4096, initially the pieces will cover the entire board but for one empty band of squares staggered symmetrically from a32 to lll("els")33. There are then 94 vacant squares between the two armies to start, and no opponents abut each other. This CV, call it Gilman-Complete, might best be played Marsellais-style or even Progressively.
Go boards are 19x19 and Scrabble boards 15x15. Three Scrabble boards plus one Go board make 64 squares in one row -- ignoring that 18 squares of 19 intersections usually make Go board. Just as suggestion, there would be different ways to size and space quickly to make playable surface of 64x64. One far-fetched way for visualizing anyway is 9 scrabble boards formed into larger square (45x45) and 6 or 7 Go boards surrounding, sketching in the needed extras. That's what it takes to include all Gilman's indexed types. Or four of Bagley-Jones' 16-wide boards above give enough files 64, and build up from there to get equivalent of 64 regular chessboards. Scrabble and Go_boards.
Charles has four geometries chiefly: cubic, square, hex-prism, hexagonal (excluding cubic xyrixa of Tetrahedral). Gilman p-ts are from all four, so to be fully playable, there needs to be agreement on rules for transforming 3d to 2d and hex to square. In general make the move first by its geometry, then translate if necessary to the planar square-based board of 4096 cells. Mixed geometry questions like this can be found in Betza's Rectahex, Geometry, its comments, and several Gilman CVs themselves. Cubic pieces and hex-prism could readily be resolved to play one of each type on flat 64x64 for the long haul.
Next, this is the piece section of David Howe's "Concise Guide" put out in 2011: Pieces.
And not far afield Howe's list of categories of types from earlier 2001: Types.
And then Christine Bagley-Jones' historic 150+ Shogi variant pieces found in this 2012 article: Fairy_Shogi All 154 piece-types exactly are in fact indicated in the one 12x16 first board of "Fairy Pieces." Frivolously, if you make the board 24x16, there can be two sides with 154 different-moving pieces Shogi-derived from actual recorded Japanese CVs, but of course most of them are unable to move from respective array.
It was found that Gilman's combined indexes define about 2000 differing piece-types, only 75% or so newly made up by him. Thus to show all Charles' the way Christine does diagrammatically on just one board can easily by done for the Gilman 2000 on a given 70x70 chessboard, providing for both sides. Again, most would be immobilized at the start until things open up by areas of board size 70 square. [By coincidence -- more precise than rounding to tens -- 64x64 board gives 4096 squares and that is the first size more than enough too if omitting Pawns, to exhibit often-repeated 2000 piece-types each force, plus a King and some space between.]
Today is Boxing Day: Boxing.
Jianying Ji left off here in 2002 Betza, in reply to having Chess history.
Maurice Richardson begins year 1948 "A Quiet Game of Chess":
It was the Boxing-day after the last Christmas before the End of the World..... I don't know whether you've ever played surrealist Chess. It is played with additional pieces, human Kings, Queens, Bishops, Knights and Pawns, with genuine old machiolated castles for Rooks, all on a board of positively cosmic dimensions. The screams of hapless Pawns being dragged away to captivity with all its nameless horrors, the wheezy death rattle of Knights, the whining supplications of crafty Bishops, the sadistic frenzy of Queens, resounded on all sides. --Maurice Richardson, "A Quiet Game of Chess" 1948. Its full text is chapter of 'Exploits of Engelbrecht'.
Today is also Charles Babbage's birthday, Computer, heralding computer theory epitomized by chess-playing as well as anything. December 26 is also Mao Tse-Tung's. Yesterday the 25th is Isaac Newton's birthday, Physics.
Pied Color Chess. Oh no! All the colors on the board have been scrambled -- however will the pieces move? (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In Ralph Betza's Pied Color Chess, all the pieces except Pawns are changed in their movement by the piing, unless they happen to have normal dark and light (eight)-square surrounding. In the Example the Rook on b1 starting to c2 can stop there or continue -b3-c4-d5-e6-f7-g8. In the coloration exampled there are no, zero, "normal" squares so far as adjacencies let alone two away and beyond. Watch what's beneath you!
Next for piece definitions in long lists is Truelove's table:
Pritchard, compiled from Pritchard's 'Enclyclopedia' and Dickens 'Guide'. If not recognizing the name immediately, you have to go to the book to see how the piece-type moves, or it might be found in a CV game online or in another glossary. Though not trying values, Truelove's is useful because some games in Pritchard have not made it over to Chess Variant Page.
Not useful from the same turn of millennium time period is Derzhanski's:
Fairy The point values (zillions) are presumptuous in exactitude, and supposed definitions, whether accurate Betzan notation or not, are like personal notes, as if Derzhanski didn't know what he was getting into.
"Analyze the motion of a smooth flat coin rolling inside the rough surface of a hollow ellipsoid balanced on the back of a hemispherical tortoise ambling at constant speed straight up a hill of uniform gradient on Saturn, of Sol." In that problem many assumed values can work the math with the right equations.
Likewise piece values, changing with board and array, are problematical compared to mere definitions of types. This topic is for Lists of piece-types, so that all of them are accessible. The first samples were one French Glossary, one German, one by George Jelliss, and one by M. Winther. Notice Winther estimates value for each defined piece. To add about 20 more long lists, Charles Gilman is very accurate once you understand what he means, and he never does values. In Index just under 'A' there are about 150 definitions: Letter_A.
Continuation to 'B' and through the alphabet turns up around 2000 piece-types -- without values. Gilman and Betza are the only designers who saw fit to make over 150 CVs. In contrast to Gilman, Betza of course is full of estimated values. Betza was always the best at including values and also at giving sample game scores. Betza never did a glossary though. (And for that matter he never went outside the simple 8x8 box, except Outrigger 8x10 and his particular Double Chess. Gilman has every imaginable board size and the most three-dimension CVs ever done.)
Half of 'S' by Gilman:
S_1/2 End of each leads in next letter.
Recently Knappen found from index of Jelliss Ski-Rook type, to compare to pieces in current Chess Different Armies Asymmetrical Chess. There are twenty or more long glossaries of piece-types from Charles Gilman's to David Howe's. So let's put many lists of types here in new topic saving going back to locate them. This French one came to our attention eight years ago: Christian_Poisson.
George Jeliss' best list for types: Fairy.
And Knappen cites German one then too: Types.
M. Winther's own Bifurcation pieces, inventing and adding to renaming about six Jeliss had earlier recorded: Bifurcators.
Here is Betza on Chess Different Armies:
CDA.
The original topic of this name was years 2009-2011:
Betza. In one of those was recalled Betza on Go: Go. Of course just this year AlphaGo slaughtered Korean Lee Seedol -- far more memorable mind sport event for year 2016 than another f.i.d.e. tournament we had last month with pre-tiebreak score well in favor of again Draws 10, Carlsen 1, Karjakin 1.
Here are some gems from Ralph Betza in days of yore:
History. That one happens as the 513th comment in this system now over 33500. Betza's "variant skill" would have to be split realistically into ten or twenty or more categories. Magnus Carlsen, it was said by grandmasters in last month's match, has not fared well at Fischer Random Chess. He is only good at the hoi polloi seven-million-times-played Simpleminded Chess. There is no guarantee who would continue within the top if they tried changes in the Rules on 8x8 or variant boards 8x10, 9x9, or 10x10. Presumably some of the top ten would struggle at Shogi or Xiangqi or Go. Betza claims to be better than Fischer would be let's say at Orthodox Chess and Chess Different Armies; Betza would have to say he might take on Carlsen if allowed to play both games.
Also under Chaturanga, John Ayers describes a proto-Chess historically evident with Jumping Rook limited to "three squares" at a time when they counted the starting square:
Repugnantly bad sport Magnus Carlsen does not attend conference when he loses,
Hide&Seek but is grinning like Gargantua when he wins, Carlsen. There have been only the two wins and Rapids determines Championship today.
Very likely Draw Game 4 upcoming since in Game 3 CarlsenWins: Gargantua, HisEducation and since Carlsen does not read HisEducation again in draw. He who does not read: Magnus.
Every time there is Draw, they say it is warm-up game, Polger says on Carlsen getting first game Draw with Black, or it is Fighting Draw. But it is hard to get fighting Draw in Rapids. So what else is new in Simpleminded Chess? The great multi-talented Taimanov has died: Taimonov.
Not well known though ranked about 200, Urii Eliseev fell tragically to death: Fall.
With full respect for Eliseev's tragedy, and he seems would appreciate the broadening, it appears very often Chess players fall to their death, more so than any category but some extreme sport itself:
Death_In_Fall. For example, author of 'Encyclopedia Chess Variants' and player David Pritchard fell to death about 2002. And in above list by Bill Wall, all of Pierre St.- Amant, Vitolins, Agzamov, Curt von Bardeleben, Perliss, Grigorian, Minckwitz, Rossolimo fell or jumped to death. Actually, Eliseev is repeating Lembit Oll's recent dying in falling off building in Estonia, Oll. Oll_Jump.
Base Jumping was highlighted here before, in fact in connection with the Draw Death business: BaseJump. Please, please use parachute or Wing Suit from now on, and know chute does not open in time below eight floors. Dean.
Today will settle the championship in peewee Chess. Watch the paint dry live: 2016.
2016. As expected it is Simpleminded Draws 10, Karjakin 1, Carlsen 1 in regulation, so Rapid play and if necessary Blitz will determine winner. The Draw Death era started before f.i.d.e. surfaced in 1924 in the Capa and Lasker time, despite grandmasters constant rationalization that this or that sophistication in play followed. In fact, the purpose of F.I.D.E. has been to thwart reform and variations, enforcing dreary conformity.
Yasser Seirawan wanting to be the block mother helping the residents proposes a 13th game in future cases like this, a typically tepid solution: Thirteen. Seirawan published 5000-word articles 2000 on one after another to remedy the split title,
like this one Title, until some Russians and East Europeans would ask undiplomatically, who is this intruder, that his opinion even matters? The title was going to be unified anyway without garrulity.
Here is what cards Bridge expert says about Chess Draw problem: No_Draws.
If Orthodox forces just gave up on little 64 squares, as presenting only artificial solutions, and adopted 8x10 Capablanca board there are many solutions in dozen or more great CVs. It has been Chess Variant Page topic many times in twenty years, how to proceed or in Lenin's words "What is to be done?," and fundamentalists of ChessBase and f.i.d.e. are scared to venture into reform ideas as beyond their mentality.
Game 9. Carlsen has now used 16' after Karjakin's ordinary Move 33 Q-c2, to Carlsen having 13 minutes left to time control, and that carelessness cost Game 8.
On Move 39 Karjakin has over 25' and Carlsen under 2', so little remarked strategy in case here is for Karjakin to choose not necessarily best move, but one that forces longer time spent to make reply. Imagine, Karjakin reaches 20' one one turn at this stage with advantage but no noticeably very good move. Okay, he was calculating Bishop sacrifice brought about by his Move 39. Whichever way, the Game 9 now and Game 8 are the two best of the match, and Game 9 feels to be decisive too at Moves 42.
Asymmetric Chess. Chess with alternative units but classical types and mechanics. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Are Guard, Pegasus, and Wyvern unique as claimed? Pegasus. Let's find out in follow-up.
[Added after Dmitry Eskin's following comment the same 23.11.16: this looks very good but I have to study it -- and the already comments of Muller. I assumed (0,x) wrong for Rook but it's more sophisticated, so I will wait on design analysis of Asymmetrical and how its Pawns work and similarities to other CVs, rather than more now off the cuff.]
Buddha. Ramayana has all-range leaping Bishop in Rakshasa and all-range leaping Rook in Buddha. Orcs and Elves of Asymmetrical use the classical orthogonals and diagonals the way Ramayana does on its very strange board, but Asymmetrical splits them into two. One question, are the point values equal to 31 as they need to be? That leads to the Pawns.
Another one with Elven Army by name that is also a Chess Different Army is Fantasy Grand, Elven from year 2000.
Live Game 9 of 12-round match: Game_9, between Carlsen and Karjakin. The score has been 7 Draws, Karjakin 1 Win, Carlsen 0, match score 4.5 - 3.5. With the win as Black Monday in the best game of the match, Karjakin should be 3-1 favorite now to be victor over the twelve contests since he can succeed just by Drawing out.
At Move 30 Carlsen is the one going for Draw and Karjakin has win chance playing sharply as White.
Karjakin's 33 Q-c2 is ordinary move, but it has caused Carlsen to think over 10' now to below 20 minutes left to first control, and that carelessness lost game 8.
Simpleminded Chess Game 8 for world championship 2016-2018 is under way: Live. There have been 7 Draws for their worst case in terms of decisive outcomes in 60 World Matches over 180 years, interestingly about one every three years. Draws 7, Carlsen 0, Karjakin 0.
History -- that is, in this respect the worst Match for the World Title since these started in year 1834, when Louis de la Bourdannais played Alexander McDonnell with a score of 45 wins to 28 wins with 13 Draws. That one was a 100-game match and it got to where McDonnell could not catch up, so the last games were not played. Likewise in 1972 Fischer led 7 to 3 with 11 Draws, and the final 3 games of their 24-game match then were unnecessary. It is become a 12-game modern peewee version of the classic title matches and defenses with a billion intermittent viewers, who would be better served with something else.
Here are time controls and #1 applies today: Time.
Live, Karjakin just found good move 24 withdrawing the Knight to f6. Carlsen has under 14' from 25 to 40 time refresh. Then Karjakin took over seven minutes Move 26 and is at <9'. Then both have less than nine minutes and there will be lots of fast moves 27 on. Karjakin's sharpness seems to be improving, whereas Carlsen has been on this plateau before.
Take a look, this is exciting game one feels may not end in Draw, with both at three minutes the first control. Real time, CARLSEN BLUNDERED MOVE 35. ...then Karjakin 37 ...Q-d3 is just as bad -- back to 50-50 sidebar after Karjakin had about 70-30 advantage to win couple of turns. Great 0-1!
In Game 5 Karjakin as Black just made a dramatic 13 ...Nxe4. Apparent Knight sacrifice for Pawn, is it a mistake?
Game_5 The equality after trades by Move 15 takes them out of book. With the open f-file for Black and isolated Pawn for White, Black stands better and the sidebar percentages dubious. White is thinking a long time on Move 16.
Karjakin is approaching 30 minutes spent on Move 19, and time is become factor unlike the two marathon Draws the last two games. Carlsen also took about 20 minutes last turn.
Approaching the 40-move time refresh, Karjakin has the percentage in the sidebar, but it looks like another 1/2-1/2 that may not resolve til 70 moves. (18.11.16, 5-0-0 for all Draws. Game 6 today to be noted tomorrow.)
Draw_Chess. Draws 4 and that makes the score 2-2. Game 4 was a long worthwhile watch like Game 3. For the most part the recipients of a supposed billion viewers do not see a problem, yet what other sport or mind sport would tolerate tie after tie? It looks like still an opening for more decisive Chess Variants. Or they could do a lot better just in adopting an accepted tie-breaker by F.I.D.E. interests for lack of any other creativity.
Today is rest day, and with no wins the match may run to November 30. Equivalent to reduction to an 8-game match now, it should be equally likely that one victory will take the whole thing as two victories. Forget about so many as three wins as necessary. 1-0-10, or 2-1-9 at the extremes. There has been reference that Carlsen has not done well at Fischer Random, or Chess 960, by some Orthodox authority. Despite the experts for this tournament, Carlsen seems less versatile in style than Karjakin who comes up with great defense surprises. To support that finding, usually remote watchers can name 3 moves and Carlsen does make one of them, but it takes 4 suggestions for Karjakin likely to pick one of them.
After three games of Carlsen-Karjakin New York 2016, predictably Simpleminded Draws lead 3 to zero to zero.
The third game yesterday was far the best to watch live:
Game_3. In game three after Move 20 exchange, for which see the middle of the above article, there are just two pieces per side, Rook and Bishop versus Rook and Knight, and the Draw resolves at Move 78. So it is practically a 20-move opening and 60-move endgame with no middle game. The sidebar tells winning chances when Live, in Game 3 it was hovering around 60-40 for Carlsen, but never mentioned is watchers could see win for Karjakin if Carlsen made a subpar move. All the GMs commenting were yakking Carlsen is on the verge. Game 4 is starting this minute and Karjakin has White. Who will win the first game and then another, and with two games victorious probably the world F.I.D.E. title for 2016-2018?
FIDE Look at dramatic Karjakin 18 Bxh6 done this moment.
Fischer-Spassky 1972 was for 24 games, Capablanca-Lasker 1921 at Cuba 24 games, and Bourdonnais-McConnell 1834 London 100 games. World Title is a watered-down thing since they only play 12 games, and two wins should be enough for the prize, three at most -- Matches and Chess_Games.
Carlsen's name in above list of tournaments appears twice, compared to Lasker, Botvinnik, and Steinitz 6 or 7 title tries and defenses.
Rules. Rabelais' narrative in 'Gargantua' Book V a few years after Chess added strong Bishop and Queen about 1492, is as clear and unambiguous as many a modern Chess Variant rules-set. Queen Whims of course is representative of CVs or do-as-you-will, as opposed to regimentation and orthodoxy. Notice in Chapter 25, linked in last comment here, Queen Whims vanishes at the end but not dies.
Setting a stage, upon Carlsen's last title defense two years ago was noted here Rabelais' 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' too, published as it was by the 1530s. The "new" Chess still played today had spread since only just before 1500, and you can sense the excitement then in Rabelais' climactic Book Five: Chess.
Gustave Dore added illustrations in the 19th C. edition 'G&P', and there is striking resemblance to Magnus Carlsen, Chess_Image , in the young Gargantua growing up Book I with toy chess pieces and admirers.
Nowadays the resemblance ChessBase and Carlsen play on is Donald Duck:
Donald_Duck for lasting tribute, Magnus' favorite read.
Title. Check your opening manuals and Carlsen's preferences and guess knowingly what will be the first several moves exactly, maybe in an Anti-Sicilian. Whew. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3...
Double Chess. Two sets of pieces on 16 by 12 board. (16x12, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Capablanca and Lasker played Double Chess, an average sort of CV. There are actually several CVs with the word "double" in the name that have two Kings. Maybe Karjakin and Carlsen could be prevailed to play Capablanca's Double Chess next week for world title instead of Simpleminded F.I.D.E. No, naturally because f.i.d.e. founding in 1924 shut out variations such as in castling, and Capablanca Chess on 8x10 in 1920s as well as Double Chess on very large 12x16 here in 1929 were last gasps for Grandmasters critical thinking.
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]Here is a CV with two Kings like Muller's example for negative-value piece. In Anti-King win is by checkmate of regular King or removing check from other's Anti-King. Two other CVs with two Kings are Two Kings Chess and Double Chess.
Both Aronson's Berolina Pawn version and Anti-King Chess II have strategy to keep the side's Anti-King in check. In AKC-I with Berolina note that Anti-King is initially attacked by four pieces checking, and it will take a while to get them "safely" out of the way. Anti-King Chess II may benefit from changing Anti-King move to Knight move only as subvariant.
How do these relate to negative values? That pieces may want to be removed, if possible, in end game in order to have no forces nearby to attack opponent Anti-King, but their over-all average value would be positive just taking on negative value at end. Player may just settle for checkmating regular King.
Fergus Duniho's insightful strategy for actual game played 13 years ago: Strategy, where few pieces were captured.
Worse than Worthless. A discussion of pieces with negative value, and the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Ralph Betza's classic brief on negative values. Few today know "nattering nabobs of negativity" (call it NNN) came from Spiro Agnew, who resigned as Vice President just before Richard Nixon resigned as President.
Yet it depends on the position. Betza's first example, Negative Relay Knight with no capturing power that relays its move to opponents actually as described still has blocking power, and we could make up a problem where it figures in a checkmate for owning side. But over-all there is average negative value in such a piece, and barring a weird specific combination in view, you just as well get rid of it but probably cannot. (That would be another study to design, namely show a case when it is worthwhile to capture a NRK.)
NNN are an experimental Chess Different Army and have enhanced Bishop and Rook to go with Negative Relay Knight. Is NNN equal in value to Colorbound Clobberers and to F.I.D.E. and to Nutty Knights and to Pizza Kings?
Under Strangeness in Asymmetrical Relay, Betza suggest further relay complications such as to move as a Rook or capture as a Bishop, and if your own piece is doing so of course it has (further) negative value.
The Game of Nemoroth. For the sake of your sanity, do not read this variant! (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Chessembly. Open Board Setup, Free Placement Chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]November ELOs show three USA in top eight and three RUSSIA in top twelve:
Nov2016. Number One Carlsen defends against number Nine Karjakin in November at New York.
Those attending do not include Obama, Clinton, Trump yet says Ilyumzhinov: Gates_Z.
Almost 20 years ago Tim Harding said what Wyatt van Dyke holds again now, that reform in Chess will come about this century. It is similar to religious fundamentalists who say in every generation the end is near but not right away, just soon enough to get donations.
Transcendental_Prelate. Harding is columnist for Chess Cafe, and the above article appeared on Chess Cafe; but it was so long ago it is poorly formatted to tell. After Harding's article in the nineties, Chess Cafe dropped topic of CVs, not by conspiracy but for vested Simplemindedness. Anyway Chess Variants get liberally discussed at other OrthoChess site ChessBase. The problem with ChessBase is that their indexing is so bad, it is difficult to find the 30 or even 50 times CVs have come up in a serious way, buried as the subject of reform is in interviews and history. Accesible at ChessBase in full articles are CVs FRC, Option, Switch Side, Tandem Pawn, Shogi, Seirawan Chess, maybe Capablanca and Xiangqi also.
Here's the quintessential conspiracy requiring Orthodox Chess masters: Turk, presaging AI.
About 12 years ago, "Chess is Dead," said Nakamura: Nakamura.
Another old Chessbase article raises, did Hitler and Lenin play each other over the board?
Here is a current tournament score:
The annotation seems excellent yet shows too the pathetic state of OrthoChess today. Let's annotate annotation a bit. '12 ...Qc8' "is already a novelty," means the first 11 moves have been played over and over ad absurdum.
In the second one, Sokolov versus Jorden, as pointed out RxQ on 24 is no good for being White mate on next move.
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]Mage of Maxima is another Gryphon -- before Aurelian Florea's Apothecary.
Here Lavieri claims Guard resists accurate valuation: Piece_Value.
Understand that before Muller we used to do these things in more of a ballpark way.
Unachess. Start with empty board and begin with dropping pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Did Professsor Ken Regan copy the general idea for early 2014 Tandem Pawn,
from late 2012 Symmetric UniRexal Chess by A. Black? The two authorships are only a year apart, December 2012 and February 2014. There is wide latitude allowed for subvariants but Ken Regan should have done some citations it appears.
A. Black's more general Mutator is evidently given lesser specific embodiment by copycat Regan:
Black's_Tandem. Subsequent to a string of three CVs in early 2014, Tandem Pawn, Chain Chess, and Option Chess, ChessBase gave up the experiment as altogether difficult for them. They would rather distract millions with supposedly new openings in Simpleminded f.i.d.e. my-way-or-the-highway.
Symmetric Unirexal Chess. Each player has a half of a king. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Black has nearly 100 CVs that have been looked at sparingly. He, along with his brother, have some Mutators presented into standard f.i.d.e. that are pretty challenging and logical by second reading anyway. Symmetric Unirexal Chess should be clarified further that each half-piece move is actually by the same rules as ordinary Rook, Knight, Bishop, Pawn, Queen or King. This first comment here is for interpretation of unambiguous rules-set. There is no half move, just restrictions on when a piece is half-piece, where there is initially counterpart half-piece having the same full regular move. The new emergent half-pieces would have to be marked. It appears, if all become half pieces, all 64 squares could be theoretically covered, but that may be impossible to achieve without some tweaking p-t rules of movement. That's for a study or problem, and the actual goal by Black is just a regular CV won by checkmate.
Recent topic was Symmetry or symmetric moves in CV rules, like Frolov's "Reflection Teammate," and it led to this Black CV-Mutator for having the word in title. It reminds me of another CV, drawn up by orthodox defenders Chessbase in 2014 Tandem Pawn, since there Pawns split into two pieces.
Archchess. Large chess variant from 17th century Italy. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]ArchChess in the 17th century has what we call now Squirrel, D+A+N. Recently there was Hippogriff found in Tamerlane Chess of 14th century, where Hippogriff restricts 13th century Grande Acedrex Gryphon to its distant squares. Tamerlane or Timur's also has Dabbabah, so the Dabbabah had been around for ArchChess to pick up and make the probably first tri-compound it calls Centurion, settled on as Squirrel or Betzan AND today -- the order does not matter in Funny Notation compounds, so long as they are not sequential or double move pieces.
So Quintessential Chess is one new CV using 17th century Centurion/Squirrel, and there are 19th C. games with Squirrel for a continual line of succession.
Quintessential chess. Large chess variants, with some pieces moving with a sequence of knight moves in a zigzag line. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Quintessence is the best species of KnightRider, along with regular Betzan NN the latter not in this CV -- double letter is always rider able to stop at any distance. Knappen removes corner squares from ten by ten to get 84 squares for an 84-square contest. The Quintessence makes successive right angle changes of direction.
Pawns are fast-moving with always having two-step option, and additonally have what is called bockspringen. Leeloo is Rook plus Quintessence. Centurion is tri-compound Alfil plus Dabbabah plus Knight. Dragon Horse is Wazir plus Bishop. It would be interesting to find point value of these pieces, accompanied as they are by only one "conventional" CV piece, the Janus, who is commonplace 400-year old Centaur as B+N. To get the piece values for Quintessence, Leeloo and Squirrel/Centurion, the three really novel p-ts, there would have to be discount for having to face off against the strong and unusual Pawns/Bauern.
Reflection teammate. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Daniil Frolov has solution recently well in 2010 in "Reflection teammate" for Missoum's poser of year 1997 to make a reflection or forced symmetrical Chess: Mirror. He links Missoum's game in lead sentence.
Charles Gilman's comment here is interesting: Three_Player. There Gilman lines up a Three Player version to be played by Reflection Teammate Rules. Academic game theory counterpart could be China, Russia and United States. In Charles' diagram the third force occupies the center entirely, so there is not only Reflection but potential cooperation two against one shifting alliance when there are three more or less equal.
Knight Court. Mate the knight with three pieces per player on a three by three board. (3x3, Cells: 9) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Nine squares and in the few comments all ratings Excellent, but this is certainly busted right? Here are rules of Wittman's Tile Chess still marketed almost twenty years later in Steve Jackson Games:
Rococo. A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Robert Abbott was inventor of Ultima in the 1960s. Abbott commented 13 years ago on Rococo:
Rococo is my single preferred CV whether Orthodox style or Track Two Heterodox style like Rococo. It themes every piece moving like Queen but capturing differently. Contrary to Abbott, the border squares substantially make the game, because different pieces and Rococo Pawns react differently with those "half-squares" variously accessible according to the piece-types divergent Rules. "Divergent" is carefully picked to describe because all Rococo pieces are divergent in the CV sense that they move and capture differently. But then Abbott has a narrow specialty having invented several (not a lot) of great game rules and secondly made challenging mazes. He admits here and there he does not play games, CV or not, very much himself. He seems to have just chanced on 2 or 3 great Rules sets in card game Eleusis and CV Ultima. Or maybe Ultima gets attention because it was one of the first modern ones in between Parton and Boyer and just prior to Betza. There is not much follow-up insight on Abbott's part, where for instance most revisions of his suggestion worsen the great original. Abbott never really delved into CVs and does not consider Ultima even to be one like we do, but just using Chess equipment in his words.
However, over-all we have played Abbott's great Eleusis quite a bit more than Aronson and Howe's Rococo, no comparison really. Eleusis, so thanks aplenty to Robert for countless hours at Eleusis.
Switching Chess. In addition to normal moves, switch with an adjacent friendly piece. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Quintanilla's Ready Chess was just noted by Kubach, and it is a shame Quintanilla's Switching Chess has been disregarded for ten years. It was very popular its first few years and it is about the best natural Mutator possible to save 64 squares interest.
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]Currently of Florea's new CV Apothecary are the classic Gryphon of Grande Acedrex and complementary Aanca. Here are another pair of them from 2001 Bostick's Kung Fu Chess: Wing Chun moving like Aanca and Bruce Lee moving like Gryphon.
Sequence of Fibonacci and Lucas Chess Design Games. Variants based on Fibonacci numbers.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Missoum also designed CVs in the nineties based on Lucas and Fibonacci numbers. This is the first comment of 20-year-old CVPage article by Missoum, but his other fifteen CVs, mathematical and geometric, are talked about and rated.
Mirror image from one CV perspective by Missoum, yes 1997 twenty years ago for new CVPage: Mirror_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]Falcon Chess 100 has two promotion zones. Only if Pawn gets into the corner-like squares, 4 northwest and 4 northeast, for total of eight squares is there option to promote to Queen. Otherwise, only reaching Zone 2, Pawn must promote to Rook, Falcon, Knight or Bishop. I was influenced, to vary means of promoting, by the several piece to piece promotion implementations current around year 2000 in IO, Pocket Mutation and Tamerspiel. Instead Falcon Chess 100 has no piece promotion but two Pawn zones.
Griffon. Historic piece that steps one space diagonally then slides like a Rook.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Hippogriff of Tamerlane Chess is explained on the same Griffon page of Jeremy Good. Hippogriff moves like earlier Gryphon/Griffon/(different spellings), but is excluded from the nearby squares, that is those within the 7x7 square perimeter. Since also blockable, Hippogriff is subset of Gryphon.
1283 was year of publication of Grande Acedrez with first use of Gryphon. Timur Lenk, inventor of namesake Timur's or Tamerlane Chess (1336-1405) has Giraffe as Hippogriff, the classic Gryphon that is excluded from those near squares. So there was a hundred years to ponder better implementation of Gryphon into Hippogriff. We can presume intellectual transfer of ideas from Spain to Persia, just as there was trade continually between Inuit Arctic and Siberia. https://www.google.com/search?sa=G&hl=en&q=gustave+dor%C3%A9&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSlQEJJONZ7scbvBUaiQELEKjU2AQaAggCDAsQsIynCBpiCmAIAxIo_1BHoEb4XzAv7EbIcuhbGD7kLkwy5OrU62D7XPr46uDr8Ldks_1y20Ohow8XOAb2THltHscfBShsKNZ48M1-z-jR2xsQ0CbEuLXPHMIVWT14Wi0srN9dfMhUs3IAQMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgQPwcxyDA,isz:l&ved=0ahUKEwi_5f-G2pzQAhXoyFQKHRL7APsQ2A4IHigE&biw=1920&bih=974#imgrc=Ackhrp7O_-BASM%3A
Europan Chess. A 14x14 board with extra pieces. (14x14, Cells: 196) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Earlier than Mark Hedden's IO, that was looked at last week, Europan has 700-year-old Gryphon, though not paired with Aanca like in IO and later Gifford's Gryphon-Aanca and still later Florea's Apothecary.
As for some point value, Hedden pegs Gryphon at 7 points, but says "if you don't know how to use it well, it is still worth 5 or 6." Close enough estimate for many just trying out a novel CV.
Hedden maintains there is not a way to write his Archer as defined in Betzan Funny Notation. Paulowich at King's Court in last week comment found tri-compound in Chancellor, and Hedden's Super-Computer of both IO and Europan is also different tri-compound.
Gryphon Aanca Chess. Large Variant with Gryphons, Aancas, and a few other not-so-common pieces. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Six or seven spellings of Gryphon can be counted. Here are Gryphon and Aanca of current topic.
Gifford's Falcon and Hunter are from the World War II era game matching abilities forward Rook and backward Bishop of Hunter, with reverse for Falcon. Other CVs using that Falcon and Hunter are rare, but Whale Shogi has Hunter: Grey_Whale.
IO Chess. Variant on 16 by 16 board with many pieces. (16x16, Cells: 256) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Here are Griffin and Aanca as Spider of recent talking points.
IO Chess is complicated like Betza's Captain Spalding but at least C.S. is on simple 8x8 whilst IO is the largest acceptable size of 16x16. Computer promotes to Quantum Computer. Around 2000 it was the style to include a sample game with every worthwhile write-up, and sure enough Hedden puts a plausible first 13 moves for IO Chess. Is this the first recorded move order for 256 squares?
Pawns have initial 5-step option. Rook promotes to Castle upon Castling, and then that piece Castle, already Queen value, further promotes to Fortress upon reaching the last rank, attaining value comparable to Amazon. Also appearing are two-square-occupancy Wall and Crooked Knight, named a little differently by Knappen in Nachtmahr article on the many Knight riders. There are several other piece as opposed to pawn promotions besides the Rook -> Castle -> Fortress told above.
Tamerspiel and Pocket Mutation and this IO Chess were three of those having double promotion for some pieces around and after year 2000. Check of dates of invention could show which ones were duplicating that general idea from the earliest one. This IO may be the first to use it.
Captain Spalding Chess. Find an Elephant in your Pajamas.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Half or more of Betza's 150 games in CVPage have, as Captain Spalding does, realistic opening moves or entire game scores annotated for examples. Here too are couple pieces in Betza Notation by Betza himself that Muller and Florea have been revisiting. Captain Spalding is character by Groucho Marx in 1930 'Animal Crackers'. The first talkie at all was 1927, and most European countries had first talking movie production in same 1930. Marx Brothers play Chess: Chess.
Harpo Marx watches Chess in Moscow: Chess_Match_in_1931
King's Court. Variant on 8 by 12 board with Chancellors and Jesters. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Kings Court is very good but I rated Good here 12 years ago, so this is finetuning. David Paulowich once came up with a rule for a CV from looking at Chancellor here as tri-compound:
In Move_Length, Paulowich suggests self-contained movers Nightrider, Bishop, and Rook go unlimited distance, bi-compound go up to four steps, and tri-compound like this Chancellor up to two. Kings Court Chancellor is limited Queen plus Knight, or short Bishop + short Rook + Knight. The other new piece Jester is unique and not like mimicking Jesters of other games.
Alpha Centauri. A very complex game, somewhat exotic, with some elements from Rococo. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Italian mathematician Roberto Lavieri moved to South America and became Venezuelan. Alpha Centauri lacks the clarity the later Altair brought to the Horizontal rank movement of both games.
(6) Neto's Mutators. Mutators, the right Mutator may give programs difficulty.
"There was one huge difference between a brain and a computer. And that's that a computer, if you poured a bucket of water on it, would short out, whereas the brain is wet...." --Miles Herkenham neurologist, 'Mapping the Next Millenium'
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Values -- there H. G. Muller had the values Rook and Falcon worked out 9 years ago. Not much progress has been made, but ultimately I bet texts will show Falcon 5.5 or even 5.75 to Rook 5.0, because of forks Falcon makes with longer term planning the only few programs yet are not told about. But Muller right away was closer than the 5.0 R and 7.0 F I used in the nineties. Now I consider myself player and have lost about 2 to 14 wins at Game Courier.
Jacks and Witches 84. Variant on 84 squares with special pieces and special squares. (12x8, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]More could be done in other CVs with the Transporter or Teleporter cells of 2002 Jacks & Witches.
Field Chess. On an 8x12 board with 8 extra pieces per side (Archers). (8x12, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Archer Pawns are not rifle piece at all and do capture by displacement. The board is unusually aligned for new type Archer.
Leaping/Missing Bat Chess. Large variant on a 16x12 board with many fairy pieces. (16x12, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Savard is mathematician and this is satire too a little overdone. I mean Bat as root-65 leaper?
Can the Bat reach more than the 16 squares shown in the diagram of the 12x16 board? If so how many squares are ultimately reachable by Bat?
Besides the Bishops and the Bats, what other (several) piece-types are unable to reach all 192 squares and how many can they reach given the set-up array?
File Sharing Chess. File Sharing, pawn swapping, always passed pawns. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is serious recent attempt to reduce Draws in small board 64 OrthoChess. How about a subvariant as follows? The Pawn swap involves moving opponent Pawn. So whenever a player uses the Pawn swap in lieu of regular move, the other player immediately has two choices. One, make a regular move, Or two, move opponent's (the swapper's) any unit by legal move. Then follows the swapper's next turn. And perhaps it needs no double swapping consecutive turns.
Gridlock Chapter 2. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Gridlock 2 (as 1, 3, 4 too) has last words 7 years ago so this revives the great satire. Paul Leno and I disagreed then on using social media to develop a Chess project since I don't still even want to look at whatever social media is, but Gridlock deserves recognition as the funniest Chess article, along with circa 1950 "A Quiet Game of Chess," though Leno claims to have actual defined CVs here too.
To the four last time add (5) Partnership Chess Games. In cards I did not check yet how they do it in four-player two-team Bridge whether one or two Computers versus two humans to test Computer dominance. There are other Chess Team games, but here is one made up for this comment.
Two Boards of OrthoChess 64 are good enough. Board 1 is A White B Black, and Board 2 C Black D White clockwise. Say D is the only Computer. Partners are B and D and A and C. Up to two points per round if one team wins both games. Play is synchronized so that each Move 1, 2, 3 each side takes place same time. In lieu of a Move, player may switch places with any *same* piece-type the other board of the same color. So for example, Computer D can make her Move 5 switching Bishop on c1 with corresponding White (non-partner) Bishop on f4, ending the turn with D board 2 Bishop on f4 and A board 1 Bishop back on c1. Now focussing on Computer D, strategy is to win own board but also be sure Partner B does not lose and preferably wins on Board 1. Human players may have an advantage judging performance expectations. In subsequent rounds Computer and everyone else will have different partner and position for White and Black in say a 12-game match.
Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Three errors have been corrected in games (1) to (4) of last comment.
(5) VLADIMIR PUTIN Falcon Chess? That is 22149393-11544, same as 22144343-11544. Vladimir Putin Chess is on 10x10 therefore, following each RN (Rule Number) of first two pages of article. Pawns move like Chaturanga one-step Pawns, but promote to any piece including Queen. Knight adds Wazir option, Falcon adds Ferz option. Bishop is Crooked Bishop or "Boy Scout," and Queen is medium up to five spaces only. The above is pretty clear game, but RNs 11, 12 and 13 add two new pieces and a board effect. King-one-stepping Immobilizer sits on Queen-front e2 with Pawn on e3. Promoter (see namesake CV) moves like Falcon and starts on King-front f2 with Pawn on f3. Finally any Pawn has triangular effect where own two pieces/pawn forming right angle at the Pawn transfer strictly their moves powers one to the other (the hypotenuse pair where 90 angle exists).
Well, Russia is complicated.
All other rules the same.
There are already 50 well-thought comments here. To look at in follow-ups: (1) Huge boards even up to Charles Fort's 1000 squares; (2) Chess Different Armies again; (3) Polypieces that change their type upon each move; (4) Changing the rules entirely once or many times in play a single game.
Lee Se-dol said beforehand he was out to save humanity. It was the same expression Kasparov used in 1997. Apparently it was just so much posturing or advertising or propaganda, because they don't say after each of these fiascos that humanity lost, just that Computer won.
Falcon Random Chess. Missing description (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]As recalled, there may be explicitly only Capablanca Random, Fischer Random, and Falcon Random Chess, though some other CVs provide for varying backrank. Fischer died in 2008 9 years ago -- you can always remember because he lived *64* years, if you know date of birth 1943.
Nowadays there is an F.I.D.E. policy, juvenile or dangerous as it seems, of squelching so much as mention of CVs except for the two national forms from Japan and China. Fischer and the few FRC adherents, such as through CVPage since, have never named (in words that is) the supposed 40 or 80 preferred initial set-ups. Apparently they do not think it important enough, and their reference Fischer Random is more or less lip service though there is some regular play at Game Courier. Whereas, in Falcon Random Chess, utilizing the four fundamentals, not just the three, all 80 and more important arrays have been named for five or seven years. For example, Nanook Rook is BFNQRRKNFB and Folk Falcon is NBRQFFKRBN. With either form, Simpleminded 8x8 or full-size 80 squares (fewer than Shogi), the 80 or so starting positions each recommended are enough to make programming something of a headache for a while since openings do figure into results.
For other probably better ways to thwart computers, see follow-up comments at the topic "Computer Resistant CVs" but changing randomly start position is one partial solution.
Actually BrainKing still plays CVs and I will use my membership there, in abeyance a year or two, to catch up what is getting played most.
Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Ten years ago this month went up 91.5 Trillion. Similar development could apply to any great CV: Great Shatranj, Mastodon, Eurasian, Schoolbook, Unicorn Great. That is, taking an original CV and multiplying the possible subvariants to billions and trillions by innocent changes rules and pieces.
Just using the first page of this article, let's get some of the 91 trillion from word association -- a new twist not tried before.
(1) Barack Obama Falcon Chess translates to 21313152131. The method is to lop the letters back to 1 to 5 sequence each time they reach five, so for example k equals 1(one) cyclically. The stoppage at five is because most of the first twelve rule numbers list five alternatives. One learns it makes better CV to have several 'A' that is '1', if possible, since that is the default, meaning no rule change the given category. In sum, Barack Obama Chess is common Falcon Chess on 9 deep 10 wide with fixed Castling, Rook as Betza's Short Rook up to 4, and Bishop as Bede (Bishop plus Dabbabah), and the rest of the pieces unchanged. However, RN10 as '3' makes this Progressive with White one move, then Black two, White three and so on.
(2) How about Aanca? That is 11431, and Aanca Falcon Chess is 8x10 Chess with Knight having added Wazir and Rook as Half-Duck. (No Aanca at all, think of it as 11431 only.)
(3) Arimaa Falcon Chess among these 91.5 trillion possibilities is 134311, and that is the regular game on 8x10 with Rook Half-Duck again and fixed Castling and Queen promotion (the standard when A/1 is designated is promotion to only rnbf).
(4) Syzygy? 412121, and that adds to standard Chess two things, Charging Rook having backwards as King and Bishop plus Wazir in place of the Bishops. All other rules the same.
Bent Riders. A discussion of pieces, like the Gryphon, that take a step then move as riders.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]For other newcomers than Florea, here are Gryphon and Aanca whose values Muller and Aurelian Florea have pinpointed through fascinating Fairy-Max discussion. It makes sense to player that preferred-emphasis-orthogonal Gryphon edges out Aanca. But are not G. and A. better implemented on 10x10 or even up to 12x12? Then on large boards they might equal Queen. In any case on 8x8 and 8x10 Gryphon and Aanca are higher value than 5.0-range Rook and Falcon. Of the four fundamental Chess pieces Bishop and Knight as 3.0 and Rook and Falcon as 5.0 are pairwise very close in values given the standard boards 8-deep and reasonably popular piece mixes. Betza had just become aware of Falcon when writing up "Bent Riders" in 2002, and Falcon's changing direction has the B.R. piece genre's mode but that move just beyond Knight of Falcon is better described as fixed-length plural-path.
The Florea-Muller exchanges on Fairy-Max are reminiscent of those of Reinhard Schamagl (Capablanca Random) ten years ago on Carrera-Capa RN and BN.
Poems on Falcon chess: Chess Morality II: Revelation. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]For another fun quote, Isaac Newton (1643-1727) weighs in pp. 448-449 of Ernst Mach's 'Science of Mechanics' 1919 from original 1883:
The giant mind of Newton did not disdain to employ itself on the interpretation of the Apocalypse. On such subjects it was difficult for a sceptic to converse with him. When Halley once indulged in a jest concerning theological questions, he is said to have curtly repulsed him with the remark: "I have studied these things; you have not!"
So Newton was defensive of studying apocalypse and exegesis. These twenty recent poems 2000-2009 do re-make the compiled Chess Moralities pre-1500. Supposedly during middle ages in Europe the Bible was most copied (#1 b. s.) and CMs second most (#2) before printing. In the modern Chess Morality Number II of 2001, "The Book of Chesse" replaces Revelation as it were, since actual ancient Chesse out of India did start between the times of early Christian founding and early Islam.
Shatar. Mongolian chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Mongolia and China were often at odds in humanity bloody history. Founder Bodlaender put this up 18 1/2 years ago. What inspired a look-see where to put this quote is 5 c. bce Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'.
(23-25) On the field of battle, the spoken word does carry far enough; hence the institution of Gongs and Drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enouigh; hence the institution of Banners and Flags. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. The host thus forming a single united body, it is impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone. This is the art of handling large masses of men.
Calling it as usual "world championship," Simpleminded Euro Chess under 90-year-old f.i.d.e. auspices will have the presently biennial title match in November, 2016, between north European Carlsen and East European Karjakin.
That covers about half of them since the millennium. In larger topics, at all of Chess Café/Base/Games they don't care any more that every available Chess program trounces Carlsen, and indulge Carlsen bragging he does not read books etc. Peculiarly they dished out three CVs in one year only, 2014, namely Tandem Pawn, Option Chess, and Switch Side Chain. They then saw the myriad possibilities as too much for conforming academic intellects. The history of Chess is even taboo, but do not put it past them to make it an April 1st hoax. Hey that's it, let's anticipate what the Joke will be for this Friday the 1st! Tomorrow it will be announced what the latest yearly Scandal will be by sheer educated divination. After all, it is easy to fathom cheap minds, where for instance, inclusive of the OrthoChess lot, Seirawan does not know Rook-Knight and Bishop-Knight precede Capablanca, or Kasparov such ecologically ignorant apologist for rampant capitalism.
So not just matter of waiting til Friday the 1st how the sordid tradition again plays out.... Based on past performance of their own narrowmindedness, in advance what will the funny Chess Comeback Kids (reflexively of Anand's name) print actually this time of Fools hogwash?
Fergus describes it better, that Omega Chess is average CV if only on the right size board, 8x10 or 8x12 with another line piece. It is just obvious not to have mid-range pieces alone on 10-deep. That and the advertising, like Gothic, cause it to be marked low, but it's average if they just change the board because exactly Wizard and Champion were not used til then.
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There are 9900 (100x99) variant chess pieces attained by making bi-compounds from the Name List. Two of them: William Howard Taft is Padwar plus Man, and Donald John Trump is Champion(RN) plus Camel (see last comment here). It requires assigning a piece-type according to prevalence to each of the first 100 elements in the population. Since fortuitously #100 in both listings occurs around 0.2% of the time, there is surprisingly close correspondence.
Taft, Padwar & Man, golfing: Outing; and Trump, Cam-shall golfing 100 years later: Round. Round2.
Ca-shall -- or Car-Shill or CarShell, they're all okay -- is by the Gilman nomenclature for Camel compounded of Marshall, with Marshall(RN also) being one popular Champion re-naming. In other areas of Gilman's system there is stricter distinguishment the exact form of the name, but with "Marshall" as one leg already a compound itself, there is flexibility since Gilman gives method of starting Camel compound with "Ca" but not precise name this or every case, where there could be diagram and word definition too.
Gilman Suffix_Index, as well can enhance pieces derived this way from the serviceable Name List. If using "-Lander," there is Ca-shall-Lander, or TrumpLander as one will, which piece moves like Camel or Knight but can only step one square orthogonally, not permitting second space and beyond of the full Rook mode. That is synonymous with (Wazir + N + Camel), and designers may prefer explanation by one form or the other according to context, such as what other pieces are being developed. Mathematical equivalence.