[ List Latest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Comments by RobertoLavieri
The Travelers. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is a nice implementation of this game and you can download it from this site, but you need to have zillions of games installed on your computer. the zrf plays very decently, I can even say it is moderately strong. The program implementation was not easy, Antoine Fourriere and Larry L. Smith helped me with parts of the code and after the first release I improved the game play of the program with some elaborated tricks. If you have ZOG, try The Travelers, it is a deep, refreshing and magic game. Perhaps it´s not exactly a Chess variant, but at least it´s very close to be.
Yes, blockers are invisible (and only) for capturing purposes
No, a Displacer can´t displace more than one piece a turn
Chessboxing The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the #1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically. This is becoming a very popular chess variant aroud the world, but I must admit it is a rare variant. In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on. A contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer. A round of boxing takes 3 minutes. Between the rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The contest is decided by: checkmate (chess round), exceeding the time limit (chess round), retirement of an opponent (chess or boxing round), KO (boxing round), or referee decision (boxing round). If the chess game ends in a stalement, the opponent with the higher score in boxing wins. If there is an equal score, the opponent with the black pieces wins. There are some iconic chessboxers in conventional chess world, and perhaps a very good example is the multi-millionary businessman and politic Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, best known as FIDE president and president of the republic of kalmykia, in the Russian Federation.
Originally published in Science Express on 19 July 2007 Science 14 September 2007: Vol. 317. no. 5844, pp. 1518 - 1522 DOI: 10.1126/science.1144079 Prev | Table of Contents | Next Research Articles Checkers Is Solved Jonathan Schaeffer,* Neil Burch, Yngvi Björnsson, Akihiro Kishimoto, Martin Müller, Robert Lake, Paul Lu, Steve Sutphen The game of checkers has roughly 500 billion billion possible positions (5 x 1020). The task of solving the game, determining the final result in a game with no mistakes made by either player, is daunting. Since 1989, almost continuously, dozens of computers have been working on solving checkers, applying state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques to the proving process. This paper announces that checkers is now solved: Perfect play by both sides leads to a draw. This is the most challenging popular game to be solved to date, roughly one million times as complex as Connect Four. Artificial intelligence technology has been used to generate strong heuristic-based game-playing programs, such as Deep Blue for chess. Solving a game takes this to the next level by replacing the heuristics with perfection. Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E8, Canada. Present address: Department of Computer Science, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Kringlan 1, IS-103, Iceland. Present address: Department of Media Architecture, Future University, Hakodate, 116-2 Kamedanakano-cho Hakodate Hokkaido, 041-8655, Japan. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]
The Travelers. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Well, I´ve been out of scene for a few months, and it is possible I´m not going to be a very frequent visitor of TCVP for a while. Some serious health problems are the main factor (serious, really, but I´m still alive, and I hope so for a long time). There are some other factors, including seeking what is going on now in my country, Venezuela. I have wrote a few e-mails (in response to others sent to me by to G.W.Duke), explaining some aspects of my health and also some aspects of Venezuela´s current proccess, and my point of view about it´s balance, the good and the bad things, from my optics (in figurative sense, my vision is far from good, as some of you know). I am going to come to this pages once in a while, friends, to see what is happening here. Greetings.
Game Courier Tournament #3. Vote for which games should be in the third Game Courier tournament.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I´m afraid I can´t play the Tournament, I can´t be a regular player in the next months. Sorry.
George, I have deleted the LOG of the game we are playing. Sorry. I´ll explain you by mail.
ChessV
. Program for playing numerous Chess variants against your PC.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think there is enough worldwide interest in Chess 960, and not only at very high levels, so a well organized World Championship should be a possible idea, it is only the need of intrepid sponsors and federative initiatives, and I believe there are also good possibilities for it. Pretty horizon for this variant.
Man-machine Chess960 exhibition: Svidler played yesterday against the computer world champion Spike, and the result was a draw. Radjabov was beated by Shredder.
It seems to be correct, Svidler-Aronian goes on 17th., today have been played other programmed games of the classic. I´m not sure how legitimate is this Chess960 world championship, but, officially, nobody has expressed a different opinion, and the presence od Svidler as defending champion is a good indicative.
Mainz, Germany: In a few minutes, the world chess 960 championship will begin. Also, three other world championships: 1.-Clerical Medical Chess960 World Championship Peter Svidler of Russia faces Levon Aronian of Armenia in an eight-game Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess) 2.-Grenkeleasing Rapid World Champioship World's number two (and rapid chess specialist) Vishy Anand, against 19-year-old Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, number 11 in the world rankings, in a rapid chess match over eight games. Aronian vs Svidler in their Chess960 match in Mainz two years ago 3.-Clerical Medical Chess960 World Championship for women, seniors and juniors These are eight-game Chess960 (Fischer Random) matches between Elisabeth Pähtz and Alexandra Kosteniuk (Women); Vastimil Hort and Lajos Portisch (Seniors) and Pentala Harikrishna and Arkadij Naiditsch (Juniors). Format: eight rounds
Shako. Cannons and elephants are added in variant on 10 by 10 board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think this games is (perhaps more than FIDE-Chess) very sensitive to openings. You can be quickly in clear disadvantage after some weak opening moves. Some care is needed...
Cannons of Chesstonia 
. Cannons launch a Pawn, Wazir, Ferz and Stone to increase strategical and tactical play.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very good implementation by Antoine. Nice.
Rococo. A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I also consider 'NO' for question number 4, although I differ to you in other answers, as you see. Authors have to clarify.
Well, I am not an author, but I think the answers are: 1.- No. 2.- No. 3.- Yes.
Ultima. Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. Also called Baroque. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]That's a good idea. We need a new Page, what about 'Ultima Tips'-?. A good theoretical developement may need tons of material; some of us are moderately experienced players, but I�m sure we are not big authorities,and a theory developed by us may be biased, somewhat primitive and far from exhaustive and water-proof. I can do something about it time to time, I suppose that other experienced players here can do something too: Matthew, Antoine, some others and, generally, everybody who visit TCVP can give us something interesting...
Moderate Progressive Chess. A player may make one more move than his opponent just made. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Well, I have tried this game briefly. I have to say it seems better than you can figure at first view. I may be influenced because I always rate good or excellent other progresive variants, but I feel this variant more nice to play.
House of Mirrors Chess. Mirrors and reflective pieces add interesting twists to strategy by making pieces appear in 2 or 3 places at the same time. (8x8, Cells: 87) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very interesting!. Being me, I would put more mirrors, but it is fine as is now,
Shogi. The Japanese form of Chess, in which players get to keep and replay captured pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, Mr. Habu is the best Shogi player right now, and he plays Chess 'as hobby'; he has said he has not time to study Chess theory more than the basic things, and he practices Chess very eventually. But he has obtained in the last Tournament his second 'Chess International Master norm'. One more and he is going to be IM, an IM that only plays the game once in a while, without dedication to it. Remarkable, but, undoubtedly, his Shogi experience helps a lot.
The Final Fight Chess . Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Seeing the description, I was not able to have a clear idea about the pieces and other details in this game.
Italian Progressive Chess. White moves once, black two times, white three times, etc. Check is only allowed at last move of series. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is a classic. It is very difficult to master, due the extreme deepness regardless you can finish a game in very few moves. On purpose of other Italian things, (caugh, caugh), see the sports news.
The new FIDE Chess ratings. Anand lost almost 30 points, and Topalov rating grow to 2813!. The boy Magnus Carlsen is now 31th. I mentioned him a few years ago, when nobody knew about him. 1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2813 14 1975 2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2779 26 1969 3 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2761 21 1982 4 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2743 9 1975 5 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2742 28 1976 6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2738 0 1979 7 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2734 39 1969 8 Adams, Michael g ENG 2732 25 1971 9 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2731 18 1977 10 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2729 20 1968 11 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2728 20 1987 12 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2722 27 1985 13 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2721 29 1983 14 Navara, David g CZE 2719 36 1985 15 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2716 43 1972 16 Akopian, Vladimir g ARM 2713 21 1971 17 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2710 1 1976 18 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2709 28 1983 19 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2707 32 1983 20 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2697 29 1974 21 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g ROM 2696 36 1976 22 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2690 23 1980 23 Georgiev, Kiril g BUL 2685 30 1965 24 Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2683 26 1966 25 Harikrishna, P. g IND 2682 24 1986 26 Karjakin, Sergey g UKR 2679 22 1990 27 Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2677 20 1977 28 Short, Nigel D. g ENG 2676 11 1965 29 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2675 31 1981 30 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2675 38 1972 31 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2675 27 1990
Chess/Xianqi/Shogi Tournament #1. Enter the First Chess/Xiangqi/Shogi Game Courier Tournament![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have been looking some of the games played, and some of them are very interesting. Nice Tournament. Congrats for all the players, I suppose you have had fun with it, gentlemen. Aaah... Special congrats for Antoine, I`m not talking about Chess, it is Soccer. What a game France-Brazil!. Zidane?: of other world!, what a classy player!, one of the best of all times!. Sorry, brazilians,you have played fatally, nobody could be sure you were playing there... all your millionary superstars have played below everybody expected. Are going to be les bleus in the final?. Perhaps, against Azzurri team, am I wrong?. Who is going to use the blue shirt in that case?.
Poll number Approval Poll for Game Courier Tournament #3. Vote for which games you want in the third Game Courier tournament.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]We need a Preset for Connected Chess, and I encourage W.D.Troyka to add a Page for this excellent game. And for the votes, I´m a bit surprised by the fact that Omega Chess is ahead of Grand Chess, but it can happen. Some new games have merits for a higher votation, like Christine´s SKY, actually with 5 votes. Aaah, Christine: Congrats, In the FIFA World Cup Australia is in the last 16, the game against Croatia is one of the best I have seen in the cup, regardless the arbiter (with his help the result was 2-2, but Australia could win 4-2 with a correct arbitrage). Australia is a good team, much better than I have had suppose. The next time Australia is going to face...ITALY!. Cherry, I can´t say to you 'good luck' this time, sorry.
Chess with Promoters. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thanks, Fergus. There is an error in the Page´s setup description. Knights and Bishops positions are as usual in Chess.
Yes, this is the game, by W.D. Troyka, year 2001. Simple, elegant and very nice to play, I find it much better than usual Chess, strategy is different, tactics are much more rich, and the ends of game are incredible, I highly recommend it to all players. Try it, you are going to be greatly surprised. Brilliant!, for me, one of the best games of W.D. Troyka, perhaps the best, and I have to say he has a lot of good games.
There is an old game by D.Troika called Connected Chess, and in zillionsofgames.com you can find an outstanding zrf for it. This game is amazingly good, you have to play it to see. Excellent!
Sky . Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thanks to Christine and gary. And about the World Cup, Brazil is not unbeatable, of course: this is Soccer, and as in Basketball, Baseball or another field sport, another good team can beat them, but it does not seem very easy, in the majority of cases. But, on paper, this is the best brazilian team presented in a World Cup in the history, and the odds in the betting houses confirm this appretiation, every other team you bet, you are going to gain some money, if they succeed... so it is not a bad idea going for two or three European teams, you must remember that the games are going to be played in Germany, and, apart from the quality of a few European teams, fans on the tribunes are also a factor. Good luck, Italy, although I am not extremely optimistic. USA?: They have made progresses in this sport, but not enough, there are much more popular sports in USA, and this is also a factor.
We need a 'Soccer Chess' variant, I don´t know whether it exists. The World Cup begins tomorrow, my sentimental favourite is Italy, regardless some lack of beauty in the pragmatic style of the Italian team (I suppose that Antoine prefers France and Andreas would like a German victory, although I doubt that Christine thinks about a real chance for Australia). But I´ll be honest: if you are not blind, you must admit that the archi-favourite is Brazil. All the team is composed by the world´s top superstars. The rest of the teams are going to play Soccer. Brazil is going to play something a bit superior, called also Soccer, but I imagine you are going to see the difference.
Final standings, women (first 5 places): 1 Ukraine UKR 29.5 2 Russia RUS 28.0 3 China CHN 27.5 4 USA 24.5 5 Hungary 24.5 Great performance by the USA and China teams in men and women. Relatively modest actuation of Russians in both categories. Anand is going to lose around 30-40 ELO poits after this olympiad (incredible!), but he is still second in the world. Topalov consolidates his first position in ELO ratings augmenting a lot his advantage (he has not played with the Bulgarian team, i don´t know why).
The '37° Olimpiade degli scacchi - Torino 2006' has finished minutes ago. Surprises. Armenia was gold medal, China silver, Russia fall down to 6th., Topalov´s Bulgaria was 10th. and the third seed, Anand´s India, finished around the 30th. position, with a poor actuaction of Vishy, who even lost against a canadian player >300 points below in the 11th. round. Final (unofficial) positions, after tie-breaks: 1.- Armenia----------36.0 2.- China------------34.0 3.- USA--------------33.0 4.- Israel-----------33.0 5.- Hungary----------32.5 6.- Russia-----------32.0 7.- France-----------32.0 8.- Ukraine----------32.0 9.- Spain------------32.0 10.-Bulgaria---------32.0
Three Elephant Chess. War Towers destroy 3 spaces at a time - protect your elephants while capturing your opponent's. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game seems to be very strategic, perhaps a bit slow, but it does not affects the fun, this game, as is, seems to be very interesting. My experience with stones is not negative, I like these pieces if you want a less tactical and a more strategical game, but I admit that it can slow the game. I need some tests to evaluate better this game; for a while, a 'good' rating.
I don´t believe that Walmart has the game, perhaps ToysRus on line, but I have my doubts, this does not seem to be a child´s game. The problem with Evolver is: There is not a 'help text', so if you don´t know how to play it, don´t try the program, or you are not going to be able to know what´s going on, even with all the players managed by the AI. But the rules are easely available in many sites. In boardgamegeek there are a few files for download with detailed rules in English, butI consider it would be better learn with the board game in hand, there are several special buildings (tiles, in the game), I´m not sure, but there are around 12-14 in the game, and many actions depend on the buildings 'powers'. Once initiated, a typical game flows with naturality and actions are very intuitive, so the main effort for learning it is in the first 20-30 minutes, enough for assimilate the rules. Yesterday, I played the game my first time; today, I tried Evolver. I was brutally demolished by the program the first times, but I believe I have learned a bit more after 5 games: the gap is being reduced after each game I play against it, playing moderately fast games of around 30 minutes each. Draws?: very rare in this game.
'Puerto Rico' is produced under license in USA by a company called 'Rio Grande Games'. Many online stores sell the game (it is not very cheap, around 50 US$), by example at Funagain games, but it appears it is not easely found in some popular stores, the game does not seem to be taylor-made for the American taste, surely by some reasons I have briefly shown, between other reasons. It is a 3-5 players game, but there are unofficial rules for 2 players. The game feels different whne you play it with 3, 4 or 5 players, strategy must change according the number of players. The rules in English can be downloaded at boardgamegeek.com, in the section 'files' of the Puerto Rico page. At this site, you can also download a very, very strong free PR program called 'Evolver', wrote in EXCEL!, although with crude but decent interface, and with AI based on genetic programming techniques, it learns in each game it plays, so it is desiderable to keep the growing database of the excel program. To run it, you must weaken the Excel controls over macros, the macros need to be habilitated for proper run. This is the section where you can download the amazing Evolver: http://www.bggfiles.com/viewfile.php3?fileid=8766
'Puerto Rico' may be offensive for many players, but also Chess: it is a war simulation in which you use your mind trying to surrender the other player, and in which at least the Pawns die, they never return to the game. If you are thinking that 'Puerto Rico' is an unknown game that moves in the shadows, sit down: It is one of the top sellers in Europe and it is perhaps the most awarded game in the history of board games: Deutscher Spiele Preis 2002, Essen Feather 2002, Strategy game of the year in USA 2003, International Gamers award 2003, actually ranked number 1 in the Internet Top 100 list -everybody can vote- (GO is number 68 and Chess is number 242), and PR is ranked number 1 in the independent BoardGameGeek list, etc... The ideas behind some aspects of the game may be vomitive, but, being absolutely objective, considering its abstract value as game, I have to admit that it is really good.
Yesterday, my son and friends invited me to play a german board game called 'Puerto Rico', a complex multi-player game with the theme of colonial economy. My first impression, after three games, is that, regardless the set-up time and some details explained after, this game is one of the best I have played, considering it as a game for serious players. There is a random factor in a little segment of the game, but it mainly adds diversity, this game is 95-99% strategic and tactical, and extremely deep. The learning curve and time to mastering seems to be relatively high, but you can play it decently soon. But there is a detail I have to mention in the game: Some pieces, called 'Colonists' are used in the game, you must place them in plantations and certain buildings for activation purposes, plantations can´t produce without 'Colonists'. The case is that 'Colonists' are represented by dark brown disks, they come into the game through a 'Colonial Ship', and in the Expansion Set of the game, it appears a building called 'Black Market', in which, apart from other possible actions, you can exchange 'Colonists' for money. If you have two fingers of head, you can understand, inmediately, that such 'Colonists' are not other thing than slaves...
Joost, You have made a difficult question. Not answer yet. Are you trying a zrf?. It does not look a hard job, stacked pieces are, each one, a piece with a particular movement, the difficult task is that Zillions can play it decently, I have my doubts. There are not many free (or not) DVONN programs around, I have found only one, in French. Follow the link: http://www.nivozero.com/
Go. Preset for Go and Go-Chess variants.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Go is not a Chess variant, but it is a very deep and interesting classic oriental game. We have in Courier an amazing collection of chess variants, with the add of a few of other great games, like Amazons and Go. Some other mind-burning games may be missing in the list, but if I have to add new games, I would suggest Lines-Of-Action 10x10 or 12x12 (much more interesting and deep than the 8x8 version, The difference in game play and fun is notorious, I have made some tests in both 10x10 and 12x12, and I have not doubts... I believe this is also the case with 12x12 Amazons vs. the 10x10 version, although I have not tried it yet), and DVONN variants (the commercial board is too little).
Sudoku War . A fight that takes place in a Sudoku.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Really nice, but strange game play. I`ll need a few more test games for a better 'feeling' of the essence. I think I like it.
Ultima. Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. Also called Baroque. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Is there any reference to the so called Hyperchess?. The name has been also used at least once for another completely different variant, but I have not seen the rules for the game you have mentioned, an Ultima variant. I have also doubts about the goodness of those rules, capturing seems to be more difficult, and certain pawn structures can make the game very slow. It must be tested, before a conclusion.
Are the drops independent for each player?. How is the dropping mechanics?.
DVONN is not a chess variant, but it is a very interesting and deep game, very different from other known strategic games, and the rules are extremely simple. You don´t need purchase the game to take a first look, you can play it just using coins or disks with three colors and you can draw by-hand a primitive board on a paper, as I did. Making a ZRF looks easy, I´m not sure I´m going to do that, because my time is limited in this times, but I can´t discard the project, perhaps in a couple of weeks. DVONN is a copyrighted game, and by this reason I´m not going to distribute the ZRF, in the case I take the project seriously. For the rules, you can find it in many places in Internet.
Tournament over. Morozewich finished in the first place in 'blindfold' and 'combined'. Anand was first in 'rapid'.
Two round remaining in the tough Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament, here are the positions in combined. Standings after round 9: 1. Anand, Viswanathan 12.0 Morozevich, Alexander 3. Vallejo, Francisco 10.5 4. Grischuk, Alexander 9.0 Leko, Peter 6. Gelfand, Boris 8.5 Topalov, Veselin Van Wely, Loek 9. Aronian, Levon 8.0 Svidler, Peter 11. Ivanchuk, Vassily 7.0 Nielsen, Peter Heine
Glinski's Hexagonal Chess. Chess on a board made out of hexagons. (Cells: 91) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have not confident data available, but I have seen a few results in high-level tournaments, by curiosity. I can´t conclude, but it seems, more or less, as drawish as Chess. It means: very drawish, as FIDE-Chess is, when played at very high level of play.
This variant tries to balance the skills of players. It is a very simple idea: A drink can be given to the attacker once a piece is taken. If the attacker has to drink for every piece taken and for every check, the game creates a natural handicap for the more skilled player, as he is going to get drunk faster. Feel free to add as many variations as the game can sustain. Use different amounts or just plain different alcohols for different pieces, and depending on the opponent. As an example, soon you'd begin to identify the bishop with red wine and the knight with a frosty beer. Put the strong drink in the queen as a further reward for taking the coveted most-powerful piece. If you are going to face Topalov, I suggest you select Vodka for him, and orange juice for you, and amounts depend on the taken piece, I suggest you must be widely generous with him. You have only to resist enough, don´t allow a fast checkmate.
About Game Courier. Web-based system for playing many different variants by email or in real-time.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I`m talking about borders around the whole board. I agree that borders around squares are not very nice, regardless you can visualize better the things, but reasonable contrast is, almost all the time, enough for good visualization. Aesthetic is also important, and majority of people would not be gained for such borders in every square. I agree.
I am talking about Ultima boards, but it applies to any other board without borders of any kind
I like there are new (automatic and alternative) boards and sets available, but I have an observation: I think it is much better a (perhaps very thin) border for some of the boards, like the CSS tiled background images and the PNG's. I feel that some squares, more those at the corners, vanishes to my eyes sometimes, producing me a bad sempsation. Well, my case is somewhat particular, I have some known moderate troubles with my vision, I don´t expect it affects other players in any way, but if it is the case, can anybody add a thin border (simple lines can be enough) to those boards and observe the effect?.
I have modified the Maxima Preset for a game against Matthew, using Casaux graphics, because Matt does not like the original pieces in the available preset. I´m not sure what happened, but I see now abstract graphics, and, certainly, not very suggestive. My vision is not very good, so I expect I can play it with almost every kind of icons without noting great difference, it is sufficient I can diferentiate the pieces in a good manner, but I don´t know Matt´s opinion yet.
I am not editor, so I can´t prepare alternative Maxima Graphics for the Preset. If you use other sets editing the actual preset automatically, there are some troubles with the icons for the pieces, because they are not suggestive. But it would be good an alternative Preset using Alfaerie graphics.
K4 . Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It looks very nice!. Comments and ratings after testing (I expect today or tomorrow)
Grander Chess. A variant of Christian Freeling's Grand Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]As David, I´m also mathematician, and I also prefer avoid claims of 'maximal logical consistency', by various reasons, but, fundamentally, because I don´t understand what exactly it means.
And about the case in question, I`m not making comments about the game itself, I have not tested it, but it does not look bad. Nevertheless, I agree: proliferation of variant-numberings is not desiderable in any case.
Well, it is not only a name´s matter. Yes, our site is growing fast, and no one is taking in account that many, many variants can come without any quality control, and the names can be less suggestive than supposed in a lot of cases. Do you imagine series of poorly designed 'Improved Chess' variants?, say: 1, 2, 3, etc, or even worse, with roman numbers.
Today finishes Morelia Tournament, and if you are not following it, I bet you can´t guess what is happening: Topalov is the tail-ender right now !!!. Leko is ahead with an entire point of advantage.
The LOGS for the games of Altair (2 against Carlos Carlos) and the LOG for the game of Great Chess (against Bogot Bogot) are also corrupted. In the Great Chess log are even pieces missing.
The graphics in the Ultima LOG I´m playing with Matthew Montchalin: /play/pbm/play.php?game=Ultima&log=matthew_montchal-cvgameroom-2006-46-987 ARE CORRUPTED. Can somebody give a hand with this?. You can see the position of the pieces, although somewhat distorted, but you can´t see the board. Instead, you see superposed multiple boards forming a wall. HELP, PLEASE!
Yesterday in Morelia Tornament, Mexico, Peter Svidler beated Vesselin Topalov in the first round, in a beautiful and very interesting game.
The Travelers . Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Finally, it is here, 'The Travelers' Zillions rules file. It was not easy: at first, I was unable to implement the Displacer´s capabilities in a good manner. Antoine Fourriére and Larry Lynn Smith sent to me solutions, being that of Larry very nice and perfectly functional for the way I figured the best for the players point of view, so I have chosen it for the project, and many optimizations of the code made by Larry. After that, the ZRF played correctly, but fatally poorly. We have had two problems: The ZRF undervaluated the Displacer´s value, the AI recognizes, for that purpose, the mobility of the Displacer, but it does not consider the moved enemy piece to an usually bad position, I believe this is part of the movement of the Displacer, and a very important part of its power. Undervaluated, the ZRF tendence was exchange the Displacer by a small piece, falling in inferior positions quickly and losing the games without great fight. I have had to inflate the value of the Displacer, but augmenting the number of positions analyzed by the AI a lot; taking onto the balance, I preferred this alternative. But there was another big problem: The Travelers´s tendence was to stay in their initial positions, without clarity on the fact thay it have to advance to the goals if they want a victory. After many ideas from Larry and me, all of them unsuccessful, I ideated a very artificious trick that worked, using some very complex 'win and loss conditions'. The final ZRF is a very, very decent opponent, as you can see. Try it!.
Thanks to Antoine Fourriere and Larry L. Smith, for the valious hand given. Great job, Larry, coding correctly the Displacer´s capabilities. The ZRF is now complete, it is going to be posted here soon...
Hex Shogi 91. A hexagonal Shogi variant on a 91-space board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have tested this variant using Zillions. Hexagonal variants are not of my main preferences, but I have found this variant enjoyable. Nice game play, and the original Shogi flavor is preserved.
I have found this contest in Internet, see the article: “Chess desperately needs some glamour,” says Vladislav Tkachiev, explaining why he hosts World Chess Beauty Contest, 1wcbc.com, a website that ranks female chess players based not on their winnings, but on their looks, reports Dylan Loeb McClain in The New York Times (11/27/05). His website isn’t the only one objectifying women in the name of promoting chess. The Internet Chess Club, chessclub.com, is also known to judge female players based on their looks as well as their moves. And at least one female player, Alexandra Kosteniuk, kosteniuk.com, “uses her website to sell photos of herself posing in bikinis next to giant chess pieces.” Most of this trend emanates “from Eastern Europe, whose players have long dominated the sport and where cheesecake displays are less likely to draw complaints.” Vladislav Tkachiev totally defends it, saying that it’s important for people to realize that brains and beauty are not mutually exclusive: “They think that it is only a game for those who are quite inactive and unattractive and aged,” adding: “There are a lot of attractive people, whether female or male. We decided to show this side of chess.” And, in fact, some of the better-looking players are also the better players period: Maria Manakova “is the fourth-ranked woman in Russia … and is ranked eighth on the Beauty Contest site.” Alexandra Kosteniuk “is ranked fifth in the world among women,” athough she’s only 525th overall. Meanwhile, Jennifer Shahade, 'a two-time United States women’s champion who has published a book about her experiences as a woman playing a game dominated by men,' and declares herself a feminist, says Alexandra Kosteniuk is 'good for chess' but acknowledges that the chess beauty site 'isn’t very classy.' As for the guys, many of whom aren’t exactly beefcake material themselves — some of them complain of being distracted by the growing numbers of pretty opponents. However, Maria Manakova, for one, denies she’s a distraction: 'I don’t need to distract my opponent or do something. I can do it after the game if I want. During the game I just want to play good chess.' ~ Tim Manners, editor
The Cuernavaca Tournament, in Mexico, has finished one hour ago. Ten of the world´s strongest young players were in. Final results for the first positions: 1. Vallejo Pons, Francisco gm ESP 2650......... 6.5 Ponomariov, Ruslan gm UKR 2723.............. 6.5 3. Nakamura, Hikaru gm USA 2644 ................6.0 4. Dominguez, Lenier gm CUB 2638 ...............5.5 This Tournament was horrible for Serguei Karjakin, who finished near the bottom. The other Ukranian, Volotikin, did also relatively poor.
I give up. I´m throwing the towell, it does not work properly with any idea I have tried.
Hello, everybody. I have had big troubles trying to implement the game 'The Travelers' using Zillions Rules File Language, Displacer capabilities is a headache, I can´t find a good way to manage it using Zillions. I could implement tht Traveler movement, but I´m not sure what is the best way to do that. Has anyone idea about how to make a reasonable implementation of the Displacer´s movement and capabilities?. IF someone can give a kind hand in the implementation, I´ll be very pleased. Thanks, anticipated.
It is time to put the Ratings page in a visible sector. Also the next Tournament Page.
A few days ago, I sent a Preset and rules for the game: 'The Travelers', to be posted in Game Courier. I´ll be pleased if an Editor may help me a bit with it, posting the game. Thanks.
Corus ended a few hours ago, Anand won and Topalov divided the point. Final standings: Topalov and Anand tied in first place, with 9 points, 1.5 points over the third positions (Ivanchuk and Adams). In group B, Magnus Carlsen managed to share first with Motylev.
I have tried to see the ongoing game between Topalov and Anand, but the Corus server is, perhaps, over-charged, and it seems to be difficult the access. Has anyone information?
You can see the games at Corus site: Anand-Karjakin and Topalov-Aronian. It must be said that, at the moment of resignation of the opponents, the material advantage of Karjakin and Aronian were notorious, and even Karjakin promoted a Pawn (To Knight!) in a position in which his Queen was also with dangerous chance of attack Anand´s King, and Karjakin did it without success, as previously must be analyzed Anand. Karjakin and Aronian have had to resign after more than 20 moves from the surprisingly first sacrifices. Aronian was obligated to fall in zugzwang, in an incredible game by Topalov.
Topalov won, Anand divided the point, so Topa is ahead again by a half of point. I think Chess is losing some charm by cause of home-prepared moves, regardless its espectacularity. A few days ago, Anand left people with the mouth open, after a series of sacrifices without a clear positional advantage, and won 20 moves after. Yesterday Topalov performed an amazing rook sacrifice, enough for his opponent´s resignation 26 moves after. There is not doubt about the move: it is almost impossible that anybody would be tempted to make that move without a previous exhaustive analysis, perhaps with the help of Fritz or another super-program. Anand and Topalov are playing some games looking for the application of impressive home-made surprises, they are both really strong, but they are showing, mainly, an excellent home preparation and an incredible memory, more than Chess skills, although there is not doubt both are really strong.
Andreas suggestion makes sense, it is ideal you can play the game, and it is supposed that an 8x8 chess board and a chess set is easely available. The problem is, perhaps, that there is not too much space to explore looking for great impact, we (and others) have almost exhausted the best ideas. But there is always space to go into. In every case, I think it can be nice a new type of contest, apart from the usual: 'design a Chess variant in N squares'.
Topalov and Anand won today amazing games, both are tied on the top with an entire point over the third position occupied by Gelfand and Adams. We can expect something interesting when Topalov faces Anand on Saturday the 28th.
The Travelers. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I´m guilty, I remember I have typed the blank after 'zcherryz' considering it can´t cause any effect. Sorry.
It would be interesting a contest for a Chess-like game with unconventional objectives, by example: connect all the remaining pieces, or something like that. Any good ideas?.
Topa and Vishy are tied again in first place. Anand beated Bacrot in a complicated end in which all could happen, and Topalov battled trying to beat Gelfand, in a slightly superior position in the ends for Topalov, but Gelfand´s defense was fine. Draws. In group B, Carlsen continues ahead with one point of advantage. In the Corus official site you can see the games live when they are being played.
Gata Kamsky beated Anand, and Topa is now tied with him in first position. In gruop B, the boy Magnus is ahead with an entire point of advantage!.
The Travelers. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Christine, I´ll prepare a Preset, perhaps tomorrow or on Sunday. If you want we can test the game the next week, with its original rules, playing a couple of simultaneous games out of 'rating'. I don´t expect we are going to play inmortal games of extreme beauty and precision, but at least we can test it with some detail. 'Taking back the last move' is going to be permissed, of course, as commented analysis of possible moves by both bands.
Updated, changing some pieces names. I would appretiate opinions about the rules for victory: Adding the 'capture both Travelers or reach the last rank with the remaining Travelers' rule, the game is clearly a Chess variant, but I´m afraid it would be more complex. Nevertheless, I can try some tests. It would be also good a Preset in Courier (for tests, out of 'rating statistics', please, or it is not going to be useful enough for the purposes).
OH, what a mistake!, thanks Michael, I´ll try another names for these pieces. Christine: I am planning a ZRF, and for it I have to imagine a good manner to implement the Traveler movement, I have had some troubles with the command 'attacked?' in other opportunities in which there are different piece movements, and I doubt it works well here, more considering the Displacers (a Traveler is not 'in check' if it can be 'displaced'). Suggestions?. I´ll be happy with all possible help for the ZRF. Answering Michael: Is this game a Chess variant?. I have also my doubts, but the 'check' concept is used here, although in a different way. If you allow the Travelers to be capturable, and add a new rule for a victory: 'You can also win the game if you capture both enemy Travelers before they reach the last rank', and change the original first objective saying: 'You win the game when all your remaining Travelers reach the last rank', the game should be considered a Chess variant, being the Travelers the royal pieces, but it adds much more complexity to the game play, and it is enough as is, so I am not very tempted to change the original rules, even if the game is not clearly considered a Chess variant. As for now, the game play is very interesting, as I have tested, it seems that Travelers must advance hightly protected, and exchange of pieces are not trivial, and the piece values are definitely relative to positions: it makes not sense an 'approximate generic value' of each piece in this game, but I have not doubts about Displacers: they are very powerful pieces, more than any other. A good sequence of exchanges and displacements can be decisive sometimes, but the end can come in a few moves and you can lose after a 'material-oriented' although bad sequence of exchanges, and sacrifices seem to be very common in the ends of game. Yes, the game play is very unusual, I believe unique, and it needs training.
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]The Rococo Tournament LOG I have had to play against G.W.Duke was deleted, but I have played another Rococo game against George, and it has finished, and he won in a very good game. Please consider it as it was the Tournament game, for the Tournament statistic purposes.
Anand and Topalov (It is not a surprise, of course) lead group A: 1. V. Topalov V. Anand 3 3. B. Gelfand V. Ivanchuk 2½ In group B, the top positions are, after 4 rounds: 1. A. Naiditsch 3½ 2. G. Vescovi D. Navara M. Carlsen 3 The boy Carlsen continues playing very well.
Adams won against Topalov!. In group B, Magnus Carlsen won again, the boy continues with his good performance. He is now easely in the top-100, and ascending. Take also in account brazilian Vescovi and the Indian girl Humpy Koneru in this strong group.
I was impressed by the game in which Anand beated Karjakin. I believe it was a home-made analysis, I can´t figure how anybody can calculate so far, making very risky moves and tons of sacrifices since 20 moves before the end and without clear superiority in the position. Amazing.
Game Courier Ratings. Calculates ratings for players from Game Courier logs. Experimental.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Other weakness I see is that You don´t know how many games are needed to consider a rating to be 'somewhat confident'. It is very possible that a player with only a few games played, say less than ten, but with almost perfect score against 'well rated' players, show a rating that does not reflect the player´s force, being the rating, perhaps, much less than other player´s rating with a lot of games played but much less average and relatively worse record against others. It has been said that the rating must stabilize with time, but I´m not sure how many games are needed, and the disparity in number of games may introduce a bias that can give ratings that could be not so easy to compare with accuracy. But once 'stabilized', the whole history introduces another bias, product of very old games considered with the same weight as new ones, this is the main reason I insist with the weighted history idea.
I think GCR is an alternative good method, although it has its weaknesses, as ELO also has. Both are not very sensitive to drastic changes in a person´s game play, I know it is unusual, but not impossible. But I insist that weighted history must be considered, weighted history (for each game,I mean) can reflect some evolution in player´s game force, it is expected to happen in our site, because many of the games we play are new games, all of us are gaining experience with little theory as help, and results are less indicative in the first contacts with a game. GCR main weakness is that it does not reflect with the best accuracy the actual real force, but it tends toward an average over all the time.
I used 'inedit' in a past comment, this is not an english word. Use 'new' instead.
THe link is not available. And talking about Greg Strong, there are not new comments from him in this site since some time. What´s new, Greg?.
Game Courier Ratings. Calculates ratings for players from Game Courier logs. Experimental.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Age filter and some other filters don´t work yet.
You are right about the use of the age filter to reflect 'current' ratings (this is not enterely true, but it can be a better approximation), although I still disagree with you about the weighted history, I think it can be good for our purposes, but I recognize it is not easy give the weights in every case. This site contains many games for which people is learning and constructing some basis for better play by experience, and this is a step-by-step proccess, perhaps long in time; all of us must be considered real novices in many games, this is a reason to consider weighted history, precisely by the nature of this site. The case is other if we are talking about old, popular games widely played since a lot of time, but TCVP contains many new games, and the list is expected to grow in the future. I insist with other claim: not all games must be rated, or the rating system can be a tool which mainly reflects how good is someone to play in an inedit scenario. The list of 'rated' games can grow, but with games that become 'relatively popular' with time.
I think that a 'weighted history' makes sense in every rating system. Recent played games must have more importance in the rating calculations than old ones. This may help to reflect drastic changes in real player´s force. Illness, temporary desinterest, and other factors can make players skills fall down, and experience, progressive knowledge of a game, high interest and other factors can help to increase rating quickly in some cases.
100 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.