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Comments by mthomas

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King Support Chess. Members-Only Revised Chess intended to be clearer and less drawish. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Fearsome Chess. (Updated!) Fear is the main rule. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Mon, Feb 26 12:34 PM UTC:

I take it that a hunter can't be adjacent to an opponent's hunter, thus can never capture another hunter. But hunters are natural predators of other hunters. Does that mean that you don't control a red square by a hunter if the opponent still has a hunter?

Do you control a red square by, say, a cat when the opponent has no cat and no dog but has a mouse that may later promote to cat or dog?


How to Enforce Rules in Game Courier. A tutorial on programming a rule-enforcing preset in the GAME Code language.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Sun, Mar 12, 2023 06:26 PM UTC:

Thank you. I have to think about it and experiment a bit.


Thomas wrote on Sun, Mar 12, 2023 11:57 AM UTC:

I wonder if it would suffice to check the legality of the newest move only.

As I understand it, every time a player makes a move a program containing all previous moves is built, with the newest move at the end, then executed. Usually the legality is checked in the post-move part, thus all older moves are checked again and again, after every move made by a player.

Wouldn't it be enough to test the legality of a move only once, directly after it is made, in the post-game part, just assuming that all previous moves are legal?


Shatu. Members-Only Simplified chess variant. (7x7) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Stalemate chess. Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Sun, Feb 26, 2023 02:03 PM UTC:

Some years ago I read about a similar variant proposal in a forum of a game site. The author named it 'stale chess':

Win by stalemating the opponent; it is forbidden to give check.


Crowded Infinite Chess. Members-Only Missing description () [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Squashing Chess. Members-Only Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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How to Design and Post Your Own Game. A reference for those who want to post their own games here.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Fri, Feb 17, 2023 09:27 PM UTC:

It seems that, since about one week ago, the short description of a newly submitted game is not stored. I submitted two games in this week, and both don't show the description (and I'm sure I didn't forget to enter one).


Thomas wrote on Sun, Feb 12, 2023 01:55 PM UTC:

Since some days I can't create a new game page. After filling out the form and clicking on "step2" it only says:

"adding item entry..."

but nothing happens. The game page doesn't show up in my unreviewed submissions. Clearing the browser cache didn't help.

BTW: what should I enter in the "Rows", "Cols" and "Cells" fields of the form if I want to post a chess variant on an infinite board or on a board whose number of cells/squares can change during the game?


Behemoth Chess. Chess with a randomly moving, uncapturable Behemoth piece that can capture multiple pieces in a turn.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Thu, Feb 9, 2023 09:57 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

I played this on brainking.com many times and it is fun, even if the outcome is more dependent on luck than on skill.


Fuel Chess. The total distance a piece can travel is limited. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Wed, Feb 8, 2023 04:10 PM UTC:

The current description is not so good. Can an editor please change it to:

"The total distance a piece can travel is limited."

Many thanks.


Square Attrition Chess. Squares can be visited a limited number of times.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Tue, Feb 7, 2023 08:45 PM UTC:

Could an editor please add this description:

"Squares can be visited a limited number of times."

Many thanks.


How to Design and Post Your Own Game. A reference for those who want to post their own games here.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Fri, Feb 3, 2023 06:20 PM UTC:

How can I edit the description of a page already created? I mean the description that shows in the listings of pages.

Specifically I want to add a description to Square Attrition Chess so that it does no longer show the bold "Missing description".


Fuel Chess. The total distance a piece can travel is limited. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Sat, Jan 28, 2023 01:41 PM UTC:

This page is now ready for review, please.


Complete Chess ZIP file. on big board with riding and leaping piece families. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Thu, Jan 26, 2023 03:43 PM UTC:

I uploaded the zillions file (with piece graphics) now. I tested it and think it works correctly. Please tell me if you should find any bugs or issues.


Empress Chess. Members-Only Help your Empress win her battle. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Square Attrition Chess. Squares can be visited a limited number of times.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Wed, Jan 25, 2023 06:26 PM UTC:

I edited the rules a bit to make them more clear. No effective rule changes.


Tags Listing. A listing of the tags used on our pages.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Sat, Jan 21, 2023 05:30 PM UTC:

The tags "12X12Board" and "Dozenal" are duplicate.


Capablanca Random Chess. Randomized setup for Capablanca chess. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Thu, Dec 2, 2021 06:04 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

But why the limitation to set up queen and archbishop on different coloured squares, when they can change the square colour by moving like rook resp. knight?


Claustrophobia Chess. game is lost if King has no space to move.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Wed, May 6, 2020 12:47 PM UTC:

It seems to me that the rules need clarification with respect to stalemate. It is easy to create ambiguities when messing with the king rule :/

The basic idea of this variant is to enhance the king rule. After a side moved, not only must their king be not attacked, but there must also be a square next to the king not attacked by the opponent and not occupied by a friendly piece.

The game ends if a side cannot make a legal move. Here this means: if there is no pseudolegal move which fulfils both demands of the enhanced king rule. Then it is either checkmate and the opponent wins, or it is stalemate and the game is a draw.

In orthodox chess, checkmate is when the king of the side to move is threatened, i. e. attacked. But here, the concept of the king being threatened may be enhanced, as the enhanced king rule suggests: the king is threatened if one of the two demands of the king rule is not fulfilled. That would mean that stalemate does no longer exist. If both demands are fulfilled, i.e. the king is not threatened, then the king has a square to move to and there is a legal move (because the king is, after the move, adjacent to the square he just moved away from so that the second demand is again fulfilled).

But one could also stay with the usual definition of "threatened". Then, if the king is not attacked and has no square to move to and no other piece can legally move, it would be stalemate and a draw.

The former appeals more to me, and I'm going to clarify the rules accordingly.

BTW the "adjacent to queen" rule is also interesting, it would solve the problem of black being checkmated at the very beginning of the game. But it is not really necessary. I want to keep it as simple as possible and just declare the beginning of the game an exception.


💡📝Thomas wrote on Sun, Apr 26, 2020 05:37 PM UTC:

I have added the content now.

Some time ago I started to create the page but cancelled it because I wanted to think again about the rules. But somehow the page was created anyways.


Complete Chess. with a riding and a leaping piece family.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Thomas wrote on Sun, Apr 26, 2020 04:30 PM UTC:

I have added the initial setup squares to the piece description. Also I have slightly altered the setup so that all pawns are defended at the beginning of the game.


Diagram Designer. Lets you display diagrams without uploading any graphics.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Fri, Apr 24, 2020 03:50 PM UTC:

Is it possible to use other pieces from the alfaerie set than those 26 which are displayed and acessible by one letter? I tried around with braces, e.g. {squirrel} or {bsquirrel.gif} but it doesn't work.


Single check chess. Checking the opponent wins the game. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Thomas wrote on Mon, Nov 12, 2018 09:23 PM UTC:

Presto Chess: "The first player that gives check with a piece that cannot be taken wins the game."

This leaves it unclear if the checking piece must actually be taken or if it's enough to be able to capture it, and one may instead move the king away or a piece in between. And in the second case: must the capturing move be legal or need it be only pseudolegal?

Another variant of this family:

Like orthodox chess, but a side in check must not move their king. If the check cannot be defended by capturing the checking piece (by a different piece than the king) or moving in between, that side is checkmated and loses. When not in check, one may move the king as usual. Might be called "paralysed king chess".

A milder variant: like above, but the king is allowed to capture a piece attacking him, if it is not a double check.


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