Ratings & Comments

@Mr. H.G.Muller,

   Thanks very much.  my gratitude for your  brilliant reply. 

sincerely, Adella

with D2 rather than D7 that rises to 159

My interpretation was that the forward‐only thing was just a pragmatic way of ensuring offensive play, sort of like a primitive cousin of the jeu forcé. Much in the same way as Draughts/Checkers has FO pieces.

If the knight changes from white to black

This makes it sound as if pieces can switch side (which, without the Conquer rule, isn't possible here); really you'd have to explicit that it's moving from a white square to a black one, or v.v.

But even so, I think it'd be clearer still to simply say something to the effect of “If the knight is on a white square, it moves as in standard chess; from a black square, it moves as a chancellor”. I.e. phrasing it as a single piece that moves differently depending on its starting square rather than two pieces that change from one to the other. For comparison (though the double images may be a touch overkill)

Also incidentally, it seems oddly inconsistent to me to describe the Dragon Horse move as part of the description of the (morphing) Bishop, but to leave the descriptions of all other unorthodox move options to the end, apart from their relevant pieces

So if I understand correctly, the diagonals thing is just the procedure for how you've generated what during gameplay is a static morphing table? Rather than having any dynamic effect during gameplay

I don't understand the morphing to Chancellor on d4, d6, f4, and f6; surely by this game's logic that would be a Queen morph, as it's on a diagonal with Rook and Bishop? (Which would mean that the Chancellor would not appear at all)

I made the change.

I've also been looking for ideas for a lion hawk icon distinct from the griffon icon.

If there were an acceptable candidate, it would probably still take quite some time to  to finalize.

I think it's ready to be published.

I've also been looking for ideas for a lion hawk icon distinct from the griffon icon.

If there were an acceptable candidate, it would probably still take quite some time to  to finalize.

If you want something that is nice and easy to make a diagram of via the Musketeer Chess site's board painter, the site should have the first and third icons available for use. Personally I'd recommend the first one, as it is a winged lion. The one used for Chu Seireigi can also work.

Here's a new setup picture for your rules description (refresh browser cache if old one shows up):

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/visuals/chu-seireigi-600x600-2d.png

I'm working on a new 3d picture as well. I'll post another comment with it when I am done.

P.S. You may need to update the laser cutter SVG, but I am not overly concerned about that. You did include two extra Rooks in it though.

It would be an interesting challenge for someone to make an Interactive Diagram for this variant.

Pushing does appear in other games, of course (a couple of pieces in my own Zwangkrieg do it), but I don't think I've ever seen the idea applied as uniformly as this, nor explained as neatly, clearly, and elegantly. It makes me wish that there was a simple code one could add into XBetza for doing it.

Is there a way to enter XBetza on this? I wanted to try out the Blue Gecko (frB4lbW2flFbrFfW) but I can't limit the B move to 4 on this diagram.

(Which would mean that the Chancellor would not appear at all)

Thank you for your attention. I got the diagonals mixed up here. I have corrected it.

So if I understand correctly, the diagonals thing is just the procedure for how you've generated what during gameplay is a static morphing table? Rather than having any dynamic effect during gameplay

Yes, of course, the players must be able to follow a morphing rule - at least in this game. A dynamic rule is perhaps the next step.

Is there a way to enter XBetza on this?

Not on this page. But you could use the configurable applet page that the Piececlopedia links to, and write the Betza move you want in the URL.

I wanted to try out the Blue Gecko (frB4lbW2flFbrFfW) but I can't limit the B move to 4 on this diagram.

I guess I should extend the move-definition aid to 11x11 one of these days. But in case of the Blue Gecko, why bother? The 4th step of the B move will hardly ever be needed. And even when you leave out the frB move altogether, it can already force checkmate. You could also use B3 plus a direct AY leap, which shows that adding the AY leap does not shorten the mate (on 8x8, at least).

I updated the 3d image.

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/visuals/chu-seireigi-600x600-3d.png

I'll update the svg occasionally, lightburn doesn't work at home (on linux).

I take it that's the program you use for making the SVG?

Also, while I was uploading the Jocly files to the CVP site, I took the opportunity to make the rule description for the Jocly Chu Seireigi preset more accurate. Your version has some discrepancies and doesn't describe everything, thought to be fair I was still finalizing everything then. I can provide you with the files you need if need be.

I did the same for the Seireigi and Hectochess rule descriptions to a far lesser extent, though I am not overly concerned about these two.

It would be an interesting challenge for someone to make an Interactive Diagram for this variant.

It is not the pushing that makes that difficult, but the rule that Pawns have a double-step from the first rank. (That they regain the possibility when returning to 2nd rank can be indicated by making it an ii move.) I suppose it could be done through a morph for the Pawn that forbids access to the enemy half, but then exempt the fmW and fceF moves from that, so that only the fmnD move suffers.

The pushing is not too complex: hop on a piece (d), land on the empty square immediately after (af or yaf), and then step backward for friendly capture with unload (i.e. swap, abud). The bounce rule is implemented (on diagonal moves only) by landing off-board after the hop, returning backward for a second hop, this time hopping off sideways, and swap from there (pyafoabpasabudB).

the svg has been exported from lightburn( software used to pilot the laser cutting machine).

The SVG could probably be edited also by inkscape I suppose. If you have any improvements to the rules, I'd be happy to incorporate them, as they're important for introducing people to the games.

Shogi Zushiki, sho Shogi Zushiki & Kokon Shogi Zui are given by Cazaux as sources.

I do not have access to These, nor anything relating their differences on wa/yamato.

@Fergus & @ H.G.

So basically it can't be done yet!

If the knight changes from white to black

This makes it sound as if pieces can switch side (which, without the Conquer rule, isn't possible here); really you'd have to explicit that it's moving from a white square to a black one, or v.v.

To avoid possible but not very likely misunderstandings, I now consistently use 'white square to black square' (and v.v.) instead of 'white to black'.

As for the bishop: I also wanted to let it morph; since it moves on the same color squares, I chose to differentiate between even and odd ranks. This opens up the possibility of changing the color diagonal via the dragon horse.

This looks like a good idea but I am not so sure of its practicality. The board might end up very crowded and we need to see a game simulation before deciding on its "greatness". 

The 4 stars are only for the name. I like the idea of using Cleopatra as a seducing piece.

I had this idea of making pieces switch sides for a long time, but I always thought that the person in charge of finances could do this job, which is more realistic. 

To prevent such misunderstandings one usually refers to the squares as light and dark, and the pieces as white and black.

If I understood Fergus correctly all that is needed to do it is compare the value of turn instead of mln. Like

if == 1 turn:
... // code for first prelude step
elseif == turn 2:
... // code for second prelude step
else:
  gosub HandleMove true;
  ... // code for performing the gating if needed
endif;

The only thing I am still in doubt about is whether the current betza.txt include file on which the PTA-generated code relies tests for a move being the final one in a safe and reliable way. Because it uses mln for the test rather than turn. But that would affect every preset automated through the PTA, and I have never encountered a case where it did not work.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. But it seems to be easily confused.

something seems wrong with this game. The code is just copied from Chinese Chess with some pieces added, so I don't think I changed anything important, yet it's saying I'm in check when I'm not.

Powered Tencubed

It is definitely not that easy.

One thing is that when I try to make the move to a1 (for example), which would be an eligible brouhaha square I get an error saying that said move it is not even a pseudo legal move. By the way for now I have disabled the brouhaha squares and left the whole board intact (meaning no ----). But I could not comment the set brouhaha instruction in the pregame code.

Another thing is that the regular moves of all pieces are still displayed despite the fact that they are not legal anymore (i have setsystem the legalmoves array to () or even to null).

I saw that you copied the updated rules descriptions from the CVP Jocly presets, which is good. I made some fixes to these to improve clarity and remove a few typos I found. I will admit in advance that I am kind of a stickler for consistency, but if you can make those changes that would be great.

For Hectochess and Seireigi you can simply copy the code from the CVP rules files. The only thing you might have to fix is the Lance graph path in the Seireigi file.

view-source:https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/hectochess-rules.html

view-source:https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/seireigi-rules.html

For Chu Seireigi the rules description on the biscandine site is much better, but there are still a few discrepancies, and a few pieces are listed twice for some reason. I'd recommend simply copying the source code from the CVP Rules description to fix the text, and copying over the pictures whose links I have attached below.

Corrected Rules HTML

view-source:https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/chu-seireigi-rules.html

Corrected Movement Diagrams

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/rules/shogi/graphs/bear.png

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/rules/shogi/graphs/seireigi-whale.png

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/rules/shogi/graphs/teacher.png

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/rules/shogi/graphs/fox.png

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/jocly/dist/browser/games/chessbase/res/rules/shogi/graphs/bird.png

oops, this is it

thanks

291. Señora (Argentinian Queen) and 292. Saltador (Argentinian Knight). I actually was getting something else ready for this weekend, and then realized that I'd already uploaded another version of it, so here are two pieces that go with the Faro and Loco from two weekends ago.

To refresh, the Argentinian sliders capture like the conventional pieces, but must jump over another piece in order to move without capture. The Faro (Rook) does this orthogonally and the Loco (Bishop) does it diagonally, so naturally the Señora (Queen) does both. (cQmpQ)

The Saltador (Knight) is a slightly different story. It moves like a normal Knight, particularly when capturing, but can only move without capturing if at least one of the two spaces it's jumping past has a piece in it. (cnNpafsmK)

The Saltador looks a little weird, but then again most of my "enhanced Knight" pieces look weird because the enhancements are meant for symmetrical pieces, which Knights are not.

You're using k/K for the general, but the code you copied is using g/G. So kpos and Kpos are not being updated.

No matter I have made some progress!

Ok. So far we have fWbrFfD2lfNfrblA from Bn Em with a record of mate in 159! I haven't been able to improve it yet. The challenge is still on!

I take it that's the program you use for making the SVG?

Here is the lightburn project if usefull to you

@ H.G.:

In the following link to a Butterfly Chess log, I tried to move my White Advancer from e1 to j6. The (Applet generated) preset allows the move, but does not announce check. Is there a bug here?

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=Butterfly+Chess&log=panther-joejoyce-2024-10-868

Should I be able to use $dest to get the destination square before HandleMove runs?

If I could try it with a Peacekeeper (AXNX) I think that might have a higher number.

@ Bn Em:

A search I did just now for English words that are 3 words within one notably gave 'counterclockwise' (not a noun) and also somehow 'sunflower' made it to the list, but I think that must be an error. So, no nouns on one search result I got from Google.

I checked my list of unpublished submissions pending, and by my count I would have 5+2=7 I'd need to change to some degree (plus 2 settings files that would need to be copied with new names, a little more modified, then the original settings files could be deleted by Fergus later). Still a bit of trouble for just one tentatively unpopular piece type name choice.

In the M & B Articles of CVP site, I did notice some 3 English 'words' in 1 that are nouns that Gilman coined, especially in his second section with words beginning with C (towards the end of that section). I have yet to glance at his remaining sections (except for 'W', in case Gilman used warmachinewazir himself).

Please let me know sooner or later if I should do name editing all the same (unless you publish the 7 submissions without much delay, at least starting with the 4 submissions that are still under your personal review, it seems; note that this evening I've put 3 more submissions under review, and they all have the warmachinewazir piece type within).