Rated Comments

great article , this is definitely one of the best for young chess players to read and learn strategy.  If you intend on writing more similar content on this site be sure to check out our page with more inspiration for future posts

great article, this is definitely one of the easiest strategies for young chess players to skim through and learn. Might also interest for more Superhero Chess Sets see this page [spam url deleted].

Big thanks to Malcolm Webb for programming the zrf for this game! I would like those who download this to know that as of this date in 2022, I have updated the rules to Ito Shogi drastically, while the rules of this zrf file are based on the 2007 rules.

The Wolf is ranked higher (stronger) than the Dog.

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/鬥獸棋

象>獅>虎>豹>狼>狗>貓>鼠

Elephant > Lion > Tiger > Leopard (Panther) > Wolf > Dog > Cat > Rat

I played this since childhood. This is the proper ranking of the animals.

The confusion about Dog > Wolf happened because on some of the cheap chess pieces, the wood carving of the Dog and the Wolf are almost identical.

I love the concept of spherical chess. I think one thing needs to be changed, however. Chess is already drawish enough on a square board, and more so on a round board. On a spherical board, where pieces move in all directions, draws may become the overwhelming norm. That is not my preference.

So, on a board like this, I would love to see something done about that. Possible ways to do it would be to put some restrictions on the movement of the King (as in XiangQi and Janggi), or to immobilize the King when in check, or to take away the King's ability to capture pieces, including attacking pieces.

https://samiam.org/chessv continues to host the ChessV software, and, indeed, has been updated to have version 2.2 of ChessV. Should chessv.org ever go down, this is an alternate download link.

A while ago, I looked at 31 possible short range pieces. I have now expanded this research.

I have written a small C program which looks at all 16,777,215 possible leapers that move at most two squares. Some findings:

• I expected around half of all possible pieces to be colorbound in some way. Wrong. 16,452,080 (over 98%) pieces are not colorbound.
• There are 104 non-colorbound pieces with three moves, 2,512 pieces with four moves, and some 2,696,337 pieces with 12 moves.
• Only 2,944 possible pieces are Bishop colorbound: These relatively few pieces can go to the same 32 squares a Bishop can go to.

With some 16,452,080 non-colorbound pieces, if we replace the knight, bishop, and queen with a random non-colorbound short leaper, that gives us 4,453,099,898,116,838,912,000 which is, what, 4 hextillion possible variants, and that’s keeping the king, pawns, and rook.

OK, if that’s not enough possible variants, we can also add the ability for a given random piece to be able to be a rider in any direction it can leap (e.g. a fers-rider is our bishop; a wazir-rider is a rook, and a knight-rider is, well, a knightrider), where we randomly choose, from all the moves a given leaper has, for it to be able to ride in a random number of directions. For example, if we look at the wazir, then randomly choose which directions it moves like a rook and which directions it can only move one square, we get 16 possible pieces. If we do this for all 16,452,080 non-colorbound short range pieces, we get some 282,232,643,280 possible pieces, just over 2 to the power of 38 (2^38 or 2 ** 38 in Python notation).

This means an 8x8 board with random non-colorbound pieces and using a standard chess set has some 6,344,961,231,517,063,209,074,884,200,517,463,972,290,560,000 possible variants (the pawns and kings can keep their moves), just over 2 to the power of 152.

The Heroine and Popess piece types in this variant arguably (nicely) complete the combination of compound pieces I used in my own (earlier) 10x10 Sac Chess variant.

On the topic of piece names, I've noticed that in some languages the name for a chess rook translates to ship (or to boat, also). Thus 'Admiral' (or my choice of 'Sailor', in Sac Chess) gets bonus points as a choice of name, perhaps (for the piece type in question, a promoted rook in shogi), i.e. a person who uses a watercraft's power.

Maybe there's a slightly related argument that a real-life knight, in the past, is a person who uses a horse (arguably knight is a more elevated title than horseman, which would also work).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_(chess)#Name_translations

I think one thing the author may do until when and if this variant gets formally published here is to make a Zillions of Games implementation of it, then send an email to Ed van Zon to get the implementation published. There can be a long delay before a submission and its publication here, but Ed’s pretty good about publishing a submission within a week of its submission.

The hard part is taking all these rules and converting them in to Zillions’ quirky language. I enjoy doing it myself; it converts rules in to unambiguous machine-readable rules, and it allows people to play the variant themselves.

I would also change the name of the summoned pieces in to something like, oh, Dragon Horse and Dragon King, the Anglicized form of these pieces’ names in Shogi. I like the summoning tactic, but it’s an open question whether having it makes the White advantage overwhelming. People seem to enjoy Crazyhouse a lot over at Lichess, so I think this summoning mechanic can be very usable.

(I should also point out that Betza called what is the Jester here the “Waffle”)

i think so

Just over twenty years after the initial publication of this page, the first ever computer implementation of Nemoroth is live, complete with a basic alpha-beta pruning AI. You can play in your browser at this link: https://azgoroth.itch.io/nemoroth

The only thing I haven't implemented is the Go Away push order, which I've been putting off due to how laborious the UI considerations are. As a placeholder, Go Away pushes are clockwise from top.

I originally wrote this implementation in TypeScript, but the AI was too slow and I ported it over to C++ using WebAssembly. I plan on open sourcing it eventually once I have more opportunities to clean up the code. This is one of the most difficult software projects I have ever worked on; I have known about Nemoroth since around 2013 but was not a strong enough of a programmer to pull it off until now.

I found a number of ambiguities in these rules, which I have tried my best to address reasonably on the linked page. Some have been covered in this comments section, some not (for example, if a Wounded Fiend leaves an already ichorated square, does the ichor stack to 11+ plies or max out at 10?).

The AI is surprisingly dangerous. It mobilizes the Ghast immediately and WILL advance it to d4/d5 if you let it, usually costing you the game. I have managed to beat it a few times, but it's tough as nails for how crude the programming is. Beware!

Ralph, if you're out there, thanks for this amazing variant. I tried to email you to get permission to make this but alas, I never heard back.

Marsellais chess has a rule where each player moves 2 pieces in the same turn. Castling is considered a single move. All other castling rules apply.

I have a code to create Piece in Piececlopedia. I’ve taken your template and written my text.

Would it be possible to provide a rule enforcing preset that begins with the "rational" setup with all Pawns on the second rank?

I have a new chess variant idea. 
Before I send it across to you , I have a few questions:

1) If my variant idea becomes popular, is there any way I can get paid for it ?

2) Can chess variant idea be patented ? Can I apply for a patent before sending it to you ? How many chess variants in your site are patented ?

I like the idea of making an army using various combinations of a few building blocks, though I do have two critiques.

1: Balance. A combination piece is usually wirth more than the sum of its parts (eg: a Queen is worth more than a Rook and a Bishop; a Mann is worth more than a Wazir and a Ferz) which means an army with A+B+C=7.75 is likely to be completely overpowered. For example, look at army 1:
BNW=10, NW=5.25, BW=5.25, W=1.25, B=3.25, N=3.25, BN=8.75 (total: 37).
This is over a full Rook stronger than the regular chess army.

The more equal the components are, the more powerful they are when they work together. For example, army 2 (where one component has most of the value) is only about 2 pawns stronger than the regular chess army. So, armies with wildly unequal component strengths will need to have stronger components than more egalitarian armies to compensate for this.

2: The components should be versatile enough to be fun to play with on their own. For example, an Alfil can only reach 1/8 of the board which is un-fun to play (both with and against). One solution to this would be 'ABCD' chess, with 4 components arranged like this:

By adding an extra component, one can eliminate the need for components to survive on their own, and can make weak components without having to worry about un-fun Alfil play.

Distinguished Monsieur Cazaux:

At the end of the rules for my preset of Constructing Chess You can see my brief instructions for erasing an untimed game, and my warning for not proposing or accepting untimed games to or from unknown players:

"Either of the two players can erase the game from the data base of Game Courier at any stage during current play, or can erase a finished game. The operations of drawing or of erasing a game should be done only by AGREEMENT between the two players, or in case of one player having disappeared for a long time in a game without time limit".

"Players should not propose or accept games without time limit, except to or from players whom they know very well".

I only play untimed games with players with whom I have already played many times, players with whom there has been satisfactory conversation via Game Courier or other manners of contact, and players of whom so far I have no justified reason for doubting of their gentlemanship, honesty, and sportive spirit.

Otherwise there is risk of meeting some stupid who may keep an unfinished game hanging, because he is losing, and in his small mind he is not man enough for accepting his defeat. Even with perfectly trustable players, I prefer to avoid untimed games unless there be justified reason. Unreliable Internet, for example.

A game may hang for a month or more due to cause of force majeure. The other player may be suffering some tragic, unforeseen, or overpowering circumstance. He may have had a serious accident and be in hospital. Or in prison. Or in cemetery. Or fighting the War for the Glorious Cause of Independent Ukraine.

Such events happen. In the first case he may be absent for months. In the second for years. In the third, for ever. And in the fourth, I patiently wait for the return of the Hero, if I do not join the Heroic Struggle myself.

For preventing a long waiting time, players are advised not to play untimed games with unknown people.

There is no need of modification to the algorithm of Game Courier. The solution is as simple as avoiding untimed games, except in cases where the other player is fully trustable, or if there be a justified reason.

Or else, erasing a hanging game. But for this, players should make a reasonable effort to ascertain that a long time has passed without reply from the other player, whose whereabouts are completely unknown.

Such cases are rare with me, but they occasionally happen. Fortunately they have not happened to me in Game Courier so far, but they have happened for untimed games in other servers. I follow the policy of waiting for a maximum of about twenty days. Then I try to make contact with my opponent, if possible.

If I have no way to contact him, or if after a few more days I do not receive any reply from him, then I take the game out of my list of current games, if possible I erase the game from the server (in Game Courier it can be done by either of the two players), and I include the name of the missing player in my black list.

If I receive a reply, then my decision will of course depend on the content and trustability of that reply.

After all those important considerations, Monsieur Cazaux, if You honestly believe that a game has been hanging for too long without conclusion, and You have no way to contact Your opponent, or no reply from him, or the reply have not been satisfactory, then You are undoubtedly entitled to follow this procedure:

List all games played in Game Courier by Monsieur Jean-Louis Cazaux (nom de guerre 'timurthelenk'): https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/logs.php?userid=timurthelenk&age=0&sort=age&stat=actfin

You will see that most games are finished from 28th April 2020 to the end of 3rd August 2022 (server time) but there is an untimed game of Fantastic XIII that has been hanging since 31st July 2022. Make a serious effort to contact the opponent and tell him that You are still waiting for his move. If You have reply, then use Your best judgement as to Your correct action. But considering that twenty-four days have already passed, if You have no reply in a few more days (or if You have no contact with him at all, in this case without need of further waiting), then continue to the sad but necessary method for solving these fastidious situations.

Activate the hyper link at the right side that reads 'Delete'. You will see a warning for not deleting a game in progress without a justified reason. If You honestly believe that You have justified reason (and I personally believe that You have), then proceed to delete the game from the data base. For that You will need to enter Your identity or be logged-in, and Your password. Then You will have made a favour to Game Courier. Then You should include the offender in Your black list. Then You should NEVER play an untimed game without a very powerful reason to do so. Finally, You should continue honouring Game Courier with Your presence.

Dixieland for ever ! P. A. Stonemann, CSS Dixieland

Should play well, it's nice to see you didn't 'overpower' it.

Hi Gerd, hope your fine and well. I'm sure you haven't upset or hurt anyone!! I understand what you said, and it is extremely interesting idea indeed how you describe your game about the board etc.

I don't want to go on about the pawns, but still, I have to say, the game would maintain your 'theme' even if the pawns remained pawns. However, the game as you have it must have a unique feel and play to it!

Would be fun to see the game in action.

Inspiring game, yet it seems the action may take a while to get going

I don't yet get how to mobilize in the opening smoothly when playing this CV, at least when I tried to do so in my first game (with White, no less). After I moved the pawn in front of my king two squares, for example, I wanted to develop my knights to my fourth rank, towards the centre, in natural fashion. Yet that would allow Black to develop his deves (camels) similarly, and then to take my knight(s) almost at will - perhaps clearly at least a slightly worse exchange for me, since my pawn structure might be compromised without sufficent compensation when I recapture, and by my valuations (though tentative) a Kt is worth more than a camel on 10x10 (maybe even by as much as a pawn).

As my game (with arx) went on, I found my gold and silver had a hard time being deployed usefully for quite some time - an issue since they can get in the way of other pieces. I also had mobilization issues with at least one of two of my bishops, especially concerning if assuming castling is desirable in general. The assassins I had a hard time valuing, but guessed one could be worth as much as a queen. Maybe the inventor intended that mobilization be slow in playing this CV, I don't know.

@arx: I've sent you a personal invite to a Sac Chess rematch, in case you missed it, and wish to play.

The premise for tri dimensional chess set's presence on federation star ships was to teach three dimensional combat tactics, which is something the Bartmess and Meder rules patently fail to do, by blocking circumventing moves.
The rules presented here, on chess variants, are not complete and lack rules for castling but also advocate inverted attack boards, which, if nothing else, are highly impractical.
Not only were the World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation rules written by a fighter pilot, to teach three dimensional aerial combat, which is more in keeping with the original theme, they also start the king and queen in the centre files and provide the most reasonable method for castling, as the attached images demonstrate.

King's side castling


Queen's side castling

Added Westernized board and pieces for Xiangqi to the Wikipedia article.

File Manager do not work. I have unpublished Orthodia and all pieces’ images are here. But my image of board below the diagram of this board is missing. So before this it wasn’t missing by more than one time. I open File Manager for this page and see “File manager submitted item” — and nothing more! Please fix. Other inserted files of this page are safe and sound. Thank you very much!

Please check my submissions. They are waiting Your look, except for 2 lasts) Regards, Rechefiltr_is_Fire

This is a great idea with those switches. Together with the twisting of the files it makes a very interesting board and game. The switches give instantly the game a dynamic tension which is enjoyable. And a very sophisticated solution that 2 squares together constitute 1 field on which there can only be 1 piece. There is no mentioning of pawn move/capture (maybe it could be helpful), but it must be implied that 'normal' forward movement and diagonal capturing are in place, that will often be first 'battle' around the switches.

What is better than 2 switches? That has to be 4 switches! The inventor, Gerd Degens, has also such a game, Chess69, which can be viewed through the link at the top, or for CVP members through the link in the comments. I will try to make a comment about it later. But I can only recommend to the editors that this game also is published properly. It is even more interesting because here the ranks are also twisted, very delightful for us fans of 'unusually shaped boards'. It already has a old post from 2003 here on CVP with a broken link in the Alphabetical Index and the Topic Index, so that will have to be displaced.

Assistance request for promotion piece in the test applet for chess variants

Hello, I ask our help for understand the correct process for implement the promotion of a piece in this editor: https://www.chessvariants.com/page/MSplay-test-applet-for-chess-variants

I use for example a 12x12 board and i want to make a Queen promotion with pawns in the last rank (white & black) so I set this: Promotion zone (ranks):1 Promotion choice:Q Pieces to shuffle:P

Press Apply Press start position

Unfortunately I try this mode but seems works sometimes only for the a.i. pieces...

I also want to ask how I do for also more type of promotion on the same board? For example always in a 12x12 board I want the pawn-to-queen promotion and add a new one es. the knight-to-amazon promotion, both in the last rank, or the Queen promotion in the 10th rank and the Amazon in the last...

Thank you very much for your support, Best regards.

I like the idea of this, although it seems possibly over-complicated with the momentum rules.

Can Canvasser be Agitator?! In my notation, he is it. Noted as Ç

Can you watch Fluidity please, I can’t add new variants but I have 5+ of them in keeping ready.

So how can I add my piece to Piececlopedia?! If I can;)))

One remark: can you watch Magician’s moves and make diagonal-based motion. And small Shielder’s regulation of replacing rules, but it’s not required for now.

Yeah, thank you very much!

Points are accumulating. I’ve written this in the page.

Sorry, but yellow X-es are captures!

I have an idea: you can turn Ox’s face to left in Stone Garden, as it was in my drawings, and make it different from Horizons. About Index it’s same. Please.

Mister Albillo had his interesting Web pages about his so-called Bizarre Chess stored since 1998 in a free server, but unfortunately, that server went out of activity in the early 2000s.

Then Mister Albillo did not find another server, and he kept for twenty years his Bizarre Chess only with himself, unknown to the World.

Recently he has converted his old Web pages to Adobe Portable Document Format, and re-published them after that hiatus of twenty years.

The old hyper link given by him obviously is dead, but as of late 2022 this other hyper link is working perfectly:

https://albillo.hpcalc.org/files/misc/chesstests

Each page has been made into a different PDF, available for download. There are twenty in total and not heavier than 300 Kilobytes each. They contain astonishing examples of weird situations on the board, and comments made by important authorities.

The old hyper links do not work in the PDFs. Mister Albillo has chosen to preserve the flavour of an era in the History of Chess and Computing, out of a nostalgic feeling for a time that is 'Gone with the Wind'.

The Illustrious Members of Chess Variants will certainly find engaging material in those pages. Especially those of us who love the History of our Noble Game.

No, it’s not easy win, black can easily block the path of check by 1.…Be7 or 1.…Qe7 after 1.Qe2

So it’s not required to add interactive diagram for THIS variant. But if it will be in online chess resource, thank you.

Are there no promotions in this version? Where is the prince and adventitious king?

The way I have always looked at this is that to know whether a square is attacked by the opponent during your turn you should pass that turn, and see whether the opponent then can move there. So the question then is what the turn-pass would do for the movement capabilities of the Joker.

1 seems most natural to me. I would think that passing a turn shouldn't count as moving a piece, so it shouldn't change the Joker's move if it is defined by the last piece moved. In a game that doesn't allow passing, passing should be considered the same as a double move by the other side.

Edited. Can you publish it please?

I like the idea, but perhaps a flaw in the game would be the unprotected pawn on a7. After 1 f4 Black has few defensive options and one would never arrive at "double king-pawn openings" since after 1...f5 2 Bxa7 already would drop and exchange in addition to the pawn. Maybe as in Schoolbook chess the Chancellor and Queen need to be out on the flank and the Archbishop deployed to the center.

Fixed,

I cannot love Courier-Spiel, but I (heart) Shako.

Revising my [2006-08-12] comment:
Unicorn=10, Queen=10, Chancellor=9, Rook=5.5, Lion=5. Bishop=3.5, Knight=3, Elephant=2.75, Pawn=1 
are endgame piece values (for Shako and Unicorn Great Chess) which preserve some formulas I firmly believe in, namely Q+P = R+R and Q = R+B+P and R+P = B+N. The Cannon should be worth 4 Pawns at the start of the game, but decline to half the value of a Rook in the early endgame (2.75 Pawns). I consider short range pieces to have more value than Antoine Fourrière gives them in his Comment. Even the lowly Ferz should be worth 1.5 Pawns on a 10x10 board.

I'm not quite sure whether I want to rate this Good or Excellent so I'll go with the higher rating. This is a great way to enhance weaker pieces without making them too strong. An interesting variation of this idea might be to have all the pieces except the king and queen start without their non-capturing king moves and gain them by promoting on the last two ranks.

Similar to Courier-Spiel, the game adds modern Bishops and improves the Elephants (called Couriers here). Switching the Bishops and Couriers in the initial setup will improve this game. While the b-file and h-file Pawns are now undefended, they are also no longer threatened by hostile Bishops. Jumping the Courier c1-c3 will help to shield the Pawn on (b2).

Some time before 1992, Paul V. Byway included the Ferz in Modern Courier Chess, placing RNCBFQKFBCNR on a 12x8 board. Ken Franklin also placed Alibabas in Leap Chess on 44 squares.

Back in [2018-03-04] Kevin Pacey mentioned "the pleasing possibilities of smothered ... mates".  My 12x12 variant Rose Chess XII has 96 empty squares, with ten Pawns each on the 4th and 9th ranks.  But Black can deliver a smothering mate with a circular Nightrider on the second move of the game.  A position so amusing that it earned a diagram at the top of the rules page.

"This rule gets rid of zugzwang." 
 
More than sixty years ago I learned how to use zugzwang to win with King and Rook against the lone King. So how does Tony Berard deal with this problem? 
 
"The rooks, bishops, and knights now also move and capture like a king." 
 
Sixteen years ago I commented on Ultra Chess (by Ruggero Micheletto).  Here is a question for both authors.  Is the endgame King and Rook versus King and Knight even more likely to lead to a draw in your chess variants?

Kevin, I am adding the Dragon Horse or Crowned Bishop, worth six Pawns. Multiplying my previous list by 0.36 makes my combined value of Rook and Knight equal to yours, as follows:

Pawn = 1.08, Elephant = 1.44, Ferz = 1.80, Knight = 3.60, Rook = 5.40,

plus Alibaba (A+D) = 2.52, Commoner (F+W) = 4.32 and Dragon Horse (B+W) = 6.48.

Here is a Fairy-Stockfish variant file that I made for the variant. Despite the E and Elephant symbol, these pieces are still princes (princE). It might not be 100% accurate, but this should be incredibly similar to the actual variant, as there are essentially no differences between promoting the princes to kings to win (by getting them directly to the last rank) or merely getting the princes to the end of the board (the last rank) to win. This variant also has defined castling rules.

[chessii:janus]
startFen = rnbeqkebnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNBEQKEBNR w KQkq - 0 1
customPiece1 = e:WF
pieceToCharTable = PNBRQ............E...Kpnbrq............e...k
castlingKingsideFile = i
castlingQueensideFile = c
whiteFlag = *8
blackFlag = *1
flagPiece = e
maxFile = 10
archbishop = -
promotionPieceTypes = rnbq

This is meant to be used with https://fairyground.vercel.app/, and should be pasted into a file called variants.ini, before loading the variants.ini file into the website.

Hi, David! Glad to see you back! This is a nice helpmate and looks like an interesting 'little' game to play - all that power in the corners and a weak center, on a small board! The central rook is a rare feature, or was, a decade or two ago. Who's used it besides Ralph, you, and me, any idea? I don't remember it in even any semi-popular game onsite aside from what you and Ralph have done.

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

This is a nice game. It seems to have a theme of rook + weaker piece compounds. I wonder why the board isn't 15x10 to make room for another knight, and have a nice 3:2 shape like Courier Chess. An alternative enhancement would be a pair of camels on d1 and k1 and a camel-rook on i1. That would make more sense of the 10 rank board.

Spartan Chess has the Warlord and the General, together worth approximately three Rooks. These are solid performers that have been used in many variants. Worth noting that pieces like the Lieutenant with additional noncapturing moves are rare. My Shatranj Kamil (64) has Elephants with noncapturing Dabbabah leaps and ArchMage Chess by Cyrus Arturas has the Prince, a Commoner with noncapturing R2 moves (no mention of Dabbabah leaps). In the diagram below, a Warlord pins a Rook against the White King - winning the piece and the game.

WHITE TO MOVE AND LOSE

Nice mixture of pieces in this variant!

edit: Also, this CV reminds me a little of Opulent Chess:

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/opulent-chess

edit2: Two CVs that might have been inspired by TenCubed Chess (but weren't):

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/soho-chess

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/wide-soho-chess

I fixed it, it's your turn. There is no castling here;)

I'd rate this game as average, but that option seems to be lost from the rating system's choices these days (just 'None', 'Poor', 'Good' and 'Excellent' are available to choose from, at least for this game and many others I've seen for quite a while).

The great power of the pieces chosen for the setup of this CV may be a bit much for 14x8, but this game has somehow proved popular (at least in the past). It might especially appeal to novices (at least none of the piece movement rules seem at all difficult to master, if one has played chess).

What might improve this CV is if there were a way to quickly bring the king to safety (if that's possible), or to at least get nearer to connecting the rooks. For example, my 'Fast Castling' rules might be used, as first put forward in the following CV:

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/wide-chess

I'm a bit surprised this variant hasn't been played much so far on GC. If people think there's too much power in the setup, maybe by switching the FIDE army of each side onto their 2nd ranks, directly behind their pawns, that then could help the game unfold a bit more slowly, if that's desired.

You have to admire a game like this that looks mind-bending to the average chess player, perhaps.

@Fergus: For some reason this game is not showing up in the main Alphabetical index unless I look under "S" - in fact there is no "Sk" symbol for the index currently showing at all(!).

edit: also, I'm not sure the preset diagram (after clicking on link) is correct. In fact, all the finished games of it in GC look broken, perhaps (error code page showing for each game when log clicked on).

To answer an old question here, Rose Chess (2007) replaces the Knights in Christian Freeling's Grand Chess with Roses. And continues on to add Bishop+Rose and Rook+Rose pieces to the game. My Rose Chess XII (2007) has a Half-Rose and an ordinary Nightrider on a 12x12 board.

For anyone contemplating a really big (16x16) version of this game, I frivolously offer the:

Thirteenleaper: moving from (a1) to (a14) or (f13) or (m6) or (n1).

On a (16x16x16) 3D-board it also leaps (3,4,12) and (4,12,3) and (12,3,4) and so forth.

I fixed things about horse promotions, but quality of pieces’ images on the submission’s diagram is amazing in the worst sense of it.

I think that’s bug

Nice idea!

A cute and cool variant!

As far as I can see there is no rule that forbids moving the King back to the place where it came from (at least, when the King move wasn't motivated by escaping check). So a situation can occur where the two players just move the King between two squares in an endless loop and the game makes no progress.

Note that in the setup of shogi (a Classic game) none of the knights there can move, either.

Thank you. So I missed out one thing.

It was in the rules but wasn’t in the pieces desc. Read about King, you’ll find.

Sort of Almost Chess - with a White Chancellor and a Black Queen - is kind of the best chess game ever invented on less than 81 squares. Skipping the usual long speech about making opening books obsolete and adding new tactics, I will simply state that the dreaded First Move Advantage is completely cancelled. Possibly "more than cancelled" - computer testing may prove interesting.

In the near future I will be promoting this variant to join the list of Featured Games. Maybe we could give Sort Of Almost Chess a more interesting name, like Carrera's Revenge?

Thanks, can you publish it please?

Great idea to replace the Ferz with the Gryphon! This piece rarely gets a chance to dominate an "old fashioned game". The "Griffon" is actually one of the weaker pieces in Mark Hedden's Ganymede Chess . I offer some piece values for the 12x8 board, chosen primarily for simplicity:

Pawn = 1, Woody Rook (WD) = 3, Knight = 3, Elephant (FA) = 3.25, Courier = 3.50, Man (FW) = 3.50, Rook = 5.50 and Gryphon = 8 points.

Incidentally I value the Queen at ten points, the same as R+B+P. Ralph Betza once calculated the Gryphon's worth by multiplying the value of a Rook by 1.46 in Bent Riders circa 2002.

Have we missed the fiftieth anniverary of Modern Courier Chess? The rules page for Reformed Courier-Spiel (2011) contains the sentence: "With this design, Begnis also intended to improve Modern Courier Chess invented by FIDE Master Paul V. Byway in 1972."

On his own website, Clément Begnis writes: "In this respect, I need to mention here that at first (in the 1970's), Byway had made an attempt to modernize the Courier game with more powerful extra pieces."

On his own website, John Savard writes: "Attempts have been made to modernize the game, one in 1824 and one in 1971. The one in 1971, Modern Courier Chess, changed the moves of several of the pieces. Even that of 1824 by Albers made a number of changes, although it was less radical."

The current address is: Modern Courier Chess. Meanwhile, the year when Byway finished creating his game remains a mystery. VARIANT CHESS No. 8 does contain the following game from the previous year - with the letters "F" and "C" standing for Ferz and Courier (Alibaba).

[Game 4]  R. Talbot - P. V. Byway, 10 xii 1991 
1.f4 f5 2.a4 c5 3.Ra3 Cc6 4.g4 fxg4 5.Rg3 h5 6.i4 
Ch6 7.e3 g5 8.ixh5 gxf4 9.Rxg4+ Fg7 10.Qj5+ i6 
11.hxi6 Ni7 12.Qi5 Ng6 13.Qxk7 Rj8 
[Diagram uses elephants for couriers] 
rn1bfqk1br2pp1pp1f2pQp2e3neP5p9P4pR9P8PPP3P1PPP1NEBF1KFBENR 
14.Rxg6 Bxg6 15.i7 Ri8 16.Qxj7 Fe6 (courier leap) 17 .Ch3 
Ke8 (two-move privilege) 18.Nj3 16 19.Ni5 Bxk2 
(suicidal) 20.Rk1 Bi4 21.Rk8 Resigns. (1-0).

This is a great idea. The bombs add enough chaos to make the game feel very different, but not too much.

I read on the wiki talk page for Tenjiku about the idea that jumping generals could have been intended to do more than just jump-capture.

The start position shows the generals in front of the Fire Demons, both straight ahead and diagonally. There is no opportunity for jumping generals to capture Fire Demons in the start position, which is intentional.

It doesn't seem right that there is so much protection for Fire Demons, yet in some versions of the game, the King could be threatened and captured without even being able to evade the attack, as it's boxed in.

(In fact, the Bishop General could just mate the opponent's King on the first move if there were no restrictions on jumping.)

If the generals could jump whenever they wanted as far as they liked, the game would become even more tactically sharp than it already is. However, it doesn't break the game.

The Great General can't jump two squares diagonally to threaten one of the Fire Demons as the Rook General would capture it.

The best the Bishop Generals can do is to manoeuvre and attack a Horned Falcon or Soaring Eagle.

The idea that jumping generals could capture all of the opposing pieces they jumped over in one turn is plausible. I don't know if the game would break, but the inventor(s) of Tenjiku weren't sentimental about pieces — allowing Fire Demons to punch large holes into positions — so having more pieces do the same seems logical.

The Great General could just capture the Vice General; Free Eagle; Queen; Drunk Elephant; and a Pawn on the first move (with check). This doesn't seem intentional.

One of the Bishop Generals could move to the edge of the board and threaten to capture a Soaring Eagle; Water Buffalo; Phoenix; Drunk Elephant; and a Pawn. The Soaring Eagle can leap out of the way, though.

Otherwise, everything is sufficiently well defended that jumping generals couldn't capture a total of anything worth more than themselves, as they are even stronger than their current form.

That could be why Fire Demons are so powerful — with burning and sliding and an area move — because they would be ecliped otherwise by the jumping generals.

The board size (16×16) and large number of pieces that do very little makes more sense if there were even more crazy pieces. The game might devolve into a capture-fest, but that might have been the intention.

Whoever had the imagination to create this game has to be admired. I consider this to be the most ambitious of all the historical variants as its construction is so delicately balanced, even with the ambiguity in the rules themselves.

OK I've edited that

Very nice touchup of the page. You might have mentioned that in problems, there is more than one way to use the cylinder concept. The one here described is chess on a horizontal cylinder, which is the only form that is playable as a game. Other forms have appeared in problems: the vertical cylinder with the first and last ranks connected and the anchor ring both basically both a vertical and horizontal cylinder simultaneously. In the latter case, a1 is connected to both a8 and h1 (and in some version h8 as well, if you really want to go crazy). With rooks and queens instantly attacking each other and the kings in mutual check, we'd need special rules to play this, but a KBB vs K ending on such a board can be analyzed, as well as more complex problems.

Thank you by this advice.

(BTW if you want, I can request a Shako tournament with you someday. Site is Pychess (chess variants site written in Python), to play it, you have to create lichess.org (chess site with millions of players and open source code) account)

The program is dead again .

M. Badii - J. Stranjakovitch, Paris 1989 reached the position in the diagram below after

1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.f4 Bb7 4.Bd3 f5 5.exf5 Bxg2 6.Qh5+ g6 7.fxg6 Bg7 8.gxh7+ Kf8

The game continued 9.hxg8=Q+ Kxg8 10.Qe2 Bxh1 with a win by White after 24 moves.

I see no reason for rules that may prevent early pawn promotions in Grand Chess. Most of us want games that are more interesting, not less. And after all, there is no limit to the number of promoted pawns on the board in Shatranj.

[EDIT] I should have specified the rules that I was objecting to:

"5. A Pawn can promote only to a friendly piece that has been captured, and for which it is exchanged."

"6. If no friendly piece has been captured, then a Pawn may not move beyond the 9th rank."

1. h3 g5 2. Kh2 Ll6 3.Ki3 Qj4 is a very foolish mate. If the type font is confusing, Black's second move is "ell-ell-six".

While the stated NBRQ values are suitable for a 10x10 board, the Bishop simply cannot attack as many squares on a 12x8 board. Bishop = 3.50 and Queen = 10 seem more appropriate for this game. I reserve judgement on the Elephants for the time being - currently working on a new game with "Wafflephants" on 12 columns.

The Dragon has an impressive 13x13 movement diagram on this page.

1. d3 Db6 2. Md2 Dxe3 is the fastest mate in Ryugi.

1. Nd4 c7 2. Nc6 Ne7 3. Nd8 does it with a Knight.

So I can delete piece articles in parentheses as well as bare piece graphics (not moving diagrams).

Middle arithmetic of mentions said above)

MOVEMENT DIAGRAM - White Chained Padwar (Elephant icon) and Black Chained Warrior (War Machine icon)

On an empty board a Warrior will attack the same squares as a Kylin - a Chu Shogi piece currently lacking a PIECECLOPEDIA entry. A Padwar attempts to reach the same squares as an Alibaba - the diagram shows a Black Padwar blocking the (e5) square from the White Padwar. Likewise, the Black Padwar is blocked from attacking the (b2) square.

The Chained Padwar in this game is called an (ordinary) Elephant in Shatranj Kamil X. Last week I added a comment there showing how a Knight and two Elephants can checkmate a lone King.

WHITE CENTAUR and dots marking the "safe squares" for a BLACK KING.

This game is a fine example of developing a single theme. One way of measuring the Centaur's strength is to ask the question: "Where can I place my King on the board and still be safe from a check by the Centaur next move?" Not many squares. Note: if this board had a "zero row", then its dot pattern would be the same as the one on the 8th row.

WHITE TO MOVE AND MATE IN EIGHT MOVES

If the Bishop was on (f4), placing all the pieces on the same board, this would be a simple mate in two moves. But I needed help from ChessV to solve the given problem. Apparently the trick is to move the White King from (b3) to (C2), effectively "wasting a tempo". Bishops cannot do this in Alice Chess - while the Bishop could travel from (F4) to (f4) in three moves, that is not actually the same square. ChessV 2.2 game record is given below.

Alice Chess
Player(White) = ChessV
Player(Black) = Human
FENStart = "16/16/16/16/2N10B2/1K14/16/1k14 w - - 0 1"
StaticExchangeEvaluation = false
Moves = {
F4g5 b1A1 b3C2 A1a2 g5H6 a2A1 c4D6 A1a2 H6c1 a2A1 D6e4 A1a2 e4C3 a2A1 c1B2
}
Result = 1-0 {White wins}

In the the diagram below White has five pieces on the board and a single Rook "in hand". All the other pieces belong to Black. Suppose White drops this Rook on (b2) and Black advances his Pawn to (c3). This "blockade stalemate" has resulted in a drawn game.

ATTENTION EDITORS: This Chessgi problem also provides an answer to the Patricia Stalemate Puzzle. I recently constructed another stalemate position with fewer pieces than this one and would like to add a suitable diagram to the puzzle solution page.

I have remade some pieces and I can send it here

A much better player than Zillions. I notice that version 2.2 is scriptable, and the scripting language looks easier than Zillions' Lisp-based scripting language (which is a monumental pain in the a** to debug--all those nested parens). Does ChessV have a scripting reference? I'd love to see it rather than ask a thousand questions in this thread.

I tried this out on the Jocly board. It's quite interesting and fun! I think I'd enjoy playing a physical game.

A small note: The text description of the opening layout is just a little bit unclear (especially with two of the lines on the list broken up), and doesn't quite match the illustration, which in turn doesn't match what's on the Jocly board (the Lion and Eagle aren't shown on the illustration). It should only take a couple of quick edits to fix, though.

It's worth pointing out that House of Staunton no longer sells these, either directly or through Amazon. The Chess Shop of North Carolina, care of eBay, does still have them, including some newer sets (among them, much to my delight, a few packages of 16 alternative pawns).

As noted in the text, the lowercase w is still unused. Could that be made to indicate a withdrawing capture? If it has to be coupled with the c, then it could still be usable for other things by itself or with other modifiers.

Or is there already another way to indicate a withdrawing capture?

So I don’t understand. Bishop is just a Nightrider (repeats knight steps) or knight jumps OVER two squares to third one (by this it can reach all the squares in Tape chess)?

Clearly, there's a bit of a backlog. :)

I made a chess set out of Sculpey, where all the pieces looked human-like. When I made this piece, I had it be an archer instead, to keep with the ranged-weaponry theme. Maybe for the Leo/"Queen-cannon" I'll have it be a bazooka instead?