Rated Comments
Symmetric Sissa is a nice compliment to this original CV with the use of Sissas.
Another in a line of Fergus' concept CVs re: fission or fusion.
I got the icon shown from pictures of actual high priestesses, so I'll do it the other way around: the one already posted is High Priestess (and it's already labeled as such in the filename), and I'll use this new flipped one for High Priest.
Like so:
Oh, and for most purposes I actually prefer to call it High Priestess. It's just that High Priest fits better for what's happening with it in this particular game.
By the way, your use of High Priestess is the only FAN on the Wikipedia page on fairy chess pieces, and I haven't been able to find any other name for that move combo anywhere.
PS: It's the High Priestess in the Dealer's Chess Expansion Set #1.
Halfling Combine might be too strong for a Queen.
Yes, I used Bob Greenwade's Dealers Chess set.
15 October is National Mushroom Day.
How does the Onion, the Garlic, & the Anchovy moves?
(To author):
Реально свежая идея, которую можно развить в свои варианты. У меня есть похожая идея, но с другими доской|фигурами|правилами.
Замечательно!
The GIF images are legacy, and should no longer be used for new projects.
I did not know that. I won't worry about that, then. Never mind. :)
Interesting variant, definitely looks wild and very dynamic.
And this was how I learned that a couple of people had already made Beast Chess a Favorite. There's hope for me yet... ;)
Royal Ninny>Ninnyrider>Chinoise Ninnyrider>Yahoo>Ninny>Dumbo>Trapped Ninny
This piece has the power of Queen. And I’ve found a checkmating tactic for the piece which controls the spaces around the files/ranks such as Aanca, Magician and one my piece I currently omit. This tactic appears in K vs K + piece endgames and is called wind tunnel (aerodynamic tunnel). Piece confines the King in a file/rank between its covered lines, and then your King drives it to the last rank, but to avoid stalemate, you should then cut off the previous-to-last line to avoid escaping of opponent’s King. But it’s better to firstly drive them as far as you can from board center and then confine into tunnel. For Aanca it’s possible on normal board, but less possible for Magician, though you shouldn’t forget that both these pieces are from games with 12x12 board.
Well, you don't have to do anything; it is just that all your favorites then will benefit equally from your voting, as there is no way for the system to know that you liked some better than others. This might be what you want anyway, as you prefer the 'one-man-one-vote' system.
BTW, I selected a rating 'good' when posting this Comment, just to see what happens.
[Edit] Well, it displays 4 stars.
Alright. I haven't many things to say. So I select "poor". Hope I'm not getting my votes down by some centivotes. :=)
Harvestman seems too strong for a Rook. Color-switching approximately Rook-valued pieces that I know are NH, NW, Mao-Bishop, Trojan Horse.
Too bad that this GC has no rules enforced
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This is (IMO) quite a clever use of a Carrier type of piece. I'd love to see if that can be programmed into an Interactive Diagram; I think it'd be interesting to play.
I cannot call this game “bad”, but I agree with the British chess master William Winter that the standard Marshall-Chancellor and Cardinal-Archbishop pieces added to Chess obviate the Knights and Bishops to a great extent when combined with the Queen already existing. The Amazon arguably also obviates the Rook in addition to people being skeptical of adding it to Chess without adjusting the rules so it doesn’t overpower the game. Have you tried playing with Fusion Chess or Assimilation Chess rules with Men?
I see that Bishop/Camel + Harvestman compounds (Evangelist and Imam) are also able to checkmate in K vs K + X endgame. (It includes the King move so can easily do that). OTOH Wildebeest (aka Gnu) is not able to do this.
Cylindrical Chess but null move is allowed
And with shuffle.
HG Mulller's Grasshopper Chess
This is a good idea but I would have included more randomness into it. We are talking about computers beating humans at chess. We need to make the chess game impossible for computers to analyse. If the chess pieces for this game were something Reversi like, where you can flip a piece and turn it into a completely different and random piece, that would flip upside down the entire strategy of chess, giving humans more advantage against computers.
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Very good article! I really like this variant in this interpretation.
I like Cetran 3 more than the 8x8 versions. The piece variety makes it much more fun.
Reusing the names of 8:3:n leapers for a Higgler hex coordinate could unite Cormorant and the 7 level moving Entrap rotation with cubic pieces with twice their SOLL (Octodont, Onlooker), allowing Octodont+Cormorant (Coypu?)/Goose/Gull/Bustard, Jaw+Chough (Jamaican?)/Gosling/Guillemot/Budgie and Onlooker+Entrap/Nosrap (Nosferatu) on hex-prism boards.
It's basically the idea of the piece Joker, invented by T.R.Dawson but with a lot more constraints. This might be better if there was motivation given for how the extra rules are beneficial. As it is, it occupies the term "Copycat" that might be given better meaning. Sorry.
As for myself, I’m not even sure this is a chess variant. Although it uses Chess equipment, it seems to be a very different sort of game than chess.
Though it’s rather good (at least at first glance). Idea is very interesting.
Astounding. I don't think I'll ever play something so complex, but the concept and work are awesome. The case, when reading about game rules and design, is almost as exciting, as the play itself.
That'd be nnNN, wouldn't it?
That was a good review of the game. Thank you for your time. I have added the repetition rule. As for the territorial merging, it's hard enough to control a single territory and prevent it from invasion. On a bigger territory that will be even harder. You are right about the black King from e5 having the possibility to push the white bishop to c5 but that wouldn't win additional points for black. The "three of a kind" rule should also imply the same colour too. Also, the new territory created at e5 would give the white player even more points.
I didn't notice the three black Bishops on c5. That was a good point, but still, the black player can't win the game.
I have to recalculate the points. Thanks.
Suddenly seen 18.5 years after (so cool that I’ve first seen Russian language version via random game page!) and I have an idea. There’s stated that same pieces can merge, what if they can be upgraded this way? Like Knight to Nightrider, Rook/Bishop to ranger+hopper hybrids, Guard to Torch (slip Queen) or Lion (area mover) ah he can’t.
If one were to utilize a four-color scheme for the Raumschach squares in order to visualize the unicorn's moves in the same way that the light and dark squares allow you to visualize the moves of the bishop, how would one do so? What would it look like?
Really cool. Didn’t seen these compounds.
Resonates with my idea of pieces with hopping parts (e.g. for my rocket board as well as for normal one).
P. S. I have a better-quality setup image.
It is a very nice and creative take on the chess labyrinth kind of game. I tend to agree, that digital implementation could be the best way to make this game playable - cause it needs some algorithm that ensures that every starting position is solvable. Overall, I think it's a great minimalistic game that can be used in school tactical games clubs or as support material to teach the basics of chess.
I had not seen this page for a while. It is quite nice.
Just for information, I've seen 2 small typos: "sqaure" and "matnicore"
Hey, does anyone know where i can find an online version of this, i wanna play it online with friends
I love it. There are a lot of nice, sophisticated and interesting chess variants out there, but not many variants that I see myself actually playing. But Lighthouse will definitely be in my collection of mini-chess games I play with friends and colleagues. This game perfectly blends fast pace, simple and understandable rules, accessibility and an opportunity to enjoy the special spirit of Shogi.
Great work, Lev.
I have tried the game online, and it is really fun, especially on the normal version.
I don't think you need the word retainer in the sentence "Try to complete the King’s tour with the fewest retainer casualties as possible!".
Also, you should clarify that Pawns move upward, not downward, and that they can swap directly forward as well as diagonally forward.
Otherwise, this looks good enough to be approved.
No other differences.
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Thank you for the clarification. It's obvious in the interactive diagram. Likely on the wording of the rules as given, but capable of being misundertood.
Now I'm certain this is the rule, let me give the game an excellent. The slashing rider moves deep into enemy territory and the defense against such should be a thing of beauty.
I echo Michael's sentiment; I think this may be a future Featured Variant.
Those "slashing riders"* are indeed quite interesting. Do their single-step moves capture only the King? (I've never quite understood the k modifier, and I guess now's my chance!)
*That's an interesting term. Has it been used before? If not, I hope it catches on, for any sort of XmXX piece.
An excellent experimental variant. Need I say any more about a concept so simple and brilliant that it works with any practically any board with an even number of ranks, and with odd numbers of ranks with some adjustment?
I have not played this game personally, but I must say, for a multi-move variant, this game was very well-made.
Also, the new circle symbol in GC for past moves is very nice. However, this functionality doesn't seem to work with hexagonal boards (like Hex Shogi 91's).
I think this piece caled Sissa is great, but I would remove acute angles (45 and 315 degrees) and only keep obtuse angles (135 and 225 degrees).
I would also remove the rule that both moves have to be of the same length. This will create a new piece that can make an absolute mess on the chessboard.
This is a fun design. I've made a rules enfrcing preset in case anyone wants to try it.
These are probably just a bunch of silly ideas. However, some of these variants might give somewhat nice strategic games. I hope I did not offend go players with my unusual description of their game.
This was a good attempt at mixing Chess with Go. However, in my humble opinion, in order to make this game work we need to keep the number of "liberties" to four, not eight, otherwise the game might become unecessarily messy and impossible to finish.
A second rule should be to only keep pieces that move orthogonally only. This means that only Rooks and restricted Kings (Kings that only move orthogonally) are allowed to join the game.
Alternativelly, we can also invent some pieces that move in zig-zag.
Knights can also be included with the restriction that they can only move along empty squares.
Good news! You can play Scramble against Stockfish on Chess.com.
You have no idea just how insane this game is.
Here is how to do it:
- Go to Chess,com
- Go to Learn / Analysis /Set Up Position / Clear Board
- Place pieces on the board according to the rules of Scramble
- Practice vs Computer
- Change Bot
- Play!
Interesting concept. It might be more difficult to attack the enemy King from the flank because Bishops will have to travel in zig zag and Knights will be too powerful. But I like the idea.
Here is my humble suggestion on how to improve this game.
Use a 7x7 board.
7x7 = 49.
Add 4 extra squares on the corners.
49+4 = 53.
Add a Jocker to the stack of cards and you are done.
You can also give additional powers to the Jocker and the King cards.
So, what do you think?
Apparently, in China, the vao is called "弩", meaning "crossbow". So I think in English, it should be called "crossbow". I am getting this information from https://discord.com/channels/634298688663191582/894530740820262932/1209401956297351258.
It's a shame that great ideas are buried and forgotten. This game has a great potential and I'm really impressed by such a simple idea.
Also, this game deserves a better name.
I used these when I hadn't learned how to use morph Edgehog oabyaK(af)mpafoabK Edgemover (af)mpafoabKoabyasW Limited Edgehog oabyafympafmpabFmpabasmpabafmpabasoabyafympafmpabWmpabasmpabafmpabaz(af)mpafoabK
Four stars for the original chessboard.
This game was very popular almost two centuries ago and lots of famous people used to play it.
Complicated problems most of the time have simple solutions. You could have put both Bishops on one side of the board, and both Knights on the other side. And the opponent will have them the other way around. Simple.
Another solution would be to add an extra piece (A Shield Bearer/Scutier to protect the King) and make the board 10x8.
This i find a very good idea, 31 new symbols, but we could also use the lowercases for 31 new symbols for modifiers, like the different i's for different cases of initial, so that ii is not needed, for I maybe we could use different Imitators.
Examples of what I personally might assign to those letters include Ø as a null move, Þ for a Rose, Ñ for Quintessence, and Ê for Edgehog.
I like these ideas, outside of Rose, since they couldn't be (easily) written otherwise, we could do like ê as the Edge-Modifier (and possibly ë as the Limited Edge-Modifier). We'd also may need a symbol for relative halfling, i originally thought a lone h, but maybe one of these Windows-1252 symbols works better
Simplified form of Knight-Relay Chess
A good concept, but it needs improvement. I don't like having only one Bishop, as it can reach only half the cells. It's a colour-bound piece, so we really need two. To avoid attacking non-pawns on the other side, perhaps enlarge the board and put a "hedge" of pawns around each army — I don't see that there needs to be only two of them.
Two of the pieces used here (Phoenix and Medusa) I will be using in my Titanic Chess but I'll have to use different moving and capturing abilities for that purpose. Since these are mythological creatures I have to disagree with the way they are used to move and capture in this game. But appart from that, this looks like a great game.
Is chess [still] important? An older member of my chess club once opined in the new millennium that chess is no longer as important as before. I didn't ask what he meant. To me, chess reached its high mark in the 1970's, mainly with the Geo-political stakes involved in the Fischer-Spassky match, and later the Karpov-Korchnoi one. Chess was also important back then since it was seen as a test for AI whether a machine can beat a highly skilled human player at the game. Chess suffered to some degree because of what followed historically, in both cases.
In the TikTok era Chess is more relevant than ever. In a world were people are increassingly lacking concentration, playing chess can not only help people maintain focus, but also evade the modern insanity.
I really like this variant. It's simple but adds something new to the game. I think it would also be interesting to add some optional rules:
- A friendly pawn behind its friendly pawn can bypass it by moving diagonally.
- The knight has an additional special move. Special move: The knight can move without capturing an enemy piece two squares horizontally or vertically, provided that there is a friendly pawn between the target square and the knight.
These are my thoughts on this variant. Overall, a very interesting idea.
Fabulous FIDEs vs 10-directional Army
I know Eohippos aren't Hippotamus.
This is very fun (but very long!) to play. I like it more than Terachess II because the extra pawn rank allows for more blocking and the very powerful pieces come singly instead of in pairs.
Thanks for testing my army! Seems like Zen Zebras would be more balanced if they're against my Clumsy Camels.
Wouldn't people who don't know Shogi also wouldn't have no clue what a Shogi Lance is?This army is ready for publication.
15 Random Bent Riders Chess
Some pieces are named by me.
When chess meets witchcraft. I am against the idea of turning chess players into witches and wizards, but here we are. Sadly, there are lots of similar games that use spells, magic, and predictions. Why do we even call them chess variants?
I think you're reading a lot into this that isn't there. It just introduces an incentive to make non-obvious moves. Perhaps it could be cumbersome to play, but it's a clever idea.
Are people still playing this game? Would love to hear if they are and if anyone would want to play with me? Post on this group and we can make a plan.
Круто, прикольно. Что-то в этом есть и от тайских шахмат. Мне нравится такое распределение фигур по цветовым комплексам.
Cool and cute. There’s even a breeze of Thai chess here. I like this management and distribution of pieces on color complexes.
Betzan Benders
Army with Bent Riders invented by gnohmon.
I like it too, very much. I agree with Florin that the text is not well promoting this variant. Maybe someone with better English than me could help Lev in re-phrasing his presentation. That game would deserve it.
My own use of 矢 goes back to 2001
That reminds me of something. Some of Chinese users use 矢 before 弩 goes in common. 弩 can be expanded more than 矢 (for example, 连弩 神机弩 重弩 弩炮), making 弩 more useful to make variants with promotion. Also 弩 and 炮 are both machine units.
Despite this game is something like a prototype of the final game, I'd be glad to do that. I'll send the rules by e-mail later, with some explanation about those comments and some further info.
Did someone say March 25th is International Waffle Day?
Here, have this Interactive Diagram! Bakery BombersThe setup part says that Banshee is RNN.
As this page is under the light, I have several comments. We have a header saying: "The Piececlopedia is intended as a scholarly reference concerning the history". Indeed, the first section is Historical Notes. But, there is almost no history at all in this section, and no scholarship. The minimum would be to give dates of invention to put the information in a historical perspective.
- Courier-Spiel by Albers, 1821: (Councellor)
- Renniassance Chess by Eric V. Greenwood, 1980 (Page)
- Royal Court by Sidney LeVasseur, 1998 (Crowned Knight)
- Cobra Chess by Derick Peterson, 1998 (Duke)
- Jupiter by Adrian King, 1999 (Centaur)
- Fantasy Grand Chess by Peter Hatch, 2000 (Wolf Rider)
- Kung Fu Chess by Tim Bostick, 2001 (Tiger)
Then, why 4 lines talking only about Fergus Duniho's variants? Why these variants would deserve more attention than the other ones?
There are other variants which are using a KN compound. For example Cataclysm (Greg Strong, 2007), Reformed Courier-Spiel (Clément Begnis, 2011, as a Paladin), Sac Chess (Kevin Pacey, 2014, as a Judge). I'll be silent about my own variants.
Second, like HG I think it is not necessary to have a section about "AI Art" here. It completly modify the purpose of this page. @Fergus, I would suggest you write a separate page where you show your drawings made with AI as I have done myself with my 3D-printable creations. Having 1 illustration is one thing, but I do think it is not good that you place your own things in pages which are of general attention. There is some confusion here.
Life, the Universe and Everything is a Chess variant inspired by the works of the late Douglas Adams. It is a double-move variant with unusual pieces on a board of (of course) 42-squares.
A game with a pretentious title that adds nothing to chess. I don't care how famous the author was. If "the answer to everything is 42", the author refuses to further explain his reason for choosing such a number.
Of course, the elites know what 42 really means, and are terrified.
I second NRC & SoAC and nominate every variant I favorited that are qualified except of course my own variants which I shamelessly favorited.
This is a very unusual variant. It appears to work despite the seemingly excessively jumpy Owl. The game is very sharp, which I like. The donkey's feel mostly useless, but that might fit the theme? I wanted to get it working with ChessV but couldn't.
I'm rating it Good (why is there no Average rating option, by the way?) because I like the creativity and emphasis on diagonals.
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Nice to see a game with the Locust in it and it's a great idea too, well done.
Some interesting pieces in this game, I'm wondering if this is the first game with the 'Camelopard' in it.
It's first appearance is as you say from R.J.Darvall. You can see the chess problem here: 'Variant Chess' #2, April-June, 1990, page 20, 'Fairy Chess Review' 1949, R.J.Darvall, mate in 2. Amazing from the year 1949, so yes, this could be the first game ever it is in, if anyone knows another, please say.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Tribune: (2,0)+(3,3) leaper and the Zerdinal: Slides diagonally, or makes a (3,2) leap are named by Charles Gilman with his thousands of piece creations lol. Is that where you got them from, and if so, are these the first games they also have ever been in. If anyone knows another game they are in, please say!!
Anyway, good work on the game.
Rhino: (afz)W Snake: (afz)F z stands for zigzag & it's repetition depend on the board size. This page is about XBetza notation, not Betza notation.
When I first saw this game, I didn't think much of it, since I was more focused on larger Shogi variants, especially Tenjiku Shogi. However, now I have a few games against Jocly under my belt, and wow, this game completely blew me away. It is an absolute joy to play, despite its size and complexity (which melts away after a couple games). However, it is not flawless.
The Lion-trading rules are a bit complex, and making the Lion contagious (Like Maka Dai Dai Shogi's Deva, Dark Spirit, and their promoted forms) would make the rule much simpler while also achieving the same effect. However, this isn't really much of a problem, and may in fact be the better choice.
The real problem that I have with this game is that modern "innovations" have made the game more complicated than it needs to be. The repetition rules are quite complex, so much so that most computer programs for Chu Shogi that I know don't implement them, which is a trait borrowed from Xiangqi. The King Baring rule is completely unnecessary, as it does not add anything to the game that the combined effects of the other rules do not achieve. There is no evidence that it existed in the Edo period, so I'm not sure why someone thought it would be a good idea to mention this.
However, despite these problems, Chu Shogi is still easily among the best games of its kind. If you like Chess variants, you should give it a try.
Chu Seireigi is an attempt to combine elements of Chu Shogi with the ruleset of modern Shogi. It also has the benefit of not needing any special rules to preserve its quality, fixing all the problems with the modern "innovations" for Chu Shogi that I mentioned above. Players are disincentivized from trading off the most powerful pieces in many cases because they would just go into the player's hands, making them even more dangerous. The repetition rule is simply that of Shogi (draw, except perpetual check loses), and the drops make King-baring extremely rare. However, this comes with the unfortunate downside of having to remove all the multi-move abilities from the game, as otherwise the balancing would be thrown off.
But with shuffle.
With shuffle.
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Thx for the layout! I’ve recently refreshed some text and carried the Rules section out of layout. So I want to say: Chess on the Rope are READY!
Also some my other variants are ready (I’ve updated Fluidity this week and ChBrTi today), so you can look at them also. Please