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Game Reviews by RobertoLavieri
Alice Chess. Classic Variant where pieces switch between two boards whenever they move. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Excellent page!. In my opinion, new comments on strategy by Fourriere are of very high quality, I have learned a bit more about this nice game, but I doubt I can still play it as well as I would want, deep tactics are usually complex, and risks are much more important than in FIDE-Chess. Mastering this game needs certain amount of time, undoubtely.
Flying Chess. Some pieces can fly. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have tried this game briefly, and it is certainly playable. Game play seems to be nice, although it is not so easy play it in a good manner, it can need some expertise, if not, many moves can be blunders. I disagree a bit with the different ways of flying, particularily with respect to the difference between Rooks and Bishops. Regardless some previous comments in which the game itself is not well analysized, objectively this seems to be a moderately interesting game which can be rated as 'good', in my particular opinion.
Jetan Sarang 
. A large variation of Jetan.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I don´t know how good is the game, because I have not played it, but Spratt´s graphics are superb!.
dUchess. Chess on two levels. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]At first view, I think this game is good, and very playable. I have to test it to have a better idea.
Ultima. Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Well, in my fourth game against Chess V, the program beated me, playing in a good manner. I have not played bad, neither commited fatal errors or clear blunders. Analyzing the game, I have played different than in my previous three games, with a relatively open position. It seems that Chess V plays well this kind of instances.
Three tests more, Zillions playing White, Chess V playing Black, 10 seconds per move. Results: Chess V won 3-0 !. Chess V is still relatively weak playing against humans, but it is definitely stronger than Zillions. I have detected an important bug, as I said, that must be corrected inmediately: When Chess V King is immobilized, it appears that if you can capture it, the prgogram does not detect it is Checkmated, you capture the King and the game cam continue endless. Now I think that 50% of penalty for immobilized pieces is perhaps too much, but I suggest augment it a bit, 30%, but if your immobilizer is immobilized, the value of your immobilizer must fall at least to half. There must be an important penalty for an immobilized King, much more if the immobilizer is potentially safe, Chess V takes not a good care with its King sometimes against the enemy immobilizer. I´ll add more when I have more to add.
Comment on the game: ChessV vs. Zillions, 30 sec. per player per move. Opening was weakly played by both programs, and you can observe the that the Pawn movements are not the best in both. The game play was more tactical than positional, the pair King-Coordinator is not used in the best way, and Immobilizer potential-and-risks is not well appreciated. But Chess V 'understood' better the game philosophy, and the end was played relatively good by Chess V, although with clear deficiences by Zillions. Very interesting test game!.
Chess V, playing White, beated Zillions, 30sec. per player, in this ULTIMA test game: Zillions Save Game File Version 0.02 HC RulesFile=C:\Archivos de programa\Zillions Development\Zillions Demo\Rules\Ultima.zrf VariantName=Ultima 1. Pawn g2 - g5 1. Pawn a7 - a6 2. Pawn b2 - b5 2. Pawn f7 - f3 3. Pawn h2 - h4 3. Pawn c7 - c4 4. Pawn h4 - f4 x f3 4. Long-Leaper b8 - h2 x f4 5. Pawn c2 - c3 5. Long-Leaper h2 - e5 6. Pawn f2 - f5 6. Long-Leaper e5 - a5 x b5 7. Long-Leaper b1 - b3 7. Coordinator a8 - a7 8. Coordinator h1 - h2 8. Withdrawer d8 - c7 9. Withdrawer e1 - g3 9. Coordinator a7 - f2 x e2 10. Withdrawer g3 - h4 x f2 10. Pawn c4 - e4 11. King d1 - e1 11. Pawn e4 - a4 12. Long-Leaper g1 - g3 12. Pawn d7 - d6 13. Coordinator h2 - f2 13. Withdrawer c7 - c5 14. Withdrawer h4 - b4 14. Pawn a4 - a3 15. Long-Leaper g3 - e3 15. Pawn d6 - d4 16. Withdrawer b4 - a4 16. Long-Leaper a5 - b6 17. Withdrawer a4 - b4 17. Long-Leaper b6 - c7 18. Long-Leaper e3 - e6 18. Chameleon f8 - f7 19. Long-Leaper e6 - e4 19. Withdrawer c5 - d6 x b4 20. Pawn c3 - c4 x d4 20. Pawn b7 - a7 21. Pawn c4 - a4 x a3 21. Long-Leaper c7 - a5 22. Coordinator f2 - c5 22. Long-Leaper a5 - a3 x a4 23. Coordinator c5 - c3 23. Pawn a7 - c7 24. Pawn f5 - a5 24. Long-Leaper a3 - c5 25. Chameleon f1 - f5 25. Long-Leaper c5 - a7 26. Chameleon f5 - e5 26. Chameleon f7 - f2 27. King e1 - d1 27. Withdrawer d6 - c5 28. Pawn d2 - d5 28. Long-Leaper a7 - b8 29. Pawn a5 - b5 x c5 29. Long-Leaper b8 - b2 x b3 x b5 30. King d1 - c2 30. Pawn h7 - h5 31. Coordinator c3 - f3 x f2 31. Chameleon c8 - f5 32. Long-Leaper e4 - g6 x f5 32. Immobilizer h8 - h6 33. Chameleon e5 - f6 33. Pawn e7 - e5 34. Coordinator f3 - f5 34. Pawn c7 - c5 x d5 35. King c2 x b2 35. Long-Leaper g8 - c4 36. Pawn a2 - a3 36. Pawn h5 - h3 37. Chameleon c1 - b1 37. Pawn h3 - d3 38. Chameleon b1 - d1 38. King e8 - d7 39. King b2 - b1 39. Long-Leaper c4 - a4 40. King b1 - a2 40. Long-Leaper a4 - f4 41. Chameleon d1 - a4 41. Long-Leaper f4 - f3 42. Immobilizer a1 - d1 42. Long-Leaper f3 - h5 43. Immobilizer d1 - g4 43. Pawn a6 - a7 44. Chameleon a4 - f4 44. Pawn a7 - a8 45. Chameleon f4 - e3 45. Pawn d3 - d1 46. Chameleon e3 - d4 46. Pawn e5 - e3 47. King a2 - b3 47. Pawn c5 - e5 48. Coordinator f5 - e4 x e3 48. Pawn e5 - f5 x g5 49. Chameleon f6 - f7 49. Pawn a8 - a6 50. Coordinator e4 - e6 50. Pawn g7 - g8 51. King b3 - b4 51. Immobilizer h6 - g5 52. King b4 - c5 52. Pawn g8 - g7 x g6 53. Coordinator e6 - g6 x g5 53. Pawn d1 - d2 54. Coordinator g6 - h6 x h5 54. Pawn d2 - a2 55. Chameleon d4 - d6 55. King d7 - d8 56. Chameleon d6 - e7 56. Pawn a6 - a4 x a3 57. Chameleon e7 x d8
Greg, I have tested three ULTIMA games using Chess V. Good effort!, I appreciate it a lot, but I have some observations. First, you can take the enemy King and the game continues without end. It happened with immobilized Kings in the three games, so I have not seen if it happens in other cases. The second observation is about the A.I. game play, it is possible that you have noted that Chess V is a weak ULTIMA player, (much more than I thought at first, surprisingly to me) and I noted a strong ingenuity with the Immobilizer power, perhaps you must augment the penalty for immobilized pieces to 50%, but it is necessary that the A.I. take also in account situations in wich the immobilizer is immobilized with a Chameleon and then be vulnerable in the future. I could capture the enemy immobilizer in this way twice. Kings can act in a better way in Coordination with the Coordinator, it is necessary augment the bonus in the position evaluation when there are more enemy pieces in line with the King after a King move. Pawn movement is ingenuous too, but it is not easy a solution, perhaps the best should be a good bonus in the position evaluation (not in the piece) for a movement that reduces the brut mobility of enemy pieces (number of squares the pieces can reach), and other bonus in the evaluation function (a bit less than the other) for a Pawn move that augments the number of potential capturing squares using the pawn moved, i.e., looking how many sandwiches can make the Pawn with own pieces, although there is or not an enemy piece between (covering potential). I know it is not easy improve a lot this game, but it should be good a revision. I´m very sorry I can´t help a lot with the code, but I´ll try to help you as I can.
Whale Shogi. Shogi variant. (6x6, Cells: 36) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The average number of moves to finish a good Whale Shogi game may be not very high, perhaps around 20 moves. I think this class of game should be excellent in a 7X7 baord, but it is the need of another piece to insert coherently in the game. (well, it is easy show ideas, the interesting thing is chose the best one, without a loss of the personality of the game. I don´t think that the criterium would be uniform in this case, and accepted as the best by everybody)
Whale Shogi is a very good game. A ZRF would not be very difficult, I´m sorry I have not time enough to do it, for a while, but perhaps other people can be encouraged to write the code.
Amazons. Amazons and a computer version.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Amazons is a great game. I can´t say it is a Chess Variant, the game is of territorial nature, and it is perhaps more close to Go. This game is moderately popular, perhaps more in South America than in other lands, I have seen it passionately played by a few universitary students, but it is not still a very diffused game, though. It is not easy implement a good program which plays Amazons well, but I have seen a couple of free decently strong programs for this game. You can try YAMAZON (v0.48), by Hiroshi Yamashita (http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~yss/index.html), a very good contendor and a real challenge for intermediate players, and the reasonable strong program INVADER (v 2.1), by Richard Lorentz, which plays Amazon in a board of NxM http://www.csun.edu/~lorentz/amazon.htm). If you try these programs you are going to be greatly surprised, unless you are a very high-level player.
Bifocal Chess. A game without capture : win by checkmate with a neutral piece! (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is very interesting and certainly playable. It is not easy construct a game without captures, without promotions or demotions wich can be a good game, and this is!. Enjoyable inspiration of Antoine!. Zillions is not a strong player, if you are tempted to try the ZRF implementation.
Eurasian Chess. Synthesis of European and Asian forms of Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It is not easy stablish the value of pieces in this nice game, because it depends strongly in position and in the total amount of pieces in the game. Cannon and Vao are very powerful pieces when there are many pieces in the game, but its value diminishes a lot once the game is becoming sparse. Queens are not very powerful in the initial moves, in fact, it is an uncomfortable piece when there is a high density of pieces in the game, but its value increases progressively when the game is going to simplified stages. This is a game with an initial high density of power, because Cannons and Vaos are very powerful at the beginnings. Kings are vulnerable enough, and many pieces can be tactically attacked soon, and by this reason material advantages are not as important than positional advantages. I am not going to give a table of values for this game, I think it would be of little help as orientation, the value of pieces is a function of position and the pieces in play in any moment. This criterium applies to some other games like Chess in a Larger Board with no so Few Pieces Added and Symmetron!112, between many others.
Unicorn Chess. 10x10 variant with a new piece that moves as a Bishop or a Nightrider. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Unicorn Great Chess is excellent. I think the table of value conversions given by Moussambani is, gross speaking, correct. Unicorn value is a bit less than that of a Queen, and in a 10x10 Board the Queen value is more or less the same of two Rooks or three minor pieces. Lion value is approximately the same of the Bishop value, and it is higher than the Knight value.
Nahbi Chess. Variant on 10 by 10 board with equator, Nahbi's and Archers. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have played a test game against Zillions, and I liked it. Enjoyable, although the game was a little extense, around 120 moves. I´ll test it again soon.
Straights. Chess-like Naval Battle game from the end of the 19th Century. (9x11, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is an interesting game, and ends are far from trivial. The observation I can see is that a draw may be the most possible result in almost all the games, if both teams play the game more or less decently, it is not so easy a win in many ends.
Switching Chess. In addition to normal moves, switch with an adjacent friendly piece. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a very interesting game, much more deep than FIDE-Chess. Try it!.
Eurasian Chess. Synthesis of European and Asian forms of Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is one of the best mixtures of 'Oriental' and 'Western' Chess variant I have seen, not only the setup but the rules seem to be carefully designed. The result is a very strategic and positional game in which dynamics can be explosive after some point. Material advantages seem to be much less important and decisive than in Fide-Chess, but position is definitely much more important. The density of power is perhaps a bit high, but it is correct for the concept of the game, and it is one of the reasons because little material advantages are not decisive many times. I have one OBSERVATION on the Board used in Zillions implementation and in the Courier Preset: It is beautiful, but somewhat hypnotizing, and can confuse the player in some moments (Well, this is perhaps a very personal appretiation that is influenced by my ocular limitations: I´m very close to the line that divides, speaking about visual capacity, the more or less normal people, and functionally invidents. I expect I´ll be over the line for some years, but I don´t know how much time). Regardless the beauty of the board, I´ll suggest Fergus add any other set with a new plain board, perhaps using light colors, but just squares. I´ll appretiate it, much more than many other players, you must be sure.
Symmetron! 112. Large version of Symmetron!, with a third modifier. (11x10, Cells: 112) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Well, it is finally released after a lot of changes and refinements, and never-end discutions with Antoine, who has a lot of the credit in the final version, with notorious differences with my first proposal. The community is invited to try this game, Zillions is not a very strong player of this game, but if you try it with Zillions, you are going to have an idea of this game. You may be surprised, it is really good, although this afirmation should seem not too modest, it is sincere. I like it. It is a Preset too, so this game is available to play in Courier.
Chogo44. Game with pawns and kings with co-enclosure capture. (7x8, Cells: 44) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game has merits to be in the main cathegory. Is anyone trying to implement it in Zillions or making a Courier Preset?. The last thing is easy, at least a Preset that does not enforce the rules. I´m busy now and I´ll be in the next days, so I have little time to give a hand on this. I think the Zillions implementation is a lot of work, although it is clearly possible. I have thought a bit about a Zillions implementation, but I have not time enough to make the effort for a code soon, so if there is anybody trying to do it, or a Courier Preset, it should be good. Let me know.
Interesting and nice game. My only observation is about the mass movement, I would prefer only lines of pieces, instead of rectangular masses. And, of course, there is also the practical reason: implementation in a computer program, or coding it in Zillions, is much more easy with lines instead of rectangular masses of pieces.
Hanga Roa. A chess variant inspired by the people of Easter Island. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The rating 'excellent' is for the beautiful set of pieces!. (the game itself is very nice too, although more complex than it appears at first. It is not easy stablish strategies, and if both bands play well, the path for a victory may be relatively long, I think, but I´m not completely sure because I don´t know how to play it really well. Some experience is needed, without doubts...)
Kinglet. Win by taking all the pawns of the opponent. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]We need a Preset in Courier for this extraordinary and simple variant of FIDE-Chess!
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