[ List Latest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Game Reviews by RobertoLavieri
Yes, this game is excellent, as usual Mike Nelson´s standards as games designer. I have to make an (perhaps unexpected) appretiation: I think this game, at high level of play, is not easy for a victory. Played by 'Masters', this game may be at least as drawish than FIDE-Chess. The reason is because promotions don´t add much power, and material advantage is less decisive than in Chess. In Chess, the potential danger of material advantage is its convertibility in Pawns, which can poromote to Queens or other valious pieces if necessary. In PMC, material convertibility is not as strong, and its decisiveness is less clear or slower. But Mastering this game must be much more difficult than mastering Chess, this game is much more rich in possibilities.
Is there a ZRF available for this game?. I think Mike Nelson was doing some related work, but I don`t know if it is finished.
Another very original idea. I have to play it to see the game play details.
Well, this game is at least very original and it seeems really interesting at first view. I`m anxious to see the ZRF and game example, to take a better idea. Good job, Joost.
Interesting. I like it. I have not tried this game yet, so the 'Good' rating may vary to 'Excellent'. It seems to be more difficult to play well than Amazons or Chess, at least at first view.
'Since this game is British in theme, the Bishops are Anglican instead of Catholic. Unlike the Catholic Bishops, who took a vow to remain on one color, the Anglican Bishops didn't make this vow'. Not of good taste this description of the piece, but, as a related notice, the new Pope is the ultra-conservator Joseph Ratzinger, from Germany.
This is a very interesting game, far from easy to play in a good manner. Material advantage should be good, but it is much less important than in FIDE-Chess. Defensive schemes can be good for a team in a slight disdvantage, because the superior team, if wants a victory, must attack, and always some weaknesses can appear, because pieces used in attacks can´t defend weak positions in many cases. The superior team can´t construct easely the victory positionally step by step as in FIDE-Chess. In Chess, the main mennace is the convertibility of the advantage in Pawns which can promote to Queens, here it is not the case, promotions add a bit more power, but not enough for a victory in many cases. Openings must be played carefully, conversions to Nightriders can cause serious damages to the enemy if he plays with some ingenuity about these pieces. isolated pieces are not good, and unprotected Kings are worse. Positions must change dinamically and mantaining reasonable solid structures, don´t stay with the same structure and pieces types all the time, some structures are more sensitive to some piece types, and other structures to other pieces. Every player must try to cover his weak points before attacks, or counter-attacks can be devasting... I have launched the idea of redefining the Super Cardinal as a class 6 piece, but it seems there is not consense. This is not only the most powerful piece in its class, but its power is almost the same as the class 6 Super-Chancellor. Super-Cardinals can cause demolishing effects in many ends, due the usual sparsity of the pieces, and a Queen is not equally comparable with it, because it is not only the mobility in consideration, but the potential attacks against the enemy King, considering that this piece can be dropped. Classes 7 and 8 seems to be unnecessary, in my opinion. I know that many players are not gained with the idea of re-defining the classes, but I want hear more opinions about it.
Top Grand-Masters are playing a Kriegspel Tournament in Amber!!!. Bareev beats Anand 2-0 in first round Kriegspiel, today... He may have finished at the bottom of the table in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, but Russian GM Evgeny Bareev started with a stunning 2-0 victory over Vishy Anand in the Kriegspiel section which started today in Monaco. He and Peter Leko (2-0 against Svidler) are expected to dominate. Bareev is a Kriegspel specialist, and for Anand this is his first contact with this variant. Gelfand is also playing Kriegspel at his first time, but he has shown a natural talent, he beated Topalov in the first round, but blundered in the second after consolidate a demolishing position against his rival. Almost all the rest of players have played Kriegspel at least once!.
This game is really interesting. it should be good a Preset in Game Courier.
Yes, it can be good in 7x7, and Grey Whale Calf is a possibility, but adding a bit more power can be tested too, by example: allowing a two-squares-sliding forward movement for this piece. Some tests are needed. In the future, if I have some free time, I´ll try a ZRF, to see.
I haave tried another test game, and I´m understanding it better. Interesting and somewhat intriging. Burakumin is a strange piece in this game, it is more an obstacle for both bands than a piece for adding activity. The game is extremely positional, and not very easy to play in a good manner, I insist, it would be better with less piece types. Some refinements should be good, but the game, as is, is interesting enough. I encourage another people to try it. Mason: Have you played your game?. Tell us about your experieces with it. You are a good designer, go ahead!.
Well, I have tried a brief test using hand-made paper pieces in a 10x10 board. My impression is that the game is playable, although complicated and, definitely, different. There is not great clarity in the game, at least this is my impression, and it is possible there are too many pieces, I would simplify it. Instead of 1´s. 2´s, etc, I would use only one kind of 'Pawns', perhaps two, but not more, Merchant and Craftsman seeem to be sufficient. Burakumin is not a bad piece, it is interesting in the game, but it is the need of refine a bit the rules of movement, re-thinking the piece once the author make some tests until convinced about what he really wants to see and feel in the game play. This game needs some mastery to be played in a good manner, but it is not necessarily a bad characteristic, it is only a characteristic of the game, being different and relatively complex. Someone can try to code a ZRF, me included, once clarified enterely the game in base of the author´s entire satisfaction with it, but there are some complexities in the implementation, as I can see.
It seems to be interesting. I have a question: Can the Burakumin CAPTURE a piece ending on a square adjacent to other piece? . If not, I don`t understand well the other untouchability rule. This is the most strange piece in this game, and it is the need of some clarification about it. I wonder if the game play is better or not with this piece in scene, some tests are needed, but, by now, I like the fundamental ideas behind this game, as the promotion rules.
Really nice!, the only objection is about the TEN minutes rule (well, I know this is a 'ten' game for the contest), because this game should be better allowing a bit more amount of time, say 30 minutes at least. I`ll play a quick test this morning to see, I suppose it is going to be funny.
I have tested it playing a couple of games against Zillions, and the game play is very nice, strategy and tactics are -sui generis- , adapted to the rules of this excellent game.
Be honest, this game is at least good (in my opinion, it is very good). I don´t rate it 'excellent' because there is a little detail that is not so easy to solve, and it is a relative weakness in the setup in the c-Pawn and in the h-Pawn. It is also a bit incomodious the first moves of the Bishops, because the player must take some care on the own Rooks and a possible attack by the opposite Bishops. The possible solution I thought, augmenting the power of Bishops allowing the one-step orthogonal movement for Bishops, may alter the good balance and harmony you can see in the game play, powered Bishops are much more valious than a Knight, and the game play itself may change significatively, although I don´t know, I have not tested it. On other hand, Falcon movement is nice and it seems well adapted to this game. My impression is that this is not a 'random' game, but a well thought and tested game, and possible improvements are not obvious.
Beautiful!. I have to play a test game to take a better idea. Is it going to be a ZRF available?. If not, I can try codifying it, but I´ll need a couple of weeks, I have some other things to do at first.
Looks interesting, but King is e1, Gnu in f2 seems to be a better initial setup.
Nice and interesting variant!. The only observation: In 'dense' games, it is always difficult to visualize all threatened squares in a good manner, making somwhat difficult the calculations. But the game play is incredibly rich. Try it and see!.
Jumping Chess is not a bad game, the game play is very interesting, although it is undoubtely biased to defensive schemes if you want to have good chances of winning, but it is very strategic, perhaps much more than FIDE-Chess. If a player tries to play it using Michael Tal´s or Bobby Fischer´s styles, it is very possible it is going to be in disadvantage quickly. This game must be played a-la- Tigran Petrossian, for better possibilities.
Well, I`m not going to add news to the controversy about the first. This game, and Syncronous Chess are both very interesting and somewhat strange in its fundamental essence, i.e. syncrony, but some rules need to be precisely clarified. In XYMYX, castling and Pawn captures can show some bizarre situations in which it is not clear the correct move. Promotions and Checking the King too. It should be good an exhaustive explanation on the exact rules that applies in such rare cases.
Greg, you are right, all pieces have rifle capture capabilities, but much more than this, power of pieces is not only extraordinary, it is augmented by the fact that you can move not only the same piece twice, but two consecutive moves with different pieces too. On an empty board, Queen and Rooks can reach ALL the rest of the squares (63!) from any initial position. Ends are a madness, and for this reason the games finish very soon, in very rare cases you can play a game which finishes in more than 25 moves!
This game is not so easy to play in the opening!, tactics are enterely different than in FIDE-Chess, and it is very easy lose material if you try to develop fast your pieces looking for suposed 'positional advantage' that, in the majority of the cases, it is not advantage of any class, much times you fall in exposed positions, it seems better play it in a somewhat conservative way, being very careful with the support to all your major pieces in play. If you take not care, you can be checkmated very soon. The average number of moves to finish a game can be of no more than 20 moves. this game is extremely dynamic, and it must be balanced with the usual rule: in the first move, White plays only one move. If not, White advantage is notorious in the opening. Surprisingly, e2-e4 does not seem to be the best first move in this game.
Michael: What happened with a PRESET in Courier for this nice game?. Can anybody help?
25 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.