Sam Trenholme wrote on Tue, Oct 16, 2007 04:18 PM UTC:
OK, I didn't get a chance to give this game a full lookover last night (I spent yesterday afternoon struggling to get sound to work with Windows XP in my laptop for my job; I finally got sound going this morning).
Looking at the program very quickly, it looks like not too many new variants have been added to the game. What has been added, under the hood, is support for a lot more piece types, especially in the 8x10 and 8x12 boards.
For example, it is now possible to make a preset that plays the 'Crowned' pieces variant I proposed a couple of months ago. It is also possible to play with the 'Sage' (Camel + Bishop) and 'Tower' (Camel + Knight) pieces on the 8x10 and 8x12 board (As per the discussion in this thread). One thing ChessV doesn't have yet is these 'new' pieces on a 10x10 board (I feel the Sage makes more sense on a 10x10 board than on a 8x10 or 8x12 board, because otherwise there are problems with first-move smothered mate threats; perhaps a game with 'Sages' and possibly 'Towers' will make sense if we leave an empty square besides the king; I can see an 8x12 setup with the usual FIDE pieces, two sages, another faerie piece, and an empty square besides the king to stop smothered mate threats). However, to make these variants requires reading the extensibility document included with ChessV and making your own preset.
I plan on making ChessV presets for some of the ideas discussed in those threads, which I may be able to release next week (The only way I'm able to take time to post this is because I'm killing time while Cygwin downloads).
Anyway, Greg, this is really great work and I'm glad to see a new version of ChessV!
Looking at the program very quickly, it looks like not too many new variants have been added to the game. What has been added, under the hood, is support for a lot more piece types, especially in the 8x10 and 8x12 boards.
For example, it is now possible to make a preset that plays the 'Crowned' pieces variant I proposed a couple of months ago. It is also possible to play with the 'Sage' (Camel + Bishop) and 'Tower' (Camel + Knight) pieces on the 8x10 and 8x12 board (As per the discussion in this thread). One thing ChessV doesn't have yet is these 'new' pieces on a 10x10 board (I feel the Sage makes more sense on a 10x10 board than on a 8x10 or 8x12 board, because otherwise there are problems with first-move smothered mate threats; perhaps a game with 'Sages' and possibly 'Towers' will make sense if we leave an empty square besides the king; I can see an 8x12 setup with the usual FIDE pieces, two sages, another faerie piece, and an empty square besides the king to stop smothered mate threats). However, to make these variants requires reading the extensibility document included with ChessV and making your own preset.
I plan on making ChessV presets for some of the ideas discussed in those threads, which I may be able to release next week (The only way I'm able to take time to post this is because I'm killing time while Cygwin downloads).
Anyway, Greg, this is really great work and I'm glad to see a new version of ChessV!
- Sam