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Game Reviews (and other rated comments on Game pages)

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Ajax Chess. All pieces have can play one square in any direction, the Mastodon leaper complements the Knight. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Oct 27 01:16 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

After fifteen years I finally decided on an excellent rating. One contributing factor was the Checkmating Applet telling me that a King and two (improved) Knights can checkmate a lone King in 33 moves or less on the 10x10 board.

Estimating Pawn=1, Knight=4, Bishop=4.5, Minister=5.5, Rook=6, Queen=10 points. I started with my usual values on the 10x10 board, then added 0.5 to the Rook and 1.0 to the Knight (8 more moves) and Bishop (4 more moves, plus no longer colorbound). Now a Queen is only worth as much as a Rook and a Knight.


Fairy Pieces Part 2. (Updated!) Showcasing 158 Fairy Pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Mon, Oct 21 02:36 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Alfilrider appeared in Skip Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17.

Alibaba appeared in 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Alibaba Chess, Fantasy Grand Chess: Giant Army, Interdependent Chess, Leap Chess, Modern Courier Chess, The Pattern Game, Shatranj al-Sultan, Pocket Polypiece Chess 43, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Convoi exceptionnel II, Convoi exceptionnel III, Play against Popo, Trifecta.

Alibabarider appeared in Skip Chess.

Auroch appeared in Dealer's Chess.

Barc appeared in UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Crab Chess.

Champion appeared in Omega Chess Advanced, Apothecary Chess-Modern, Grand Apothecary Chess-Modern, Gross Chess, Parity Chess, SOHO Chess, TenCubed Chess, WAD Chess, Wide Nightrider Chess, Wide SOHO Chess, Wormhole Chess, Mĕirìqí, Yangsi, Hectochess, Omega Chess Extended, Omega Chess Semi-Advanced, Omega Chess Extreme.

Crab appeared in Amazon Army II, DemiChess, Half Chess, Halfgi, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Shatranj With Different Armies, Aquachess, Crab Chess.

Dabbaba-Wazir-Fers appeared in Chess++, Cobwebs.

Dabbabarider appeared in Skip Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, XChess.
Problems with Dabbabarider:
-Nils Adrian Bakke
153 feenschach 36, p. 374, 11-12/1976
-Theodor Steudel
63 feenschach 162, p. 217, 12/2005

Dabbabarider-Wazir appeared in Traffic Calmed Borders.

Duck appeared in Scheherazade, Colorbound Chess, Major Star.

Duke appeared in Grand Betza, Short Sliders, Zwangkrieg, Uneven pieces chess, Patchanka, Constabulary Chess, Constable-Spiel, Med Chess, Accelerated Constable-Spiel, Accelerated Constabulary Chess, Futashikana Shogi, Ryugi, Mosaic Chess, Chu Seireigi, Minjiku Shogi, Tengu Dai Shogi, Chu Kagamigi, 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Dai Seireigi, Nutty Shogi, Macadamia Shogi, Kirin-Spiel, Mitsugumi Shogi, Kuuzen Dai Shogi, Cashew Shogi, Bureau-Spiel, Silly Sliders, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Weirweb, Crow chess cheap copy.

Ferfil appeared in 3D Great Shatranj, 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Champagne Chess, Courier Chess (modified), Enhanced Courier Chess, Fearful fairies, Hannibal Chess, HyperModern Shatranj, Maasai Chess, Metamachy, Mir Chess, Teramachy, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Constabulary Chess, Constable-Spiel, Bureau-Spiel, Simi Grove, Simi River, Wukong.

General appeared in UC-170-13, UC-170-17.

Griffon appeared in Apothecary Chess-Modern, Europan Chess, Ganymede Chess, Grand Apothecary Chess-Classic, Grand Apothecary Chess-Modern, IO Chess, Mosaic Chess, Tigrey, Gryphon Aanca Chess, Frog/Hannibal/Waffle chess with Gryphon, 4 Linepiece Fusion, Expanded Chess, Royal Lion Chess, Abecedarian Big Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, 15 Random Bent Riders Chess.

Impala appeared in Dealer's Chess.
Christopher John Feather
7 Fairings 14 01/2011 features Impala.

Knight-Alfil-Wazir appeared in Scheherazade, Strategists' nightmare.

Knight-Dabbaba-Fers appeared  in Strategists' nightmare.

Lynx appeared in Lynx Chess.

Mao-Bishop appeared in Paradigm Chess30.

Squirrel appeared in ArchCourier Chess, Archchess, Carrousel Chess, Courier Chess (modified), Fantasy Grand Chess: Giant Army, Grand Ducal Chess, Renniassance Chess, Samarcanda, Trophy Hunt, Alibaba Chess, Timurid, Fantastic XIII, Obento Chess, Cincinnati 4-way Chess, Heavy Shako, Bigorra, Archabbott Chess, Timurid Babur, Chess Empire, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Strategists' nightmare.

Toad appeared in Chaturanga with minor changes.

Chess. The most popular of Chess variants, Chess itself. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Oct 20 04:52 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

ATTENTION EDITORS: the applet wants to play the illegal move 17... e7-e5 in the game below, ignoring the White Rook on e6. I wonder if two-step initial pawn moves were coded as leaps here. EDIT [10/22/2024] Thanks for all your work on these applets. The game now correctly ends with *** stalemate ***

1. h4 d6 2. Nf3 Bh3 3. Rxh3 Nc6 4. g4 Nd4 5. Nxd4 Kd7 6. Nf5 Ke6 7. Rc3 Kf6 8. Rxc7 Kg6 9. Rxb7 h6 10. Rxa7 Kh7 11. Rxa8 Nf6 12. Rxd8 Kg8 13. g5 Rh7 14. h5 Kh8 15. g6 Ng8 16. Rxd6 f6 17. Re6

At first glance, the final position arrived at might appear impossible, so I decided to provide a complete game, which can be copypasted into the chess applet here. Such "blockade stalemates" are highly unusual, but need to be kept in mind whenever you are writing brand new rules for a chess variant.


Stanley Random Chess A game information page
. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
bang samuel Soetrisno wrote on Thu, Oct 17 08:45 AM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from Wed Jan 20 2021 06:46 PM:Excellent ★★★★★
super, super brilliant

Chess Evolved Online. A comercial chess variant with collectable gaming pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Tue, Oct 15 06:19 AM UTC in reply to Em Nil from 05:02 AM:Good ★★★★

*Old Old Chess Battle Advanced.


Em Nil wrote on Tue, Oct 15 05:02 AM UTC:Poor ★

chess battle advanced


Eight-Stone Chess. On an 8 by 9 board with eight neutral stones. (8x9, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Florin Lupusoru wrote on Mon, Oct 14 08:47 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

I would like to nominate this game as the featured chess variant for the next month. There are some rules I disagree with, but nevertheless, this remains a great game. 


Jabberwocky Chess. Chess with transformations of pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Florin Lupusoru wrote on Sun, Oct 13 09:15 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

This looked like a great chess variant and got excited about it until I reached the rule saying "Capture is mandatory", which changed this great idea into a different version of "Antichess". 


2 Jewels. Larger version of Pink Panther Chess with second jewel and common Thieves. (9x10, Cells: 90) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Somebody wrote on Fri, Oct 11 01:55 PM UTC in reply to Walker from 2 Jewels on Thu Feb 4 2021 03:38 PM:Excellent ★★★★★

[This comment is hidden pending review. It will eventually be deleted or displayed.]


Ultima. Game where each type of piece has a different capturing ability. Also called Baroque. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
A. M. DeWitt wrote on Fri, Oct 4 07:01 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

Ultima introduced a lot of novel mechanics for a chess game, some original and others from other games. To be honest, these novelties are a more valuable contribution to the Chess Variant world than the actual game in my opinion

If you actually play the game, it's clear that it can be quite flawed, in many cases due to overcomplications in the application of its rules. The inventor itself has even written an article about this.

Despite its flaws, it's clear that Ultima has something going for it, and I believe it was ultimately a net positive for the Chess Variant world.


Frog/Hannibal/Waffle chess with Gryphon/Manticore and falcon. Expansions of Kevin Pacey's Frog/Hannibal/Wafle Chess. (9x10, Cells: 90) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Lev Grigoriev wrote on Thu, Oct 3 07:24 PM UTC in reply to Aurelian Florea from 07:16 AM:Excellent ★★★★★

Woah, somehow you got it!!!

really one page instead of six is what I suggested much time ago. Well done!

Only flaw is that some pieces are linked to Piececlopedia while others aren’t.


The Fighting Fizzies. An Experimental Army for Chess with Different Armies.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Sun, Sep 22 12:36 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

World Rhino Day is September 22!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Replacing the Crabinals with Barcinals is desirable.


Chess with Different Armies. Betza's classic variant where white and black play with different sets of pieces. (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Sun, Sep 22 12:12 AM UTC in reply to Aurelian Florea from Thu Sep 19 04:11 PM:Excellent ★★★★★

Because black have a Royal Archbishop.


Sittuyin (Burmese Chess). Missing description (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Sep 7 04:25 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

The August 3rd comment is very interesting, but it appears that WHITE has been stalemated for more than one move. Another attempt:

diagram

WHITE TO MOVE - - - FIDE Chess allows 1.Ka1 a3, 2.Kxa2 stalemate

Since 2.Kxa2 is an illegal move in Sittuyin, it follows that 1... a3 stalemated WHITE.

Since 1... a3 is an illegal move in Sittuyin, it follows that 1.Ka1 stalemated BLACK.

Since 1.Ka1 is an illegal move in Sittuyin, a different move has to be played.


Ambitious Amphibians. Private Another abnormal side for Chess with Different Armies. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Armies of Faith 2: Later Antiquity. The second in a series of 3d variants themed on various religions of history. (5x(10x10), Cells: 245) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Lev Grigoriev wrote on Wed, Aug 21 02:39 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Hardly understandable but so interesting.


Sloppy Slippers. An army consisting of slip-pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Lev Grigoriev wrote on Tue, Aug 20 10:36 AM UTC in reply to HaruN Y from Sun Jun 30 02:26 AM:Good ★★★★

Cool, thanks;) noting that Queen and Oracle are pretty equal.


The Amazon Army. One player has an Amazon (a queen with knights move) and handicapped rooks.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Tue, Aug 20 12:38 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Dice Landing Chess. Few pieces in play at the opening. Roll a dice to get other pieces joining the game. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Lev Grigoriev wrote on Fri, Aug 16 03:59 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Very cool and interesting game!


The All Around Allstars. A set of chess pieces with different movement, that can be matched against `The Fabulous FIDEs'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Mon, Aug 12 11:16 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Team 7


The Forward FIDEs. A team for Chess with Different Armies where pieces can advancer easier than retreat.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Thu, Aug 8 04:07 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Muje (Untitled). Members-Only Janggi + Chess + Drop rule of Shogi. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Mischia. A small 6x6 chess variant that plays like normal chess. (6x6, Cells: 36) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Ilya Yudovski wrote on Fri, Jul 26 09:57 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Hello.

I think it's a very nice take on the mini-chess, that feels different from Diana, Mallett, or Los Alamos variants. I believe that the closest relative of this variant is 5x6 chess, with the same feel of all possibilities of orthodox chess, but faster and less complex. This variant is definitely going to take its place in my game library. Thank you for sharing!


Ladder Chess. Chess variant on a `skewed' board with 40 squares. (Cells: 40) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Mon, Jul 22 01:41 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
files=5 ranks=8 promoZone=1 promoChoice=NBRQ graphicsDir=/cgi-bin/fen2.php?s=53&t=atlantic&p= squareSize=50 graphicsType= symmetry=none royal=K borders=0 firstRank=1 rimColor=#48484b darkShade=#6d6d6f oddShade=#919193 lightShade=#b6b6b7 coordColor=#dadadb Sirotpawn:P:ifmnDfmWrceWlfceN:p:a2,b2,c2,d2,e2,,a7,b7,c7,d7,e7 Sirotknight:N:frblFbrflNlfrbClfrbZ:n:d1,,b8 Sirotbishop:B:sRlfrbNN:b:c1,,c8 Zag-Zig:R:vRflbrB:r:e1,,a8 Sirotqueen:Q:RflbrBlfrbNN:q:b1,,d8 Sirotking:K:WflbrFlfrbN:k:a1,,e8

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