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Variants playable against the diagram's AI

This page serves as an index to the various Interactive Diagrams that were posted over time in the comments on the articles about the variants they implement. (In so far I could remember those.) With the accumulation of comments these diagrams sometimes are pushed way back in the list, where they are hard to find. And now that the Diagram is equiped with an AI, it seems useful to keep those easily accessible for people who want to play against them.

I also included links to articles that contain an interactive diagram on their main page. The list is limited to variants for which the AI of the diagram understands the rules well enough to actually play it. So I excluded games with piece drops, which the AI doesn't support.

In case your favorite variant is not in the list, the Play-Test Applet allows you to define a wide range of variants for the Interactive Diagram, and play against those on the spot. Of course you are invited to actually post the result of such endeavors.

Note that the Diagram's AI is intended to be a casual opponent rather than a GM-level player, and in particular is pretty poor at end-games. To try whether unorthodox pieces have mating potential, there is a version of the diagram available that is powered by an end-game-table generator, where you can pactice checkmating a bare King with pieces of your own design, on boards of various sizes and shapes. There is a Checkmating Applet both for 2 vs 1 and 3-vs-1 end-games.

Operating Instructions

A small reminder for how to operate the Interactive diagram:

Click on the link "Play it!" below the diagram to open (or close) the "AI control panel". (See example below.) As long as the panel is open the AI will respond to any move you make in the diagram with a move by a piece of the opposit color. Moves played by you or the AI will be recorded in the AI control panel below the row of buttons. You can use these buttons to step through the game for viewing earlier positions. To play new moves the latest position of the game has to be displayed, however. (But you can circumvent that restriction by closing the AI panel.) There also are buttons to start a new game (erasing the old game record), or to force the AI to make a move.

The message at the top of the diagram will inform you on whether the AI thinks the game has ended, and why. (So do no scroll it out of view!) A legend of the pieces can be opened (and closed) by clicking on the word "here" below the diagram; clicking on the name of a piece in the resulting table will show a move diagram for that piece. (And clicking it again, or anywhere on the board, will return the display to the current game position.)

The game record can (of course) be copied for posting it somewhere, but it can also be pasted back into the diagram, to use the latter as a game viewer through the navigation buttons. In the case of shuffle variants it is important to copy the number in {braces} with the moves, as this number identifies the initial position that the random shuffling resulted in for this game. (And without knowing that, the following moves would be meaningless!)

files=10 graphicsDir=../membergraphics/MSinteractivedia/ graphicsType=png squareSize=36 whitePrefix=White blackPrefix=Black symmetry=mirror satellite=demo firstRank=1 royal=8 Pawn::::a2-j2 Knight:N:::b1,i1 Bishop::::d1,g1 Rook::::a1,j1 Archbishop::::c1 Chancellor::::h1 Queen::::e1 King::::f1 Lion:::::2

Try pasting this game into the diagram: 1. f4 Nc6 2. Nh3 Nh6 3. Bc5 Cg6 4. Cg3 d6 5. O-O dxc5 6. Cxg6 hxg6 7. Ng5 f6 8. Ne4 Bd5 9. d3 O-O 10. e3 Af5 11. Ng3 Ae6 12. Ni4


This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.

By H. G. Muller.

Last revised by A. M. DeWitt.


Web page created: 2021-05-02. Web page last updated: 2024-11-04