Our Featured Variant : Try the Chinese game of Xiangqi, one of the most popular and enduring Chess variants in the world.

Ratings and Comments for:
Ideal Values and Practical Values (part 5)

The following are readers' comments and ratings for the page Ideal Values and Practical Values (part 5).

Date Rating Comment

4 Nov 2001 None Xiang Qi addition added.
PBA

3 Nov 2001 None OK, I made the Fizzies a page. It's at:
Fighting Fizzies
There's more detail now, too.
PBA

3 Nov 2001 None qH would be circular H, but lame (what you want) is nH. That's in the feedback where the Fizzies are introduced, not in the main page. Sheesh, make a fizzies page already!

3 Nov 2001 None qH would be circular H, but lame (what you want) is nH.

1 Nov 2001 None The latest version of the Spacious Cannoneer ZRF is 1.3
the latest version of the Fighting Fizzies ZRF is 1.1

Hopefully, both of them now actually perform spacious movement and capture correctly.
PBA

31 Oct 2001 None
I should have said, at the end of the "The traditional Xiang Qi Cannon", that in XQ both Kings are confined to their castles and therefore the Cannon can always be useful, using its own K as a screen and the enemy King's defenders as a target. This means that the imbalance of movement and capture power that would afflict the XQ Cannon if used in a FIDE setup does not hurt it nearly as much in an XQ setup.
Another small lapse.
--
gnohmon

31 Oct 2001 None
I love the Fighting Fizzies and can only hope they don't fizzle!
--
gnohmon

31 Oct 2001 Excellent I've been inspired by this series of articles to create my own army for Chess with Different Armies. Since this army has been inspired by Gnohmon's writing, it contains pieces that were either invented by him, or inspired by him. And it is named after his favorite refreshment.

The Fighting Fizzies

An Experimental Army for Chess with Different Armies

The Fighting Fizzies' theme is inventions by Ralph Betza. It is still under development, and might be a tad too strong.
The Pieces:

The Rooks: the Right and Left Single-Step Rhino

A single-step right Rhino steps one square in any direction, then, if the first square is empty, may turn 45 degrees to the right, and move one more square. So if it moves north to an empty square, it may continue by moving one square to the north-east. The left version is the same, but turns 45 degrees to the left after the first move. The right Rhino goes on the right, and the left Rhino on the left. Gnohmon rated this as having the ideal value of 5/3rds the value of a Knight, which makes it Rookish or a bit more in value, depending on how you rate the Rook.

The Knights: the Gnohmon

The piece that started this, the fbNfbWqH. Or in more normal terms, a Narrow Knight plus forward and back Wazir plus a (0,3) lame leaper. A Knight-valued piece. The name is because . . . well, I had to call it something.

The Bishops: the Crabinal

The Crabinal is an absolute Halfling Bishop plus Crab. Half a Bishop + half a Knight = about a Bishop, maybe a bit less. The bit less is OK, since the Rook and Knight are strong.

The Queen: the Eagle-Scout

The Eagle-Scout is a Boyscout (AKA Crooked Bishop) plus a Wazir. Since Gnohmon rates a Crooked Bishop as 1.5 times a Rooks value these days, adding in a 0.5 Knight valued piece should bring it nicely to Queen level (or just below), and avoids the embarassment of a color-bound Queen.

While this army is perhaps (or perhaps not) a bit on the strong side, it is lacking in long range pieces -- the only one being the Eagle-Scout. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. I'm constructing a ZRF (which I'll post if there is interest), and undertaking some experiments.
PBA

29 Oct 2001 None If anyone has downloaded the Spacious Cannoneers ZRF to play with the pieces, they should check the history tab on help. If it says revision 1.0 (as opposed to 1.1), they should download it again, as there is an error in 1.0 in the specification of spacious moves that causes slight over valuing of some pieces, and allows the Mortar to jump over adjacent hostile pieces without capturing.
Oops.
PBA

28 Oct 2001 None
No, really, I swear I put that error in the analysis of the example game in just to make you feel better about how confusing the game is!
The BigB does not attack the Bg2 from g6, of course. You are correct.
--
gnohmon

Date	Rating	Comment
4 Nov 2001	None	Xiang Qi addition added. PBA
3 Nov 2001	None	OK, I made the Fizzies a page. It's at: Fighting Fizzies There's more detail now, too. PBA
3 Nov 2001	None	qH would be circular H, but lame (what you want) is nH. That's in the feedback where the Fizzies are introduced, not in the main page. Sheesh, make a fizzies page already!
3 Nov 2001	None	qH would be circular H, but lame (what you want) is nH.
1 Nov 2001	None	The latest version of the Spacious Cannoneer ZRF is 1.3 the latest version of the Fighting Fizzies ZRF is 1.1 Hopefully, both of them now actually perform spacious movement and capture correctly. PBA
31 Oct 2001	None	I should have said, at the end of the "The traditional Xiang Qi Cannon", that in XQ both Kings are confined to their castles and therefore the Cannon can always be useful, using its own K as a screen and the enemy King's defenders as a target. This means that the imbalance of movement and capture power that would afflict the XQ Cannon if used in a FIDE setup does not hurt it nearly as much in an XQ setup. Another small lapse. -- gnohmon
31 Oct 2001	None	I love the Fighting Fizzies and can only hope they don't fizzle! -- gnohmon
31 Oct 2001	Excellent	I've been inspired by this series of articles to create my own army for Chess with Different Armies. Since this army has been inspired by Gnohmon's writing, it contains pieces that were either invented by him, or inspired by him. And it is named after his favorite refreshment. The Fighting Fizzies An Experimental Army for Chess with Different Armies The Fighting Fizzies' theme is inventions by Ralph Betza. It is still under development, and might be a tad too strong. The Pieces: The Rooks: the Right and Left Single-Step Rhino A single-step right Rhino steps one square in any direction, then, if the first square is empty, may turn 45 degrees to the right, and move one more square. So if it moves north to an empty square, it may continue by moving one square to the north-east. The left version is the same, but turns 45 degrees to the left after the first move. The right Rhino goes on the right, and the left Rhino on the left. Gnohmon rated this as having the ideal value of 5/3rds the value of a Knight, which makes it Rookish or a bit more in value, depending on how you rate the Rook. The Knights: the Gnohmon The piece that started this, the fbNfbWqH. Or in more normal terms, a Narrow Knight plus forward and back Wazir plus a (0,3) lame leaper. A Knight-valued piece. The name is because . . . well, I had to call it something. The Bishops: the Crabinal The Crabinal is an absolute Halfling Bishop plus Crab. Half a Bishop + half a Knight = about a Bishop, maybe a bit less. The bit less is OK, since the Rook and Knight are strong. The Queen: the Eagle-Scout The Eagle-Scout is a Boyscout (AKA Crooked Bishop) plus a Wazir. Since Gnohmon rates a Crooked Bishop as 1.5 times a Rooks value these days, adding in a 0.5 Knight valued piece should bring it nicely to Queen level (or just below), and avoids the embarassment of a color-bound Queen. While this army is perhaps (or perhaps not) a bit on the strong side, it is lacking in long range pieces -- the only one being the Eagle-Scout. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. I'm constructing a ZRF (which I'll post if there is interest), and undertaking some experiments. PBA
29 Oct 2001	None	If anyone has downloaded the Spacious Cannoneers ZRF to play with the pieces, they should check the history tab on help. If it says revision 1.0 (as opposed to 1.1), they should download it again, as there is an error in 1.0 in the specification of spacious moves that causes slight over valuing of some pieces, and allows the Mortar to jump over adjacent hostile pieces without capturing. Oops. PBA
28 Oct 2001	None	No, really, I swear I put that error in the analysis of the example game in just to make you feel better about how confusing the game is! The BigB does not attack the Bg2 from g6, of course. You are correct. -- gnohmon

Last modified: Monday, December 22, 2008

Ratings and Comments for:Ideal Values and Practical Values (part 5)

The Fighting Fizzies

An Experimental Army for Chess with Different Armies

The Rooks: the Right and Left Single-Step Rhino

The Knights: the Gnohmon

The Bishops: the Crabinal

The Queen: the Eagle-Scout

Ratings and Comments for:
Ideal Values and Practical Values (part 5)