Comments by CarlosCetina

It seems that there is a bug such that the AI does not always make the conversion as can be seen in the following game on move 24 of the blue side:

1.g3 d5 2.d4 f5 3.Bg2 e6 4.f4 Qb4 5.c3 Qb5 6.Nf2 g6 7.Nd3 a5 8.a4 Qc4 9.Nd2 Qc6 10.Ne5 Qb6 11.b3 Nc6 12.Ndf3 Qd6 13.Ba3 Qd8 14.Bc5 Qa6 15.Qf2 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 b6 17.Ba3 Nf7 18.Nxf7 Bxf7 19.O-O Qf6 20.c4 dxc4 21.Bxa8 Qxa8 22.Ki1 cxb3 23.Rb1 Qd5 24.Rxb3 Bd7 25.Rc3 c5 26.Rd3 c4 27.Rd2 i5 etc

Magnificent! I encourage you to publish your Interactive Diagram in the aforementioned apps store since it is a very good showcase to spread ideas, in such a way that a certain number of variants could be played by default (including Symmetric Chess, of course!). I believe that you could get a fair remuneration in money for your work including banner ads. Using the app would be free. What do you say?

Thank you very much, HG. It's a great improvement.

One of my biggest dreams is to see one day in the Google Apps Store one with which this chess variant can be played against the AI. Do you think that the Interactive Diagram software could be used in the Android environment?

Hi Greg,

I can't download ChessV2.3 RC1.zip. The link does not work. Chrome seems to block it. I wonder if it has nothing to do with the fact that this browser wants URLs to be safe and I see that the protocol you use is http and not htpps.

@Kevin:

Tomorrow I will make the correction because now I have no access to my laptop.

I discovered that the log is loaded correctly from the main logs page only when I am NOT signed in. From my "Your Active Game Logs + Open Invitations" page, being me signed in, the log is displayed rightly when I click on my name, but if I click the link listed in the logs column, then the problem arises.

What makes the matter more intriguing is that this happens only with a particular log and using my laptop with Windows 10 and Chrome. No problem using mobile devices.

Anyway, thanks for answering, I already made my move.    

Fergus:

The following log has a strange glitch because the page doesn't load completely and I can't make my move. Could you please take a look at it?

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=Sac+Chess&log=panther-cvgameroom-2020-231-152

I don't think my computer or the browser I use has anything to do with it.

I just did the test and the result is that the Applet says ***I resign!*** highlighted in red, so I don't think you have to worry, HG, because there could be a bug.

On the other hand, I already changed the definition of the King from KisO2 to KisjO2.

I use Chrome on Windows 10.

I would very much like, Kevin, if you would share a game of yours vs the Applet!

OK, you are welcome.

OK, thanks; issues of symmetry and castling have been fixed.

I have a question about labeling pieces: I see that 4 are prepended by a + sign [tokin, promoted lance, promoted knight and promoted silver], could the applet handle IDs prepended by an asterisk (*)?

I'm reporting that the following log is broken:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=Symmetric+Chess&log=sissa-cvgameroom-2020-188-665

When trying to access it, one gets this message: 

A King may not castle after it moves. Use your browser's BACK button to go back to the previous page, then reload if necessary.

If this is your settings file, you may edit it at https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=Symmetric+Chess&settings=rules&submit=Edit

@Fergus: Could you, please, take a look at it to try to figure out the cause? I know from email alerts that the last move was from my opponent (wdtr2) 10.Nb1-c3. The settings file was edited by Greg but I don't think he made any changes to the code that might have affected the log.

Configuring the applet to play test my variant called Cetran Chess 3, I find that something is wrong after inserting the HTML code on a web page because images of certain pieces are not uploaded. Five are the ones that fail: Amazon, Marshall, Archbishop, Knight-Wazir and Knight-Ferz.

Regardless of this small inconvenience, I can not but congratulate you for having developed such an extraordinary applet and I hope it is not complicated to fix the problem.

@Greg:

I just noticed that in both standard and alternate piece sets the labels for Sailor (R+F) and Missionary (B+W) are reversed.

They are currently incorrectly labeled thus:

= M

= S

They must be correctly labeled thus:

= S

= M

Could you please take a look at it?

Interesting deduction, Ben. Let's see what Fergus thinks.

Yes, but then how to explain that the program allows moving the piece like Ferz?

With the following code I have made some progress because the piece already can make the desired legal moves:

def Osprey fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
  where #0 0 * 2 sign - rank #1 rank #0 
  #1 
  or fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
  where #0 * 2 sign - file #1 file #0 0 
  #1
or checkleap #0 #1 2 0;
 

def Osprey-Range mergeall 
  leaps #0 2 0 
  rays where #0 0 2 1 1 
  rays where #0 0 -2 1 1 
  rays where #0 2 0 1 1 
  rays where #0 -2 0 1 1;

However something must be wrong since the program allows the Osprey to be moved as ferz. What do you think is the cause?

Thanks. I think we are close to finding the solution!

Then the question is how do we get the where operator returns the 4 options:

where #0 2 0

where #0 -2 0

where #0 0 2 

where #0 0 -2

Is there any other digit to use instead of 0 that fulfills the desired purpose? I mean the zero that I previously underlined.

What is easy to deduce is that the first backward line of code should look like this:

or checkleap #0 #1 2 0;

Is my assumption about the Osprey-Range definition correct?

def Osprey-Range mergeall 
leaps #0 2 0 
rays where #0 0 2 1 1 
rays where #0 0 -2 1 1 
rays where #0 2 0 1 1 
rays where #0 -2 0 1 1;

How should the underlined parts be read (interpreted)?

def Aanca fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
where #0 0 sign - rank #1 rank #0 
#1 
or fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
where #0 sign - file #1 file #0 0 
#1
or checkleap #0 #1 1 0;

Particularly, what do the underlined  0 's mean?

def Aanca fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
where #0 0 sign - rank #1 rank #0 
#1 
or fn (checkride #0 #1 1 1 and empty #0) 
where #0 sign - file #1 file #0 0 
#1
or checkleap #0 #1 1 0;

@Fergus,

Trying to edit a preset for this interesting variant by using the fairychess include file I'm almost done, just need to define the function of the Osprey which is a color-bound aanca, first jumping as dabbabah and then sliding outward as bishop. The following diagram shows its move:

I guess the code for Osprey-Range would look like this:

def Osprey-Range mergeall 
  leaps #0 2 0 
  rays where #0 0 2 1 1 
  rays where #0 0 -2 1 1 
  rays where #0 2 0 1 1 
  rays where #0 -2 0 1 1;

and the Osprey-Desc thus: 

"The %s jumps to the second square on the same rank or file, and then slides outward as a bishop."

Could you please tell me the code for such a function? No hurry; when you can spend some time it's fine. Thanks in advance.

@Greg,

 Thank you very much!

@Kevin,

The new preset page is already updated. Please let me know if you want us to write any particular text there. You don't have to worry about past game logs being affected because I have used another settings name.

I have never seen the word 'compound' used in sequential meaning; I would say the Sissa is an (isosceles) hook mover. And I would not say the Tai Shogi Hook Mover is a (conjunctive) compound of two Rooks. The word 'or' usually implies 'and', and if you consider this operations on the move sets, the 'conjunctive compound' of R and B would have no moves (as B and R have no moves in common), and the conjunctive compound of K and R would be the Wazir, etc. There doesn't seem a case where this cumbersome way of describing more elementary move sets is useful, as they tend to all have simple names of their own. Note that the Sissa can neither move as a Rook, nor as a Bishop.

It seems to me the addition of 'disjunctive' serves no other purpose here then sow confusion in a case that otherwise would be correctly understood with 100% certainty.

Thank you very much, HG, for the clarification. Soon I will make the correction in what corresponds to the Sac Chess preset. It will take more time to do it in other texts because they are many.

What is paradoxical and anecdotal about this case is that I believed that making that distinction introduced clarity!

In passing, it should be borne in mind that 90% of what I write in English is "formatted"  [written, thought, said] by the Google translator.

Thanks Greg. I would suggest that players could choose customize the piece set between abstract and alfaerie.

The one who edited the preset in use was me with some guidance from Fergus.

Sissa is a compound of rook and bishop but its move is not disjunctive, it is conjunctive.

Conjunctive = A and B

Disjunctive = A or B

Am I right?

Hello Greg,

I would like to know if there is any way to access the set of pieces that ChessV uses for Sac Chess, that is, to which group does it belong and the name of the particular set?

I am looking to change in the current preset of Sac Chess the image of the zebra for the most appropriate of the knight/guard.

Thanks, Greg, for answering. Hopefully soon some mobile apps developer could join and help in your ChessV undertaking.

I'm sorry to tell you that I have found these bugs:

1. In Ministers Chess setup the i-rook and the h-knight from White side are switched.

2. In Sac Chess both kings cannot castle.

3. When rotating the boards the numerical coordinates remain unchanged.

4. In Gross Chess the window size does not fit proportionally to the PC screen.

Aside of that, I'm enjoying immensely your masterpiece!

You are welcome, Greg. Let's follow playtesting your masterpiece! Have you thought about developing a ChessV app for mobile devices, tablets and phones?

Those who are participating in the current tournament and are playing Symmetric Chess for the first time maybe might be interested in seeing how ChessV manages the matter.

Okay, following your instructions, I was finally able to run the program. It's wonderful! 106 chess variants available!

Congratulations Greg. You have done an excellent job.

Thanks again for all your support!

Hi Greg.

Unfortunately the problem persists.

I must tell you that I am now using a new recently purchased HP laptop, whose main specifications are:

Model: 14-cm0026la

Name: LAPTOP-M9SUMFI7 

Processor: AMD A4-9125 RADEON R3, 4 COMPUTE CORES 2C+2G 2.30 GHz

Installed RAM: 4.00 GB (3.88 GB usable)

Operative System: Windows 10 Home (1903 version)

When I double click on ChessV.exe, a window pops up saying "Fatal Error. Directory of piece set graphics could not be found. Please re-install ChessV."

After re-downloading http://chessv.org/downloads/ChessV2.2RC2.zip and following the whole process to run it, I get the same outcome.

If I double click on ChessV.Engine, then it pops up a window with a black background, a blinking cursor and a header saying "C:\Users\Carlos\Downloads\ChessV2.2RC2\ChessV2.2RC2\ChessV.Engine.exe" 

What's going on?

Greg:

I reloaded ChessV2.2 again and, trying to run it, a window was opened saying:

System.NotSupportedException: An attempt was made to load an assembly from a network location, so the assembly would have been included in an isolated space from previous versions of .NET Framework. This version of .NET Framework does not enable the CAS directive by default, so this load can be dangerous. If this load is not going to include the assembly in an isolated space, enable the loadFromRemoteSources modifier. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=155569 for more information.

A smaller window said:

The program stopped working correctly due to a problem. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution exists.

Then I loaded your program one more time by using another PC (also with Windows 10) and the result was the same error message.

So there is no doubt that whoever has the problem is me. And to think that I was so excited because  I was going to try Symmetric Chess vs an engine! 

OK, I already downloaded Nebiyu 1.45 and unzipped NebiyuAlien; then double clicked on NebiyuAlien.exe and a window was opened but everything is black; there is only one blinking cursor; the window header says:

C:\Users\Carlos\Downloads\Nebiyu\NebiyuAlien.exe

But now I don't know what to do.

There is Fairy-Stockfish, which is very much worth having. But it is not an independent app that goes accompanied with an installer. Just something you unzip in a folder of your choice, after which you have to point WinBoard to the executable through the Load Engine dialog, so that it can use it as an engine.

The same holds for Nebiyu, which is not as strong as Stockfish, but rather easy to configure for playing new chess variants.

Thank you very much for the info. Of the two, attracts me more Nebiyu. I'm somewhat confused on how to proceed with the installation because I don't see any link that be unique and clearly says "download". There are these 4 links:

egbbdll-cpu

egbbdll-gpu

nets-epd.zip

nets-ccrl.zip

Could you, please, tell me which of them to click? 

Do you know what version of Windows 10 you are using? 

I'm using Windows 10 Home, 1903 version, operative system version 18362.476, installed on 14/Oct/2019.

My PC is a Compaq Mini CQ-1100, Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N2600, 1.60 GHz RAM.

Go in to the EnginesXBoard folder and delete everything underneath and then try running ChessV.exe again?

I already did it but the problem persists: no error message is issued nor the system crashes, it simply behaves as if nothing had happened.

In order to determine the cause there are 2 steps:

1) To install ChessV2.2 in other computer with Windows 10 Home .

2) To install in my PC another app.exe

For the second, I would be grateful if you, Fergus, HG or anyone else tell me of any program (preferable of chess or chessvariants) that I could download.

Greg:

When I double click on ChessV.exe it appears a window asking me if I agree the app makes changes in the device. After clicking "yes" NOTHING HAPPENS. It's disconcerting why does WinBoard 4.8.0 works while ChessV2.2 doesn't.

HG:

I already learned to drop pieces in Seirawan Chess. Thanks!

Greg:

The same day you pre-released ChessV 2.2 I downloaded it but it does not work.

Recently I upgraded the OS from Windows 7 to 10. Save by the button sizes issue I still can run ChessV 2.1

I have archived the ChessV 2.2's 10 elements: 3 folders, 5 extensions and 2 apps, but Windows 10 may require programs to include an installer.

By contrast, some days ago I downloaded H.G. Muller's WinBoard 4.8.0 and I can run it perfectly; its logo appears listed in the Start Menu while the one of ChessV 2,2  doesn't, but the ChessV 2.1 logo yes appears listed.

I will look forward to the official release with installer included!

HG:

I will try to configure the Interactive Diagram as you say using the Bishop image for both Dragon Horse and Wazir.

Regarding WinBoard 4.8.0, I don't know how to drop the Hawk and the Elephant playing Seirawan Chess against the Fairy-Chess engine.  After moving a piece, no menu appears asking you to choose which piece you want to drop. Could you, please, help me? 

Thanks for your reply, HG.

What I'm looking for is an engine or computer program that allows me to analyze Symmetric Chess games with the idea of publishing them on YouTube, for which it would be very useful to have teaching resources such as those before mentioned: arrows, highlighting squares, etc.  

I think I could use the Interactive Diagram but I feel a bit unpleasant the fact that on the starting setup appear Dragon Horses instead of Bishops. Would it be possible to implement the Bishops Convertion Rule without the intermediation of neither Dragon Horses nor Wazirs? 

HG:

Your Interactive Diagram is undoubtedly an excellent resource to show easily the various ways of moving pieces.

Given your obvious computer skills, I wonder if you could develop a software that serve as support when analyzing chessvariants games just like many bloggers do with standard chess; features such as arrows indicating piece movements, highlighting squares of threatened pieces, soon return to the basic position after seeing one or more variants. For example, please take a look at this YouTube video. 

I mean to add said features to the Interactive Diagram. Or are they more typical of a video editor software? 

Greg:

I appreciate very much the effort you make to reinforce the rules of the Symmetric Chess preset, however I wonder if using the preset you suggest will not be more confusing for some people than if we used the entirely uncoded one.

I don't know; it's just a presumption, a guess. In my personal case, I would play without problems with any of those two options.

Certainly, coding the Bishops Conversion Rule is a tremendous challenge.

Hi Greg:

The wording is from Hans based on the info I sent him by email and I admit that it can be somewhat confusing because I really had not considered the possibility that you refer until Mike Nelson pointed out it in a comment wrote on Oct 21/2002.

My answer is that said remaining bishop would have FREE CHOICE to be converted or moved normally according to the color of the square in which it is placed.

OK... Thanks!

Greg:

I think we could start the next round since the result of my Colossus game vs Fergus is practically decided, regardless of the bug in the preset program.   

There is a bug that prevents to make 66... Qxj3# 

A message appears saying "Syntax Error on line 673 ..."

Hello Greg.

Please sign me in at the event. Certainly Symmetric Chess is the variant that I would propose as my favorite.

Thanks for the organization!

You do not need to have an account there to send an email to someone who does have an account.

I'm waiting for you to accept the invitation for playing Chess that sent you almost two hours ago and make your first move.

There's really little I can do to help you, so let's wait for Fergus' response.

OK, then let's wait for his answer. Why did not you send it to his yahoo account?

Did you already send Fergus the screencast of what you are doing to his yahoo email he requested?

I will send you another invitation for playing Chess and again please choose white side and try to make your first move.

First of all, you should stop accepting open invitations until you have learned the proper functioning of making moves in Game Courier.

By other part, what happens in your Opulent Chess game versus Greg? Why do not you make there the second move, if you could already do the first?

Why did you take the black side in the invitation I made you to play standard chess, if I asked you to take the white side?

Please do not accept my invitations for playing Symmetric Chess.

I believe that the Russian user named  Сергей Бугаевский is boycotting the open invitations since he accepts them all indiscriminately choosing to always drive the black side and after the first player makes his move he never responds. I suggest forbidding him access to Game Courier.

Me neither get email alerts from this website since some time ago (don't remember exactly from when, 3 or 4 weeks). It would be useful to know if there are more people who are experiencing the same thing.

No, not yet. I think Fergus did not notice my report.