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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]

H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Oct 1, 2011 12:43 PM UTC:

Well, I will put it on my to-do list. Currently I am a bit busy getting my engines in shape for upcoming tournaments; in November HaQiKi D and Shokidoki will play in Taiwan for Xiangqi and 5x5 mini-Shogi, respectively, and later that month in the ICGA Computer Olympiad. Ina few weeks there is the Dutch Open Computer Chess Championship, where I partcipate with Spartacus.

I would also prefer to perform future piece-value measurements with a really strong engine, which can also be made aware of pair-bonus effect for color-bound pieces, and is aware of what constitutes insufficient mating material. Soon Spartacus will fit that description.

In a sense the measurementhas already been done, though: In Shatranj Pawns can only promote to Ferz, which is often as bad as not promoting at all (when the Ferz is on the color where you already had one). The rule there is that a Ferz is worth two Shatranj Pawns, while embedded in a FIDE context the Ferz is only worth 1.5 FIDE Pawns when part of a pair. That would make a Shatranj Pawn worth 0.75 FIDE Pawn. That is a significant weakening when you multiply it by 8. Probably the value of such weakly promoting Pawns would be much more dependent on their loation on the board, i.e. reasonably valuable in the center and as King Shield, and nearly worthless else where.