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On a more general note: the current Lasker server is configured w.r.t. the variants you can play on it through files in subdirectories of its installation, called data/boards//, where and are the names you have to type in the 'match' command to start the game. This because the server author's idea of a variant was a normal Chess game (i.e. orthodox rules and pieces) starting from a non-standard opening position. The above mentioned files then contain a description of the opening setup, as a list of piece types and square names for each color. I think this general idea (of having a file describing each variant name you could type) is not bad. But it must of course be able to describe more than just the initial position. It basically must be able to describe the entire game. I would like to invite a discussion on how best to do that. If left on my own (without any knowledge of other existing formats) I would at the very least put in a mechanism to (re-)define pieces using Betza(-like) notation, e.g. A=(BN) S=(WfF) would define the Archbishop as A and Silver General as S, while P=(mfFcfW) would re-define P as Berolina Pawn. In addition some keywords to set parameters must be recognized, such as ranks on which Pawns are allowed to make double moves, which castling type is used, etc.