Comments by jean-louiscazaux

Hello.I fear nobody will answer my last posts here, so I renew in case I'll have more success:

• There is a bug in the GC preset of Very Heavy Chess available from the Alphabetical index. I have given the reason in my earlier message and suggest what has to be modified. Can someone make the correction?

• I have made a GC preset for Hannibal Chess. It is available under my own GC Setting Files. How to place it in the list of "Games to play" and/or the Alphabetical index?

Of course I will do that myself if someone explains me how to do.

Thank you

Thanks HG.

"I hope you agree that it hardly matters for the intuitive understanding whether one would write F&R, F-R, [F-R] or [F,R]. " >> Yes,of course;

"With W[F-R] there is little doubt that the W is a separate move" >> I fully agree

"And how would you know that in N&$R 'outward' would mean 'in the direction of the long component'? " >> Not sure what you mean by long. The "R" part? I don't see what the problem is, it is not easy by messages. "Outward" for me means the move is always in the direction of going away from the starting square both in x and y. If after the first leg, the second leg starts by going to a square that is closer to starting square either in x or y than the intermediate square (between the two legs), then it is not outward on that definition.

"Is F&fR really any less intuitive than F&$R ?" >> no no it is not. Don't misunderstand me.I was just using these 2 characters & and $ just for the example and to avoid to select 2 true letters and thus choose the wrong ones. You can replace them by any letter or character.

" I think it would be a mistake to judge a description system solely on how well it does on a single piece that you happen to use, but is not very common, and even less representative for the general problem" >> I fully agree. This is a must.

"how can we describe the Mao then?" >> Again I agree with you, I don't know.

I was not proposing a new system, I was just trying to answer your question to me by making a thought to fuel the discussion, but of course I don't pretend to have solve this very difficult issue. I do rely on you and other skilled people in that matter.

I also have the feeling that maybe it would necessary to introduce more symbols.

I have the feeling that this page is not the latest version. I was looking for an information that I'm almost sure was there and now I see this page which seems not updated. Same thing with the "editors" page. Am I wrong?

A small detail: this article uses the word "heterdox" many times, except once it uses "heterodox". Is "heterdox" an English word valid in this context or just a typo here?

I have written a preset to play Hannibal Chess, enforcing the rules, which is therefore better than the one available. We are playing it with Kevin P.

My preset is here:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/pbm/play.php?game=Hannibal+Chess&settings=default-v2

I don't know how to made it available for the Games menu. Maybe an editor can do it?

Thank you

Bright! Thank you

@Greg or another editor.

I think I know where the bug comes from in the Very Heavy Chess preset.

The "Pre-Game" block doesn't have the right squares, it has been cut-and-paste from Heavy Chess.

Instead of

setflag b2 b9 i2 i9 f2 f9; set k f9; set K f2; set ep false; set bpr 8; set wpr 3; set wcastle d2 e2 g2 h2; set bcastle d9 e9 g9 h9;

it should be:

setflag c2 c9 j2 j9 g2 g9; set k g9; set K g2; set ep false; set bpr 8; set wpr 3; set wcastle e2 f2 h2 i2; set bcastle e9 f9 h9 i9;

Could you make the correction?

Also the "Rules URL" is wrong, pointing to Heavy Chess instead of Very Heavy Chess.

I could do the correction myself but I don't think it will be saved for everyone.

Thank you

I'm impressed by this development. But it is complex for me to understand, despite of the very clear text, it is not intuitive for me. I'm particularly interested by bent riders. A Gryphon without W or R in the string is strange, I understand the explanation but it is too bad there is no a modifier to say "move outwards as X". I'm not at all a computer language expert, I confess.

I got the string for the Gryphon, I can derive the one for Manticore by replacing the F by W. I think this is right. But I failed in fiding the string for the Ship (an half-Gryphon, only sliding vertically, not horizontally) and the Snake(tongue) (an half-Manticore, 1 step v then sliding diag away, never 1 step h then diag). What is the solution?

Thanks a lot

The preset for Very Heavy Chess seems corrupted. It is not the one I designed, it is another one made by Greg Strong. I have a game going on with Kevin P. and I'm getting an absurd check, which is removed by another absurd move.

Would it be possible to put my preset instead?

Thanks

The rule of castling is not correct as far as the Rook is concerned. When castling, the king move four squares toward one of the rooks, and the rook jumps to the other side of the king.

This will be corrected in future editions of A World of Chess, by JL.Cazaux and R.Knowlton.

In addition, the name Tressan has to be corrected to Tressau on this page.

The rule of castling is not correct as far as the Rook is concerned. When castling, the king moves three squares when castling short and four when castling long. The rook jumps to the immediate square on the other side of the king.

This will be corrected in future editions of A World of Chess, by JL.Cazaux and R.Knowlton.

How to remove a piece from the diagram. For example if I want to put the King on another square than those on which they stand by default?

Also, how to use "paste an existing diagram". For example, I want to create a play-test for Shako. What can I paste in that box, an image? the link for the shako page? something else? I don't know how to use this?

Thank you

Thanks a lot, I didn't know that function. :=)

The "author" made 2 other pages of the same quality than this one. Looks like a troll is around.

I think Sin-yeon-sang-hui is not well known for Westerners. Daphne, Would you be so kind to make also a page for this one, with the historical data theatre known? This is very interesting

Interesting paper. Errors in describing chess variants are not uncommon in literature (see Grant Acedrex for example). However, not everything are errors as this paper says. There are always obscure points in the old and original descriptions, and they are rendered with some interpretation by more modern authors. This is also what the authors of this paper are doing themselves. In my opinion their reconstruction is speculating as much as Murray or others have done, but their speculation make sense and I think their proposed reconstruction is the best for this game, indeed.

If Markov contacts me I will be glad to discuss that with him.

I think there are other mistakes:

"In the diagram on the right, the White Advancer can capture the Black Queen by moving along the path of red circles and ending its move on the large red circle on c5. If it stops on one of the smaller red circles on d6 or e7, the Advancer will not capture the Queen."

The large circle is on d5. The small red ones on e6 and f7.

@ Fergus D, HG M, Kevin P, Zied H, Greg S, Daniel Z.

I have sent you an e-mail concerning my on-going project. Please check your e-mail box and warn me if you don't have it. I am not sure of your address. Thank you very much.

The quality of the page has not been improved in more than one year. If everyone is happy with that, fine.

Like Georgi Markov, I confirm that I believe that the name of the cited author is Tressau and not Tressan. Maybe the text of this page should be corrected, also because my book is cited (thanks). In this book, we used Tressau.

That being said, the gothic script which is used for the original German book is not easy to distinguish an "u" from an "n".

Thanks to everyone for the explanations on the use of Betza's notation: I didn't suspect those refinements.

Above all, thanks to Aurelian for his answer and explaining his motivations. I understand that the priority is balancing the different powers on the board.

I still have to understand why a 3 or 4 colors is helping to visualise the path of a Nightrider, in any case I think I'm kind of blind for Nighriders, I just can't see their paths, I smile.

So, no critics from my side, this game has many interesting features and this is why I am interested

This page has the old template, it is even not possible to the see the up bar with the menu. Is it possible to change that? Thank you

@Ben: yes, the simplest I could do is to edit this page in the CVP format: http://history.chess.free.fr/cv-set.htm

“Rook” is a mistranslation of an Old Arabic word for “Siege Tower” Could you elaborate on this? I don't see what you mean.

Originally posted on Pemba, where this piece is called a Crocodile.

Dear Fergus

I'm glad you accept my first point.

For the second, you just repeat what I said, it is a name consistent with my tree of CV, so I don't see why you insist it is only consistent with myself. It is what I said. To elaborate more, I don't want to give another name to a piece I have used under this name on 6 or 7 other variants.

For the last and most interesting point, sure your objection is valid. Indeed a Bishop is not a Vao. But both are diagonal and this is just the starting point of the association I'm making. It is a thin point, but it is better than nothing and there are plenty CVs where there is no logic at all behind the naming of the pieces. The way you had chosen Arrow is very elegant, really. I have nothing against that. Few years ago when I was using a Vao I used to call it a Bowman, which is not so far from your idea. I have no problem you call this piece an Arrow, just let me call it a Crocodile if I like. (And Vao is not a good name imo, I would have say a Xao to look more Chinese and the X is better bearing the diagonal character than the V)

For the last point on Alfonso's codex, I worked very closely with Sonja Musser who got her PhD on this text and together we studied carefully the Spanish text (hablo español). Of course a Cocatrice is a mythical beast, and a Crocodile is a real animal. I know this. But in 1283 they didn't have Wikipedia, and behind many mythical beast there is sometimes a real animal, living in very remote lands, that could have inspired the legend. Interestingly, this is the case in this Codex with the Aanca, for the Unicornio and for the Cocatriz. About this animal the text says: E la otra que esta dell otro cabo del Rey a la mano derecha es a semeianca dela Cocatriz que es bestia & pescado. & esta es fecha como lagarto. & cria en las aguas dulces & sennalada mientre en el grant rio que llaman nilo. & ha tan grant fuerca que teniendo los dos pies de caga o la cola en el agua; no a cosa que tome en seco que non tire assi por fuerte que sea. & quando quiere tomar alguna cosa;

Sonja Musser translates as this: To the right of the [white] King is a Crocodile [The crocodile's piece is very realistically drawn] which is a beast and a fish like a lizard. It lives in fresh water, notably in the great river called the Nile. It is so strong that with two hind feet and its tail in the water that nothing it grabs on land can escape. Whenever it wants to grab something it pretends that it is looking somewhere else to lull it into a false sense of security and then it turns quickly and obliquely and goes after it until it captures it.

If you see a better description than a crocodile, tell us. The depiction I was talking about, and S.Musser is talking about, is the unique illustration that is known of this game, the one on the codex. Please refer to it, the drawing is small but it really looks like a crocodile. Everyone can check with good faith. We have this and no more than that.

Also you may understand that a given name of a mythical animal could refer to different representation for different people, different places, different times. A gryphon could have goat's legs here, a snake's tail there, etc.

Dear editors I believe this page, Pemba, is ready to be published. Thank you

Dear editors I believe this page, GC to play Pemba, is ready to be published. Thank you

Dear editors I believe this page, Pemba, is ready to be published. Thank you

The problems seem to come again. I cannot access to any of my on-going games. Just me?

Could it be possible to release this page now? Thanks

Congratulation for this repair Fergus! Happy to see this back!!!

Thank you HG. My problem is simplest than that. For a guy like me, every new tool needs some investment to get used with. I understood that the Play-test can do wonderful things and I see others using it, but I still have to devote some time to understand how to use it. It is certainly worth to do it for me but so far I have not used it yet.

My skills are limited. Even to create a simple Game Courier, it represents an effort for me to remember how to create a page that links to a GC, call the other page which presents the rule, make a diagram and link it, etc. For you, Fergus, and other editors, it is piece of cake. For me it is quite an effort to remember the "path".

For example, I simply want to make a GC for Devingt Chess, the page I made recently (btw, can someone publish it now?). Devingt Chess is almost structured like Bear Chess, so I can make code the GC easily, but I struggle how to make the page that will present it. Aargh.

Thanks for all.

Thank you HG. I have corrected with your suggested phrasing.

For Mexican chess, yes I knew. You probably missed that I had mentioned this in the Notes section.

Mephisto was even more similar. But we don't know all details.

Yes it's Spanish. I don't see the page, only these lines:

ajedrez de doble movimiento , con piezas de movimientos singulares , y tablero semi redondo. >> chess with double move, with pieces having unique moves, and a semi-round board

el tablero es así: imaginen un tablero de 9x9 pero sin las dos casillas de las esquinas , luego se unen los extremos para que se unan en una sola linea..... ( mas adelante trataré de hacer un diagrama...)

the board is as this: imagine a 9x9 board but without the two (?) squares on the corners, so as the extremes can join in order to form a single line .... (later on, I will try to draw a diagram)

Is that like cylindrical chess?

Nice page. Thank you.

I like this variant. Not original of course, but I don't care. I'm not fond of those who patent their CV "invention", I think it is presumptuous and quite inefficient for what they are looking for. In the case of Falcon Chess, it seems to me that the patent is exhausted for not renewing the fees.

Anyway, ChessXP is quite simple and well designed. The position of the CZ is optimal. The rules for Pawn's move is clever. About the name of the CZ, I would have preferred that the tradition of Bison (yes, at least from 1974 and probably older among problemists) is kept. There are too many Falcons/Hawks/Ospreys already, for example Schulz's Falcon in Hunter-Falcon chess in the 40s (fBbR), Hawk of Musketeer chess (ADGH), another one in Seirawan chess, etc. Why departing from the Bison?

Apart from that, very good!

The Knight-above-Rook looks blurred for its Knight part. Maybe that could be fixed?

Just a warning. The zrf didn't work for me. The reason is, I don't know why, the file Chess10x10.bmp is corrupted. I had to rename it and finally the zrf openned. Also, the Mephisto Chess has a wrong initial setup for black. The one for white is correct. Black Camels and Bishops are switched. It should be corrected to play

As in the zip, (wrong): (board-setup (White (Pawn a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2 i2 j2) (Rook a1 j1 off 10) (Knight b1 i1 off 10) (Camel d1 g1 off 10) (Bishop c1 h1 off 10) (Queen e1 off 10) (King f1) ) (Black (Pawn a9 b9 c9 d9 e9 f9 g9 h9 i9 j9) (Rook a10 j10 off 10) (Knight b10 i10 off 10) (Camel c10 h10 off 10) (Bishop d10 g10 off 10) (Queen e10 off 10) (King f10) )

OK, i will look what I can do. I shall have better graphics indeed. Till soon.

In wikipedia Fairy chess pieces they are the Osprey for DthenB and the Ostrich for AthenR

It was #2, ads above all text, in a vertical column, on top of the page and on right side. But it doesn't show anymore this morning, I tried few pages, no more problem. You probably fixed it. I see no e-bay adds anymore at all. Thank you.

Thank you Ben. I modified both pages to fix that.

I think Heavy Shako would deserve a page of its own.

I do my best as "historian" for chess variants :=) Although sometimes it's discouraging to see how people care.

In this case, D Paulowich proposed a CV with 2 Chancellors per side, whereas CCC has 1 Chancellor and 1 Archbishop, so it is not the same game. Anyway, Vujacic honestly does not pretend to have created the most original CV.

The idea of preserving the relative setup of standard chess is also at the roots of Shako, https://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/shako.html invented more than 30 years ago. And probably in other CVs too.

@HG: would you agree that the chiral Aanca of the Bent Bozos could be renamed Left and Right Manticore now?

Very interesting. Having been working on Parton's works recently, I find this idea quite good. Parton had explored having two K in Twin Chess / Chess Tweedle with a different principle. Both K of one side were both royal, so checkmating the first one was a victory. Here that idea is completely renewed. :=)

@Aurelian Would you like to try, maybe on Gigachess II?

Thank you Fergus

Thank you Greg, this works very fine.

I was wondering that maybe the most practical would be to have a table of all SVG Alfaerie, each one defined with 2 letters, which will give 26^2 possibilities, a very confortable number. Then each designer would be able to pick up the ones he needs using a code like the one you posted here.

Maybe it is already your idea, or something similar.

And Alfaerie Exp Set 5 gives 404 error. Maybe, it should be simply removed, I understand a cleaner version with SVG is coming.

What you say is true HG, it is a fact that different plays will quickly become all different in such a large variant. But so what?

Of course you are free to comment my proposal but I don't see where you want to go.

You argue about the fact that white has an advantage of having the word in saying what is the lineup. I'm still not convinced by your explanations, but I don't want to make a dispute on that. Since my sentence was not a rule and was more a comment, I removed it.

Anyway, advantage or not, I do like the idea of having the freedom to organise the major pieces at wish in the center of the board, even though those pieces are behind lines of pawns. When I play it, it adds some fun: either I choose the line-up or I do the first move. Like in some sports where either you choose the side on the field or the ball to start.

In any case, this game is not finished, and it might continue to evolve according to on-going play testing.

This game was once considered to be included in the book "A World of Chess". When you say that it has been adopted as the official chess of Vietnam, what source or element do you have to support this statement? I am interested to know.

I wish I could use the Alfaerie icon for the Sergeant for the Maasai on ranks 3 instead of the one I used instead but I don't know how to do it.

Thanks a lot