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Game Reviews by Malcolm Webb
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This page (& the associated Zillions rules file) would be good if the pieces were set up correctly. Mr Pfieffer is right: according to Anthony Dickins "A Guide to Fairy Chess" the positions of the Black pieces on the D-level should be: Da5-Unicorn, Db5-Bishop, Dc5-Queen, Dd5-Unicorn, De5-Bishop. That is, each player should see each of their Bishops to the left of each of their Unicorns. Unfortunately the author has not yet corrected this error. Dickins' book is a secondary source, based on articles by T.R.Dawson in Chess Amateur 1926. The most authoritative source would be Ferdinand Maack's original three books in German; if anyone has access to these books and can show that Dickins was wrong, then I stand corrected. However this page references Dickins' book without correctly implementing it. There are problems with Raumschach as a game, one being the incomplete coverage of the 3D-board by the Unicorns. However Raumschach has a place in Chess history, and should be correctly presented with all its faults.
I noted an acknowledgement of Mr Pfieffer in pointing out the error. However there is no acknowledgement of David Paulowich for pointing out another error. According to Dickins' book Black pawns promote on A first rank, White pawns promote on E fifth rank.
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Dear Jonathan, Let me know when the rules have again reached their final form, and I can update the Zillions rules file. Note that my e-mail address has been changed, and that I am now a member of this site. Malcolm Webb.
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This game is intriguing I have a couple of questions: A) Which work of fantasy was the inspiration for this game? B) For the jumping-capture of the Zapper: - can the Zapper make a sliding move before jumping? In other words, does the piece jumped over have to be adjacent to the Zapper, or can it be any distance away along a straight-line? - can the Zapper continue sliding after making a jump? If so, can it make multiple captures like the Long-Leaper in Ultima? - Can the Zapper make a jumping capture and make a sandwich capture in the same move? - can the Zapper jump over an enemy piece and choose NOT to capture?
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There is a fairy piece called the "Dragon", combining the movements of the Knight and the Pawn. However the Pawn movements are in a forward direction only. If it has not moved yet, the Dragon gets a two-step forward movement possibility (with an associated vulnerability to an en passant capture).
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Two minor points:
A) The "Dababbaphant" is more commonly known as an "Alibaba.
B) The picket comes from Tamerlane Chess, not Courier Chess.
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