Ratings & Comments

Nice!

Not sure this is the right place for my comment, as it may apply much more to Game Courier than Chess. Anyway, I was trying to use the Record feature for the chess preset. I entered 1.e2-e4 1.e7-e5 2.f1-c4 b8-c6 3.d1-f3 c6-d4 4.f3-f7 successfully (a version of Scholar's mate trap). However, when I tried to do the same thing but also insert "| 3.g8-f6 //is a better move." after Black's 3rd move, I got an error message saying I cannot move my opponent's piece, after I clicked on the 'View' button (that is, I unsuccessfully tried to enter a variation plus comment after the 3rd Black move of the main continuation).

I'm wondering if Game Courier's Record feature isn't fully working properly. In any event, I've yet to see a single webpage on CVP where a recorded game(s) have been offered by the author, and maybe that's no coincidence. [edit: I had missed the example game using the Record feature on the Voidrider CVP webpage. The moves were given, although no variations were offered (just Comments here and there), but more importantly, perhaps, I couldn't view a board from the Voidrider page for the example game.]

I use fairymax all the time, since I'm not a great player, but it's challenging enough that it's still hard to beat.  Unfortunately, it seemed to block indefinitely while talking to X-board.  I was curious what was happening since I'm interested in chess engines.  There is a large section on stream blocking, etc on the X-board site. I managed to fix the problem, and happy to report it played gnu-chess in a game on an ARM chromebook computer running the latest linux OS.

I pasted the resulting code here:

https://pastebin.com/Fd4cNpRV

Ben, if you liked the sentry example, here's another one, a bit trickier. White to move and mate in 5:

Nice idea!... Is there anyone interested for a personal challenge?

I wonder if there is a way to make a piece capture everything in its path? For example, in Taikyoku Shogi there are range-capturing pieces that destroy everything in their path (including friendly pieces). In Betza 2.0 this behavior could be indicated using cd0. Perhaps the WeirdChain function holds the answer?

Spoiler(?) (should we consider adding a spoiler tag plugin for CKEditor?):

Qxc5+, ke6 // in check both from queen and sentry->lancer
Qd5+, ke7
Qxf7+, kd6 // again doubly checked
Ld2=n+, kc6
S-c6Kd6# // checked by Lancer, no piece to interject; cannot move back to Sentry's square, and Queen and Pawns cover last escape squares.

We don't generally allow users to completely delete an index entry.  I will remove this manually in a few days if you don't want it.

The diagrams need some work (they have various additional markers?), and you don't need to include diagrams for FIDE pieces.

Today I've had an idea for a CV that might be called 'Accelerated Courier-Spiel'. The thought is to try to come up with a modified version of Courier-Spiel that one day just might be significantly more popular with modern day chess (and CV) players.

The rules would be the same as for Courier-Spiel, except:

1) Some form of fast-castling rules would be used - in particular such as those used for my own 'Wide Chess' CV:

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/wide-chess

2) The 'fool' pieces (move like guards) would be replaced by Archbishops, in the setup (a slight 'rationale' would be that thus for the new setup, one chess minor piece has been knighted [= the Archbishop] and the other chess minor piece has been crowned [= the Centaur]). [edit2: A slightly different setup seems advisible to make these and the other changes most feasible]

3) The pawns would behave as in standard chess, except that they can promote to any piece type in the (modified) setup, except for a king. [edit: if centaurs replaced archbishops in the setup, then the resulting CV idea might be called Centaur-Spiel]

Note I thought about somehow having Chancellors in the setup, too, but given that I wanted 12 non-pawn pieces per side still, I didn't mind excluding Chancellors as I've always worried they might trade each other off too easily in CVs where they can be developed to be able to do so in just one more move, if either player is willing or has no better option. [edit4: Below is an idea that might be called Capa-Spiel; See above for my own suggested castling, pawn rules. edit6: Perhaps it might often be hard to castle kingside completely safely, at least early on, owing to possible pressure by the enemy Q, bishop(s) and chancellor - in any case the position of the Archbishop in the setup might also cause some awkwardness (also the case in the previously diagramed setup, for Accelerated Courier-Spiel):]

[edit: Adding an Archbishop and Centaur to the FIDE army on 10x8 (like for Capablanca Chess' Archbishop and Chancellor addition) might be an interesting concept. edit3: A slightly different setup, after the changes, again seems advisible to me. edit5: The following (reverse symmetry) idea could be called Centaur Princess Chess; pawns would be like in chess, and castling rules would be like in my earlier Wide Chess. edit7: The setup may seriously limit the number of interesting opening variations, at least in the early stages of a game, I fear:]

[edit8: 22-Nov-2019: Currently I'm not liking any of these 3 CV ideas, as in their setups, very much.]

[edit9: Here's an idea of mine (with castling and pawn rules as suggested for my Accelerated Courier-Spiel idea above) that could be called Hurly-Burly Spiel; I'll study it at my leisure:]

Note that wikipedia's entry for Kirins states that 2 of opposite colours can mate a lone K without help from their own K; also, Dr. Muller's results elsewhere indicate that on 12x8, K & 2 fibnifs (also called lancers) can mate a lone K, and he opines that K & 2 horsewazir compound pieces really should be able to mate a lone K.

[edit11: I don't really like this CV too much since neither side has a full FIDE Chess army included, which is why I worked on edit10's CV idea.]

[edit10: Here's another idea of mine, somewhat similar to the last one (i.e. with same castling and pawn rules), which could be called Hurly-Burly Chess; I'll study it at my leisure:]

[edit12: I'm afraid I don't really like this CV idea too much either, since the enemy Archbishop in the setup might make castling queenside often/sometimes a somewhat unsafe idea, and the board is very wide in any case, which makes it especially impractical for over-the-board games (besides trying to recall the setup).edit13: Lately I think I'm worrying too much about possible defects for all these CV ideas.]

Dear Fergus,

I am the inventor of Chimera chess who posted the description above.

I had a look at the page from my account, and I can see all the images.

Could you please check again? 

 

Thanks,

Albert

This is one example. I have many more, but this one was published first.

This one.

Yes, graphics are present now, and I've unhidden the page.

You might consider renaming the Chimera Rider, since "rider" is a common variant piece descriptor.

I still have an old price list, and George Hodges did not make a Taikyoku Shogi set.

Testing.

A very interesting game.  And you have the interactive diagram using our signature Alfaerie pieces and colors!  I love it :)