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Kingsmen. 9x9 board with two extra Bishops. Pieces gain the King's moveset upon reaching the last three ranks.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Albert Lee wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 03:35 AM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Sat Jul 10 01:58 PM:

A special thanks for creating this playable version!


The Consuls. Chess with two Kings and Pawns that can capture as Bishop, Knight, and Rook on the enemy side.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Albert Lee wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 03:52 AM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Sat Jul 10 02:27 PM:

Thank you for creating this playable version!

I noticed that the Pawn promotion rules for Knight and Bishop are swapped. This is the supposed order of promotion which follows the sequence of the initial arrangement of pieces on the back rank: King, Bishop, Knight, and Rook.


Platonic Chess. Platonic solids in a complete 10x10 chessboard.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Albert Lee wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 06:19 AM UTC:

I added a link to play this chess variant using Zillions of Games.


The Consuls. Chess with two Kings and Pawns that can capture as Bishop, Knight, and Rook on the enemy side.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
H. G. Muller wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 07:50 AM UTC in reply to Albert Lee from 03:52 AM:

Ah yes, I mixed it up. Fixed that now.

There still is a problem in the notation. Because the diagram doesn't support location-dependent moving, I implemented it through automatic non-standard promotion through a small additional script embedded in the page, which defines a function WeirdPromotion. And defined 5 different Pawn types, which all promote depending on the rank they land on.

But the SAN generator adds a promotion suffix when the type after the move isn't the same as before the move, and all the 5 Pawn types currently havetheir ID defined as P. So the promotion suffix is ambiguous, and this might lead to problems when, on pasting a game, the diagram encounters a move like e5=P. Besides, in the context of this game it looks silly to have promotion suffixes, when promotion is automatic. Not sure how I can address that in general, though.

[Edit]

The notation problem seems solved. I now suppress writing a promotion suffix when the promoted piece has the same ID as the original piece, even when it actually is a different piece type. In principle the SAN generator + parser should be resistant against different piece types having the same ID; its decision to add disambiguators is not based on the piece type, but the piece ID. So if two pieces that have the same ID can move to the same square, it will add the disambiguator necessary to distinguish the moves. Such ambiguous piece labeling cannot work if the ID appears as a promotion suffix, though; the SAN parser would always take it to be the first piece type (in the legend table) that has that ID. But if there is no promotion suffix, and the only pseudo-legal move with the specified piece to the specified square is a promotion, the SAN parser will interpret the move as that promotion even in the absence of a promotion suffix.

This should in general allow position-dependent moving to be emulated through a custom promotion routine switching the type between types with the same ID, in a transparent way. The only peculiarity here is that the piece with position-dependent move is a Pawn, and that only the first alternative will get the P suppressed in the move notation. The alternative Pawn types will all specify the P in their move notation. E.g.

1. e4 h5 2. e5 h4 3. Pe6 f5 4. Pxf5 Ph3 5. Pf6 Pxg2 6. Pxg7


💡📝Albert Lee wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 03:44 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 07:50 AM:

Thanks for your effort, much appreciated!


💡📝Albert Lee wrote on Sun, Jul 11, 2021 03:45 PM UTC:

I just added description and links to a smaller variant of The Consuls on a 4x4 board in the Notes section.


Sorchess. A somewhat unorthodox Wizard enters the 64sq arena, yet with good charm.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Simon Jepps wrote on Tue, Jul 13, 2021 06:23 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from Thu Jul 8 11:07 PM:

Hi Fergus, your interpretation of the Wizard's entrance is 100% correct.


Conservative Capablanca Chess. Alternative, more traditional Capablanca chess setup.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Davor Vujacic wrote on Wed, Jul 14, 2021 12:31 PM UTC in reply to Jörg Knappen from Sat Jul 10 08:39 PM:

I was familiar with Paulowich's Victorian chess of course, but I have never seen an article with the setup that I proposed here. In any case, I was modest enough not to call this variation by my humble name or to attach my name to this variant. After all, this is Capablanca's chess, or rather Carrera's, not mine. I just offered this setup to the owner of Pychess.org, and he really liked it, so it can now be played there and it's the only thing that I really wanted. I only guess that Paulowich didn't believe in this setup enough if he didn't bother to write a single article about it. So, writing this article is my humble contribution, that's all. Btw, it is really unfair that all these variants on 80 squares with traditional pieces plus Archbishops and Chancellors don't bear Carrera's name because he is a real father of this chess. Inventing setups is much easier, right?


H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Jul 14, 2021 01:10 PM UTC in reply to Davor Vujacic from 12:31 PM:

Carrera certainly deserves more credit than Capablanca, but I think the basic mistake is to use 'Capablanca' in the name for variants with a setup that is different than the one Capablanca suggested. Most of these variants have their own name, which neither refers to Capablanca nor Carrera: Bird, Schoolbook, Embassy...


💡📝Davor Vujacic wrote on Wed, Jul 14, 2021 02:37 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 01:10 PM:

It could have been called just 'Conservative Chess' but I wanted to make clear about the family to which it belongs. I could have also called it 'Conservative Carrera Chess' but for some people, it wouldn't be clear enough. Doesn't really matter. What I like is that people already play it. Yesterday someone created a game of CCC at Pychess.org and I accepted it and somehow even won.


Sorchess. A somewhat unorthodox Wizard enters the 64sq arena, yet with good charm.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Thu, Jul 15, 2021 01:50 AM UTC in reply to Simon Jepps from Tue Jul 13 06:23 PM:

I edited the text to clarify how the Wizard moves and published this page.


💡📝Simon Jepps wrote on Wed, Jul 21, 2021 03:19 PM UTC:

It is of course also possible to enter the Wizard via the Seirawan method and this may well appeal to those whom like to play an undefended Bishop to K/QKt5.

Since a piece must vacate a square first for the Wizard to enter this way, such a Classical Bishop move would still stand strong without imminent capture from a waiting Wizard.


Pandemonium (Surajang修羅場). Capablanca chess + Crazyhouse.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Fri, Jul 23, 2021 03:15 PM UTC:

Most of the rules have been fixed !


💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Fri, Jul 23, 2021 04:12 PM UTC in reply to Daphne Snowmoon from 04:10 PM:

Is there any way I can attach this simulator to this page?

8ã……8...


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Sat, Jul 24, 2021 01:44 AM UTC in reply to Daphne Snowmoon from Fri Jul 23 04:12 PM:

I added its code to the end of your Setup section. You can decide how you want to incorporate it into your page.


💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Sat, Jul 24, 2021 06:20 AM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 01:44 AM:

Thank you !!

But can't some rules be implemented in an interactive diagram?


H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Jul 24, 2021 10:35 AM UTC in reply to Daphne Snowmoon from 06:20 AM:

I have no idea what you are asking. What rules?


Michael Nelson wrote on Sat, Jul 24, 2021 03:55 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

A very well thought and pleasing out blend of a Capablanca's Chess and Shogi. I am curious about the rule against having identical promoted pieces other than promoted Pawns. I consider it a small wart on a otherwise perfect design.


💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Sun, Jul 25, 2021 11:55 AM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Sat Jul 24 10:35 AM:

H.G. //

Rule to advance 2 squares when moving to 2nd rank after a Pawn is dropped in 1st rank

Rule with restrictions on promotion (e.g., among the promoted pieces, only one piece with the same movement can exist on the board)

etc ?


💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Sun, Jul 25, 2021 12:05 PM UTC in reply to Michael Nelson from Sat Jul 24 03:55 PM:

Nelson // Thank you very much !!

(´ ˘ `)

Pawns, unlike other pieces, can be promoted over and over again. The reason is to strengthen the Pawn's advance.

Pawns can be dropped at 1st rank, so they can defend more actively. (For example, like Shogi's Anaguma, you can move the King into a corner and surround it with Pawns.)

However, the Pawn's attack power is relatively weak. Compared to other promoted pieces, Pawn has a lot of limited movement, and I thought it needed appropriate compensation. That's unlimited promotions.

As the saying goes, 'Pawns are the soul of chess', I felt that Pawns needed a unique feature.


H. G. Muller wrote on Sun, Jul 25, 2021 12:42 PM UTC in reply to Daphne Snowmoon from 11:55 AM:

The rule that a Pawn dropped on 2nd rank regains his double push makes it a case of location-dependent moving, rather than an initial move. Position-dependent moving is not directly supported by the Interactive Diagram, but if can be emulated through automatic promotion: define multiple piece types for the piece with the variable move (all using the same symbol), and automatically 'promote' any of these types to the type that has the move belonging to the square they land on. This can be done by a user-supplied JavaScript function WeirdPromotion(). I did that in the Diagram I recently made for The Consuls.

In this case you would need two Pawn types, where only type 2 has the double push (and only type 1 promotes according to the normal mechanism on reaching the zone). Type 2 would always change into type 1 when it moves; both types would change into type 1 or 2 when they are dropped, depending on where they are dropped.

To make the promotion choice dependent on other pieces present on the board is problematic. The function WeirdPromotion() can also be used to veto promotions that would otherwise be possible. But the Diagram currently doesn't keep track of how many pieces of each type there are on the board. So it would have to scan the entire board to detect whether the proposed promotion piece is already there. This is possible, but would slow down the AI a lot. (But the AI currently cannoot handle games with drops anyway, so perhaps this is not a problem.)


💡📝Daphne Snowmoon wrote on Sun, Jul 25, 2021 02:02 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 12:42 PM:

Thanks for the kind reply!


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