Ratings & Comments
Symmetric Chess. 
Variant with two Queens flanking the King and Bishops Conversion Rule. (9x8, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thank you, H.G., for the explanation and directions. I could already run Nebiyu properly but unfortunately... playing chess it defeats me easily!
Alice Chess. Classic Variant where pieces switch between two boards whenever they move. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
H. G. Muller wrote on Tue, Nov 26, 2019 12:56 PM UTC:This is a trial for using the Interactive Diagram for Alice Chess. Custom-supplied functions BadZone and WeirdPromotion take care of refusal of moves to squares of which the mirror square is occupied, and take care of shuttling the moved piece to the other board, respectively. The boards are separated by strip of 'hole' squares, which has to be two files wide to prevent Knights from crossing it.
I implemented e.p. capture as a move by the Pawn on the board where the doubly pushed Pawn started. This seemed the least illogical way to do it, as the e.p. square on that board will always be empty (or the double push would not have been allowed). And it is the square the double push really passed over, and thus where it could have been blocked. The move could still be illegal because the corresponding square on the other board is occupied, but that is normal for any move to an empty square in Alice Chess that would be legal on its own board. There has to be no extra rule to prevent double capture this way. This method of e.p. capture corresponds to one where the doubly pushed Pawn must first make a single retrograde step before being captured, rather than replacing its double step by a single step. That this is not the same is the fault of an Alice double push not really being two consecutive single pushes.
I still have a comment to make about the legality of moves (an aspect that the diagram doesn't address). The ambiguity here seems to be caused by not making proper distinction between legal and pseudo-legal moves, but heaping them all under the term 'legal'. A more precise description would have said that a move in Alice Chess is pseudo-legal if (before transfer) it would have been pseudo-legal in orthodox Chess on the board where it is made, and the target square on the other board is empty. And then an Alice move is legal (as usual) when it does not expose the King to pseudo-legal Alice capture. This prevents solving distant checks by interposing a piece that was on the board where the checked King resides (but then disappearing to the other board, so that the King can be captured) from being considered legal. Despite the fact that they would have been perfectly legal orthodox Chess moves on the board with the King.
Symmetric Chess. Variant with two Queens flanking the King and Bishops Conversion Rule. (9x8, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Nov 25, 2019 07:50 PM UTC:That is because Nebiyu is an engine, and engines are not supposed to be used directly, but only through mediation of a Graphical User Interface like WinBoard. It is then WinBoard which will take care of launching the engine's .exe file, and send it the proper (text) commands to do something useful.
So the proper procedure is to start WinBoard (either as game viewer without any engine, or for playing against some other engine), then open the Engine -> Load first Engine menu dialog, use the 'browse button' behind the 'Engine' text entry to locate NebiyuAlien.exe, and then 'OK' the dialog. This will make WinBoard start Nebiyu in the background, (possibly terminating the engine that was in use before), and consult it through the appropriate communication whenever it needs it to make or suggest a move. You can then select one of the supported variants from the File -> New Variant dialog.
This procedure will also add NebiyuAlien to WinBoard's 'Engine List', which will be displayed in a listbox on the left in the Load Engine dialogs, so that you can just click on it when you want to use it again in a later session, without having to browse for it first. This Engine List will also be displayed in the comboboxes of WinBoard's Startup Dialog, so that a next time when you start WinBoard you can select Nebiyu immediately, as first or as second engine. (A second engine is only needed when you want to play two engines against each other, through the Mode -> Two Machines menu item.)
OK, I already downloaded Nebiyu 1.45 and unzipped NebiyuAlien; then double clicked on NebiyuAlien.exe and a window was opened but everything is black; there is only one blinking cursor; the window header says:
C:\Users\Carlos\Downloads\Nebiyu\NebiyuAlien.exe
But now I don't know what to do.
H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Nov 25, 2019 05:04 PM UTC:There are many more links on that page, which come into view when you scroll down. The Nebiyu version I know is at the link Nebiyu 1.45. There seems to be a newer version 1.5, but from the decription of it I am not sure it would be useful untill you train it first, and I never used it myself. IIRC the Nebiyu 1.45 package contains several executables (also covering games other than chess variants), but the one you should run for CVs is NebiyuAlien.exe. The game definitions for that are all in the file alien.ini, which is sort of self-documenting. The file starts with a series of piece definitions, after which a series of game definitions using those pieces follows.
There is Fairy-Stockfish, which is very much worth having. But it is not an independent app that goes accompanied with an installer. Just something you unzip in a folder of your choice, after which you have to point WinBoard to the executable through the Load Engine dialog, so that it can use it as an engine.
The same holds for Nebiyu, which is not as strong as Stockfish, but rather easy to configure for playing new chess variants.
Thank you very much for the info. Of the two, attracts me more Nebiyu. I'm somewhat confused on how to proceed with the installation because I don't see any link that be unique and clearly says "download". There are these 4 links:
Could you, please, tell me which of them to click?
H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Nov 25, 2019 09:49 AM UTC:For the second, I would be grateful if you, Fergus, HG or anyone else tell me of any program (preferable of chess or chessvariants) that I could download.
There is Fairy-Stockfish, which is very much worth having. But it is not an independent app that goes accompanied with an installer. Just something you unzip in a folder of your choice, after which you have to point WinBoard to the executable through the Load Engine dialog, so that it can use it as an engine.
The same holds for Nebiyu, which is not as strong as Stockfish, but rather easy to configure for playing new chess variants.
Do you know what version of Windows 10 you are using?
I'm using Windows 10 Home, 1903 version, operative system version 18362.476, installed on 14/Oct/2019.
My PC is a Compaq Mini CQ-1100, Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N2600, 1.60 GHz RAM.
Go in to the EnginesXBoard folder and delete everything underneath and then try running ChessV.exe again?
I already did it but the problem persists: no error message is issued nor the system crashes, it simply behaves as if nothing had happened.
In order to determine the cause there are 2 steps:
1) To install ChessV2.2 in other computer with Windows 10 Home .
2) To install in my PC another app.exe
For the second, I would be grateful if you, Fergus, HG or anyone else tell me of any program (preferable of chess or chessvariants) that I could download.
Greg Strong wrote on Sat, Nov 23, 2019 02:18 AM UTC:Ok, I had a thought. Carlos, if you would be so kind, would you mind trying this? Go in to the Engines\XBoard folder and delete everything underneath and then try running ChessV.exe again?
I included engines Fairy-Max, KingSlayer, and SjaakII. When ChessV first runs, it will try to start each of those engines to determine their capabilities. Perhaps one of them is failing and it is stopping everything...
Greg Strong wrote on Sat, Nov 23, 2019 02:08 AM UTC:Hi Carlos. Thank you for the extra information. Unfortunately, this does not make sense to me. Do you know what version of Windows 10 you are using? I know there is a "Windows 10 S" that can only run apps from the Windows App Store. Other than that, I cannot imagine why it would not be possible to run a simple exe ...
Oh- ok- on further thought. ChessV requires the .NET Framework while Winboard does not. (The older ChessV used an older version of the .NET Framework.) I would think you would get a better error message if that was the problem, but ... Also, .NET Framework 4.6 is already installed on Windows 10 and should be compatible. Does not really make sense. Let my try something; I need to figure this out and I do not think that the problem is because there is no installer.
Greg:
When I double click on ChessV.exe it appears a window asking me if I agree the app makes changes in the device. After clicking "yes" NOTHING HAPPENS. It's disconcerting why does WinBoard 4.8.0 works while ChessV2.2 doesn't.
HG:
I already learned to drop pieces in Seirawan Chess. Thanks!
H. G. Muller wrote on Fri, Nov 22, 2019 07:37 AM UTC:Regarding WinBoard 4.8.0, I don't know how to drop the Hawk and the Elephant playing Seirawan Chess against the Fairy-Chess engine. After moving a piece, no menu appears asking you to choose which piece you want to drop. Could you, please, help me?
To gate in a piece you first select that piece in the holdings (by clicking it, so that the border highlight around it goes on), and then move the piece from the location on the back rank where you want to gate it in the normal way (click-click or drag-drop).
Greg Strong wrote on Fri, Nov 22, 2019 05:18 AM UTC:I have successfully tested on Windows 10. What happens when you double-click ChessV.exe? (It does not make button on the start menu)
Greg:
The same day you pre-released ChessV 2.2 I downloaded it but it does not work.
Recently I upgraded the OS from Windows 7 to 10. Save by the button sizes issue I still can run ChessV 2.1
I have archived the ChessV 2.2's 10 elements: 3 folders, 5 extensions and 2 apps, but Windows 10 may require programs to include an installer.
By contrast, some days ago I downloaded H.G. Muller's WinBoard 4.8.0 and I can run it perfectly; its logo appears listed in the Start Menu while the one of ChessV 2,2 doesn't, but the ChessV 2.1 logo yes appears listed.
I will look forward to the official release with installer included!
HG:
I will try to configure the Interactive Diagram as you say using the Bishop image for both Dragon Horse and Wazir.
Regarding WinBoard 4.8.0, I don't know how to drop the Hawk and the Elephant playing Seirawan Chess against the Fairy-Chess engine. After moving a piece, no menu appears asking you to choose which piece you want to drop. Could you, please, help me?
Greg Strong wrote on Fri, Nov 22, 2019 12:31 AM UTC:The new ChessV supports Symmetric. You could give that a try. I think I have also fixed your issue with the button sizes, although I can't be sure (since I could not reproduce it.)
H. G. Muller wrote on Thu, Nov 21, 2019 05:27 PM UTC:In the Interactive Diagram images for the various piece types can be arbitrarily chosen. So there is nothing against representing the Dragon Horse and Wazir by the same image as the Bishop, so that the game state that determines how a piece depicted as a Bishop moves will become entirely hidden. But for the demo I wanted to make it clear what is actually going on.
For computer analysis the the conversion rule is probably not relevant for most of the game: the Bishops will both develop pretty quickly, and after that you are basically dealing with normal Chess on a 9x8 board. Most existing configurable multi-variant engines would allow you to specify an initial Wazir move on the Bishop, which would then enable you to set up the positions you want to analyze from the opening positions.
Thanks for your reply, HG.
What I'm looking for is an engine or computer program that allows me to analyze Symmetric Chess games with the idea of publishing them on YouTube, for which it would be very useful to have teaching resources such as those before mentioned: arrows, highlighting squares, etc.
I think I could use the Interactive Diagram but I feel a bit unpleasant the fact that on the starting setup appear Dragon Horses instead of Bishops. Would it be possible to implement the Bishops Convertion Rule without the intermediation of neither Dragon Horses nor Wazirs?
Wide Chess. Chess with 2 types of non-colourbound elephants added on a 12x8 board using fast castling rules.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Here's a (10x8) variant I stumbled onto that has castling rules somewhat similar to that of Wide Chess, in that a king may pass over squares under attack (though not finishing on such a square, nor is castling legal if the K is initially in check). So, a sort of precedent for (part of) the special fast castling rules used in Wide Chess (and subsequently in a number of other CVs I've invented since):
https://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/21st-century-chess.html
Here's another sort of precedent, perhaps, in that in the following (12x12) CV, a king, if not in check, may (with its initial move only) leap to an unoccupied (& unattacked) square on its back two ranks (including possibly 'over' any attacked square)- though this does not include a change of position by a rook or any other piece, as part of the special leap process:
Odin's Rune Chess. A game inspired by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity, runes, and Nordic Mythology. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is (was) a Zillions version which grasps the game and plays it brilliantly. I lost all initial games to it... Thanks for commenting.
I made a set, painted runes on back of some wooden Scrabble pieces. Painted board on some soft leather. Love the game. I might have just called it Odin's Chess, and I'd have opted for priests with some twist, but overall I like its uniqueness. It has a root chess feel but is very much a rebuild from that foundation.
Courier-Spiel. 19th century variant of Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The odd/special pawn promotion rules of Courier-Spiel kind of remind me of the odd/special pawn-of-pawns promotion rules found in another (earlier) historic variant, Tamerlane Chess:
https://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/tamerlane.html
[edit: Also note that with the Centaur and Guard pieces chosen for Courier-Spiel, in the setup, for each side, there are 3 pieces with a guard-like component (king, centaur and guard) and 3 pieces with a knight-component (besides three with a bishop component and three with a rook component, thanks to the presence of a queen), though just 2 ferfils.]
Amazons. Queens fire arrows to make squares unpassable. Last player that moves wins. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]"Roberto Lavieri wrote on 2005-07-08 EDTExcellent ★★★★★
I don´t know how many users and members of TCVP have played this great game. I have only seen at brainking.com that Andreas has been an active Amazons player, with a good performance. The best rated Amazons player at brainking is Grim Reaper (Ed Trice) Total score: 269 wins, 17 draws, 0 losses. Impressively good score."
I (Kevin Pacey) am wondering how a draw is possible in a game of Amazons. Perhaps on brainking the players are allowed to agree to a draw, or one or both players noticed (too late) that both players' playing time on their clocks had elapsed, thus resulting in a draw that way(??)
Symmetric Chess. Variant with two Queens flanking the King and Bishops Conversion Rule. (9x8, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Nov 18, 2019 07:20 PM UTC:The Interactive Diagram basically is a table of piece images, where the table cells are made sensitive to mouse clicks, which then can bring about the desired manipulation of the images (e.g. move them to other cells) or background colors. Such a structure would not allow drawing of image elements that span multiple cells, such as the arrows in the video.
I guess that in theory it should be possible to break up the arrows in cell-sized 'puzzle pieces' of straight parts, corner parts, arrow heads etc., in all possible orientations, and synthesize cell-spanning arrows from those pieces. The Chess pieces are actually displayed as cell background image, and have transparent background themselves, through which a background color for the cell shows (which I then use for highlighting). So technically the cells are empty, and just show a background. Images of arrow segments could be put inside them, and the non-transparent parts would then cover the piece images in the background. But this would require the images of the arrow segments to exactly fit the cell (or the browser's display algorithm would just enlarge the cells to fit the image). So it would require a different set of arrow segments for each conceivable square size. And it is a bit hard anyway to make images fit exactly in table cells; most browsers want to take some margin between the image and the cell edges, especially at the botton. So the arrows might look more like dashed lines.
Of course there still would be the problem of how a user should indicate where he wants arrows. Or other types of highlights. All in all it would not be very easy.
The current diagram already records all moves you play to make them into a game history. And on a page with a diagram you can request presence of buttons to step through a thus recorded games. For the diagrams I post here I never included such buttons, because they just serve the purpose of illustrating the piece moves and initial position. But you can see them in operation at my turn-based server, which uses the Interactive Diagram as user interface..
HG:
Your Interactive Diagram is undoubtedly an excellent resource to show easily the various ways of moving pieces.
Given your obvious computer skills, I wonder if you could develop a software that serve as support when analyzing chessvariants games just like many bloggers do with standard chess; features such as arrows indicating piece movements, highlighting squares of threatened pieces, soon return to the basic position after seeing one or more variants. For example, please take a look at this YouTube video.
I mean to add said features to the Interactive Diagram. Or are they more typical of a video editor software?
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Late comer to the discussion here. Regarding the piece values, there are many takes on this. I list most of the ones I know about in my recent ERBzine article about jetan. Follow the link below, and scroll about two thirds down the page to the appendices.
Exploring Jetan, from ERBzine