George Duke wrote on Fri, Oct 17, 2008 03:51 PM UTC:
Track One for year 2012: Big Board 10x10, Courier 'de la Dama' 8x12, Eight-Stone 9x8. Concretely we also have Modern, Mastodon,
Eurasian for 2009; Centennial, Templar, Unicorn Great for 2010; and
Switching, Seirawan, Black Ghost for 2011. Acknowledge that about half the
elements within CVPage are hostile to any ''next chesses,'' and CVPage
is stuck as bastion of orthodoxy after its early glory years 1995-1999. Numbering perhaps a hundred frequenters, the variant-Orthodoxists prefer CV artwork, impossible to be played extensively, and if they are not
designers themselves, appreciation of art for art's sake in CVs. The
activity's significance is akin to figurative orthogonal basketweaving,
trying one by one, by one by one every possible pattern and material without prejudgment. Some very few among them, the very idea of abandoning OrthoChess 8x8 as the standard reference physically sickens, there is evidence. Now also perhaps an equal number hundred readers, the other
half, are openminded to outright reform and inclined to let evidence pile up, as to what CV-types may be more logical evolution of old Crazy Queen 8x8, by organizing, hierarchizing, and then advocating. The dilemma of OrthoChess herself, despite her smallness in mere 64 squares, is that she is more satisfyingly-complete form within herself and not immediately suggestive of natural spinoffs, than clever excellent Xiangqi (10x9) or
mediocre regional, captivating Shogi (9x9). It is easier for CVers to
demarcate Mad Queen from Mad Queen variants, or put an occasional 8-square
rules-set as reformative not revolutionary, than it is for either Xiangqi
or Shogi. The two main Eastern standards have never had the compelling
logic of 500-year-old Scacca Alla Rabiosa.