Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

I put the following in a wrong thread, so I'll delete it from there, after cutting and pasting it here for anyone interested:

Posted by Kevin Pacey: Here's a second such possible 3D Circular Chess "diagram". The idea would be to tell the viewer with plain text where the pieces and pawns are placed, in the Setup section of any possible submission:

Board 1:

Board 2:

Board 3:

Btw, images like that are quite easy to make with a general drawing program like MS Paint, which will be included amongst the standard accessories of any Windows system. MS Paint has buttons to draw circles and lines, which you can fill with the paint bucket to create checkering, as well as copy/paste images of pieces obtained from a web site on top of it.

This would easily look much better as the diagram with pieces you have been copying from the chessvariant pages below, which is truly a very sloppy job.

Thanks H.G.

I can try out your diagramming suggestion at some point, especially if I
come up with a feasible 3D variant to use it with.

Here's a diagram for the setup position of a possible variant idea that I'm playing around with. I'll post it here so I can study it at leisure. I was thinking that the (mann-like) pieces would move as in my Super4*Chess variant, and the pawns would move as in Tess Chess. The main idea would be to hope for better chances of a relatively early mate (perhaps even sooner than say Tess Chess might allow), or to hope for at least a relatively shorter game than other 4D variants might allow.

[edit: I've since rejected submitting this idea for a variant (it might have been called "Open King 4*4D Chess"), since it scores poorly in my estimation on allowing a variety of piece type exchanges, due to a lack of 'minor pieces'. In particular, there's no way to evenly trade a piece for a small number of pawns, kind of like as in a pure major piece chess middlegame. Plus, kings can only legally attack pawns, kind of like as in a pure queen endgame in chess. Perhaps someone else can do something with this sort of idea for a variant, though, or they may like it as it is anyway.] [edit2: I'm finding myself revisiting this idea now & then]:

Here's another setup position for a possible variant idea I'm playing around with, also posted here so that I can study it at leisure. I was thinking that the (mann-like) pieces would move as in my 5*4DChess variant, and the pawns would move as in Tess Chess. The main idea would be to hope for better chances of a relatively early mate (perhaps even sooner than say Tess Chess might allow), or to hope for at least a relatively shorter game than other 4D variants might allow.

[edit: I've since rejected submitting this idea for a variant (it might have been called "Open King 5*4D Chess"), since it scores poorly in my estimation on allowing a variety of piece type exchanges, due to a lack of 'minor pieces'. In particular, there's no way to evenly trade a piece for a small number of pawns, kind of like as in a pure major piece chess middlegame. Plus, kings can only legally attack pawns, kind of like as in a pure queen endgame in chess. Perhaps someone else can do something with this sort of idea for a variant, though, or they may like it as it is anyway.] [edit2: I'm finding myself revisiting this idea now & then]:

I've been playing around with the idea of inventing a viable 4D version of Alice Chess, if it's possible, and I thought I'd put a diagram here to study at my leisure. With Directed Alice Chess III by Joe Joyce (an Alice Chess variant played using just 3 boards), for example, a way to make a 4D Alice Chess variant may have already been invented in disguise. That's since a bishop may be able to make a single square diagonal step move (forward or backward) when going onto each of 3 different 2D boards in single steps, as done on 3 consecutive turns, with the bishop possibly finishing on its starting board, but also possibly just one diagonal step from its original square on that starting board. This is not possible in a typical 3D chess variant (e.g. 5x5x5 Raumschach) with, say, a bishop that moves in standard 3D chess fashion, as the bishop could not even return to its starting board if visiting three of the 2D boards in single steps in 3 consecutive turns. However, it could be possible in a 4D variant (i.e. having 4 or more boards, normally, although at least one of the corner 2D boards might be voluntarily excluded), with a 'standard' 4D bishop still changing just 2 (of now 4) co-ordinates. It might also seem to be possible if using 3 somehow otherwise interconnected 2D boards than in typical 3D chess (as could be the case for Directed Alice Chess III), except that then I do not see how a typical bishop (changing 2 co-ordinates as it moves) could possibly finish on its starting 2D board being just one diagonal step away from the square it started on, after visiting 3 different boards in 3 consecutive moves (in the single step fashion I described above) without the interconnection being in effect 4 dimensional. Perhaps a math wizard might try to explain it to a layman like me, if my conclusion is wrong. Meantime, here's a link to Directed Alice Chess III, followed by my test diagram for a possible 4D Alice Chess variant idea: http://www.chessvariants.com/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MLdirectedalicei

[edit: my original idea to use four 2D boards for a 4D Alice Chess variant idea was to have it like Alice Chess as much as possible, but to allow up to 3 pieces of any colour to occupy any of a set of 4 corresponding squares (e.g. one set would be those with file & rank = a1). That's also with just the two kings additionally being allowed to take an enemy piece occupying any of the corresponding squares that they may move to on the way in finishing their move (thus a double capture move would be possible for a K), but then the only forcible 'basic' mate would seem to be K & Q vs. lone K, which is not totally satisfying for me.]

I'm posting another diagram, for my study at leisure, which might form the basis of a variant:

I'm posting another diagram, for my study at leisure, which might form the basis of a variant:

I'm posting another diagram, which might become the basis for a variant, for my study at leisure.

How do you post a diagram? I tried to post an image of the guard in one thread, but it doesn't show immediately on the page. An icon needs to be clicked again to see the graphic.

My knowledge of how to post diagrams is limited, as well as my ability to explain computer stuff, but I'll try. In the case of my previous post (for example), I used the Diagram Designer that can be accessed on The Chess Variant Pages website (it's given under the main alphabetical index, for instance). After I made my diagram using the Diagram Designer, I copied the string for my diagram where that's indicated to do so by the Diagram Desiner, and next I pasted it into my freshly created comment to-be-posted on CVP (in another window I opened up).

Note this doesn't seem to work perfectly for such a Comment, i.e. I had to first post it, then I went back and edited it in order to edit out some unwanted symbols in the text for my diagram that the Comment editing system currently inserts first time around (for some reason). For example, I substituted a " for the word 'quote' (which has also some unwanted other symbol[s] around it) that precedes and ends my Diagram Designer string.

To try to be more clear, I made sure I wasn't editing out any necessary symbols by checking the Diagram Designer's string for my diagram (I had it in a seperate window still), so that I ended up with just [p]diagram designer string[/p] after editing (but note that I'm substituting '[ ]' for '< >' just now, so that it the 'p' will show in this post).

Hope that helps.

Kevin

Ok, Thanks Kevin. I didn't know there was a diagram maker on this site. I'm impressed that it can make diagrams with hexagonal shapes. Your diagram also appears to be an interesting start to a new game. Thanks for the info.

I was curious whether the Diagram Designer (or Game Courier) would show a diagram for a 4D Hexagonal variant that would have thirty-seven hex-shaped 2D boards of 37 hexes each, in a way that give reasonable sized hexes (plus any pieces on them) as seen on my laptop screen. The answer seems to be no; I'll post a diagram of the first step one would take in making such a diagram as a final step. The first step involves making a (7x7+6)x (7x7+6) = 55x55 cell vertical hexagonal diagram (the next step would involve cutting thirty-seven 2D hexagonal boards (of 37 cells) out by kind of 'deleting' many cells using the FEN code, in order to make a hexagonal shaped 4D board). Here's the diagram of the first step (I included a 3 colour checkering pattern plus some pieces, to liven the image a bit); I tried scale=300 (about the max. this would produce such a diagram for of these dimensions), and it didn't really help using [ctrl +] a few times, i.e. for enlarging the print on my screen):

[edit: That's strange. When I post the diagram in a comment, the individual hexes and pieces are now reasonably visible. Regardless, one will have to scroll up and down the screen to view the whole image, unless one uses [ctrl -] several times to reduce it, but then one can't see individual cells/pieces clearly. With many cells cut out, so as to make a final diagram of the 4D board, one would still need to do [ctrl -] at least four times to view the diagram all on one screen (mine anyway), but then the individual cells/pieces would still look a bit too small to be really acceptable. P.S.: In a later edit, I changed the diagram's scale to just 23, which would be the largest size able to show on my laptop screen a final 4D diagram (with many cells deleted) without needing to scroll down my screen. Looking at the diagram now, the cells/pieces (not to mention the notation for the board's cells) look almost too small to be really acceptable, but perhaps this is a borderline case?]

Fwiw, here's a page for a CVP entry that seems to use hexes of about the same size, though somehow the pieces (at least when represented by individual letters) seem easier to see:

Antarctic Chess

The last diagram I posted I currently don't intend to work on any further. I was checking out how the Diagram Designer could handle a variant of this kind of scale, which I'd previously considered, but had tentatively rejected. That's since it was recently suggested to me a variant this size for hexagonal 4D chess really might be better than the 4D board I posted the second last time that I gave a diagram in this thread, because a knight's tour that includes a centre hex on the same 2D board is impossible, if a knight moves only on the same 2D board, on that 4D board's less numerous & smaller sized 2D boards. So, I thought I'd check out how a diagram for the bigger dimension 4D board (with 37 2D boards) might be seen in practice (as you can tell from what I posted, it appears the individual hexes would be too hard to see, even if the 4D board only barely filled the [my, at least] screen, rather than was bigger than it). That reason makes me further reject the idea of such a larger 4D hexagonal variant even more than the reasons I already had decided (tentatively) to reject it because of.

The Diagram Designer indicates above its first 'box' containing text that it produces a HTML code (or 'string', if you prefer) that you can cut and paste (i.e. from the first box of text), say into a Comment you post, or into a submission for a chess variant that you might make instead. The default setting shows a chess diagram that uses abstract-style chess figurines. You can change whatever aspects of the diagram that you are able to (many, in fact), then click on "update" for your diagram, to see how it looks like once the changes are made, and then you can make further updates to the diagram if desired. When you're satisfied with how your diagram looks, you then copy the string for the diagram where it is indicated to do so (by selecting it, then hitting ctrl c) and then you can paste it somewhere on The Chess Variant Pages website where it will show the HTML string you copied as a diagram (i..e. in a Comment, or in a chess variant submission you might make [look up "Post your own Game" under your name {by pointing at it with the mouse} in the main menu at the top of a given page on this website - when submitting a chess variant, first you fill out an information page, then go to the next step {page} where you fill in details about how your game is played, and there is a space where you can paste {with ctrl v} your diagram's HTML string for the game's starting position {if any given by you}, i.e. in the "Setup" box.]).

Learning how to create all the types of diagrams I might wish to took me a while, and by no means have I learned everything. The webmaster Fergus Duniho may be the best person to ask on how to make trickier diagrams, if you don't want to try to understand all the instructions that you can read by clicking on certain links in the Diagram Designer. However, Fergus may be on vacation at the moment. The Diagram Designer, as I understand it, is a somewhat slightly limited version (in terms of types of diagrams it supports) of what you can do with Game Courier, in producing diagrams for games you wish to actually play on Game Courier, by the use of what are called presets.

P.S.: There's no doubt a way to save a diagram's HTML string on your computer once you've made your diagram, without putting it in a Comment or submission of yours, so that you can turn off your machine and use the string at a later time. For now, being something of a computer dinosaur, I simply 'save' my diagram (and thus its HTML string) by posting it in a Comment of mine, if I don't wish to use it right away in a submission that I may or may not decide to make.

I've edited my last post somewhat substantially.

Thanks Kevin, that helps a lot!

Here's my first chess diagram made by HTML code (which I'm pretty sure is an illegal position):

<IMG SRC="/play/pbm/drawdiagram.php?code=RnbqkbnRpPpPpPpP32pPpPpPpPrNBQKBNr">

Your information is a big help.:)

It showed up correctly at Diagram Designer. Not sure what's missing here.

(That is, it showed correctly an illegal chess position).

Well, for now, at least I can make diagrams at the Designer page.:)

Here is the code which represents the starting position for "Chess on an Infinite Plane":

<IMG SRC="/play/pbm/drawdiagram.php?code=1p1e1p8p1e1p3p1p10p1p5p12p86profnbqkbnforp7pppppppppppp88PPPPPPPPPPPP7PROFNBQKBNFORP86P12P5P1P10P1P3P1E1P8P1E1P1&cols=20&point=22&bcolor=FOFFFO&colors=D3D3D3+FFFACD+F5DEB3&tcolor=FFFACD">

Kevin: Thanks for your help with using Diagram Designer. (I'm still trying to learn how "colors" works, and if there is a reference somewhere that shows selections available with code to use).

I will submit this soon so it's shown here also in the ChessVariants Pages. It's already being played at the chess.com forum. (I recently lost a rook in one game, putting me behind):(

Also, can anyone tell me why the code does not display in these threads? It works at the Designer Page. Am I missing something to make it display here?

Thanks,

I have one more question I hope someone can help me with:

I would like to switch the colors of the black and white squares of the chessboard in this diagram:

<IMG SRC="/play/pbm/drawdiagram.php?code=1p1e1p8p1e1p3p1p10p1p5p12p86profnbqkbnforp7pppppppppppp88PPPPPPPPPPPP7PROFNBQKBNFORP86P12P5P1P10P1P3P1E1P8P1E1P1&cols=20&point=22&bcolor=FOFFFO&colors=D3D3D3+FFFACD+F5DEB3&tcolor=FFFACD">
 

The pattern colors are specified by:

D3D3D3 FFFACD F5DEB3

But when I move sections around, I can't get the colors to switch as expected. Can anyone explain how this works?

It's just a minor detail, but I would prefer if I can make the diagram so that the queen is on her own color. (I like to keep with tradition, except for the variant rules that are actually being revised).

Thanks if anyone can help.:)
 

The best way to properly show your diagram in a Comment without any big fuss, I've now realized, is to post a Comment first without attempting to give the diagram at all. Then, procede to edit your Comment (by using the 'edit' command that shows with it), whereupon you merely insert the diagram's HTML code string into your Comment at some point of your choosing. For some reason, as I alluded to earlier, Comments on this website currently don't handle diagram HTML strings quite properly if attempting to show them without doing an edit after.

For a square board checkering scheme for a diagram, i.e. that uses just two of the colours that are specified by the digram designer at a given time, if you want to switch the light & dark colours of the board checkering scheme, switch the order of the numbers in the fairly simple checkering scheme that you're currently using, then hit 'update'. For example, if the checkering scheme is 10.01. then change it to 01.10. Note that it is important to include the last dot when giving a checkering scheme of any sort.

Thanks Kevin, you've been a big help! I just added the game to a new thread. I was even able to switch the square colors so the queens are now on her own color. Fergus Duniho's abstract (and cubist) piece images were also very helpful to make the chess diagram have a nice appearance.

I have many questions about this game, which I hope people on these forums might be able to answer. (For example what are some example of pieces required to checkmate on an infinite plane?)

And I also hope someone will play me in a game.

Thanks again!