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Capablanca Random Chess. Randomized setup for Capablanca chess. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Greg Strong wrote on Thu, Feb 24, 2005 04:49 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Very nice! The author has done an excellent job of defining a Fischer randomization system for Capablanca's Chess (actually this piece mix goes back to the 1600s with D. Pietro Carrera -- see Carrera's Chess.) It is obvious to me that the design has been carefully considered from both a game-designer's perspective and a software developer's perspective.

I'm not sure I like the idea of renaming the pieces, though. There are already too many different names for these pieces, and I think the goal should be to standardize the names, and I believe Capablanca's names of Archbishop and Chancellor are probably the best choices.

Robert Fischer wrote on Thu, Feb 24, 2005 06:37 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Nice to see you moving forward with your dream.
Best regards!

Charles Gilman wrote on Sat, Feb 26, 2005 07:48 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

Good to see someone taking up the suggestion inspired by Grotesque Chess. I'm not keen on the names here either, my favourites being Marshal and Cardinal, but I'm getting used to such 'agreements to differ'.

Greg Strong wrote on Tue, Apr 26, 2005 12:03 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

The Beta of SMIRF is quite nice! Good user interface, nice set of features, and intelligent play. It would be nice if you would consider making it open-source.

🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Jul 1, 2005 01:52 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

This looks like a good game. I like Fischer Random Chess, as well as some of the variants played on this board with these pieces. So I expect the combination to be good.

Stephen Stockman wrote on Thu, Sep 21, 2006 04:53 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

u could be the lucky 12000'th visitor at my 4-way chess web-site

Sam Trenholme wrote on Mon, Aug 13, 2007 03:57 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

It saddens me to see that the excellent SMIRF chess variant engine is no longer available for download. Fortunatly, I was able to download a copy of SMIRF when it was still free downloadable, and have finally had a chance to give this chess engine a test spin. The variant I have SMIRF play is my own 'Schoolbook Chess' (CRC setup #27621 with different castling rules).

SMIRF has a very romantic style of play, making bold sacrifices. For example, in thie game against Zillions of Games, where both sides have five seconds to make a move on a Pentium Core Duo 1.5Ghz, SMIRF has the black pieces and makes several bold sacrifices before finally delivering the mating blow to white:

1. e4 Ng6 2. f3 Nd6 3. d3 Af6 4. NI3 e6 5. Ng4 Ah5 6. I4 AI6 7. Nb3 h5 8. Nc5 Qc8 9. Ixh5 Axh5 10. NI3 Af4 11. g3 Ah6 12. h3 b6 13. Ng4 Aj5 14. Nb3 Mh8 15. Af2 BI6 16. Bj4

SMIRF gets ready to make his first sacrifice.

16... Mh5!? 17. NI3 Mxj4 18. Nxj5 Bxj5 19. Ag1 Mh5 20. Kf2 Mg5 21. f4

SMIRF now sacrifices both of his knights to continue the attack on White's King.

21... Nxe4+! 22. dxe4 Mxe4+ 23. Kg2 Nxf4+! 24. gxf4 Mxf4+ 25. Kh2 KI8 26. c3+ f5 27. MI5

SMIRF sacrifces his bishop in order to keep his attack lively.

27... j6! 28. Mxj5 Qb7 29. Bf3 Qxf3 30. Axf3 Mxf3+ 31. Kg2 Mf4+ 32. Kh2

Black can now force mate; finding this mate is left as an exercise to the reader.

In another game, SMIRF plays ChessV, with SMIRF having the white pieces and each side given 30 seconds to decide their move on a Pentium Core Duo 1.5Ghz. Here is how that game went:

1. Ng3 e5 2. Mh3 Ne7 3. Nd3 Neg6 4. e3 d6 5. f4 exf4 6. exf4 Ad7 7. Af2 Axh3 8. Axh3 Ke8 9. Bg4 Bh4 10. Bd7+ Kd8 11. Qe1 Ne7 12. Bf2 Nhg6 13. Nf5 Bxf2 14. Kxf2 c6 15. Nxe7 Nxe7 16. Qe2 d5 17. Nc5 Ng6 18. Rje1 Kc7 19. Bxc6 Kxc6

At this point, even though White is down material, he can force mate. The mate, again, is left as an exercise for the reader.

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