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This is essentially chess with cannons and elephants added. It appears to play rather well. I like it a lot.
However; in my in-progress game my opponent has 2 light-squared Bishops and no Dark-Squared Bishop. I have one of each. The reason is that when the game begins Black has a Bishop on h9 and a Knight on g9. By the rules this is wrong.
The pre-set needs to be corrected so that the initial setup has a Bishop on g9 and a Knight on h9. Of course, players can manually fix this when they begin a game, but like me, many may assume a correct setup is present and not notice the error for the first few moves.
This game looks to be well thought out. I am pleased to see the re-unification of the game as it is perceived through both eastern and western eyes. Each stands to gain something from the other. I am glad it was submitted to the 3rd Courier tournament. Thanks also to Hans B. for the translation from the French.
Chess according to Zillions: Q=7.6 R=4.6 B=3.2 N=2.7 P=1 Shako according to Zillions: Q=8.9 R=5.6 B=3.6 N=3.0 P=1 C=5.5 E=2.9 Xiang Qi according to Zillions: R=5.4 C=5.35 Chess : Q=9 R=5 B=3.3 N=3 P=1 XiangQi : R=12 C=6 H=5 E=3 F=2 P= 1 or 2 (before or after crossing the River) -- so Zillions is very wrong about R=C. Cylindrical Chess: R=B (two eight-square files) -- colourboundness doesn't matter. Zillions should be right about N=E (eight squares) for Shako. I would add something for the Cannon and substract something for the Queen because a Cannon is as dangerous as a Knight to a Queen (and an Elephant isn't, by the way). So, Q=10 R=5.5 C=4 B=4 N=3 E=2.8 P=1 in the opening. Q=10 R=6 B=4 C=3 N=3 E=2.8 P=1 in the midgame. Q=10 R=6.5 B=4 N=2.5 E=2.5 C=2 P=1 in the endgame (if the Pawn isn't particularly strong, of course).
Unicorn=10, Queen=10, Chancellor=9, Rook=5.5, Lion=4.5(?)
Bishop=3.5, Knight=3, Elephant=2.5, Pawn=1
are endgame piece values (for Shako and Unicorn Great Chess) which preserve some formulas I firmly believe in, namely Q+P = R+R and Q = R+B+P and R+P = B+N. The Cannon should be worth 4 Pawns at the start of the game, but decline to half the value of a Rook in the endgame (2.75 Pawns). I consider short range pieces to have more value than Antoine Fourrière gives them in his Comment. Even the lowly Ferz should be worth 1.5 Pawns on a 10x10 board. EDIT [March 2007] I decided to bump the Lion up to 5 full points. The Ferz still looks good to me.
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