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Hectochess. 10x10 variant that can be played with 2 mismatched Chess sets.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Greg Strong wrote on Mon, Jan 7, 2019 12:30 AM UTC:

I'm sorry, but this game needs a different name.  "Decimal Chess" is existing terminology dating back at least a hundred years that refers generically to chess variants played on a 10x10 board.  It would not be appropriate at this point to use it as the proper name of a new variant.  Perhaps "DeWitt Decimal Chess"?


💡📝A. M. DeWitt wrote on Mon, Jan 7, 2019 03:42 PM UTC:

The main reason I gave the name "Decimal Chess" to this variant  because I did not find any Chess variant that went by that name. I  wanted to avoid stealing the name of another game and including any part of my name when naming the game. I wanted to give the game a name that referenced the size of the board, but I couldn't a good alternative. I will put a note on the page to avoid confusion until I decide on an alternative.


Greg Strong wrote on Wed, Jan 9, 2019 01:01 AM UTC:

Chess on a 10x10 Board is not a good name either.  Strictly speaking, this is not "Chess" on a 10x10 board.  Look at this variant for comparison - Chess on a 12 by 12 Board. It really is Chess on a 12 by 12 board.

You have to understand that there are thousands of chess variants in existence. There are a minimum of a hundred variants like this - chess expanded to a 10x10 board with a few new pieces. Inventing a new one now and trying to give it a generic name as though this is "the" representative game of the genre is not really appropriate.


Ben Reiniger wrote on Wed, Jan 9, 2019 07:13 PM UTC:

I agree with Greg.  Since this is derived from your Yangsi, maybe the name could reference that.  "DeWitt's Decimal" would work, but it seems like you like your other decimal game better.

You needn't bother moving the content to another page just for the naming.  Since the page is pretty young, we can modify the relevant references without too much trouble.


H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Jan 9, 2019 11:25 PM UTC:

Suggestion: the name 'hectochess' appears to be still available. 'Hecto' = 100.


💡📝A. M. DeWitt wrote on Fri, Jan 11, 2019 10:23 PM UTC:

The name has been finalized (finally!). Many thanks to H. G. Muller for suggesting the name.


John Davis wrote on Sun, Jan 13, 2019 07:37 PM UTC:

I am  excited to see a game that uses the Leo, but I find it confusing that it is called Cannon. As an aesthetic issue, I don't agree with using the standard Cannon in Yangsi and then calling the Leo a Cannon in Hecto. There is a Leo graphic in the Abstract set. 

On a more stylistic note, the introduction mentions using a second set of pieces for OTB play. I might have used the inverted graphics of the FIDE pieces in the Alfaerie preset to suggest which pieces to substitute .


John Davis wrote on Sun, Jan 13, 2019 08:44 PM UTC:

Oops, I didn't intend for the extra posts. I too am a fan of the 10 x 10 board, but lack the computer skills to post pages for my 10 x 10 Courier and Chu Shogi.


H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, Jan 14, 2019 04:56 PM UTC:

Yet it doesn't seem to require much more skill than typing. So I want to encourage you to try it. I am quite curious for your solution to a 10x10 version of Chu Shogi.


Ben Reiniger wrote on Mon, Jan 14, 2019 07:44 PM UTC:

John, please feel free to email me with any questions about the submission process.  I'd be happy to help you, and even happier to know of any pain points we might be able to simplify.


Aurelian Florea wrote on Thu, Jan 17, 2019 11:55 AM UTC:

This looks like omega chess besides it's 10x10 board :)!


John Davis wrote on Thu, Feb 7, 2019 04:50 PM UTC:

To H. G. We talked about it in the Elven Chess comments and there is an unpublished preset under the name Grand Chu Shogi and a record of my play test with Joe.

To Ben, thank you . I have trouble finding free time between work and family. I have 8 unpublished presets, but Grand Courier and Grand Chu Shogi are the main ones.

To Adam. My long-term project is to make a basic set for beginners (a 10x10 board, peiclopeidia and a collection of games) and this is a good addition , but calling the Leo a Cannon isn't the only issue. In your rules for pawn promotion, you give the option to promote to a Vao, but not to a Pao. This might be another reason to avoid confusion and change the name of the Cannon to Leo and give the option to promote to Pao and Vao.


H. G. Muller wrote on Thu, Feb 7, 2019 10:27 PM UTC:

Ah, sorry, I had forgotten all about that. I read back on it now, and it definitely seems a variant that deserves an article here.


John Davis wrote on Sun, Feb 10, 2019 06:31 AM UTC:

To H G, thank you for your efforts, but one small mistake, the Stags should start on the second rank next to the Rooks. This thread is not the appropriate place to carry on. Would you please post the interactive diagram of Grand Chu Shogi as a comment on my Grand Tamerlane page and post the link to the jocly Scirocco on the Scirocco comment page. I will post my thoughts on Scirocco on it's comments page.


🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Feb 20, 2019 01:17 PM UTC:

Regarding the ability to let either side move first, this was criticized in the comments for Yangsi, and you removed it from that game. I hope you will do the same here.

Since your Cannon moves as a Leo, why not call it that and change your graphic images for it?


💡📝A. M. DeWitt wrote on Fri, Mar 8, 2019 07:13 PM UTC:

The rule for deciding who moves first is no longer a part of this game, but I forgot to remove it from the Rules section. It has now been removed from both this page and the corresponding Game Courier presets.


Kevin Pacey wrote on Fri, Jan 3, 2020 05:11 AM UTC:

For what it's worth, here's my tentative estimates for the piece values of this (10x10) variant, at least in the endgame phase:

P=1; N=3; B=3.5; Ch=Wi=3.75; Le=R=5.5; A=7.5; M=9.5; Q=10 and a K's fighting value=2.5.


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