Ratings & Comments
Greg Strong wrote on Tue, Jul 23, 2019 12:20 AM UTC:Try clicking the browser's Refresh button after you click to Edit the Page Contents. That should update the text.
@ Moderators - about 2 weeks ago I made some edits to the posting. However this is not yet reflected after I click "Edit the post" so when I edit, I had to work off an older version. How could I get the latest html version from the post?
Home page of The Chess Variant Pages. Homepage of The Chess Variant Pages.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If that is still happening, please provide details on how to replicate the problem. Otherwise, it is hard to know what is going on or how to address it.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Hi H.G.:
Chess Assistant16 doesn't provide the engine that it used for evaluations, regrettably. However I experimented in another way (though not as you would prefer), using Houdini3 (released 2012) as an engine instead. In the exact position in the line culminating with 9.Qc2-c3 that I gave, after some considerable time to look, Houdini3 evaluates the position as 0.15 (or "+=/="), somewhat better than the 0.04 of CA16's engine (as an aside, a disbelieving master friend dared me to play this line as Black against him in any tournament, back in the 1980s, and gallingly I lost the one time I obliged - in spite of previously winning a number of nice master-level games with it, at least sometimes attacking with queens on the board).
I tried replacing the B on c1 with a White knight (a fairly lousy square for a Kt), and this time Houdini3 gave the position as -0.12 (or "=") after considerable time spent. I then tried looking at the same position but with the White knight on d2 (not a great square completely for a knight, either, but it allows White to develop at least a move faster, probably); in this case Houdini3 rated the position as exactly 0.00 (or "="). Note: replacing the Kt on d2 with a dark-squared White bishop gives a position Houdini3 evaluated as 0.17 (or "+=/="); White can formally develop all his pieces a move faster (probably), but he'll want to eventually improve the lot of that piece (White B) now on d2 - though that seems true if a White Kt were there, too.
It may be worth noting that CA16's engine rates the Nimzo-Indian Defence (position after 3...Bf8-b4) as worth 0.07 (or "+=/=") for White, while Houdini3 gives it as 0.16 (or "+=/=") for White. CA16 considers the Nimzo-Indian complex of defences as numerically Black's best defence to 1.Pd2-d4 (i.e. with 'best' play).
H. G. Muller wrote on Sun, Jul 21, 2019 09:16 AM UTC:Piece values are an average over all plausible positions anyway, furthermore based on the assumption that the value of an army is the sum of its parts. (Although the B-pair bonus strictly speaking already is an exception to that). So it is to be expected that in individual positions the performance is not as good as the standard value suggests. E.g. the value of a Bishop is commonly considered to be dependent on the shade the Pawns are on. And a Queen is more valuable when the opponent has poor King safety, so you can effectively double-move it via intermediate checks.
What you show here is not evidence of that, however. That there is no obvious compensation doesn't mean there is no compensation. Apart from the Bishop-Knight imbalance, the position is quite asymmetric. So the absolute value of the position cannot really be attributed to material only. A better test would be to replace one of the white Bishops by a Knight, and then look how much the position scores on average. If white is then significantly worse you know it cannot be due to material, as that is perfectly balanced.
On computer chess (or even human) piece valuations, a 'controversial variation of the Nimzo-Indian Defence' (according to Dutch Grandmaster Jan Timman in The Art of Chess Analysis, circa 1980, referring to 5...Nf6-e4 below) that I (as a master-level player) have liked to play as Black over the years just might illustrate an exception to giving a very significant bishop-pair bonus on an 8x8 board to the side possessing it, even when there appears to be no clear reason to make the exception.
The variation in question goes 1.Pd2-d4 Ng6-f6 2.Pc2-c4 Pe7-e6 3.Nb1-c3 Bf8-b4 4.Pe2-e3 Pb7-b6 5.Ng1-e2 Nf6-e4 6.Qd1-c2 Bc8-b7 7.Pa2-a3 Bb4-c3(ch) 8.Ne2-c3 Ne4-c3 9.Qc2-c3 (see diagram below; note that nowadays in my games, some players prefer to give Black the bishop pair instead, by playing 6.Bc1-d2[!] - in either case there are some tiny factors going on in favour of either side, but these are not so easy to articulate, at least in a few words, even for master-level players; also note my 2008 book Encyclopedia of Chess Openings volume E, 4th edition gives the line as definitely slightly better for White ["+="] in either case, but my more modern chess database's human evaulation [i.e. that of 2015's Chess Assistant16] gives White only its usual symbolic edge ["+=/="] as in its more mainline openings' variations, also with the CA16 engine's evaluation as only 0.04 pawns in White's favour, in either case):
Hidden Random Chess. This is a two-player game that incorporates the element of chance in chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Greg Strong wrote on Fri, Jul 19, 2019 10:47 PM UTC:I like this. I think it's a good name and I can find no evidence of it being used before. I'll change the name later this evening.
Name: What about "Hidden Random Chess", a name inspired from Fischer Random Chess.
Uploading image: Thanks to Ben's hints, I now have the image uploaded.
Jocly. An html-based web platform for playing 2-player abstract stategy games.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Jocly Apps are actually still available on the Apple App Store (but not on the Google Play Store). Of course connection to the server isn't possible anymore, but the IA works.
Chu Shogi. Members-Only Shogi variant on 12 by 12 board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Since this comment is for a page that has not been published yet, you must be signed in to read it.
Hidden Random Chess. This is a two-player game that incorporates the element of chance in chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Ben Reiniger wrote on Fri, Jul 19, 2019 03:39 AM UTC:@Prussia,
1) We (an editor) will need to change the name; let us know when you're settled on one. (Also, to me, Undercover seems like the player should know their own pieces' identities. "Reveal" or something, but that suffers the same problem and hints at existing Revelation. Hmm.)
2) You should be able to upload images from your computer using the "upload files" link just after the bottom of the game description -- the part that begins with the 'm' icon and "This 'user submitted' page ...". The editing links for you (including the image upload) will only display when you are logged in. If you want to use the diagram designer, there should be some suitable modified-pawn images that would work, or maybe using the dotted modifier recently described there. (A black dot over pieces that are technically unknown to the players, but which you want to show the reader?)
I also wanted to mention that this reminds me a little of V.R. Parton's Identific Chess (here currently only as a Friedlander applet; I'll have to write an article later), which led me also to David Howe's Potential Chess.
Thanks for the input - now I just need some solutions.
1) How do I go by edit the name of the mod?
2) How do I upload my own images? All options so far require an external link. The diagram designer doesn't show that the e2 pawn is different from other units on the 2nd row. I have my own image ready but no way to upload it onto the website.
The setup section says "See illustration," but there is no illustration. One would be helpful to have. Also, the setup says nothing about the board. I'm presuming it's the usual 8x8 Chess board, but it would be helpful to mention this explicitly.
The name Disc Chess brings to mind Terry Pratchett's Discworld and suggests to me a game played on a circular board. Also, it's not the only game with disc shaped pieces. Chinese Chess is also played with disc-shaped pieces. I agree with Ben that a name reflecting the hidden information aspect of this game would be most appropriate. Something like Undercover Chess might work.
Is the name disc chess taken yet? Also how do I revise the name? It doesn't seem to let me.
Raumschach. The classical variant of three-dimensional chess: 5 by 5 by 5. (5x(5x5), Cells: 125) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Ben Reiniger wrote on Mon, Jul 15, 2019 09:26 PM UTC:@Kelvin, I think these are equivalent, because of the current text's requirement "always in the same coordinate plane," or from the later "never step through the corner of a cell."
Also equivalent, I think, is the one-orthogonal one-diagonal-outward if this page treated the unicorn's "triagonal" as non-diagonal. I think maybe the easiest description would be "like a knight in any of the coordinate planes," but that's probably pretty subjective.
If you disagree with any of these equivalences, could you point out an example move that one has that the other doesn't?
The description for the knight is incorrect. It should read that the knight moves tw squares in one rook wise direction and 1 in another. The piece's current description, while making the same piece as the first one on 2d boards, gives a different piece on 3d boards
Hidden Random Chess. This is a two-player game that incorporates the element of chance in chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Greg Strong wrote on Sat, Jul 13, 2019 07:32 PM UTC:Ah, I see, the page contents don't show up if I'm not logged in ...
Ben Reiniger wrote on Sat, Jul 13, 2019 05:20 PM UTC:The contents are here, just hidden pending editorial review. But Greg's point does stand that this should have a different name to differentiate it from the existing Flip Chess. Maybe something that indicates the hidden information aspect?
Greg Strong wrote on Sat, Jul 13, 2019 04:29 PM UTC:There is nothing on this page. Are you referring to this game?
Just played this very interesting game. A single Knight won the game when White was at a larrge disadvantage being down a bishop and a rook.
(note b2=P means b2 is flipped and a Pawn is revealed. Pawns are desginated P and there is no short-form notation)
1. c2=P c7=C
2. Pe2-e3 ....
Otherwise Cc7xc1 #
2. ... Cc7xc1 (xB)
3. Ke1-e2 Cc1xa1 (xP)
4. g2=N b7=B
5. Ng2-f4 Bb7xh1 (xR)
6. Nf4-e6
After a careless capture at h1, which yielded a rook advantage (rook is the strongest unit on board at the start), Black resigns at this point, since Nxg7 or Nc7 are both checkmates and no possible move could defend both squares. The King could not move as its only revealed piece, the e7 pawn, is blocked by the white Knight. Other unrevealed p
Rhino. A set of pieces which combine the movements of the Mao with that of the Wazir.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Jul 10, 2019 09:21 AM UTC:Note that it must be trivially easy to checkmate a bare King with a Rhino, powerful as the latter is, in addition to covering two orthogonally adjacent squares. The checkmating applet cannot really do crooked sliders, but assuming that blocking doesn't play a significant role with only another King on the board, you can let it calculate a piece that directly leaps to the squares a Rhino would attack.
As is well known, the Gnu/Wildebeest, whose targets all fall on the Rhino paths, has no mating potential. This is due to a coincidental collision with the King. But just adding a single W move to the Gnu (say fW) already cricumvents this problem. So WNC, which is a subset of the Rhino (but leaping) already has an easy mate (maximally 19 moves).
The Mirror Rhino fares even better, as FN in itself has already mating potential (maximally 22 moves). The longer distance moves of the Rhino were only needed because without them no two orthogonally adjacent squares would be attacked.
@Aurelian Florea
This is a Rhino where all Wazir movements are crooked compared to the previous one
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