Kibbitz Listing
I have used this two-move opening in CWDA for years. But this time I ignored Ralph Betza's advice to keep the pawn structure locked up, preventing the Black Bishops from dominating the open lines.
My plan was to play 38. CH d2-c4 and capture the Pawn on d4 later, but at the last minute I chose another move. Bad idea! Congrats to the winner.
It has been pointed out that 22...k c6-B5 was the only legal move. In that position the lone White Queen is in danger of running out of checks.
EDIT [May 2023] my original notes here were incorrect.
Planning to run some computer analysis at a later date.
- - - - - -
Does "Kibbitzing Comments" still work? Matthew La Vallee gave a link to his Game Courier Preset for Mattexperiment 2 at the bottom of this page on 2008-04-05. This 16x16 game (lacking rules) apparently gave each player a Gryphon, two Nightriders and two Roses. Comments by Matthew La Vallee contains one with no subject header dated 2008-04-22 that discusses how a Rose moves.
A little searching turned up presets named Mattexperiment 1d and Mattexperiment 1f. Sad to say, all we have left of his efforts are some pretty pictures.
There are two ways to make your move. Joe Joyce wrote:
'You've gone into the game 'the wrong way'. Either click on the link in any of the email notifications you received that it was your turn, or go to 'what's New' at chessvariants.org, click on the top item there - the most recent game courier move. This will take you to the Game Courier logs page. Enter your name and password there, and submit. When your list of games comes up, click on your name rather than the game log itself, to get to the game.'
Nick, you typed 'resign-', this command will not work with a '-' on the end.
For the information of the casual viewer: this game was played using a different Unicorn piece from this webpage. Shortly after this particular game began, the Raumschach preset was corrected to show alternate colors for the squares on the second and fourth boards.
See also L. Lynn Smith's Zillions file for Monster 3D Chess. In that 6x6x6 variant the Unicorn moves as in classic Raumschach, while the colorbound Hippogriff 'leaps to the opposite corner of a 2x2x3 area'.
Spotted Gryphon This colorbound piece moves like a ferz and may also continue outward as a dabbabah-rider, until it captures a piece or is blocked from further leaping. It can reach all squares of the same color that a Gryphon can, with the advantage that its movement can only be blocked on those squares. See my Rose Chess page for a Chainsaw (Dragon) movement diagram.
White overlooked 1.Rose c1-b3-c5-e6-g5 mate. 'RandomChess' variants with powerful pieces can be tricky. EDIT: I must have been looking at the Pawn (g4) when I wrote about a White Rose checkmate. As you say, there is no check from g5. Tricky indeed!
Has something happened to the Alfaerie: Grand Shatranj image set? No pictures this morning in this game - ditto some Grand/Great Shatranj games I looked at.
Pawns move one square at a time. They can and must promote to any piece of the same color from the initial setup (for example, a player can have 15 Rooks on the board). Victory conditions are the same as in Shatranj Kamil X: checkmate and most stalemates.
I notice that Q f5-d7 crossed a square (e6) that the Black King could move to. Perhaps the program forgot that the Black King cannot capture on that square.
But I have no idea at all why 21. c6-e4 was rejected.
Each player has three colorbound pieces, which cover the entire board with no overlapping. This game design requires the White Elephants to start on ranks one and two, in order to place them on squares of opposite color from the White Ferz. If, on the other hand, the game started with Elephants on the first and tenth ranks, then the fifth rank would be dominated by White Elephants and the sixth rank by Black Elephants. That initial setup might make it more difficult for the players to advance their pawns into enemy territory - and result in more drawn games.
Promotion is immediate, after making a normal move that ends (or begins) in the promotion zone. But piece drops do not count as normal moves. Click on the [Rules] button for more details.
Pawn = 100, Ferz = 175, (ordinary) Elephant = 175, Knight = 300, War Elephant = 350 are my revised piece values in this game. Why bump the colorbound pieces up 25 points? The Ferz is a handy little piece, worth a solid 150 points on a 10x10 board, plus a 25 point bonus for promoting (just like the Pawn). While the Alibaba may be worth not much more than 200 points, the Elephant should be nearly as valuable in the endgame, when there are few pieces on the board. Ralph Betza once estimated the combined Alfilrider and Dabbabahrider piece as worth no more than a Knight on an 8x8 board. Instead of generating pages of pseudomathematics here, I will just list some reasons for liking these pieces:
the War Elephant can force a stalemate victory against a lone King,
while King and (ordinary) Elephant can actually draw against five War Elephants, provided they all travel on squares of the opposite color to the Elephant.
Knight = 300, Guard = 300, Shaman = 360, Hero = 450 are my latest estimates for this 16x12 board. I am giving the three-steppers lower values than in Opulent Lemurian Shatranj, as I feel that the much larger board and multiple moves per turn cause a 'leveling out' of the piece values. The Chieftain (giving the player an extra move) is worth at least two Heroes.
This movement diagram uses hollow squares for the War Machine and X's for the War Elephant (not used in this variant). For an ASCII diagram of Rose moves on a 16x16 board, see the Rose Chess Preset.
Sam, I don't know how players manage to accept games without giving their names - but it may not be possible for your opponent to make any further moves. After all, what password does one enter for 'nobody'?
Regarding time limits, I have been trying to convert Joe Joyce to a '411' system, allowing two weeks per move: [Timed Game?] checked [Spare Time:] 4 weeks [Grace Time:] 1 week [Extra Time:] 1 week
Thanks for the game Carlos. I used my Omega Chess set to analyse these complicated positions. After your latest move (in time trouble), it looks like I can win a Rook with:
... Rook f4-f2 check!
We must assume that a tournament game of Shatranj or Modern Shatranj will be following the given rules, not footnotes. I have argued in the past that any variant rules worth playing should have their own pages on this site.
WARNING: the pieces are not set up correctly - also the second and fourth levels have the wrong colored squares. You can use my Raumschach Revised preset - eventually an editor will add a link to it on the game information page.
Three years ago I posted Piececlopedia comments about the Cavalier and the Duke, mentioning some gryphon/aanca type pieces used by Adrian King and Mark Hedden. More recently, Gary K. Gifford has posted a 12 by 12 variant called Gryphon Aanca Chess. My own Rose Chess XII has Spotted Gryphons, limiting the number of other pieces in order to provide more 'breathing room' on the board.
Regarding Mark's comment below, the Boyscout / Crooked Bishop has been re-invented at least once. Dababbah riders are rarely seen, but the Dragon in Ca
The Piececlopedia has a multicolor Rose movement diagram. Note that the (half-)rose in this game makes at most four hops. On a large board, the rose [O] can still move to 32 squares [x]: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . x . . . x . . . . . 13 . . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . 12 . . . . . x . . . . . x . . . . 11 . . . x . . . x . x . . . x . . 10 . . . . . . x . . . x . . . . . 9 . . x . x . . . O . . . x . x . 8 . . . . . . x . . . x . . . . . 7 . . . x . . . x . x . . . x . . 6 . . . . . x . . . . . x . . . . 5 . . . . x . . . x . . . x . . . 4 . . . . . . x . . . x . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p
Either player can delete any game here at any time. These (unplayed) games remind me of several Fischer Random Chess games, from years ago, which were abandoned when the players (presumably) did not like the setup they saw.
[Userid:] joejoyce [Enter your move] i1-i1; j1-h1 works fine when I try it. I think that you have to enter both piece moves to castle. Note: O-O-O would take your King to the c-file.
Joe does have an extra piece, which he can keep, if I correctly remember how a cannon double-pin works. EDIT: Somehow I failed to see ExN check!
Sent move 14... d6-b8 and received the following message:
Array ( [0] => 1200671435 [1] => 1200757191 [2] => 1200839692 [3] => 1200919765 [4] => 1200947176 [5] => 1201016841 [6] => 1201033856 [7] => 1201099773 [8] => 1201101852 [9] => 1201285016 [10] => 1201352171 [11] => 1201365155 [12] => 1201395912 [13] => 1201614264 [14] => 1201649342 [15] => 1201712285 [16] => 1201735914 [17] => 1201791224 [18] => 1201871003 [19] => 1201880662 [20] => 1201883291 [21] => 1202205298 [22] => 1202246702 [23] => 1202256806 [24] => 1202300831 [25] => 1202365990 [26] => 1202428233 [27] => 1202491577 [28] => 1202564284 [29] => 1202564285 ) 30
1202564285 - 1202564284
Is 1 > 86400 + 1915200, which is 2001600.
It is not your turn to move. Please wait for your opponent to move.
The LionThe Lion is a piece invented by Ralph Betza, which he called a Half-Duck. It has been used recently with the name 'Lion' in games by David Paulowich. This piece may leap either 2 or 3 squares horizontally or vertically, or may step a single space digonally. This piece stays on squares of the same color except when it makes the somewhat awkward (0, 3) leap. |
The ScoutThe scout may step one square horizontally or vertically, or leap exactly three squares horizontally or vertically. Also, a Scout that has not moved yet this game has the added ability to move (once) like a Knight. Like the Knight, it is forced to change the color of the square it occupies with each move. |
Piece diagrams and descriptions taken from Greg Strong's Hubbub. The Lion is used in Unicorn Great Chess. The 'War Machine' in Rose Chess XII moves like a Scout, but without 'the added ability to move (once) like a Knight'.
The Notes section on my Unicorn Great Chess page has a link to the preset: 'Computer Play: Fergus Duniho was kind enough to playtest this game with me in 2001 and create a PBM preset here.'
Feel free to send an invitation with 'david_64' listed as the opponent. I will start the game some time in the next two weeks.
I have also had problems keeping that box unchecked. There is another way around this problem.
Shatranj Kamil X has promotion to a piece that is not in the initial setup. DO NOT CLICK ON THE GAME COURIER PRESET ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE! My original game preset, which has not yet been attached to this page, places extra pieces in the center of the board and then deletes them before the first move is made. So all of the pieces used in my game will show up in the pieces list. Clicking 'Edit this preset' to see [Pre-Game: @-e5; @-f5 ], reveals how I remove the extra pieces from e5 and f5.
16... e7-d6 // kxg // well, no major blunders in this game so far... though i // think i may have been a little hasty with CxN 17. d1-e2 //KxC Well, it certainly has reduced some of the tension. // Now we get to find out if a cannon and knight are // equivalent. Enjoy.
Ralph Betza would say that the practical value of a piece is determined by the hand that holds it. This is the first such duel I have seen in a Mir Chess game. I do recall a wild position 28 moves into my game with Gary Gifford, which left me with Cannon and Elephant vs. Knight. This substantial material advantage (two pieces for the Knight) allowed me to dominate the board deep into the endgame.
http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game=Mir+Chess+32&log=david_64-penswift-2006-4-133
Black's moves 6,14,15 in this game have the effect of castling his King. This prompted me to looks up some Shogi references:
http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/gnushogi/gnushogi_18.html
There is no special castling move in shogi. The term 'castle' is used in shogi to denote a defensive formation consisting of (usually) three generals which protect the king. There are many such castles (about 40 or so have names).
Just a reminder, Uri needs to shift back and repeat move 3, allowing Black to replace his illegal move.
Joe, I think we all agree on what Fergus meant, if not on what he said. Permit me to ramble on for a while here. Suppose a master slides the White Bishop f1-b5 in a Ruy Lopez. According to the strict 'touch-move rules' FIDE passed in the 1930s, that Bishop has touched the squares e2, d3, c4, b5 and Black has the right to pick any one of those four squares and force White to move to that square. Tournament directors had to ignore that particular rule, as many high level players continued to slide their pieces across the board. Since then, players have tended to ignore how the Bishop gets from f1 to b5. And the younger players grew up on: click f1, click b5, click SEND MOVE.
Which raises a tricky question: Are we enforcing 'touch-move rules' in this tournament? To be specific, if I attempt an illegal move, can my opponent demand that I then make a legal move with the same piece?
As has just been posted, the rules do not permit Joe's move. Also, I ran a search with [Game Filter:] Fusion* and found an additional game (fragment) for 'Fusion Diamond 41', but that is all.
While I am tempted to play 22... RxK, the game rules mention 'checkmate' and 'stalemate', so I have to call 22. KxR an illegal move.
I am counting five moves for Jeremy on turn 3:
two Knight moves, two Pawn moves and O-O-O.
His 'b8-d8;' was a null move, as the b8 square was empty.
Looks like every time Black attempts to capture a piece in this game, it is rejected with a 'you may not capture your own piece' statement. Needless to say, this is a major problem in the preset. You got around this problem on move 11 with:
11... d5- ;d8-d5 //qxp and you should be able to get around this problem on move 14 with:
11... d5- ;c6-d5 //pxq
See Ralph Betza's page on Mobility, Forwardness, Distance, Colorboundness, Capture, where he writes: 'Distance: a less obvious reason for the difference in strength between the Wazir and Ferz is that the Ferz has a longer move than the Wazir. The Wazir has a move of length 1.0, the Ferz has a move of length 1.4 ( the square root of two ).'
Regarding Betza's statement, in the endgame a piece may need to move quickly from (b2) to (h8). In Midgard Chess I pointed out that this takes:
[3] moves for a War Elephant
[4] moves for a Knight or a War Machine
[6] moves for a King or a WD (Wazir+Dabbabah).
EMAIL notification for this move took 22 minutes to arrive. I had already spotted your move on Game Courier Game Logs. The internet is full of mysteries.
'Many presets are now programmed to update the status automatically, and for those that aren't, there are commands available for updating it from the Moves field. If you have won a game, enter won to mark your victory.'
Todor: you need to send won as your move, then this game will be recorded as over.
Total Time: 11 days, 22 hours, 48 minutes, 14 seconds Remaining Time: less than zero seconds Elapsed: 13 days, 19 hours, 56 minutes, 5 seconds I just ran a search under 'fergus' and came up with the figures above. Well, I am officially confused now.
I am just crazy enough to mix Cannons and Bisons in the same variant. And invent positions like this one:
WHITE (to move and win) King(a3), Cannon(g1), Bison (g7)
BLACK King(b1), Cannon(a1)
After 1.CxC KxC the Bison will force mate in 3 more moves: g7-d6-f3-c4. If Black fails to capture the White Cannon, then the three White pieces will eventually force checkmate.
And so the position after 1.CxC KxC also serves as an example of a forced mate in 3 by a single Falcon. In general, a pair of Falcons should be able to mate a lone King. Even a pair of Knights can force a lone King into a corner and stalemate it - but they lack the ability to force checkmate.
1. c2-c4
1... n b8-c6
2. c4-c5
2... n c6-e5
3. c5-c6
3... n e5-g6
4. c6-b7 // PxP
4... n i8-h6
5. b7-a8; Q-a8
I just ran this sample game to verify that Pawns promote to Queens (and presumably other pieces) in this rules enforcing preset. Clicking on the [Rules] button takes me to the 'Falcon Chess' page, where a 'Find promo' command results in several comments of a general nature and one example of a Pawn promoting to a Falcon. I am confused - in a game of 'Falcon Chess 100' between the same two players, George Duke writes:
// Right, in our 80-square FC, promotion only to RNBF,
// because R or F is interesting equal choice, depending on
// position. Here FC100 Queen promotion too if reaching that
// farther zone(Rules).
For those of you who find Shatranj Kamil as exciting as watching grass grow, I have used illegal moves to speed up the process here. First: 6 moves for White and 6 'mirror' moves for Black. Next 6 more moves for White, representing his goals for the opening phase of the game.
Points of Interest: Cannons are attacking Pawns in the initial setup, so precautions need to be taken before the Knights are moved. The Elephants on the h-file now defend the j-file Pawns. On the other side of the board ... Cannon(a10) x Pawn(a3) can be met by Elephant c4-a4, followed by Knight d4-b5. The best move for the trapped Cannon is: sacrifice itself for the Pawn(c3).
And what about that Ferz on f2? Will it serve any purpose in the game besides defending the Pawn on g3? One plan for the endgame is to move a Cannon to f1 and 'fire over the Ferz' to control 8 empty squares on the f-file. The Black King and one Elephant must stop on the f-file whenever they cross the board, which is a major headache.
Jeremy: please adjust your 'TenCubed Chess' preset to Sides: White Black and Side: White.
And as long as you are in the preset, I think that the dark squares would look better with Colors: FFFFFF 888888
Jeremy: the board looks fine now. I plan on taking at least 36 hours per move, in order to justice to this complex game. I agree with the rule allowing a King to move into check, stay in check, or be exposed to a discovered check during the sequence of moves that make up a single turn. For example, in our last game - Black King captures the White Knightrider [placing the Black King in check again] followed by Black Queen captures White Queen - would have saved the game, if only you had been allowed enough moves to clear a path for the Black Queen.
Apparently this board is still set at 18 units wide (a - r). This is causing problems with the display, especially when it is Black's turn to move. I propose using these rules:
first turn 4/8 moves, progressive rules for later turns
even a single capture removes the giant ferz
even a single check endangers the giant wazir, and must be countered to avoid mate.
Yes, if you can force my Queen to stop on the 11th and 12th ranks, then there is no checkmate. I took the Knightrider mate you were kind enough to point out to me and adapted it to a Knightrider support of a Queen mate. Note that my Rook (next to my King) has an important role: preventing you from playing a 1-move Knightrider mate on the 'giant square' directly in front of the Rook.
WILD GUESS at piece values: Ferz=1, Wazir=1, Guard=2, Knight=3. Clearly Knightriders and Queens are powerful attacking pieces. I think that Rooks are stronger than Bishops (no surprise there), but a solitary Ferz can race forward at a steady 2 squares per move and provide the forward line of defense we now know to be crucial in this game. Even with elongated moves, a solitary Wazir advances 2+1+1+2+1+1.
How big is the increase in value when a player forms an aggregates? Well, a Queen may be worth as much as 3 Wazirs plus 3 Knights (that can never form a Rook or a Knightrider). Bad luck for a player to get reduced to 3 of one piece.
Turn 10 checkmate, because the White Guards on k13 and k14 can only be captured by giant pieces.
If the the Black King captures the White Queen, then 3 more moves are required to eliminate all Knight checks.
If the the Black King captures the White Knightrider, then 3 more moves are required: h13-h11; g13-h12; [Black Queen captures White Queen].
My hypothetical comments two days ago have nothing to do with this mate. Many thanks for the game!
'Square Tiling Rider Shatranj' is a perfectly good name for the 16x16 game - it is still your variant, after all. Looking forward to a game with you - but I may wait until next week to begin. I am in a kind of opposite situation to you, with MIR CHESS 36 having started out as the simple idea of an 8x8 version of SHAKO, but my refinement MIR CHESS 32 added several original touches.
'My heart says yes, but my mind says no.' Trust your mind - note how easy it is to move an aggregate to a location adjacent to your opponent's royal piece, so any 'jump off the aggregate bus' rule would allow (part of) the royal piece to be captured in the same game turn.
I am tempted to place a nonroyal Giant Ferz on k1, k2, l1, l2 (also k15, k16, l15, l16) and then remove the a1-a16 and b1-b16 columns from the board. This results in a 16x16 variant giving each player 14 copies of each small piece. The (NEW) a1 to p16 diagonal will be shades of blue - which matches the 'black' squares in standard 8x8 chess. The (NEW) locations of the royal giants match that in the 8x8 Shatranj setup.
I am unsure which player actually has an advantage under my proposed 4/8 moves rule. That sounds like fun!
You asked for comments:
Your variant reminds me slightly of highly symmetric 9x9 variants, but in fact this 18x18 setup has different pieces on the the 'i' and 'j' files - and the 13th row matches the 3rd row while the 12th row matches the 4th row. This lack of symmetry seems to be a small advantage for Black. Here is a rules change to help Black some more in future games. TURN ONE: White makes exactly 4 moves and Black makes exactly 8 moves. TURN TWO: regular rules apply, with White moving up to 9 times and Black moving up to once more than White.
As for the question Joe asked at the end of this game, I suspect that the General is not strong enough to beat a Knight in the endgame. This seems reasonable, as the endgame K+R versus K+N is usually a draw. In fact, I cannot find a winning strategy for King and Dragon Horse versus King and Knight. I set up Zillions to play this endgame against itself on a slow setting, with no progress being made after 60 moves. That is somewhat shocking, as I consider the Dragon Horse to be worth a pair of Knights.
It appears that Betza intended a sort of Chess With Different Armies variant, with the Black pieces on their usual squares.
[2004-10-07] comment by Roberto Lavieri on the 'Chess w/ Terrain' thread, which I bumped today. I recall reading that one victory condition was: occupy five of the seven yellow squares with your pieces.
TACTICS: If Black plays 29...CH b2-b1(check) 30.CR d2-e1 the Chancellor will have to run away, losing a tempo. Black saw the diagonal move 30 at the last moment, because he had been thinking of the CR as a ordinary Rook. What should Black have played earlier? After 28...WR f7-f6 29.CO f4-d3 the Chancellor will still have to run away. After 28...HD e7-f6 29.CO f4-g6 Black has saved his Half-Duck from capture, but White seems to have a mating attack similar to the one that ended this game. One lesson from this game: never assume that your opponent must reply to a capture with a recapture.
WARNING: illegal move! There was no reason to remove a square with '-g3'. Counting the 10 blue squares after Black's move 5 verifies that the correct number of removals has been made. Counting the blue squares now shows that there has been one square too many removed.
White could have played d4-b6 (PxB) on moves 5, 6, and 7.
Black definitely should have played 8...d9-f7 (PxA).
is the message I get when I enter move 35. I will try again later.
Not tried in the game was: 40... a2? 41.Eb3 Rc1+ 42.Kxc1 a1(G) 43.Kc2 Nf3 44.Re6 Nxc2 45.Re1 Gb1+ 46.Rxb1 Nxb1 47.Kxb1 and Black is facing a lost endgame. Thinking about this line, I first considered moving my Rook to a6 in an attempt to win the Black General outright. But 43...Nf3 threatens 44...Ne1+ and appears to force an even trade.
Gary, check out today's ShatranjSwapMeet Comment if you are looking for a PBM game. Yours, david_64
leads to Michael Howe's Optima page, with both 10x10 and 9x9 variants. There are supposed to be 10 Comments, but clicking on the 'View all comments' line leads to an empty page. Also: the Query Results, Starts with the letter 'O', page does not have an Optima entry. Curious!
Be careful what you wish for. (Cue ominous music) I direct your attention to my 'ShatranjSwapMeet' subject on the Ratings and Comments page.
Joe, the moves 45. Rc1-a1 and 46. Ra1-a5 should force a draw. White's Elephant pair is very strong in the center of the board and Black has to worry about the weak Black Pawn (a7).
Christine, now you know which endgame to avoid. You needed to force a trade of the light-square Elephants early in the game - then your General could have exploited the colorboundness of the lone White Elephant. If that was not possible, you could try to trade your Elephant for two White Pawns. Good winning chances for Black - also some losing chances(!)
You start a game of Pairwise Drop Chess by choosing one of five pairs: RR, NN, BB, KQ, AM and placing the two pieces on your first rank. Bishops must be placed on opposite color squares. Each player must also copy the opponent's drops, placing pieces on the same files. This process uses up the first three moves of the game.
Each king may 'free castle' once in the game with either the nearest rook on its left side or the nearest rook on its right side. This variant idea comes from the Kibitzer article 'Bring Back Free Castling!' by Tim Harding. A Pawn promotes on the last rank to a Marshal/Chancellor, Queen, or Archbishop/Cardinal of the same color. Nothing else.
After 11... Kd6 12. Ac5+ Kc6 13. Ma5+ Kd5 14. Nc3 checkmate
all the active White pieces are on dark squares. This is the secret to bypassing Black's strong grip on the light squares. A similar mating attack also works against 10... d7-d6. The position after 10. Af5 is extremely complicated - I had a reply to 10... Md6, but I forget what it was! Certainly not 11. Axi8? Bh7! 12. Axh7 Axh7 and Black still has a small material advantage.
This variant expands on an idea from the Kibitzer article 'Bring Back Free Castling!' by Tim Harding. A king may free castle with either the nearest rook on its left side or the nearest rook on its right side. When the players drop the kings on the a-file and the rooks on the b-file and i-file, for example, the only possible castling move is switching the king and the b-file rook. The 'outside rook' can never take part in castling. This rule could even be used in variants with more than two rooks for eack player.
More often the rooks will be on opposite sides of the kings. Suppose White has K(c1), R(a1), R(j1) and none of these pieces have yet moved in the game. Let Black have K(e3) and Q(e4). White to move can free castle only by moving the king to d1, e1, f1, or g1. Since the Black queen attacks h1, the king can neither end its move on h1 nor pass through that square to i1 or j1. The rook on j1 can move in free castling to c1 or to any other square between c1 and the one the king ended its move on.
Choose one of five pairs: RR, NN, BB, KQ, AM
and place the two pieces on your first rank. Bishops must be placed on opposite color squares. Each player must also copy the opponent's drops, placing pieces on the same files. This process will take three game moves for each side.
Why sacrifice a Pawn on the first move? It all comes down to search depth. In some lines the White Unicorn can capture the Rook on i8, but it will be trapped after ... Knight j7-h6. These lines may register as 'false victories' in computer analysis.
Running Zillions-Zillions test games at 3 minutes per moves can be extremely effective, but it it cannot rescue a game from human error. After Zillions came up with 8. Bishop e2 - j7, Pawn h6 x i5 9. Bishop j7 x i8, Knight f7 - h6 it was clear that I had tied myself up in knots trying to hang onto the extra Pawn. I chose to capture the Bishop and gamble on my opponent missing the best continuation, a strategy which has served me well over the years. Not this time! Congratulatons to ChessV and its creator.
In this second game of Lions and Unicorns Chess, White is ChessV and Black is ZPaulowich (a combination of me and Zillions 1.3.1). The Unicorn moves like a Bishop or a Nightrider, while 'Lion' is another name for Ralph Betza's 'Half-Duck'.
My three games on this site are using an obsolete email account that expires on October 31. I don't even have an email program on my primary computer and hope to continue playing in November without this emailing moves feature.
After 36. Pawn j2 - j4 Black could try 36... Unicorn c8 - a4 check Running Zillions at 3 min. on a 533 MHz machine gives: 37. King d1 - c1, Unicorn a4 - c6 38. Queen j1 - j2 check, King c9 - c10 39. Queen j2 - j3 check, King c10 - b10 40. Unicorn f9 - c3, Rook i10 - f10 41. Rook e1 - e5, Rook e10 - e8