David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Sep 8, 2001 12:00 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
This is David Paulowich writing in support of the standard rules for pawn promotion, which seem to be unpopular with some players and chess variant designers. If, for example, pawns could only be promoted to previously captured pieces, then many beautiful games would no longer be legal. My databases contain over 400 games with 4 Queens on the board, 2 White and 2 Black, including: Capablanca - Alekhine, 1927 (Thirteenth World Chess Championship Match, game 11) and Borsony - Koch, 1956 (Second World Correspondence Chess Championship). In 1936 Reinle checkmated Lange in this 'extra promotion' game: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 f5 3. exf5 e4 4. Qh5+ g6 5. fxg6 h6 6. g7+ Ke7 7. Qe5+ Kf7 8. gxh8=N#
Such games, with one player having nine pieces other than pawns, used to be rare (only ten were played between 1856 and 1963). In modern times the opening: 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. f4 exf4 4. Bxg7 Qh4+ 5. g3 fxg3 6. Bg2 gxh2+ 7. Kf1 hxg1=Q+ 8. Kxg1 (from Kucharkowski - Walter, 1982) has been repeated in over 200 games. Incidentally, White is winning, by about 150 to 50.
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Aug 1, 2004 11:51 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Every chess variant can raise complicated rules questions. Here are some for Shatranj.
First Position. White: King e5, Knight e1 Black: King e3, Rook a1
MOVES 1. Nc2 check, Kd3 2. Nxa1, Kc3 3. Ke4, Kb2 4. Kd3, Kxa1 is a simple 'two bare Kings draw' in FIDE chess. I wonder if centuries ago there were Shatranj tournament rules concerning bare King draws that require more than one move.
Second Position. White: King c1, Knight e1 Black: King a1, Pawn a2, Rook e2
MOVES 1. Nc2 check, Rxc2 check 2. Kxc2 stalemate(?) Applying the Bare King rule exactly as stated, White lost the game before he could capture the Rook and win by stalemate. This seems unfair. But if the rules did allow White to play his second move, should a stalemate by a bare King count as a win or only a draw?
David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Aug 28, 2004 12:59 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Replying to Charles Gilman: Legler probably allows 'castling' using the Kings and the pieces in the corners of the board. So leaving the Rooks on the h-file means that they will still be available for castling after the Chancellors have left their home squares. When I independently came up with Paulowich's Chancellor Chess in 1997, I started off with that kind of castling rule. My variant just adds Chancellors (on the a-file), but also switches the Queens with the remaining Rooks. The revised version replaces castling with a King's Leap rule. Currently playtesting my Zillions file (kingleap.zrf) for this King's Leap Chess.
<p>Michael Howe cites Schmittberger as giving the Marshal and the Queen equal value in 'Grand Chess.' Wow! I consider the Chancellor (Marshal) to be at least a pawn lower than the Queen in Unicorn Chess and Unicorn Great Chess. Note: the Piececlopedia entry for Camel has recently turned into a mini-debate on piece values.
David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Aug 28, 2004 10:44 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
1. P b2-b3
1... p d7-d5
2. R a1-p1; I-p1 // pocket nightrider
2... b c8-d7
3. I p1-b2 // is a PMChess Fool's Mate. Neat!
This variant has the potential to go beyond excellent. Bringing Class 4 up to four pieces yields 21 different pieces for the game, including the King. And 21, being the product of the magic numbers 3 and 7, makes a traditional choice for a complete set. I suggest adding the SuperAlibaba to Class 4, as its WFAD moves make a nice change from long range pieces.
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Sep 5, 2004 02:19 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
'Three pieces can checkmate the Shaolin Master by themselves: the Praying Mantis, Ng Mui, and the promoted Bruce Lee.' Of course, there are many combinations of Shaolin Master and a single piece which can force mate against a lone Shaolin Master. The (unpromoted) Bruce Lee will do the job, as it is identical to the centuries-old Griffon (see the Griffon entry in the Piececlopedia). The companion piece, Wing Chun, does not occur in any chess variant that I know of. Eric Greenwood's 'Duke' is the only piece that even comes close.
David Paulowich wrote on Tue, Sep 21, 2004 08:05 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
'Carrera Random Chess' - all your variants in one game!
The game starts with only the pawns on the board. Each Player divides the remaining pieces into five pairs: R+R, N+N, B+B, K+Q, and C+A (using the names Chancellor and Archbishop). White begins by choosing a pair and placing them somewhere on the first rank. Black copies this placement on the eighth rank and then places another pair of pieces somewhere on the eighth rank. White copies and then places another pair. Black copies and then places another pair. White copies and then places the final pair. Black copies on the eighth rank, resulting in an opening setup with every Black piece on the same file as the corresponding White piece. No castling allowed and no need to place the rooks on either side of the King. The only special rule is: Bishops must be placed on squares of opposite color. Naturally this also means you are not allowed to fill all the available squares of one color before the Bishops have been placed. The game should be played with the modern rules for pawn movement and capturing. Promotion to Archbishop, Chancellor or Queen works perfectly. Back on August 18, I discussed the myth of underpromotion in games with this piece set - see the Comments to 'Mainzer Schach'.
David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Sep 30, 2004 02:28 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
Around the same time later Hugo Legler invented a simpler variant with knight-bishop and knight-rook pieces. Alexander Alekhine lost a game to E. W. Gruer in a San Francisco simul (1929).
<p>The 'Chancellor' in Sidney LeVasseur's Kings Court (1997) moves like the King in Cavalry Chess, while the 'Buffalo' in Jean-Louis Cazaux's Gigachess (2001) moves like the Knight.
David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Oct 8, 2004 06:14 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Since source code like ../lib/javascript/ffen2diag.js is completely invisible on my primary computer (with custom security settings) I would like to thank you for mentioning 'the above graphic'. That way I can at least know that I am missing something. NOTE: I can't actually tell you what my security settings do, besides shut down all JAVA, because my external security program currently denies me access to the MSIE 'Internet Options' tab.
David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Oct 15, 2004 08:23 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Jean-Louis Cazaux has a page on 'Ouk Chatrang, the Cambodian Chess
and Makruk, the Thai Chess' on his web site. Cazaux has a personalid page here, giving the current address of his web site.
David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Nov 4, 2004 06:49 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
This variant has an interesting selection of pieces. Back in September I added a comment to 'The Game of Jetan or Martian Chess' comparing the Jester to the Free Padwar. The Chancellor is a very powerful short-range piece. But I personally would prefer the idea of a noncapturing 'king’s flight' move. No such restriction is stated in these rules. I have also tested the Zillions game file rules by adding White Chancellors to the squares e6 and i6, then playing:
David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Dec 3, 2004 08:59 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Starting the game with 3 Caesars for each side is a facinating idea. The Crowned Knight image in the Alfaerie graphics is perfect for the Caesar, as it starts the game moving like a knight and (often) ends up moving like a king. But, after playing a game on PBM, I must disagree with the special Caesar-capture move of the Centurion. It discourages the players from using their Caesars to attack, while serving no useful purpose.
David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Jan 15, 2005 07:27 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Legler's Chess or Neo-Chess (1923) may be the first variant to try replacing one rook and one knight in each army. This may be the first shuffle chess variant to have chancellors on the board. I have never been able to make up my mind whether the sissa is a good idea or a bad idea for a new chess piece. But I can definitely give Carlos full credit for inspiring my variant 'Carrera Random Chess' and its revision 'Pairwise Drop Chess'. See the Comments section on the Carrera's Chess page for the game rules.
David Paulowich wrote on Sat, Jan 15, 2005 10:50 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Repetition
<p>If the same game position occurs more than three times in a single game, the game is declared a no-contest. The same position means, same players turn, same disposition of pieces on the board and in hand. If a repeated position occurs as a result of repeated checks, the player giving check must not do so a fourth time otherwise that player forfeits the game.
<p>This is a quote from: Shogi - Japanese Chess by Roger Hare. See the sidebar above.
David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Feb 11, 2005 10:34 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Greg: Grand Chess and Shako also bring the two armies closer together, but still on a 10x10 board. This is the approach taken in my 'TenCubed Chess' entry for the Contest to Design a 10-chess Variant. Each player has an entire Omega Chess army, plus an Archbishop (B+N) and a Marshall (R+N).
David Paulowich wrote on Tue, Feb 15, 2005 03:13 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
Carlos Cetina's ideas are always interesting. I am not sure if his triangular setup works or not, but it is a contribution to chess variant theory. There is a minor problem with any variant having Bishops on a 9x9 board. One Bishop travels on 41 squares and the other Bishop travels on 40 squares. These two pieces are not quite equal in value. Later that year he posted Symmetric Sissa, a 9x9 variants with no colorbound pieces.
David Paulowich wrote on Wed, Feb 16, 2005 02:06 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
'The reason the Queen is worth more than the separate Rook and Bishop is that she gets a bonus from having 8 directions of movement.' - Ralph Betza, who also writes '... the Queen is worth a notable amount more than the separate R and B, but this seems to be mostly because pieces that concentrate great value are as a general rule worth more than their separate component pieces (more forking power).'
To paraphrase Betza, the Queen's ability to do 'two things at once' makes it worth a Pawn more than a Rook and a Bishop. My last game of Marseillais Chess leads me to the opinion that Q=R+B exactly in this variant, as the two separate pieces can both move in the same turn. The subject of Marseillais Chess piece values deserves further study.
David Paulowich wrote on Thu, Feb 24, 2005 09:25 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Dr. Peter Nicolaus writes in BURMESE TRADITIONAL CHESS:
'The Myin moves as the modern knight. The Sin moves one square at a time either diagonally or forward. It seems that Myin and Sin are of equal value. Nevertheless Burmese players appear somewhat reluctant to exchange a Myin against a Sin.'
Roger Hare writes on his Chu Shogi page: 'The old texts say that a kinsho and osho against a bare osho wins.' I assume this means that a King and Silver General can force a 'stalemate position' and then capture the enemy King after it moves. In White Elephant Chess it would seem that a lone Black King on the first rank can achieve a stalemate draw against these two pieces. [EDIT] Kinsho = Gold General in Shogi. I suspect that it is not possible to force stalemate with King and Ginsho = Silver General against a lone King.
David Paulowich wrote on Tue, Mar 15, 2005 02:30 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/captain-spalding.html
<p>is the web page for Captain Spalding Chess, by Ralph Betza (gnohmon). Peter has created variants with various kinds of elephants, and has used the Red Elephant symbol before - in Mad Elephant Chess.
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Mar 20, 2005 08:44 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
1.Dragon c1-a3, c7-c6 2.Dragon a3-c5, a7-a6 3. Dragon c5-b6 (MATE) is the shortest possible game. This variant successfully combines Elephant pieces from Shatranj and Makruk. [EDIT 2023] Actually they are from Courier-Spiel and Makruk.
contains 'Ratings and Comments' from 2001, back when the subvariants were being developed.
[EDIT 2023] copied these messages in the Comment above, but the "end-of-line" feature does not work. Note: apparently you can still access the entire Ratings and Comments directory by pasting the web address below. This directory can be sorted by SIZE to locate those entries with lots of comments.
David Paulowich wrote on Wed, Apr 6, 2005 06:35 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
See Ralph Betza's 1996 Index to Articles about Pieces including the ones used in CWDA and others. Incidentally, Dai Shogi fans will find short articles on the Phoenix (under the name WA or Waffle) and the Kylin (under the name FD).
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, May 29, 2005 02:28 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
Consider the endgame position White: King (c1), Knight=Horse (a6) Black: King (a1), Pawn (a3). White can force checkmate with 1.Nb4 a2 2. Nc2, but what if he choses 2.Na6 instead? Black is stalemated, but can he 'slay the piece of the enemy in his vicinity which imprisons him”? That piece is the White King. There are always exceptions to the old Shatranj rules.
For a recent attempt at a comprehensive set of rules, see my Shatranj Kamil (64) entry in the 10-Chess Variant Contest.
David Paulowich wrote on Mon, Jun 27, 2005 03:45 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Shatranj Kamil (64) is my recent attempt at providing a comprehensive set of rules for Shatranj variants.
Consider the endgame position White: King (c1), Knight (a6) Black: King (a1), Pawn (a3). White can force checkmate with 1.Nb4 a2 2.Nc2, or stalemate with 2.Kc2.
If White choses to play 2.Na6 instead, then, under the variant rule that Pritchard cites, the Black king can escape stalemate by transposing with the Black Pawn. Question: under the rules of Nilakantha's Intellectual Game (web page by John Ayer) can Black 'slay the piece of the enemy in his vicinity which imprisons him'? That piece is the White King!
David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Aug 7, 2005 02:33 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
http://www.chessvariants.org/multiplayer.dir/tandem.html
is the page for the (Recognized) variant pair Bughouse/Tandem Chess.
Bughouse is insanely(!) popular in Canada - kids especially. Crazyhouse
requires two chess sets for only two players, which is not practical at
tournaments or at small chess clubs.
This is David Paulowich writing in support of the standard rules for pawn promotion, which seem to be unpopular with some players and chess variant designers. If, for example, pawns could only be promoted to previously captured pieces, then many beautiful games would no longer be legal. My databases contain over 400 games with 4 Queens on the board, 2 White and 2 Black, including: Capablanca - Alekhine, 1927 (Thirteenth World Chess Championship Match, game 11) and Borsony - Koch, 1956 (Second World Correspondence Chess Championship). In 1936 Reinle checkmated Lange in this 'extra promotion' game: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 f5 3. exf5 e4 4. Qh5+ g6 5. fxg6 h6 6. g7+ Ke7 7. Qe5+ Kf7 8. gxh8=N#
Such games, with one player having nine pieces other than pawns, used to be rare (only ten were played between 1856 and 1963). In modern times the opening: 1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Bxb4 3. f4 exf4 4. Bxg7 Qh4+ 5. g3 fxg3 6. Bg2 gxh2+ 7. Kf1 hxg1=Q+ 8. Kxg1 (from Kucharkowski - Walter, 1982) has been repeated in over 200 games. Incidentally, White is winning, by about 150 to 50.
First Position. White: King e5, Knight e1 Black: King e3, Rook a1 MOVES 1. Nc2 check, Kd3 2. Nxa1, Kc3 3. Ke4, Kb2 4. Kd3, Kxa1 is a simple 'two bare Kings draw' in FIDE chess. I wonder if centuries ago there were Shatranj tournament rules concerning bare King draws that require more than one move.
Second Position. White: King c1, Knight e1 Black: King a1, Pawn a2, Rook e2
MOVES 1. Nc2 check, Rxc2 check 2. Kxc2 stalemate(?) Applying the Bare King rule exactly as stated, White lost the game before he could capture the Rook and win by stalemate. This seems unfair. But if the rules did allow White to play his second move, should a stalemate by a bare King count as a win or only a draw?
This variant has the potential to go beyond excellent. Bringing Class 4 up to four pieces yields 21 different pieces for the game, including the King. And 21, being the product of the magic numbers 3 and 7, makes a traditional choice for a complete set. I suggest adding the SuperAlibaba to Class 4, as its WFAD moves make a nice change from long range pieces.
The game starts with only the pawns on the board. Each Player divides the remaining pieces into five pairs: R+R, N+N, B+B, K+Q, and C+A (using the names Chancellor and Archbishop). White begins by choosing a pair and placing them somewhere on the first rank. Black copies this placement on the eighth rank and then places another pair of pieces somewhere on the eighth rank. White copies and then places another pair. Black copies and then places another pair. White copies and then places the final pair. Black copies on the eighth rank, resulting in an opening setup with every Black piece on the same file as the corresponding White piece. No castling allowed and no need to place the rooks on either side of the King. The only special rule is: Bishops must be placed on squares of opposite color. Naturally this also means you are not allowed to fill all the available squares of one color before the Bishops have been placed. The game should be played with the modern rules for pawn movement and capturing. Promotion to Archbishop, Chancellor or Queen works perfectly. Back on August 18, I discussed the myth of underpromotion in games with this piece set - see the Comments to 'Mainzer Schach'.
This variant has an interesting selection of pieces. Back in September I added a comment to 'The Game of Jetan or Martian Chess' comparing the Jester to the Free Padwar. The Chancellor is a very powerful short-range piece. But I personally would prefer the idea of a noncapturing 'king’s flight' move. No such restriction is stated in these rules. I have also tested the Zillions game file rules by adding White Chancellors to the squares e6 and i6, then playing:
1. Chancellor i6xh8 check, King g8xh8
2. Chancellor e6xf8 check, King h8xf8
To paraphrase Betza, the Queen's ability to do 'two things at once' makes it worth a Pawn more than a Rook and a Bishop. My last game of Marseillais Chess leads me to the opinion that Q=R+B exactly in this variant, as the two separate pieces can both move in the same turn. The subject of Marseillais Chess piece values deserves further study.
Dr. Peter Nicolaus writes in BURMESE TRADITIONAL CHESS:
'The Myin moves as the modern knight. The Sin moves one square at a time either diagonally or forward. It seems that Myin and Sin are of equal value. Nevertheless Burmese players appear somewhat reluctant to exchange a Myin against a Sin.'
Roger Hare writes on his Chu Shogi page: 'The old texts say that a kinsho and osho against a bare osho wins.' I assume this means that a King and Silver General can force a 'stalemate position' and then capture the enemy King after it moves. In White Elephant Chess it would seem that a lone Black King on the first rank can achieve a stalemate draw against these two pieces. [EDIT] Kinsho = Gold General in Shogi. I suspect that it is not possible to force stalemate with King and Ginsho = Silver General against a lone King.
http://www.chessvariants.org/ratings/-large.dir-not-particularly-new.html
contains 'Ratings and Comments' from 2001, back when the subvariants were being developed.
[EDIT 2023] copied these messages in the Comment above, but the "end-of-line" feature does not work. Note: apparently you can still access the entire Ratings and Comments directory by pasting the web address below. This directory can be sorted by SIZE to locate those entries with lots of comments.
http://www.chessvariants.com/ratings/
See Ralph Betza's 1996 Index to Articles about Pieces including the ones used in CWDA and others. Incidentally, Dai Shogi fans will find short articles on the Phoenix (under the name WA or Waffle) and the Kylin (under the name FD).
For a recent attempt at a comprehensive set of rules, see my Shatranj Kamil (64) entry in the 10-Chess Variant Contest.
Shatranj Kamil (64) is my recent attempt at providing a comprehensive set of rules for Shatranj variants.
Consider the endgame position White: King (c1), Knight (a6) Black: King (a1), Pawn (a3). White can force checkmate with 1.Nb4 a2 2.Nc2, or stalemate with 2.Kc2.
If White choses to play 2.Na6 instead, then, under the variant rule that Pritchard cites, the Black king can escape stalemate by transposing with the Black Pawn. Question: under the rules of Nilakantha's Intellectual Game (web page by John Ayer) can Black 'slay the piece of the enemy in his vicinity which imprisons him'? That piece is the White King!
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