What was new March - May 1999?

• Week of May 23 - May 29, 1999:
  • Two new pictures for the Game of 4 seasons. Historic chess variant for four players. (One of the pictures is an old medieval picture.)
  • Condi Chess. Speed chess with the clock twelve meters from the board. Text by Hans Bodlaender.
• Week of May 16 - May 22, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Press release: Francis Bowers wins the '99 World Championship Circular Chess.
  • Files for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following files to play the following games:
    • Bach Dang Chess. Game and zrf-file by Vu Q. Vo.
    • Quang Trung Chess. Revision. Game and zrf-file by Vu Q. Vo.
    • Ultimate Battle Chess. Game and zrf-file by Vu Q. Vo.
• Week of May 16 - May 22, 1999:
  • Mêlée. Variant on 9 by 9 board with 9 different pieces and castle square that must be occupied. By C. George Boeree.
  • Zillions-file for Ultra Chess. Game of Ruggero Micheletto. Zrf-file by Pavel Tikhomirov. You can play this game with this file if you have the Zillions-of-games program.
• Week of May 9 - May 15, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Atlantis Chess. Instead of moving, a player may remove an square from the edges of the board.
  • Sample games for McCooey's Hexagonal Chess. Moves of several games of Hexagonal Chess.
  • Chess99. Large progressive chess variant, where pieces gain progressive capabilities as the game develops. By Alfred Pfeiffer. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • NOST has a new website. (Link to site of organization for postal and email chess, chess variants, and more games.)
  • Links for the contest to design a large chess variant:
    • Single download for all existing Zillions-of-games implementations of the variants in the contest.
• Week of May 9 - May 15, 1999:
  • Color Chess. Chess variant on board with 39 squares with five different colors. Game with (beta) freeware computer program playing it. By Maarten Bodlaender.
  • Submissions to the contest to design a large chess variant:
    • Keyles. Large variant with special king capture rule. Variant of Quex. By Stephen Larson (`Soleste').
    • Spiderball. Board that can be visualized as globe shaped spider web, based on dodecahedron. By J. R. Schmidt.
    • Napoleonic Chess. Large chess variant with the `spirit of the Armies of the Napoleonic period'. By Tom Hartley.
    • Fantasy Grand Chess. Variant of Grand Chess with different armies and fantasy theme. By Peter S. Hatch.
    • Scheherazade. Pieces may combine with other pieces to form combination pieces. By Robert Shimmin.
    • Big Outer Chess. Large variant with concentric circles on the board, so there is less concentration on the centre. By Peter Blanchard.
    • Quang Trung. By Vu Q. Vo. (Revised version.)
• Week of May 2 - May 8, 1999:
  • I had a wonderfull holiday with my family on the island of Texel, the Netherlands.
  • Voting buttons are added to the webpages on the large variants in the competition.
• Week of April 25 - May 1, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Typhoon. Variant on 12 by 12 board with many different pieces. By Adrian King. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Bomberman. Variant on 8 by 10 board with bombs and diffusers. By Bryan Lambert. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Files for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following files to play the following games:
    • Klin Zha. Zrf-file by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
    • Wildebeest. Game of R. W. Schmittberger. Zrf-file by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
    • Quang Trung. Game and zrf-file by Vu Q. Vo. (Updated version.)
  • Quex. Large variant on 10 by 10 board with 11 different pieces. By Soleste. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
• Week of April 25 - May 1, 1999:
  • Flee! Variant on 16 by 16 board with strong royal piece. By Andy Kurnia. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Many Worlds Chess. Large variant, inspired by the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. By Adrian King. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Pi. Commercial multiplayer chess variant. Pieces of the board are added together to form large playing area. Text by Bryan Lambert.
  • Zillions-file for Divergent Chess and Mini Citadel chess. Games and zrf-file by A. J. Winkelspecht. Zip-file; you can play this game with this file if you have the Zillions-of-games program.
• Week of April 18 - April 24, 1999, 2nd update:
  • The World Championship Circular Chess Championship 1999. Held in Lincoln, UK - sign up before May 1, 1999. (News item.)
  • Vyrémorn Chess. Large variant on two overlapping square boards. By Nathan McDonald. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Is there chess on Mars?. Link to text on Jetan, describing the games origins, rules, function in the book of Burroughs, etc.
• Week of April 18 - April 24, 1999:
  • Economy in Chess Variants. Several chess variants based on economic principles. By Joao Pedro Neto.
  • A chess variant based on Retrograde analysis of chess? New enlarged version of the text, by Joao Pedro Neto.
  • Advanced Chess. (Link to webpage on a chess variant, called Advanced Chess.)
  • Mini Citadel Chess. Mate the king or occupy a citadel of your opponent. By A. J. Winkelspecht. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Divergent Chess. All pieces capture different than they move without capturing. By A. J. Winkelspecht. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Alfonso X codex. (Link.) Site with pictures from medieval book on games and chess variants.
• Week of April 11 - April 17, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Welcome to our new editors:
    • Pavel Tikhomirov.
    • John William Brown. John especially helps authors for the chess variant pages with their writing - especially if you are not fluent in English. His official role is text editor and English consultant.
  • The Chessmen of Mars. Download the entire text of the book - put on the Internet by the Gutenberg project. (Link. This book is copyright free in the US - it may not be so in other countries.) This is the book of E. R. Burroughs (author of the original Tarzan books) where Jetan first appeared.
  • File for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following files to play the following game:
    • Jetan. Variant by author E. R. Burroughs from his Mars books. Zrf-file by Jens Markman and Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Liars Chess. Rewritten text. Players may say the lied on what move they played in the past. Game of Ralph Betza and Alessandro Castelli. Text of Fabio Forzoni, edited by John William Brown.
  • Royal Court. On 8 by 10 board with crowned knights: can move like king or knight. By Sidney LeVasseur. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Round Table Chess. Chess variant on a board with round and square part. By Richard G. van Deventer. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
• Week of April 11 - April 17, 1999:
  • Due to an error of your judge, one vote for the 39 contest was not taken into account. As a result, there was a shared 4th position of the game of Ronald Hoekstra and another finalist. Thus, I decided to take Hoekstra's Power Chess as fifth finalist. Sorry!
  • File for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following files to play the following game:
    • Tamerlane II. Updated version for the modern variant of Tamerlane Chess. Game and zrf-file by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
• Week of April 4 - April 10, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Welcome to our new editors! We had several reactions when we asked for a third editor, and we will probably have now five or six editors. Besides the `old editors' Hans Bodlaender and David Howe, our `team' will be strengthened by:
    • Vu Q. Vo.
    • Tom Cook.
    and probably two others.
  • Four finalists are known for the contest to design a chess variant on 39 squares! Congratulations to David Howe, Andy Kurnia, Seth McGuinness, and Rob Nierse. If your game does not belong to the finalists, then it can still be nominated for a special award or mention.
  • Ultimate Battle Chess. Pawns, kings, queens, and knights move differently. By Vu Q. Vo.
  • King's leap in David Paulovich's Chancellor Chess. Update to variant with usual equipment using a chancellor.
  • Files for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following files to play the following games:
    • Omega Chess. Large commercial chess variant of Daniel C. MacDonald. Zrf-file by David Howe.
    • Quang Trung Chess. Large chess variant by Vu Q. Vo. Zrf-file of David Howe.
    • Shako. Variant on 10 by 10 board. Game and zrf-file by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Ultra Chess. On 10 by 10 board with two queens, and major pieces have an additional king's move. By Ruggero Micheletto. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
• Week of April 4 - April 10, 1999:
  • Yahoo! Clubs chessvariants. Our Official club at Yahoo. The place to discuss chess variants. (Link.)
  • File for Zillions of Games. If you have this program, you can download the following file to play the following game:
    • Pick the Team chess. Players pick pieces from a set. Game of Hans Bodlaender. Zrf-file of David Howe.
  • King's Court. Variant on 8 by 12 board with Chancellors and Jesters. By Sidney LeVasseur. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Dead Square. When pieces take, the square becomes impassible and all surrounding pieces disappear. By Jason Shields.
  • Annotated Games of the 1998 World Championship Progressive Chess. By Doug Hyatt. (Link.)
• Week of March 28 - April 3, 1999, 2nd update:
  • In Memoriam: Stan Goldovski. Stan Goldovski, Giveaway chess player, programmer, and web author, died from cancer in January 1999.
  • Photo's of Omega Chess. By Hans Bodlaender.
  • Crazy Chess. Shareware program playing Giveaway or Losing Chess. Description by programs author Aleksey Bartashnikov.
• Week of March 28 - April 3, 1999:
  • Review of Omega Chess, by chess grandmaster Alex Sherzer.
  • Started New ideas section.
  • A Chess Like Variant Construction Set. By David Howe. (New idea section.)
    • Comments of John William Brown.
  • Conveyor Chess. Large variant with conveyor belt on middle of board. By Zachary Catlin. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
• Week of March 21 - March 27, 1999, 2nd update:
  • File for Zillions of Games: (if you have the Zillions of Games program, you can play with this files the following game:)
    • Maelstrom. Game of Michael Asher, zrf-file by David Howe.
  • Pi. Commercial multiplayer chess variant, obtained by putting multiple curved and straight boards together. (Link.)
• Week of March 21 - March 27, 1999:
  • Rules Extensions for Chess Variants, by Hans Aberg.
  • Leandros Chess. You may make a non-capturing move with each of your pieces in one turn, or make a normal capturing move. By Tony Quintanilla.
  • Rules for Omega Chess, by Daniel C. Macdonald. Copied with permission. Omega Chess is submitted to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Spinach Chess. Right to make powerfull move alternates between players in variant with two kings. By Hans Bodlaender. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Remarks and suggestions on Dragonchess, by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
• Week of March 14 - March 20, 3rd update:
  • Camblam. On a 12x12 board with archers, catapults and other enhanced pieces. By Michael Asher. Submission in the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Editor wanted. Is there anybody that is willing to join our dynamic team, and help to make these webpages as an editor?
  • The Chess Variant Pages Offline CDrom. A home-burnt CDrom with all files on it. See all these files without being connected to the Internet.
  • The Art of Games. Website of Jens Markmann, with games for Zillions and information on the zrf-language. (Link.)
• Week of March 14 - March 20, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Bach Dang Chess. On board with 88 squares, with crafts and other special pieces and rules. By Vu Q. Vo. Submission in the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Jester chess. Large variant, with four new pieces including Jester that imitates opponents last type of move. Game of Thomas Havel. Description of John William Brown. Submission in the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Review for Three Man Chess. Commercial chess variant for three players with a round board. By David Howe.
• Week of March 14 - March 20, 1999:
  • Hexodus. Link to a site where you can download a freeware program called Hexodus that plays hex chess.
  • Chess 2000. Link to site where you can download a freeware program that plays the chess variant Chess 2000, and some other programs.
  • Chess 3d can now be played against a Java applet.
  • Shako is now a submission in the contest to design a large chess variant. Game of Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Set of bitmaps of pieces that are used in Shako. Zipfile. By Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Tamerlane II is now a submission in the contest to design a large chess variant. Game of Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Set of bitmaps of pieces that are used in Tamerlane II. Zipfile. By Jean-Louis Cazaux.
  • Cutout pieces for Centennial and Millennial Chess. Now a regular webpage. By John William Brown.
• Week of March 7 - March 13, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Six solutions that give mate in 6 moves with the Java applet, found by Alfred Pfeiffer. (See question of previous update.)
  • Announcement of Omega Chess world email championship, March 17, 1999. (News item.)
  • ... and a few corrections. More updates next week.
• Week of March 7 - March 13, 1999:
  • Additional prizes in the contest to design a large chess variant. Thanks to John William Brown for the kind offer to donate these prizes.
  • Files for Zillions of Games: (if you have the Zillions of Games program, you can play with these files the following games:)
    • Centennial Chess and Millennial Chess. Games of John William Brown. Zrf-file by David Howe.
    • Tamerlane Chess. Historic variant, and modern variant of Jean-Louis Cazaux. Zrf-file by David Howe.
    • Scirocco. Large variant. Game and zrf-file by Adrian King.
  • Quang Trung Chess. On 8 by 9 board with seven mostly new pieces. By Vu Q. Vo. Entry in the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Pick the Team Chess. Players pick the pieces they play with from collection of 40 pieces on 10 by 10 board. By Hans Bodlaender. Entry in the contest to design a large chess variant. With variant Patch on 8 by 8 board.
  • New smaller file for Cutout pieces for Centennial Chess and Millennial Chess.
  • Chess Line. Simple geometric chess font, by Armando Hernandez Marroquin from Mexico.
  • I got a question about Pixelpusher (version 0.1). I wrote there that I can lose in 6 moves - but forgot how... As this is a nice puzzle - who solves it? (Found: see next update.)
  • Two additional sample games for Cetina Random Chess.
  • Bughouse.net. Extensive website on Bughouse. (Link.)
  • The Game of Amazons. Michael Keller's pages on this game and a computer program for it. (Link.)
• Week of February 28 - March 6, 1999, 2nd update:
  • Files for Zillions of Games: (if you have the Zillions of Games program, you can play with these files the following games:)
    • The Weak Square of the Jumping King. Game and zrf-file by Joao Pedro Neto.
    • Swap Chess. Game and zrf-file by Joao Pedro Neto.
  • Chess 3d can now be played with a Java applet. (No computer counterplay yet.)
  • Mammoth Chess. Played on a 10x10 board, without corners (inspired by Morley's "One Contribution to Chess"). By Kevin Begley. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
• Week of February 28 - March 6, 1999:
  • Files for Zillions of Games: (if you have the Zillions of Games program, you can play with these files the following games:)
    • Balbo's chess. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Chess on a board with 37 squares. Game of Alfred Pfeiffer. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Chess37. Game of David Howe. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Chessopoly. Game of Ralph Betza. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Circular Perspective Chess. Game of A. Missoum. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Different moving pieces. Several variants, including Almost Chess, Balaklava Chess, and others. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Morley's Chess. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Oblong chess. Historic variant. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Romanchenko's chess. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
    • Chess in New Topologies. Cylindrical chess and similar variants. Games of Alberto Monteiro. Zrf-file by Andrew Juell.
  • Sample game of Tamerlane Chess, from Gollon's book. Webpage by David Howe.
  • Scirocco. On ten by ten board with over thirty different pieces. By Adrian King. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Maelstrom. All 64 squares of 8 by 8 board are initially filled with pieces. By Michael Asher. Submission to the contest to design a large chess variant.
  • Time to vote for the games on 39 squares extended to March 31, 1999. Please vote!

• Index to older `whatsnew' files.