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Comments by BobGreenwade

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Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Thu, Jun 22, 2023 10:42 PM UTC:

I'm still finding the placement on the Air and Sea levels a bit awkward, with non-Pawn types in the front rows. I'm thinking of either:

  1. dropping two main pieces from each (most likely Manta and Seahorse from the Sea, and Raven and Pegasus from the Air); or
  2. adding four more Fish to put in front of the Crabs and Jellyfish, and four more Sparrows to place in front of the Geese and Pegasi; or
  3. abandoning the 8x8 boards for 12x12, putting all of the non-Pawn pieces on the back row and filling the second row with Fish and Sparrows.

I'm most likely to do the #1. #2 makes for (IMO) an overly crowded board, and #3 is unattractive because I wanted to extend the use for three 8x8 boards as found with Strato Chess/Chess3/etc.

Another argument against #3 is that I'm already tinkering with something along those lines, that would also add two pairs of "split" levels (one 12x6 on each side) for Land (between Waves and Air) and Caves (between Sea and Waves), with even more beasts, military types, mages, magical creatures, and even undead, with 144 pieces per side. On the other hand, that's one I'm mainly building as a mental exercise rather than for actual play (though I'd definitely give it a whirl given the opportunity).

There's even option #4: ditch Aquachess altogether, and just build that huge project.


Deconstruction Chess. Members-Only Revising the relations between rows and columns. (Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 02:43 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 02:19 PM:

Seahorse: I probably got overly specific on the text description here (a bad habit in my writing). Basically it's an unobstructed Knight. I'll fix that. And, now that I figure it, only two moves (one diagonal and one orthoganal, in either order) should be needed.

Manta: I didn't have an N in the Manta's XBetza. But anyway... if the i isn't needed, should it then be B2cabW?

Sparrow: My error. It should be mQcK. (I don't know why I used o.)

As for in general, I don't think I'd even try to code level-switches in XBetza; I don't think there's even a way to modify that system for it. I was just trying to show the 2D XBetza from pieces that people might be interested in "borrowing" from this variant, since I did the same with so many (expanding most of them to 3D).


💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 04:12 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 03:26 PM:

I can make that worse for you:

In the huge 5x(12x12) variant that I mentioned, the Sea, Waves and Air are levels 1, 3, and 5. The new levels are Caves at 2, and Land at 4. They're not parallel to the odd-numbered levels, though; they're split down the middle between Left and Right, with their inner edges in line with the other boards' right edges. And when a piece can move from one of the outer boards to one of the inner or vice versa, it does so as if there was no barrier.

If I ever truly build that one, never mind IG or the Java Applet; I might try to make a Zillions file for it, though.

Even so, if I were to try to make a Betza code for something like Aquachess, I'd make it as an "eligibility" marker on the Pieces (something like the type-sensitivity idea already proposed on the Betza page). Those restricted to one level just wouldn't have vertical moves; those with vertical moves that can only go to two levels (which is everyone but the Dragon) would have a restriction marker against Air or Sea.

(And I think you can probably see now why I said I wouldn't even try with it!)

I do notice that XBetza doesn't use a lot of punctuation marks; perhaps something like +, &, %, or ^ could be utilized to indicate a level change. If that sounds like a possibility, I'll make a fuller proposal on the Betza page.


Blender Chess. Bishops, Knights and Rooks can merge and separate. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 04:35 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 02:26 PM:

I was not aware of it; and this is basically a different application of the same concept.

At first glance, I thought they were basically the same game, but there are significant differences. For example, Fergus doesn't use the Amazon (or the Nightrider pieces), and allows the King to merge.

I'll put a link to Fusion Chess, including a note of the similarity and differences, in the Notes section.


💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 08:28 PM UTC in reply to Bob Greenwade from 04:35 PM:

Or, I could just ditch this and replace it with something else that's been rattling around in my brain for half a century.


Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 08:31 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from 07:34 PM:

Well, I did say only that I might make one. And even that much is mainly because neither IG or the Java Applet are well suited for 3D games (made worse by the "tiered" layout of the big one).


Antelope. (Updated!) Makes (3,4)-jump.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Fri, Jun 23, 2023 08:56 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from Mon May 11 2020 06:01 AM:

Btw, what is the name of the (2,4) jumper?

It doesn't have a listing here (that I can find), but the Wikipedia article gives it the names Hare, Lancer, or Stag.

For one of my variants, I initially used the Lancer form until it was pointed out to me that it would be colorbound to only one-fourth of the board, so the (2,4) leap isn't much use except in a combination piece like the Wyvern (3,3)(2,4)(1,5) from Beastmaster Chess. (I ended up keeping the Lancer name, but made its move N2cnDH.)


Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 04:48 AM UTC in reply to Bn Em from 02:15 AM:

Yeah, no kidding, Bn Em! That's why I (1) said I wouldn't want to try programming the function in, and (2) suggested using punctuation marks.


Blender Chess. Bishops, Knights and Rooks can merge and separate. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 04:54 AM UTC:

Thanks for the tip, Joe! I'll stick in a link to your variant as well.

These three plus Paco Shako could almost form the core of a whole new category of variants where pieces can merge.


Antelope. (Updated!) Makes (3,4)-jump.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 02:12 PM UTC in reply to Bn Em from 02:00 AM:

Speaking just for myself, if there was an article on the (4,2) leaper, I'd probably go with both Hare and Stag.

As for the Antelope (as a (4,3) leaper), the diagram tells me that it's not likely to be much use on a standard-sized board; there's no place it can go where all of its destination squares are available. For something 12x12 and up, though, it can be at least as handy as a Knight in standard chess, and in some cases almost scary.

The Impala, which moves like a Knight or Antelope, could also be a wildcard in a game.


Blender Chess. Bishops, Knights and Rooks can merge and separate. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 04:32 PM UTC:

Well, we do have the #Rules:Fusion and #Rules:Fission tags, so it's not too hard to find others with those rules. That's how I found Scheherezade just now, and once this game is live I (or someone) can add them here.


Zebra. Makes a (3, 2) leap.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 04:47 PM UTC:

I just had a weird thought: here we have the Zebra, and its relative the Zebrarider. What about a Zebrose? That would make Zebra moves in a circle. It'd be to a 12x12 board what a Rose can do on an 8x8.


123456 Chess. Uses 2 dices for each player and 2 checkers for each player, in addition to normal chess pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 05:07 PM UTC:

Sorry for the intrusion, but "dices" is not a word. The word "dice" is already plural; the singular is "die."

A bit of editing, such as splitting the text into shorter sentences and separate paragraphs, would also be helpful for understanding this.

What I do understand of it seems interesting enough, though, so I'm not ready to give it a Rating.


Scheherazade. Pieces may combine with other pieces to form combination pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Jun 24, 2023 05:45 PM UTC:

A table showing the names of what results from merging a given pair would be very helpful, at least for me. I'd make it for you, but I get a little confused when things are left implicit like this.

Re: merging identical pieces, that might have the effect of turning Leapers into Riders, Sliders into Jumpers, etc. For example, 2 Knights become a Nightrider, 2 Bishops become a Reflecting Bishop, a double Hussar could make continued Dababa moves from the diagonal square, a double Spearman could be a Rook/Alfilrider, a double Onager could be a classic Queen. (I'm not sure what to do with 2 Rooks; either the ability the jump one piece, or to make a 90-degree turn in mid-move.) Then you'd have 21 possibilities!

(But don't mind me. I love to make things more complicated than they need to be.)


Zebra. Makes a (3, 2) leap.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Bob Greenwade wrote on Sun, Jun 25, 2023 02:15 AM UTC:

Well, I'd put a Zebrose into a game if I could come up with a good excuse -- though probably not on a board smaller than 16x16, and definitely not smaller than 12x12.


Beast Chess. Replace conventional pieces with those that look like animals. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Sun, Jun 25, 2023 02:40 PM UTC:

In case anyone's actually paying attention to this...

I've been trying to insert the Java applet for this game, but for some reason it just doesn't show here. This is the code the page gives me:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/membergraphics/MSinteractive-diagrams/betza.js?nocache=true"></script>
<div class="idiagram">
files=8
ranks=8
promoZone=1
promoChoice=QERG
graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG/
squareSize=50
graphicsType=png
symmetry=none
pawn:P:ifmnDfmWfceF:pawn:a2,b2,c2,d2,e2,f2,g2,h2,,a7,b7,c7,d7,e7,f7,g7,h7
queen:Q:Q:queen:d1,,d8
eagle:E:FyafsF:bird:a1,h1,,a8,h8
rhino:R:WyafsW:rhino:c1,f1,,c8,f8
gnu:G:NC:gnu:b1,g1,,b8,g8
king:K:KisO2:king:e1,,e8
</div>

(And yes, I do enter it with the editor in HTML mode.)


💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Sun, Jun 25, 2023 03:21 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from 03:12 PM:

I see it, and it works; I tried pasting the HTML into HTML mode without switching back to my familiar WYSIWIG (which I'd been doing before), and that worked.

Many thanks for the help, H.G.


Blender Chess. Bishops, Knights and Rooks can merge and separate. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Jun 26, 2023 01:12 AM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Sat Jun 24 04:33 PM:

It does seem like an interesting game. It sounds like if someone had introduced it to me face-to-face without mentioning any connection with Chess, I might not have recognized it as such -- though here I can see it as a legitimate Variant.

Hopefully you, Ben, or someone else can track it down and post it somewhere.


Beast Chess. Replace conventional pieces with those that look like animals. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Jun 26, 2023 05:42 PM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Sun Jun 25 04:53 PM:

Yeah, I did finally figure that out. Thanks. :)

I've even managed to try a couple of games. They were fast and brutal, with me on the losing end in 10 turns or fewer; but then, I think a standard chess game would probably come out the same. (I'm very rusty.) I'd love to hear from anyone else choosing to give it a try.

(The computer's opening gambit of choice seems to be releasing the King's Rhino into the Queen's side and letting it wreak havoc. I'm thinking of swapping its position with the Eagle.)


Blender Chess. Bishops, Knights and Rooks can merge and separate. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Jun 26, 2023 07:10 PM UTC in reply to Bn Em from 06:07 PM:

That looks to me like what H.G.'s been describing.

I do think that an article somewhere on variants where the pieces merge and change would be cool.


💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Mon, Jun 26, 2023 11:16 PM UTC:

After having a bit of fun with both Beast Chess and Scheherezade (despite having my butt soundly whipped every time), I'm thinking of trying to cobble together online playing for not only the main version of this, but also the first two Expansions. (I'm not sure I'd want to try it with any of the Cuisinart versions.)


Aquachess. One level underwater, one on the surface, and one in the sky, with many strange pieces. (3x(8x8), Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
💡📝Bob Greenwade wrote on Wed, Jun 28, 2023 08:36 PM UTC:

Since there's been no further feedback on this, I've taken out the "This is a work in progress" sentence under Notes.

Let's give this a go, OK?


Mirodoly. Members-Only Piececlopedia: Mirodoly. Some theoretical principles of the analysis of pieces, both for classical chess and for modern chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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Mirodoly Chess 12x12. Members-Only Chess with Archer and with Sagittarius. A version of chess for a 12x12 board, the closest to the classic. (12x12) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

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