Comments by BobGreenwade

I think the Heroine is very aptly named, but I agree with you that the Popess name is awkward (serviceable, but awkward). Could "Abbess" work?

Here (tentatively) is the Interactive Diagram for this variant, as it currently exists:

42. Piglet Pawn. The Piglet Pawn moves, with or without capture, one space diagonally forward; or may move without capture diagonally or directly backward (it's timid, but not as bad as the Chicken Pawn from earlier). For an opening move, it may leap forward diagonally two spaces (fFmbFmbWifA)

This is the first time I've named a piece after a specific character: Piglet, from A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh books. It is, in fact, intended for Hundred Acre Chess, a variant inspired by those stories (I'd provide a link, but it's still currently under construction), and is the only piece in that game specifically built for it. (All the others either existed already, or were designed around some other feature.)

Fascinating! So just to be sure I understand the Vulture: It can freely leap, but not capture, along its (0,3) destination; but is lame for its (1,4) and (3,4) destinations? (mHnFXnNY)

I really should include the Mamluk in Desert Dust....

I've adjusted the ID to allow promotions on the Scorpion and Spear, set the allowed promotions, replaced the Ostrich with the Mamluk, and made a few other changes.

I'm not sure I got the promotions right, but I'm not good enough to play the game and get a Scorpion or Spear through to the back. If someone could take care of that for me (either by playing it through or looking at the code and using one's own familiarity), I'd greatly appreciate it.

I plan to use this in lieu of static setup and move diagrams, so I'll copy it into the main article (and link the piece graphics) once I'm confident that that's the last thing to do.

I'd love it, if you do!

Well, I did. I wasn't too sure about including the Ostrich anyway.

The Vultures being that weak is probably because they're lame. A straight-up HFXNY would probably start to rival the Rook (but might disrupt this game in other ways).

You don't have to test this with the AI switched on. You can just move a Pawn (or other promoting piece) to the promotion rank, to see what choice you get offered. You don't even have to use legal moves, or move the opponent.

Thanks for the tip! I tried this, and apparently got the coding right.

Note you can tweek the square colors of the ID for an aestethically pleasing main diagram through parameters like light/darkShade, firstRank, rimColor, coordColor, useMarkers=1, etc.

I know. That's next. :)

The more I look at the promotions for this game, the more I realize: if there's ever going to be an Interactive Diagram for this page (which I doubt), the only person on the face of the planet who will be able to write it is H. G. Muller.

43. Friend. This is a piece subject to some discussion, mostly as a novelty piece, but it hasn't ever been presented as a piece in an actual game (pending A Friendly Game of Chess) or even a fairy chess problem, as far as anyone can tell.

The Friend has no moves of its own (hence no move diagram), but duplicates the move of any friendly piece that guards it.

The piece is based on the Friend's "standard symbol," which is a square turned 45 degrees.

OK, I think this is almost ready for approval. I'd just like a couple of opinions from the peanut gallery: specifically, which of the two setup diagrams shown would be better? I think it might be simpler to just dump the first one and go with only the second. (Or, do the second but on a 16x12 board so there's more room to maneuver.)

I think this one's ready for posting, barring any editorial corrections.

(I plan to work up an Interactive Diagram at a later date.)

Not much chance at this point, as I don't understand the promotion rules at all. You have both promotion on capture and promotion in a zone, and for the latter different rules for last rank and other ranks?

You confirmed what I thought about it: never mind the Hia power rules, the promotion rules are too much for a Diagram!

The Pawns and Berolinas promote from the Zones (first to unpromoted pieces, second to first-promotions); Guards only by capture; other unpromoted pieces by either capture or the first zone; and first-promotion only by capturing other promoted pieces. That's a lot for any generic system to try to be able to handle.

And with the Interactive Diagram posted on the page, I think this is ready for approval.

I probably could handle all that if I had a way to edit and test it offline. As it is, I think I'll go back to leaving it all to you (if and when you feel inclined to do it, and once the Hia power is figured out).

For my own part, at least I've designed a full set of pieces for the game, and I hope to get them all set up if I can find a willing opponent.

Also, I think I'll dig in and try to clarify the promotion rules.

44. Turtle. The Turtle is something I stumbled across on Ivan Derzhanski's Who is Who on Eight by Eight article. He credits it to a game called Demiurge, and while I can find no other information about that game, I think it makes for a very interesting piece that could add to many games.

It can move up four spaces outward like a Queen, but also leap to the second square on any of those lines (Q4AD).

OK, so it does create a little bit of a headache for the diagram; but at least you know where it's going.

I will say that I had a dickens of a time getting this to look like a turtle and not a bird. Only when I slanted the flippers back did I meet with even this limited success. (Trying to include the shell makes things even more awkward.)

How about if I just put the word "Friendly" in quotes?

45. Round. The Round is another piece whose name is defined by its move, even if the order did come the other way around. It combines the move of the Rook, Knight, and Dabbabah, but the Knight move (and only the Knight move) has two special properties: one, it can go off the left or right edge of the board and go to the other side as if it were a cylinder; and two, instead of capturing an enemy piece, it switches places. (RouND)

I wasn't quite sure how to represent the piece's ability to wrap around left-to-right; this was my best guess.

I actually have two models for this piece: one based on its name, and the other on its move. I personally like the second one better, but I rather expect that most people will prefer the first.

(The arrow is actually a double-headed arrow, pointing both ways to indicate the ability to "loop" around left and right.)

• It's better to put in quotes the word "Chess" ))))
• You've missed the typo in Sniper description: text is 2,3 when image shows 3,4

My thanks, on both counts.

Fwiw even for those who like the second figurine better, the first is not w/o its uses: it's a practically perfect match for the Orphan

Quite true (though I created a separate Orphan piece as well)!

Re: Melek - That's the translation I was given.

Re: Emir, et al - Well, Scheherazade was where I borrowed those pieces from.

Re: Snake - Thanks for the info. I'll update that.

Re: Satrap - You're partially right; it's not an oversight, but a matter of confusion. As you say, it's next to nothing to switch their names.

Re: Spear - I need to update the move in this case. I meant it to be the "Pawnrider" you describe. I don't know why I did it the way it now appears. (Brain glitch, no doubt.)

Re: The word pawn - I'll also update that sentence to "its (eventual) origin."

Again, thanks for all the great notes!