Comments by CBagleyJones

yes the elephant can move as king and alfil - because the rook hook mover
is so powerful, the normal knight and elephant have had their powers
greatly increased. Looking at this game now, i think it is probably more
interesting played that way (with normal knight and alfil or alfil-fers)

so it moves like queen and 'squirrel', it is a super powerful piece then,
probably needs a strong name. I like 'DancingQueen' though, other names i
dunno 'SquirrelQueen', 'SuperQueen' (probably been done a bit), 'WarQueen',
now that sounds big, i like it .. 2 more 'JumpingQueen' ..
'LeaperQueen'.

anyone who loves shogi should have this amazing program, it's the best. It
has 17 variants, with fantastic info on the games and pieces, with diagrams
to show how they move. To show how good the info is, below is in-game text
about the 'Lion' and 'Fire Demon' from Tenjiku Shogi.

  The 'Lion' is one of the unusual pieces in Tenjiku Shogi, having a
move 
  which is unlike any piece in Western Chess.

  If the 8 squares immediately adjacent to the 'Lion' are called the
'A'
  squares (shown as Dark Blue Circles on the Piece Help screen), and the
16
  squares two away from the piece are called the 'B' squares
(represented as
  Light Blue Circles), then the 'Lion' may do any one of the following
things
  in a single turn:

    -  Move directly to any 'A' or 'B' square, jumping an intervening
square
       if necessary;

    -  Capture a piece on an 'A' square and continue moving one more
square
       in any direction from the point of capture, making another capture
if 
       the 2nd square is also occupied by an enemy piece.

    -  Capture a piece on any 'A' square without moving (this is known
as
       'igui' and counts as a turn).

    -  Move to an adjacent square and return to the starting square
       (effectively passing the turn). This move can be made by double-
       clicking the left mouse button on the Lion. 

  The 'Fire Demon' dominates the other fabulous beasts in Tenjiku Shogi
in
  much the same way as the 'Lion' reigns supreme in Chu Shogi. The
'Fire
  Demon' has a powerful move as either an area mover or ranging piece,
(described in text but too long to put here as well as all this)
but 
  its devastating feature is the power to 'burn' any adjacent enemy
pieces.
  
  After the 'Fire Demon' completes its move, ALL enemy pieces
unfortunate
  enough to be on one of the eight adjacent squares are captured and 
  removed from play. This power is retained even during the opponents
turn,
  in that a piece that ends its move next to an enemy 'Fire Demon' is
still 
  'burnt' and removed from the game. Such a capture does not constitute
a 
  move for the 'Fire Demon'.  If a 'Fire Demon' lands next to an
opposing 
  'Fire Demon' it is the moving piece that is 'burnt'.

here is a final bit of info (also comes from in-game help) on the game, i
have only shown a small amount on what is given for game alone.

  Tenjiku Shogi (Exotic Shogi) is believed to have been invented in the
  sixteenth century by Buddhist monks, and certainly lives up to its
name.

  While based on Chu Shogi (Middle Shogi), Tenjiku boasts a menagarie of
  wonderfully powerful pieces which make it a far more dynamic and fast-
  paced game than the other large variants. The exotic pieces include
  range jumpers which can jump over any number of pieces in order make a
  capture, and the 'Fire Demon' which can 'burn' all enemy pieces on
the
  squares adjacent to where it lands!

ok, well brilliant program by Steve Evans, thanks!

yes you have to win a tournament in order to challenge the champ the
following year, this has been going for awhile, anyone can enter, it's
all fair enough. What is the reason you don't see this as making a fr
champ?
 
I like Moro the best, he is the best natural chess player in the world,
not afaird to sac (like kramnik lol), i think he would be the best at fr
too, but does he go in these tournaments, you would think he would, will
have to look. But, just being a gm does not mean you play fr chess, maybe
moro doesn't like it.

actually, thinking about kramnik, has he ever played fr chess? 
i highly doubt he likes it, their is no opening book, 
kramnik wouldn't even be able to play it ha ha

Aronian won FiNet Rapid Chess960 Open 2005, that is why he is challenger.
there is no doubt the winner of this tournament is next challenger.
yeah the time limit is bad, but what can you do, the sponsors pay the
money so ... fr is not main chess, even normal chess not so long ago found
their wc with terrible time controls. At least, this is better than
nothing.
Hey Moro is in it, he must be a big chance to win, that would be great to
see him next challenger!

seems there is a problem uploading games .. i got this message when trying
to upload zip file for a new game (74 kb)

Warning: move_uploaded_file() [function.move-uploaded-file]: open_basedir
restriction in effect. File(/var/tmp/phpyM8jKc) is not within the allowed
path(s): (/home/chessva:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php:/tmp) in
/home/chessva/public_html/index/memberupload2.php on line 101

Warning: move_uploaded_file(/var/tmp/phpyM8jKc)
[function.move-uploaded-file]: failed to open stream: Operation not
permitted in /home/chessva/public_html/index/memberupload2.php on line
101

Warning: move_uploaded_file() [function.move-uploaded-file]: Unable to
move '/var/tmp/phpyM8jKc' to
'/home/chessva/public_html/membergraphics/MZgodsonpluto/Gods on
Pluto.zip' in /home/chessva/public_html/index/memberupload2.php on line
101
File upload failed! Check to make sure your file is less than 100k in
size!

Chaturanga (4 player, or 1 vs 1 with each person having 2 armies)
The Travelers
American Chess
Shatranj of Troy
Great Shatranj

i think it best if people don't say their own games ..

no this page doesn't have a download link, there is another page for that, but there is a problem with uploading files at this site at the moment, so it hasn't been done, but you can download it at zillions site :)

link

http://www.chessvariants.org/large.dir/janus.html

Sam, yes of course you can add 'schoolbook shatranj' or any other variant
based on this to your 'schoolbook' zrf. That would be great to see.
There is really no 'official variant' with this zrf, it is called
'Capablanca Shatranj' because everyone is familiar with Capa name etc. I
did put 'Birds' up first, because his game came first, then Capa's, the
rest then are placed kinda due to the king position, all variants with
king position same as Birds/Capa come directly after etc

you just have to become a member, then you put up an invitation, see here
/play/pbmlogs/index.php
anything with 'open' in 'next move for' column is a game that someone
is wanting an opponent.

1. e4 
.. e5
2. Horsey f3
.. Horsey c6 

hey, i like it!

hmm this place is a bit frisky lately, anyway, i'm going to rate some
unusual games, and what better place to start than here. 
This is an amazing game, no need to say anymore. Highly original,
strikingly beautiful concept.

wow, this zrf is just fantastic, congrats Fergus, so good to play Alice on
two boards the way you have done it (seeing move on brd 1 and auto -> to
brd 2). Also, the options you give for play, with armies on different
boards and zero move. I know sometimes people may think i 'over praise'
games, but stuff it, i can't help it if i love chess variants and am
excited about them lol. i'm like that movie rater in US that rates most
movies highly, he says he can't help it, he loves movies!
So, this zrf is like an 'event' in the history of Alice Chess and chess
variants itself :)