Comments by DerekNalls

To date, I have advocated the freedom of anyone (including Bobby Fischer)
to play chess anywhere in the world, anytime ... even to the extreme of
violating UN economic sanctions.  However, I take strong exception to the
idea of a fellow American citizen completely evading taxes on a $3.3
million US prize.  [A federal grand jury will take-up the matter soon.]

Mark Thompson and I once privately argued about the case of Bobby Fischer
but neither of us realized or raised the point of tax evasion.

I must reverse my stance to one where I advocate that Bobby Fischer be
extradited to face the US judicial system (albeit imperfect and somewhat
corrupt) to be fairly judged by his peers since I now believe that at
least some of the charges against him (existing and likely soon to exist)
are legitimate.

It is highly preferable to quantify this factor if at all possible (in
accordance with L. Lynn Smith's proposed criteria, in my opinion). 
Otherwise, the sought game-specific evaluations are likely to degrade into
a chaos of widely-disparate subjective opinions and value judgments,
impossible to reach a general concensus on and hence, not readily useful
without reservation (as a table of values).

Whatever important game-specific factors are not accounted for by the
main, proposed initial sensitivity criteria can be supplemented by another
factor, designed for that purpose, as a positive or negative adjustment to
the total.

'This comment is hidden pending review. It will eventually be deleted or
displayed.'
___________

In actuality, there are numerous comments scattered across some pages
which have never been approved and displayed OR disapproved and deleted. 
Some of these comments have been in a state of suspension for months. 
More decisiveness (and in a timely manner) is needed.

1.  Does anyone possess a Zillions implementation (*.zrf) for this game or
any other simultaneous-move chess variant?

2.  If so, can you direct me to it?

3.  If not, is this absence due to a present limitation in the Zillions
engine of being strictly turn-based?  In other words, is it currently
impossible to implement this game for play via Zillions Of Games?

Of course, the AI of the Zillions program would perform much better and
quicker without such elaborate workarounds.  It would be nice if the
architects of the Zillions program were planning the great task of
radically revising their program from the ground-up, restructured in
light of what they know now after over 1000 games have been written for it
versus pre-1998, with more holistic adaptivity esp. with respect to game-
ending conditions, turn-orders, simultaneous moves, etc.  [Mallett once
said that an ideally written program should not nearly as often require
the use of dummy pieces. (paraphrased)]

The loss of backward compatibility for all pre-existing *.zrf's, then
necessitating that ALL Zillions games be manually rewritten to run under
the most modern version, is probably totally unacceptable to Zillions
Development and some game inventors.  Besides, I suspect Mallett & Lefler
are no longer interested in pouring monumental amounts of effort into
this minimally-profitable project.  There has not even been a minor patch
published in over 2 years.  Ed van Zon, the English-language webmaster,
is the only person who still communicates.

Synchronous Chess Variants
http://www.symmetryperfect.com/shots/sync.pdf
7 pages

[This comment is hidden pending review. It will eventually be deleted or displayed.]

So, how old is Jared McComb?

Please note that I intentionally used the word 'intransigent' thrice in
association with the word 'dilemma'.  I sought (with insufficient
clarity that is my fault) a more thoroughgoing meaning than 'intrinsic'
would convey since a dilemma cannot be driven out of existence via
adjusting the limited factors within one's control to one extreme or the
other.  Ultimate causes can be overlooked with effects misidentified as
causes when trying to minimize game-design problems.

YES, people who seek games which are a mixture of luck and skill, probably
for the purposes of gambling, are after something we do not offer- an
opportunity to wreck their lives!

Well, don't buy a non-refundable airline ticket to Iceland for this event
just yet.  Fischer is notoriously eccentric and difficult to negotiate
with.

The weird thing is that I suspect all of the publicity surrounding his
detention in Japan and fugitive status in US-America made this tentative
event hold stronger interest to the public and hence, more feasible as a
business venture.

The social customs at the tournament level sharply contrast those at the
amateur level where NOT announcing check can cause you grief as you wait
for your opponent to move and finally, he/she tries to make a move
unrelated to their condition of check.

[Note-  This message did not make it under the correct category 'Rules Of
Chess FAQ' because the internet connection kept crashing.]

Game Over:  Kasparov and the Machine
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379296/

Wikipedia
Zillions Of Games
Votes For Deletion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Zillions_of_Games

At least one not-as-smart-as-he-or-she-imagines editor at Wikipedia (the
online encyclopedia) is trying to get the Zillions Of Games entry deleted
on the grounds that it is only an advertisement.  Please register any
opinions otherwise before it is too late?