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Comments by Sam Trenholme
Grand Chess. Christian Freeling's popular large chess variant on 10 by 10 board. Rules and links. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Excellent game; unlike most other Chess variants there is actually some analysis of the game out there. Not only does <A href=http://www.abstractgamesmagazine.com>Abstract Games Magazine</A> have a regular column on it, but the current Grand Chess world champion has an annotated game (<A href=http://www.mindsports.net/Arena/GrandChess/WorldChampionship/2001/Finals/GCCWC2001-GameVS-Comments.zip>Word format</A>; <A href=http://www.samiam.org/grandchess/2001-VS.pdf>PDF format with diagrams</A>) which discusses opening and mid-game strategy.
<p>
The game is a lot more sharp and tactical than FIDE Chess. Since the opening only has pieces on 40% of the board (as opposed to FIDE's 50%), it is harder to set up a closed position difficult to break in to. If you like playing quiet, strategic games, Grand Chess may not be for you.
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Then again, if you long for another golden age of Chess, of the likes of when Morphy or Capablanca was world champion, this is an excellent game. Draws are less common in this game; stong attacks on the enemey king and sacrifices are common.
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Of course, this is a game that computers can also play well; The Zillions engine was able to defeat an Interational Master (2500 range) at Grand Chess, even though the same engine is about a 1900 player in FIDE chess. Since very few people can defeat a strong computer these days, this should not matter for anyone except the strongest of players.
<p>
- Sam
Glinski's Hexagonal Chess. Chess on a board made out of hexagons. (Cells: 91) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think this version of hexagonal chess has one fatal flaw: The kind has too much mobility and is too difficult to checkmate. In FIDE chess, it is possible for force a checkmate with a king + rook against a bare king; in hexagonal chess, one needs considerably more material to checkmate a bare king.
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I think the easiest and best way to compensate for this is to have the king only able to move to a fully adjacent hex, reducing its move to that of a rook going one square. This way, the bare king can be captured by an opponent's rook and king, just like in FIDE chess.
<p>
- Sam
Make Your Own 91-Space Hexagonal Board. Files and directions for making a hexagonal chess board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]As a note, if you use XV (a UNIX image viewer), you can easily convert any .PNG (or GIF, or JPG, or....) image in to a PostScript file, which is one of the formats which Kinko's accepts. It is also possible to convert these postscript images in to .pdf files, but the resolution goes to the tubes, since the ps2pdf filter converts the images to lossy .jpg images.
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I can make a postscript version of the hex board suitable for giving to Kinko's if anyone wants that.
<p>
- Sam
Way of the Knight 
. Pieces with experience levels: a `role playing variant'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This .zrf file plays WOTN well, but has two noticable bugs:
* The color scheme of the board is hard on my eyes.
* A king can capture the other King; this makes it impossible to checkmate
the person whose king was captured.
I have resolved both of these issues, and will place a fixed version on my
web page (http://www.samiam.org) momentarily.
Here is a UNIX-style patch which resolves the king-catpures-king issue,
basically remove lines with a '-' at the beginning of them and add lines
with a '+' at the beginning of them:
--- wotn.zrf.orig Thu Dec 26 17:24:00 2002
+++ wotn.zrf Thu Dec 26 17:30:17 2002
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
(define CQ-add (high-king-capture) (if (and enemy? (not-piece? Pawn)
(not-piece? Squire) (not-piece? Deacon) (not-piece? Knight) (not-piece?
Bishop)) (add Paladin) else add))
(define Pal-add (high-king-capture) (if (and enemy? (not-piece? Pawn)
(not-piece? Squire) (not-piece? Deacon) (not-piece? Knight) (not-piece?
Bishop) (not-piece? Jarl) (not-piece? Vicar)) (add Hero) else add))
(define Hero-add (high-king-capture) (if (and enemy? (not-piece? Pawn)
(not-piece? Squire) (not-piece? Deacon) (not-piece? Knight) (not-piece?
Bishop) (not-piece? Jarl) (not-piece? Vicar)) (multi-king) (add King) else
add))
+(define King-add (high-king-capture) add)
;***** this macro lets you find out whose turn it is in the middle of a
move block! *****
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@
;***** special movement macros *****
-(define King-shift ($1 (available) (set-attribute never-moved? false)
add))
+(define King-shift ($1 (available) (set-attribute never-moved? false)
(King-add)))
(define O-O
( (verify never-moved?)
@@ -513,4 +514,4 @@
(piece
(name Three-Kings)
)
-)
\ No newline at end of file
+) Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Way of the Knight . Pieces with experience levels: a `role playing variant'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have now updated this zrf to resolve the bug with mutual king captures, to use a different board which I find easier on the eyes (with as little of a shift as conveniently possible when flipping the board), and to have a number of variants available.
<P>
The file can be downloaded <A href=http://www.samiam.org/chessvariants/wotn2beta1.zip>here</A>.
<P>
- Sam
Looks like my zrf has a bug: If there is more than one King on the board, checkmating either one is a win. It should be that one has to take the last King to win.
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I hope to have time to fix this soon.
<p>
- Sam
Rules of Chess FAQ. Frequently asked chess questions.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Your uncle is wrong.
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A bare king is only a draw if the person who gave the player the bare king has insufficient mating material.
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Sufficient mating material is a queen, a rook, a knight and bishop, or two bishops. A pawn is considered sufficient mating material because it can become a queen.
<p>
- Sam
Way of the Knight . Pieces with experience levels: a `role playing variant'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Talking to myself again here, but I have now updated my revision of the WOTN zrf file.
<p>
The revised version is available <A href=http://www.samiam.org/chessvariants/wotn2beta2.zip>here</A>. This release has the following improvements over the last beta:
<ul>
<li>Bug with multiple kings and checkmate fixed
<li>Bug with moved improved pieces able to castle fixed
<li>The 'six-point-handicap' is now a six point handicap instead of an eight-point handicap.
<li>Seven and eight point handicaps added
<li>Variant with mostly empty board added, to ease setting up custom positions.
</ul>
Glenn (and everyone else),
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I finished up the zrf file last night. I increased the maximum number of kings from three to six (to handle any possible conceivable game), and have added one final variant (Cylinder Way of the Knight, which is a variant where people will choose the Way of the Bishop over 90% of the time because the cylinder bishop pieces are more powerful than the cylinder knight pieces).
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I tried creating Way of the Knight extinction chess, but there are limitations to the Zillions engine which make this a non-trivial modification.
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The final version is available <A href=http://www.samiam.org/chessvariants/wotn2final.zip>here</A>.
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As an aside, I need to ask Ralph about our open question about pieces which improve to rooks on a1/a8/h1/h8 and whether they can castlw with a King of the same color. I feel they shouldn't (and have set up the .zrf thusly); the piece in question has already moved.
<p>
- Sam
Descent Chess. Start with a King and two Pawns, then move or drop one of the remaining pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game might be a bit too drawish; since the drops can be done anywhere on one's own half of the board, this looks to make defense much eaiser because, once in the enemy's camp, the enemy can drop pieces to thwart your attack.
My own take on this idea is to allow one to drop pieces anyone on their half until they capture an opponent's piece or give check to the opponent's king. Once they catpure a piece, or give check, the player who has done so can no longer drop pieces.
- Sam Rules of Chess: The 50 moves rule. Answer to a frequently asked question on the rules of chess.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Depends on what you meant by your quesiton.
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If you meant <em>Can a pawn, going backwards, take another piece</em>, the answer is no, a pawn can never move backwards.
<p>
If you meant <em>Can a pawn, going forward, take another piece that just moved backwards</em>, the answer is yes, a pawn can always take a piece which is on one of the squares immediately diagonally forward of the pawn.
<p>
- Sam
Way of the Knight. Pieces with experience levels: a `role playing variant'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]OK, now that I have fixed all of the bugs in the .zrf, I have had a chance to extensively playtest the game.
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One of the first things I have noticed is that it does not have as much clarity as normal chess. In other words, it is more difficult to visualize the tactics, because the pieces change as they are capturing pieces in a capturing sequence.
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Another thing I have noticed is that an improvment is not necessarily better. For example, I really do not feel that the Bishop + Knight-rider ('Paladin') is better than a queen. And a rook is probably not better than the improved knight or bishop.
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Endgames are more difficult to play because pawns promote to far weaker pieces. This will make endgames even longer and dryer than they are in ordinary chess. I also think they will make the game more drawish, since WOTN does not have Chess's ability to quickly stop any of the opponent's pawns which are about to promote once someone gets a queen. Then again, pawns promote more quickly, promoting on the sixth instead of the eight rank.
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One variant I have created in the .zrf file is one where a piece does not improve by capturing another piece. Instead, all improvments are done by entering the enemey camp on the board. A pawn which gets to the fifth rank or higher improves; a Squire (Wfd) or Deacon (AN) which gets to the sixth rank or higher improves; a Knight or Bishop which gets to the seventh rank or higher improves; and, finally, a Jarl (NW) or Vicar (DB) which gets to the eight rank improves to a rook. This minimizes the clarity problems which WOTN has, simplifies the rules, while preserving the idea of experience gaining which WOTN has.
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This variant of WOTN has the 1. h4 2. h5=Squire(Wfd) 3. Sxh7=N 4. Nxf8/Jarl (NW)+ 5. Rxh8 opening trap; 1.h4 has to be replied to with 1... h5. This weakens the kingside, which results in more tactical games.
<p>
- Sam
Rules of Chess, Spanish Translation. Spanish translation of the rules of chess. (Spanish Language)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Pues, me parece que neceitamos encontrar alguien que tiene ambos el tiempo y la voluntad para traduccir este al español correctamente. Desgrasiadamente, mi español no basta para hacerlo. -- Looks like we need someone with the time and willingness to translate this to Spanish correctly. Alas, my Spanish is not good enough to do this. - Sam
Chess with Different Armies. Betza's classic variant where white and black play with different sets of pieces. (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The 'Remarkable Rookies' opening setup has what may be a flaw--the c1 square is completely undefended. The other three 'official' teams for CWDA do not have this flaw.
<p>
Is this flaw a design decision, to make up for the RRs being somewhat more powerful in raw strength?
<p>
- Sam
Towers Chess. Win by pushing towers to the Kings' squares. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think this game has potential, but the rules as posted here are incomplete. What is does it mean to move a tower to the king's position? When a captured piece is moved from the hand to the board, does this take an entire turn, or is the player allowed to do this while making a normal move? On what squares can a pawn be placed? If a pawn is captured, is it moved back to the player's hand? Do pieces change side when captured (as in Shogi)? How does a knight move (first orthogonally then diagonally, or first diagonally then orthogonally?), so we can determine if a tower blocks the knight's move?
Greg,
<p>
I would like to congratulate you for making this program available. I currently am unable to download it on Sourceforge (for some reason, the files have not made it to Sourceforge's mirrors); if Sourceforge continues to be a problem, you may be interested in getting it hosted at <A href=http://savannah.gnu.org/>GNU Savannah</A>
<p>
This program is something I've been waiting for for a long time; I'm glad to see there is finally an open-source program that can play chess variants; it's annoying struggling to get Zillions to work under WINE in Linux, and Zillions' weakness with chess openings even annoys a patzer like myself.
<p>
- Sam
ChessV
. Program for playing numerous Chess variants against your PC.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Greg,
<p>
Thank you for making this excellent program available, and under an open-source license. It has been annoying struggling to get Zillions to work under Wine; and Zillions' weakness in the chess opening annoys even a patzer like myself.
<p>
- Sam
Grander Chess. A variant of Christian Freeling's Grand Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The proposed opening setup is defective because it leaves the pawn in front of the right bishop (the 'h' pawn) undefended. This causes the game to have the same problem that Capablanca's chess has: It causes white to have an overwhelming advantage (Can you say 1.Mh4)
Way of the Knight . Pieces with experience levels: a `role playing variant'.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have fixed a minor bug in this file. The bug only affected the
'no capture promotions' variant, and involved promoting a Vicar to a rook
on the last rank (the previous version would not promote unless the vicar
did its special orthogonal two spaces move).
<p>
<A href=http://www.samiam.org/chessvariants/>The file is available here</A>
<p>
Editors: Please update.
Camel. 
An elongated Knight making a (3, 1) leap.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The camel + bishop might make an interesting piece. A knight + bishop is about a pawn less valuable than a queen; a camel + bishop is probably about as valuable as a rook.
<p>
- Sam
Personally, I don't think the FIDE world chess champion has been the world chess champion since Kasparov. Vladimir Kramnik, as far as I am concerned (and Yassir Seirawan agrees) is the current world chess champion.
<p>
- Sam
Grotesque Chess. A variant of Capablanca's Chess with no unprotected Pawns. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think this is a great idea! As it turns out, I independently came up with my own opening setup with leaves no piece undefended in the opening: RQNBKABNMR (where A moves like Bishop + Knight; M moves like Rook + Knight). There are actually a number of such possible setups.
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- Sam
Large Chess ZRF . ZRF for Capablanca's Chess plus variants: Bird's, Aberg's, Grotesque, Univers, Embassy, Janus, Archbishop, New Chancellor + more.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]One thing I like is how the castling rules are set up in the ZRF, allowing the king to have different initial squares and still be able to castle. This gives me a lot of flexibility with how I can set up the pieces in the opening, allowing me to use Zillions to prototype a number of opening setups for the pieces.
Comments on Grand Chess. Notes on Grand Chess and a variant. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I do not think all of the pawns need to be defended in the opening array to make for a good game of chess. For example, I think ANBQKBNM would work as an opening array, even though the B pawn in undefended. The problem with Fischer random chess is that some arrays favor White unfairly, and some will be too drawish.
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