Comments by Abdul-Rahman Sibahi

Hi,

I have a suggestion for a variant to be added,

If SMIRF was able to play Alice Chess it would probably be the only program
(besides Zillions of Games) to play the variant. There isn't even any
sites on the net to play it live.

There can be two options to show the board : either as two seperate board
besides each other, or both boards superimposed on each other, with board
B pieces up-side-down or something.

--

Another thing:

I've noticed a problem with modern castling in the program. Whan I put a
random starting position in a 10x8 board with modern castling (I believe
it is called Orthodox Castling by Chess480 inventor, whatever ..) the king
on the file h or i can't castle with the rook on his right, and so is the
case on the a-side of the board. As I unserstand this castling, the king
should go to the corner square and the rook placed next to him.

And I believe a 'free castling' option would make trying out variants
which don't exist (like Grotesque Chess) easier. The castling movement can
be notated like O-g for example if the king ended up on the g file, or O-h.


Thank you for reading,

Yours,
Sibahi

There are a few bugs in the program. Some of the 'Chess with Different
Armies' armies don't work, like the Andromidan Invaders and the Almost
Chess army, instead of them you get the standard army.

And in Chess with Augmented Knights the knights are not able to move
because they're pinned (!), and the Standard Knight doesn't have a
picture of his own.

and sorry for trouble.

The games I don't want to play are :

*Berolina Chess
*Dimesion X
*Shako
*Mir Chess
*Korean Chess
*Shatranj of Troy

and thank you.

Atomic Chess is popular, it is played in several live chess sites. I don't
see a reason wht it shouldn't be a recognized variant. There are even
websites about it. To name two : 

http://virtual.parkland.edu/lblackburn/Atomic/atomic.html

and : http://vagonchik.info/sigge/tipau/

Alice Chess, recognized, but it is THE favourite chess variant.

Emm .. I like the idea of Modern Courier Chess be Paul Byway. Here's a
link: http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/modco.htm

I modified the preset a little, it supports the official coordinates and
enforces the rules. I sumply used the alias order (the only order I
understood from the developer's guide, AND it is quite useful.)

One problem remains : the coordinates around the board didn't change to
adopt the current system, which makes it too confusing to play with,
especially if one is not used to the official system. I don't know how to
modify that, but surely someone else can.

Here's a link :
/play/pbm/play.php?game%3DGlinski%27s+Hexagonal+Chess%26settings%3DPNG-Alfaerie-official

I think it looks better than the other presets, and definitely better than
the background glinski_hexagonal.gif

It can be added to the list.

The board with the illustrations is a little different from the diagram in
Arabic script; namely, the bull pawn and the elephant pawn are switched.

And, the word 'lakham' is represented by a crocodile in the diagram. I
looked it up in a dictionary and it says it is an old word for sharks,
with no mention of crocodiles. I am not sure about this, so I'll see what 
it means in an old dictionary sometime later.

If the whole manuscript is scanned and posted I can help to translate the
rules of the game and the movements of pieces.

I can't give a rating for the game because I can't enter the site. It is
for some reason banned here in Saudi Arabia.

I just wnat to say that even if a king and a rook can't mate a lone king
in Omega Chess, two knights can. It is difficult, but doable. All other
principles of the endgame remain almost intact.

May I see a picture of this Gustavian Board every one is talking about ?

It is not only your page that is blocked. The whole  http://hem.passagen.se
domain is. I don't know why. If you want to  contact the Interent Service
Unit it is here :
http://www.isu.net.sa/saudi-internet/contenet-filtring/forms/unblock-requist.htm
.

Thank you for the information.

I managed to calculate the Ideal attack values, but I was in a loss when it
can the the practical values.

Te Ideal values I reached are these : P 10.00 N 61.02 B(centre hex) 30.51
B(corner hex) 30.00 R 75.42 Q 265.94 K 76.27

I calculated the hexes attacked by a pawn as the hexes he can CPATURE to,
not move. I am not sure if this is right.

The rules page for the game is here :
http://www.chessvariants.org/diffobjective.dir/racing.html

I have a question regarding the rules. A Queen may not cross a square
threatened by the enemy, and the Two Queens can't face each other,
because they will both be in check.

What if the Enemy Queen was stuck in the last rank by a Rook or two
Dragons, is it possible to deliver check from a far by the Queen ? She is
not in check because the Enemy Queen can't get there, so I don't see why
not.