Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

I think the name for WthenB, in games where the FthenR, is present should be chosen acoordingly. So should, in more fantastic theme, the tandem be named manticore and griffin, or in an animal theme rhino and eagle should work also. Personally I like to keep, for games with less pieces, where you don't run into name exhaust, a medieval theme names for both the WthenB and FthenR. So names like duke, minister or regent come into my mind.

I always preferred the names Octopus and Spider, because both of these are associated with the number 8, the number of sliding paths along which these pieces move.

Aurelian:

I think the name for WthenB, in games where the FthenR, is present should be chosen acoordingly. So should, in more fantastic theme, the tandem be named manticore and griffin, or in an animal theme rhino and eagle should work also. Personally I like to keep, for games with less pieces, where you don't run into name exhaust, a medieval theme names for both the WthenB and FthenR. So names like duke, minister or regent come into my mind.

H.G.:

I always preferred the names Octopus and Spider, because both of these are associated with the number 8, the number of sliding paths along which these pieces move.

All of that's completely legit. If I were writing out a "fairly pieces catalog" for print (which, now that I think of it, I just might), I'd make a note of that.

196. Sheik. Coming from Robert Shimmin's game Scheherazade, the Sheik is part Wizard and part Dababbarider: it can move one space diagonally, repeatedly leap two spaces orthogonally in a straight line, or leap (1,3) like a Camel. (FCDD).

Notably, despite its broad options, the Sheik is a colorbound piece, able to reach only half the board.

Interesting, I see also that there is a sultan that play FNC.

Thank you for the pertinent reference.

I also find the Grand Vizier, Onager, and Emir to be quite interesting.

197. Wide Receiver. When I started creating "curved sliders" like the Nova and Purifier from earlier this week, it occurred to me that a forward-only orthogonal move of that type would resemble a receiver in American football going around a defensive line. The Wide Receiver has that, plus a forward-only orthogonal slide and backward-only diagonal slides. (fRbB[lW?frF?frR][rW?flF?flR])*

This piece's move could easily be modified to better simulate the character's movements, adding forward-diagonal curved and straight slides, limiting the length of backward movement, and so forth.

*I couldn't figure out a way to include both curved slides in one XBetza code. I'm not sure that one even exists.

*I couldn't figure out a way to include both curved slides in one XBetza code. I'm not sure that one even exists.

At least for the non‐bracket notation, z and q should have that effect (though I haven't at this point checked whether it holds there aþm); it seems not to work for the Bracket notation though — probably something for H.G.'s attention

In continuation legs z and q have the meaning 'opposit' or 'same' as the previous l or r (possibly implied by z or q). The problem here, however, is that the first 4-fold symmetry breaking is different for the left and right bending paths. For the Ship, which had a similar problem, I got around that by arbitrarily assigning the four Ferz moves an l or an r (alternating as you go around the clock), even though. But here you start with a W move.

I suppose I could also make an assignment for orthogonal atoms, where the sideway moves have opposit helicity. (Currently all moves appear to have the same; afzW gives you a chiral Mao.) Then you could have written [sW?fzF?fqR]. The question is what to do for the vertical moves. Perhaps both z and q should be interpreted as s there.

I don't see any difference between bracket and other notation w.r.t z and q. There shouldn't be, as the preprocessor first converts bracket notation to the other.

I suppose I could also make an assignment for orthogonal atoms, where the sideway moves have opposit helicity. (Currently all moves appear to have the same; afzW gives you a chiral Mao.) Then you could have written [sW?fzF?fqR]. The question is what to do for the vertical moves. Perhaps both z and q should be interpreted as s there.

Just to spitball another possibility: a directional modifier (fblrvs) preceding a z or q in a sequence could reference an absolute rather than relative direction. Thus, ql would mean a 45-degree turn to the left of the previous leg, while lq would mean a 45-degree (or 135-degree) turn to the player's left. Then the Wide Receiver could be [sW?fqF?qR] -- and the Ship could be [F?vqR].

It has also been proposed to allow a directional modifier before the brackets. That is, the move within the brackets would always describe the piece with maximum symmetry, and the paths could be classified as orthogonal, diagonal and left-right-handed oblique, the preceding modifiers making selections of those according to the applicable system so a Ship would be v[F?R]. This looks much less contrived than your proposal.

Yes, that does look much better, and much simpler, more elegant, and even preferable, assuming f[sW?F?R] would work as intended for the Wide Receiver.

198. Sniper. This is another piece meant for large-board games, though I think that its utility would be a bit limited. It's based on the idea that if we're going to have something called "rifle capture," we should have something that represents an actual rifle.

The Sniper can move or capture one square in any direction, or move two spaces diagonally or orthogonally without capturing. It also can perform a rifle capture using the moves of the Root-25 Leaper -- (3,4)(0,5). (KnAnDcabNYcabDX)

The rifle capture is both the piece's greatest strength, and its greatest weakness. While it could, with a little maneuvering, position itself to threaten multiple targets, it can't shoot anything closer, and the radius has holes that a slider, rider, or even jumper could bypass quite casually.

My hurried attempt at making a sniper's scope for the piece came out better than I expected, but not as well as I would've liked. I may put a little more work into it.

The bent move of the wide receiver would be a subset of [W?F?qR]. The q is essential here (and because F and R belong to different symmetries describes a 45-degree bent) to distinguish it from the 'delayed Griffon' [W?F?zR] with the zig-zag path. The moves you need would be fs[W?F?qR], since the N moves to the second square on the path (the first to break 4-fold symmetry) would be fsN.

With this system it would not be needed to assign (rather arbitrary) handedness to initial steps. So one could declare a z or q that appears before any bending as  meaning both ways (s). That also has advantages, as in a notation with parentheses repeating the z or q step you would not have to prefix an extra s leg. E.g. the Crooked Bishop could be (az)7F instead of Fas(az)6F. (Of course zB is even better, but for more complex crooked paths the equivalent might not exist, or be ambiguous.)

The bent move of the wide receiver would be a subset of [W?F?qR].

OK, so I'm figuring f[W?F?qR]?

fN would be the pair of Knight moves that go most forward. The Receiver moves that initially do that start with fW, but eventually bend twice in the same direction to veer off sideways..

The Wide Receiver is supposed to (in addition to the forward Rook and backward Bishop) start with a single Wazir move sideways, then turn 45 degrees toward the front to move one more space as a Ferz, and then turn 45 degrees again to slide directly forward like a Rook. There shouldn't be any Knight moves in that one.

So, interpreting this, I'd go with sf[W?F?qR]?

(At the least, if it's as simple as that, I'll be happy.)

199. Spectre. Another piece from Jason Wittman's Mad Chess, the Spectre is a simple piece combining a Queen and a Threeleaper (the latter, for those who don't know, leaps three spaces orthogonally). (QH)

For the physical piece, I had to really think through what to do. A spectre is a kind of ghost, but I already had a Ghost figure. That one has a hollowed-out body, so I decided to take the same approach with this. I used my orthodox Queen figure as a starting point, removed the crown, adjusted the height and base, and then hollowed out the top part, finally adding eye holes like the Ghost's.

I think it gets the general idea across, and at the very least it makes for a distinctive appearance on the board.

The Knight move is the reference here, because after W-F you are at an N square, as the first oblique square you visit. I suppose that isnot a watertight definition, though, as you could create oblique paths that never visit an oblique square, e.g. by starting orthogonally, and then jump onto a diagonal to continue. E.g. [W-fsN], or even [W-sW-fzB] for creating a 'Fat Bishop', which cannot squeeze itself between two orthogonally adjacent pieces. Such moves have 8-fold symmetry, like all obliques, and thus a primary direction or the pairs that are each other's orthogonal mirror image, and a secondary direction to identify the member of such a pair.

Maybe Soucie as the 200th? And I have suggestions for you to pre-open the door:

• Rocket (the soul of Rocket Chess on square board)
• Getting Ready For Launching (also inspired by that)
• Electrician (rotary counterpart for Zip)
• Hexmaster (hexagonal rider on square board)
• Rosetta aka Astra (long ago;))
• Hyperbola (something to pre-open)…

Choose one of them and I’ll write its move. I recommend making Hyperbola 200th.

I have something else in mind for #200. But I do plan to include the Electrician soon. And I do want to look at the others there (I don't recall the Hyperbola).

I don't recall the Hyperbola

Try to guess) If you decide to choose Hyperbola, I can tell you how it moves. Hyperbola steps as Ferz, continues like a Rook (our favorite Griffon, Aanca, Eagle, etc.) but just two spaces, then it turns 45° back and slides like a Rook on the same line where Hyperbola has started.

UPD: remind that Electrician rides electric scooter…

200. Grandmaster Mage and 201. Mann. Since this weekend's pair includes #200, instead of featuring a rotary or reflective pair, I'm presenting two that are opposites in another way.

The Grandmaster Mage, at its most basic, moves like a Thaumaturge: stepping one space in any direction, or leaping (1,3) like a Camel or (2,3) like a Zebra. However, it treats the edges of the board like a torus; a move off one edge brings the Grandmaster Mage back to the other edge as if the two edges were attached to each other. It can also use its move to switch places with any other piece, whether friendly or enemy; or relay its move to a friendly piece.

Also, any enemy piece in an adjacent space is immobilized and cannot move. (ooKooCooZooudcKooudcCooudcZooxKooxCooxZ, spell=freeze)

Taking a strict interpretation of the XBetza code (which computers are prone to do), the move induction only gives the type of move that is used to give it. (I'd actually prefer it if all of the moves could be shared, but that's a bit much right now).

This was a case of the model driving the piece: I started with the Thaumaturge piece (which includes the crescent moon), then added bits signifying move relay (the butterfly wings), swapping places (the star), toroidal moves (the arrows), and immobilizing (the octagon around the head).

I would've loved to have included the move of the Lev Grigoriev's Magician; made rifle captures of the Camel and Zebra leaps; and possibly given it other abilities. The XBetza was already pretty long, and I wasn't sure how I'd indicate them on the model.

At the opposite end of the complexity spectrum is the Mann (also known as the Commoner, Guard, Fool, Sage, or Hey You*), which moves one square in any direction -- no diagram required. (K)

It's one of my simplest pieces, consisting only of a spherical head on a basic shaft.

*Just kidding about that last one. (Probably.)

Hi. Your Man is too much like a Pawn in my opinion.