Ratings & Comments

Considered by who? In my eyes it is more a hybrid. It keeps the pieces from Dai that were in Chu, but the large Shogi variants all do that. The pieces that distingush Dai from Chu were all thrown out. Although one might argue that the promotion-on-capture rule is the decisive difference.

But of course there is nothing against hybrids.

Buddhist Spirit is also an interesting power piece.

Well, now that I am back to inventing Chess Variants and being more involved in general, I think using only the Dai Shogi (-like) move types would make for a more interesting challenge. Especially now that the Shock Chess rule is implemented, which makes for a much simplet trading rule without making pieces basically immortal.

P.S. I posited a question about the shock rule in relation to multi-movers, which you can find here.

The captureMatrix only looks at the pieces on the origin and destination. For multiple capture it would have to be not a matrix but a multi-dimensional object.

But I did not see that as a problem. In the example you give an adjacent Lion is captured. Under Chu-Shogi rules this would also be allowed. In the current form the rule thus gives the closest approximation to the original Chu-Shogi rules. You can even allow bridge capture, by exempting the caKcabK moves from application of the capture matrix by suffixing those moves with an apostrophy. (No way to still forbid it when bridged by P or GB, though.)

BTW, it is still possible to handle more complex cases by scripting. By defining an xxxTinker() JavaScript routine you can examine the move it is passed as argument, and set the '64' bit of the variable 'kind' to let the move trigger the forced pass (kind |= 64;). Or the '32' bit to make it a prioritized move.

There seems to be a typo in the promotion rule for Strong Makruk (Kuhn instead of Kohn).

The diagram is rather ugly cut & paste work.

I guess it should be possible to make an Interactive Diagram for this variant, though; it falls in the category of 'regular variants', which only differ from orthodox Chess by having different sliders, leapers and their compounds and board-size parameters.

I once tested the effect of limiting the promotion choice to weaker pieces, (like only Knights), and it turned out there almost wasn't any. I suppose that in practice promotions can almost always be prevented by sacrificing a minor for the Pawn that is going to promote or has just been promoted. So promotion is worth a minor. For promotion of pieces weaker than a Knight (such as Silver or Ferz) this might no longer be true, though.

The captureMatrix only looks at the pieces on the origin and destination. For multiple capture it would have to be not a matrix but a multi-dimensional object.

But I did not see that as a problem.

BTW, it is still possible to handle more complex cases by scripting. By defining an xxxTinker() JavaScript routine you can examine the move it is passed as argument, and set the '64' bit of the variable 'kind' to let the move trigger the forced pass (kind |= 64;). Or the '32' bit to make it a prioritized move.

Well, to be fair, usually it isn't. The problem I was having was that hit-and-run captures weren't triggering the forced pass. I tend to prefer consistency in my rulesets. But thanks for letting me know about the scripting option.

Since I see that in the source code Tinker() still only takes two parameters, I'm assuming by kind you are referring to the in-source variable here.

Edit: I tried your recommendation by editing the diagram to my previous comment, and it works perfectly with all capture situations. Thanks.

In the current form the rule thus gives the closest approximation to the original Chu-Shogi rules. You can even allow bridge capture, by exempting the caKcabK moves from application of the capture matrix by suffixing those moves with an apostrophy. (No way to still forbid it when bridged by P or GB, though.)

You could just use the tradeThreshold=N parameter for that, and have the forbidden bridge-captures be the first N pieces in the list.

ATTENTION EDITORS: the applet wants to play the illegal move 17... e7-e5 in the game below, ignoring the White Rook on e6. I wonder if two-step initial pawn moves were coded as leaps here. EDIT [10/22/2024] Thanks for all your work on these applets. The game now correctly ends with *** stalemate ***

1. h4 d6 2. Nf3 Bh3 3. Rxh3 Nc6 4. g4 Nd4 5. Nxd4 Kd7 6. Nf5 Ke6 7. Rc3 Kf6 8. Rxc7 Kg6 9. Rxb7 h6 10. Rxa7 Kh7 11. Rxa8 Nf6 12. Rxd8 Kg8 13. g5 Rh7 14. h5 Kh8 15. g6 Ng8 16. Rxd6 f6 17. Re6

At first glance, the final position arrived at might appear impossible, so I decided to provide a complete game, which can be copypasted into the chess applet here. Such "blockade stalemates" are highly unusual, but need to be kept in mind whenever you are writing brand new rules for a chess variant.

Alfilrider{AA} appeared in Skip Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17.

Alfilrider-Fers{FAA} appeared in Major Star, Major Star-rider.

Alibaba{S} appeared in 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Alibaba Chess, Fantasy Grand Chess: Giant Army, Interdependent Chess, Leap Chess, Modern Courier Chess, The Pattern Game, Shatranj al-Sultan, Pocket Polypiece Chess 43, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Convoi exceptionnel II, Convoi exceptionnel III, Play against Popo, Trifecta.

Alibabarider{SS} appeared in Skip Chess.

Auroch{NFX} appeared in Dealer's Chess, Zwangkrieg.

Barc{fsbN} appeared in UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Crab Chess.

Carpenter{DN} appeared in Augmented Chess, Augmented Knight, Asymmetric Augmented Knight, Bakery Bombers, Rose Chess XII, Knavish Chess, Avon, Diamond Ring Fusion, Kyoomagi, Arena Cheturshogqi, Beautiful Beasts, Platonic Chess, Uneven pieces chess, Short Sliders.

Champion{WS} appeared in Omega Chess Advanced, Apothecary Chess-Modern, Grand Apothecary Chess-Modern, Gross Chess, Parity Chess, SOHO Chess, TenCubed Chess, WAD Chess, Wide Nightrider Chess, Wide SOHO Chess, Wormhole Chess, Mĕirìqí, Yangsi, Hectochess, Omega Chess Extended, Omega Chess Semi-Advanced, Omega Chess Extreme.

Crab{fbsN) appeared in Amazon Army II, DemiChess, Half Chess, Halfgi, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Shatranj With Different Armies, Aquachess, Crab Chess.

Dabbaba-Wazir-Fers{DK} appeared in Chess++, Cobwebs, Kjempe Chess (before the revision).

Dabbabarider{DD} appeared in Skip Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, XChess.
Problems with Dabbabarider:
-Nils Adrian Bakke
153 feenschach 36, p. 374, 11-12/1976
-Theodor Steudel
63 feenschach 162, p. 217, 12/2005

Dabbabarider-Wazir{WDD} appeared in Golden Age Chess On a Really Big Board, Traffic Calmed Borders.

Duck{FDD} appeared in Scheherazade, Colorbound Chess, Major Star, Major Star-rider.

Duke{FD} appeared in Sai Squad, Grand Betza, Short Sliders, Zwangkrieg, Uneven pieces chess, Patchanka, Constabulary Chess, Constable-Spiel, Med Chess, Accelerated Constable-Spiel, Accelerated Constabulary Chess, Futashikana Shogi, Ryugi, Mosaic Chess, Chu Seireigi, Minjiku Shogi, Tengu Dai Shogi, Chu Kagamigi, 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Dai Seireigi, Nutty Shogi, Macadamia Shogi, Kirin-Spiel, Mitsugumi Shogi, Kuuzen Dai Shogi, Cashew Shogi, Bureau-Spiel, Silly Sliders, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Weirweb, Crow chess cheap copy.

Ferfil{FA} appeared in 3D Great Shatranj, 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj, Champagne Chess, Courier Chess (modified), Enhanced Courier Chess, Fearful Fairies, Hannibal Chess, HyperModern Shatranj, Maasai Chess, Metamachy, Mir Chess, Teramachy, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Constabulary Chess, Constable-Spiel, Bureau-Spiel, Simi Grove, Simi River, Wukong.

General{LK} appeared in UC-170-13, UC-170-17.

Giraffe{FX} appeared in UC-170-13, UC-170-17, GraTiA, WILDEURASIAN BESTIARY.

Griffon{FyafsF} appeared in Apothecary Chess-Modern, Europan Chess, Ganymede Chess, Grand Apothecary Chess-Classic, Grand Apothecary Chess-Modern, IO Chess, Mosaic Chess, Tigrey, Gryphon Aanca Chess, Frog/Hannibal/Waffle chess with Gryphon, 4 Linepiece Fusion, Expanded Chess, Royal Lion Chess, Abecedarian Big Chess, Universal Chess, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, 15 Random Bent Riders Chess.

Impala{NYN} appeared in Dealer's Chess.
Christopher John Feather
7 Fairings 14 01/2011 features Impala.

Knight-Alfil-Wazir{NAW} appeared in Scheherazade, Strategists' nightmare.

Knight-Dabbaba-Fers{NDF} appeared  in Strategists' nightmare.

Mao-Bishop{BafsW} appeared in Paradigm Chess30.

Squirrel{SN} appeared in ArchCourier Chess, Archchess, Carrousel Chess, Courier Chess (modified), Fantasy Grand Chess: Giant Army, Grand Ducal Chess, Renniassance Chess, Samarcanda, Trophy Hunt, Alibaba Chess, Timurid, Fantastic XIII, Obento Chess, Cincinnati 4-way Chess, Heavy Shako, Bigorra, Archabbott Chess, Timurid Babur, Chess Empire, UC-170-13, UC-170-17, Dealer's Chess, Strategists' nightmare.

Toad{DH} appeared in Chaturanga with minor changes.

Zurafa{afsafyafF} appeared in CCChess Final Fight, CCC - The Clash of Civilizations Chess, Chinese Army vs Tamerlane Army.

Well, as you said, custom scripting is always an option. I am having trouble though when it comes to custom scripting compatibility for the AI though, probably because I set the kind variable in the Tinker() function itself. Here's the code for Raichu Shogi I use, when allowing hit-and-run captures of Lions to trigger the forced pass.

  function raichuTinker(m, d) {
    dest = board[m[3]][m[2]] & 511;
    midpoint = m[-2] > 2 ? (board[m[5]][m[4]] & 511) : 0;
    if(IsLion(dest) || IsLion(midpoint)) kind |= 64; // problem line, will be replaced with: return 5;
    return 0;
  }
  function IsLion(pieceType) { // Returns true if pieceType is a Lion
    return pieceType == 20 || pieceType == 31;
  }

Let's say that instead of setting it in the function, I want to return a value of 5 to indicate the forced pass, and set kind |= 64 elsewhere. Where should I set it?

When I tried in AlterMove(), and the Console gave the following error (this is in a local file),

Raichu Shogi.html:17 Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
    at AlterMove (Raichu Shogi.html:17:19)
    at StackMove (sourcecode.js:3068:10)
    at NextLeg (sourcecode.js:3325:22)
    at NextLeg (sourcecode.js:3328:9)
    at NewInner (sourcecode.js:3357:7)
    at NewGen (sourcecode.js:3368:3)
    at GenAll (sourcecode.js:3404:41)
    at AlphaBeta (sourcecode.js:3647:3)
    at AlphaBeta (sourcecode.js:3678:19)
    at AlphaBeta (sourcecode.js:3678:19)

, after I added an if statement telling AlterMove() to set kind |= 64 and return 0 for the normal move in the section with the Tinker() call.

  if(alter & 16) {
    var tinker = CustomScript(m, piece & 1024 ? m[3] : ranks - 1 - m[3]);
    if(tinker > 0) {
      if(tinker == 5) { if(!(kind & 64)) { kind |= 64; } return 0; }
      else return tinker;
    }
  }

This (and the original Heroes) are some of my favorite variants. The hexagonal board allows, or even suggests, different kinds of pieces than square grids. Instead of relying on the orthogonal/diagonal distinction, we can have, coherently, pieces that all move on the same lines but have other differences.

There are some things that are questionable about this variant. There could have been two camels and two guards instead of one and three; and the camel could have some extra ability to differentiate it from the chariot. I also wonder if Heroes 1's hole in the center might make for more interesting gameplay than the full board found here.

It would be nice if all the diagrams used the proper board size. Was there some consideration of using a 127 hex board? I also found the pawn description hard to interpret regarding the ability of the pawns to move to the side without capturing. I had to look at the sample game to be sure that was intended.

Still, this is a great idea!

Macro Makruks

ifmnD doesn't seem to work.

Edit: My bad.

ifmnD doesn't seem to work.

I think this was already fixed; try refreshing the browser cache.

I was thinking today about how ratings and favorites would work for collections, like this one. These are rare enough (probably only I do them), so that they do not need anything special I am thinking. The way I'd see it, the users who want to review these games just say things about all variants and maybe give the average grade for the games. And if you like most of these games you can put them on favorites. One behavior I'd encourage though is to treat the collection as a hexathlone, like and track and field. Is that a good idea?