Kevin Pacey wrote on Wed, Mar 28, 2018 09:57 PM UTC:
Hi Aurelian
Some folks don't mind a game that is lengthy on average in terms of moves. A game of Go goes about 75 moves (that is, 150 ply) on average, a game of Shogi takes rather less than that on average, but a game of Chu Shogi apparently can easily go over 200 moves (that is, 400 ply), which may be an extra reason why it was eventually replaced in popularity by standard 9x9 Shogi (i.e. with its innovation of drops) in Japan (noting Easterners are supposedly a bit more patient as a rule than Westerners, I seemed to learn somewhere long ago [edit: this may especially be true of kids, whose interest would benefit the participation numbers of any Next Chess]). I suspect a lot of chess players like that an average game of chess only takes about 35-42 full moves, and any Next Chess would probably benefit from a similar average length of game. As an aside, I remember once the start of a subsequent round of a weekend chess tournament in Toronto in the 1980s was held up by one game not ending till well after over 100 moves, as there were no exchanges in it until past move 100 (sufficent pawn moves to keep the game alive till then, though). Variants that use very large boards, unless they're somehow special/limited like the game of Go, can only produce 100+ moves long games on average, I fear.
Regarding whether there ought to be room for more than one Next Chess, my guess would be if a given variant becomes enormously popular, ever, a world or regional organization for the play of it will inevitably spring up, and it will effectively become its own board game that's independent of other chess variants. This CVP website acts as an incubator for less popular or less well known variants - Game Courier lets one choose many variants to play at once, in particular. However there are dedicated Shogi websites and organizations already, for example, and most serious Shogi players would tend to be catered to mainly by these, I suspect. A single Next Chess would simply be the most overwhelmingly popular chess variant at some future point, if it overtakes standard chess for that.
Hi Aurelian
Some folks don't mind a game that is lengthy on average in terms of moves. A game of Go goes about 75 moves (that is, 150 ply) on average, a game of Shogi takes rather less than that on average, but a game of Chu Shogi apparently can easily go over 200 moves (that is, 400 ply), which may be an extra reason why it was eventually replaced in popularity by standard 9x9 Shogi (i.e. with its innovation of drops) in Japan (noting Easterners are supposedly a bit more patient as a rule than Westerners, I seemed to learn somewhere long ago [edit: this may especially be true of kids, whose interest would benefit the participation numbers of any Next Chess]). I suspect a lot of chess players like that an average game of chess only takes about 35-42 full moves, and any Next Chess would probably benefit from a similar average length of game. As an aside, I remember once the start of a subsequent round of a weekend chess tournament in Toronto in the 1980s was held up by one game not ending till well after over 100 moves, as there were no exchanges in it until past move 100 (sufficent pawn moves to keep the game alive till then, though). Variants that use very large boards, unless they're somehow special/limited like the game of Go, can only produce 100+ moves long games on average, I fear.
Regarding whether there ought to be room for more than one Next Chess, my guess would be if a given variant becomes enormously popular, ever, a world or regional organization for the play of it will inevitably spring up, and it will effectively become its own board game that's independent of other chess variants. This CVP website acts as an incubator for less popular or less well known variants - Game Courier lets one choose many variants to play at once, in particular. However there are dedicated Shogi websites and organizations already, for example, and most serious Shogi players would tend to be catered to mainly by these, I suspect. A single Next Chess would simply be the most overwhelmingly popular chess variant at some future point, if it overtakes standard chess for that.