I have been running the open-source FICS code on my server for a while, mainly to organize on-line tournaments for computer programs. I did add a lot of variants on it too, such as Capablanca 10x8 variants, Spartan Chess. No one would ever play those, of course, but there were hardly any human visitors of that server anyway, and I never organized computer tournaments for those on that server.
I don't know if that old source still compiles on CentOS; otherwise it would be possible to run it on the CVP server as well. But it would have to be changed a lot for allowing a wider variety of variants, and in particular easier implementation of new ones. Furthermore, the only client capable to run the variants is WinBoard/XBoard, while nowadays people lose interest for anything you cannot play directly in your browser.
I have been running the open-source FICS code on my server for a while, mainly to organize on-line tournaments for computer programs. I did add a lot of variants on it too, such as Capablanca 10x8 variants, Spartan Chess. No one would ever play those, of course, but there were hardly any human visitors of that server anyway, and I never organized computer tournaments for those on that server.
I don't know if that old source still compiles on CentOS; otherwise it would be possible to run it on the CVP server as well. But it would have to be changed a lot for allowing a wider variety of variants, and in particular easier implementation of new ones. Furthermore, the only client capable to run the variants is WinBoard/XBoard, while nowadays people lose interest for anything you cannot play directly in your browser.