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Score: Mastodon > Modern. NextChess6 is for one-a-day review of each of the 21. There will be no convenient links to write-ups. They stand on their own naked text here. Was Mastodon Chess always 10x10, or once 8x10? We allow visualization either way in cases like this; the switch from and to 8x10 and 10x10 is the same CV essentially -- yes yes crucially different play when crunches come. Winther finds Paolovits' first use differently of Mastodon as Pasha around 1890. Greenwood's Renaissance has it. It's natural because ''complements jumping move of Knight,'' says Winther. If you think about it, all the surrounding 24 squares in 5x5 are hit once by either Knight or Mastodon for very deep symmetry. We will hierarchize fully as we go. Somebody has to do it and not be namby-pamby. Mastodon > Modern. Mastodon is NextChess for how now long-lived. At the end all 21 will be listed in order of preference. Then up to 9 more to 30 altogether, to include Fischer Random Chess getting a bye and one each from Gifford, Gilman, Fourriere, and Aronson will be slotted in exactly. No novelty CVs like Rococo. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303
http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303 Score: Mastodon > Eurasian > Modern. Dawson's hopper Vao from around 1912, the diagonal equivalent of Cannon, complements the Cannon plugged into Eurasian Chess. Chinese Cannon, Dawson's also Grasshopper from the same decade, and Ultima-Rococo Long Leaper from 1960s are of one rather general type requiring hopping at least for capturing. This class can be split into rectilinear and diagonal varieties, as this Eurasian does smartly. Like with the class of Bifurcators, also Winther's, eventually there may be consensus which sub-type, that is specific piece-type or several, of Hoppers is ideal. Carefully planned, Eurasian will probably stay within the top ten of these our best groupings from CVPage material, to be further winnowed in extended hierarchy ongoing. Today Mastodon, in comparison, has edge in unambiguous playability out of its own considered complementarity differing from Eurasian's. Which is to say: as Next Chess, Mastodon's based on the mediaeval Man, the Alfil, and the Dababbah compounded and set opposite the standard Knight. Of those taken up one daily so far there are: Mastodon > Eurasian > Modern.
The Mastodon is the Pasha from Paulovits's Game. I added some notes to my Gross Chess page today about the Wizard and Champion, in which I explained why I think they make the most natural complements to the Knight, and in which I compared them to other possible complements, including the General and Pasha from Paulovits's Game. Although I do favor the Wizard and Champion as complements to the Knight, I do find the pieces from Paulovits's Game interesting, and I'll program a preset for it soon in order to play a game. Getting back to the Mastodon, this same piece, under the name of Minister, is used in Ajax Orthodox Chess, which is one of the games in the upcoming tournament.
Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 06:14 AM UTC:I believe the Minister in Ajax Orthodox is somewhat different from the pasha and its later incarnations in that the usual piece allows capture on all 16 squares to which it moves, and if I'm reading the rules right, the Ajax Minister may only capture on the 8 adjacent squares, not the 8 it leaps to over the adjacent squares. It's a logical and beautiful piece, but I don't see it as a complement to the knight in its usual form, where it captures on 16 squares to the knight's 8. However, the Ajax piece would be considerably weakened by its limited attack capacity, making it at most a fraction of a pawn higher in value than the knight. There is a related discussion in the comments at the bottom here: http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/attack-fraction It includes a small chart by Graeme Neatham discussing the effects on the value of pieces that move like kings and capture like queens to those which move like queens and capture like kings. Basically he found a distance move with only adjacent capture is worth about half a local move with distant capture.
I'm not sure if that is a correct reading of the piece, Joe. The description of Ajax Orthodox Chess doesn't explicitly say that the Minister cannot capture on the second perimeter. Jose Carillo does identify the piece with both the Pasha and the Mastodon, and in code he is developing for this game, the Minister has not been programmed as a divergent piece. What is misleading in his description is that he calls it a minor piece. The Minister, Pasha, Mastodon or whatever you call it is a major piece, though a short-range one.
Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 05:07 PM UTC:I begin to see how the Murray Lion came about. :-) The Pasha has re-surfaced as several pieces in the past 3 decades. After its invention in the late 1800's [? - maybe, but unlikely; the piece had to have been discovered over and over], it next appeared in Eric Greenwood's Rennchess, 1980, as the Squire, that I know of. It appeared again 4 years ago as the Kozu in Joshua Morris' Kozune and twice in my shatranj series, in Grand and Barroom shatranj, as the Jumping General and Jumping King. Mats Winther posted Mammoth chess about the beginning of 2006, but changed the name to Mastodon Chess, as Mammoth Chess was already taken. Finally, this year, Ajax has the Minister, courtesy of Jose Carillo. As I was looking over the presets for Rennchess [Renniassance Chess], I noticed that one preset uses a squirrel with an 8-armed asterisk for the squire piece. I suspect that many who play with this preset would turn the Pasha into a piece that hit 24 squares unstoppably, rather than 16, creating what I guess you'd have to call a Rennlion. Guess I should probably just ask Jose directly about his piece, rather than speculating on the meaning of the 2 colors in the piece's diagram. But this little excursion into the use of a piece has been interesting much more for its demonstration of imperfect copying than anything else. Chess evolution in action right before our eyes.
The rules of Ajax Orthodox Chess specifically state that the Minister may capture with its one-step move. The different colors are probably to show that it leaps to the 2nd perimeter rather than blockably sliding.
Score: Mastodon > Eurasian > Templar > Modern. Meltdown. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303 Templar is Dabbabah plus one- and two-stepping Bishop, an in-between piece-type like Omega Chess' two moderate novelties. The two Templars opposite-colourboundedness is appealing. Templar Chess' rear spaces are like shortened Morley corridors moved from the sides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Morley Variations told of in his book on the subject establish that Morley tried them both ways, so Templar is copying one of the notional Morley boards -- by the old reliable standard of attributing the general innovation to the original inventor. As Omega gets detracted for oversizing board ill-suiting its bi-compound and tri-compound, so the nice Templar piece-type here may find his clever Morley board literally too deep. Refreshingly straightforward, Templar nonetheless does not quite match compelling co-paired Dawson Vao and Cannon of Eurasian; and that is enough to establish the new ranking. Zillions' calling the value higher than Rook is erroneous. Templar's meaning Christian military order needs a balancing counter-quote: ''And he brought me into the inner court and behold at the door of the temple between the porch and the altar, were five and twenty men, with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east; and they worshipped the Sun towards the east.'' -- Ezekial 8:16 http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSarmiesoffaith1 Mastodon > Eurasian > Templar > Modern.
Joe Joyce wrote on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 01:34 AM UTC:Ah, thank you, Garth. I read through Jose's rules and found this in Ajax Orthodox: 'The Minister (enhanced Man or Commoner) is an additional minor piece to the Ajax Chessmen set that can move AND capture on their one-square moves (just like a Man, circles in green above) or can also do a two-step leap in any direction (Alfil+Dababah - circles in blue above).' Read by itself, it implies the Minister cannot capture with its leap. Read in context, it seems that it does capture with all its moves, unlike the other Ajax pieces with augmented moves. Burned by a literal reading of the rules for [only] the specific piece.
I am not sure what the subject is regarding, but we have always played that the minister can capture with all of its moves (even the alfil/dababa ones). I have played this with Jose. He might just need to clarify it in the rules.
Fergus said: >>I'm not sure if that is a correct reading of the piece, Joe. The >>description of Ajax Orthodox Chess doesn't explicitly say that the >>Minister cannot capture on the second perimeter. Jose Carillo does >>identify the piece with both the Pasha and the Mastodon, and in code he >>is developing for this game, the Minister has not been programmed as a >>divergent piece. What is misleading in his description is that he calls >>it a minor piece. The Minister, Pasha, Mastodon or whatever you call it >>is a major piece, though a short-range one. That is correct, the Ajax Minister can capture on it's 2-square leap. I stand corrected, the Ajax Minister is a major piece. I'll update the rule page. Garth said: >>The rules of Ajax Orthodox Chess specifically state that the Minister >>may capture with its one-step move. The different colors are probably >>to show that it leaps to the 2nd perimeter rather than blockably >>sliding. Absolutely correct Garth. I needed different colors to indicate that the 2-step move was actually a leap, and from the text I thought it was obvious (except for the 'minor piece' typo) that the Ajax Minister could capture with both it's 1-step move or 2-square leap. I'll clarify further in the rules page.
Nick said: 'I am the coolest and was right about the Minister.' That is also correct ;)
Fergus, there is already a preset with Paulovits's Game, by Sibahi. But without rule-checking. If you're going to include rule checks, please note that the king jumps two steps when castling on the kingside, and four steps on the queenside (at least, that's how I have interpreted the rules in my zrf). /Mats
Score: {Mastodon = Centennial} > Eurasian > Templar > Modern.
The one tie so far will be sorted later. J.W. Brown's articulate introduction begins, ''The Centennial Chess board has 100 squares -- one for each year of our now departing century. Such 10x10 games, often called decimal chess, have been the holy grail of game designers for years. Many scholars felt that the move to a 10x10 board would be the next logical step in the chess' continuing evolution.'' We agree, except 9x9 and 8x10 are also still plausible and much in the running. Centennial's innovations are the Quadra-Pawn and the Murray Lion for 10x10. The Spearman, weaker than Quadra-Pawn, makes Centennial verge on being novelty CV instead of full-fledged Next Chess. Simple. We get rid of the Spearmen and add two more Quadra-Pawns. By conventional accepted standards of mutual regard, Centennial Chess with 4 Quadra-Pawns rather than 2, and no Spearmen is still Brown's invention slightly modified -- with of course all the ramifications for play and wider appeal. Now Camel, Quadra-Pawn, and Murray Lion are arguably fundamental. Quadra-Pawn and Lion are of comparable value. The genius of Centennial is that behind those strong non-conventional Pawns, Lion does not at all seem lost in the shuffle -- the effect which 10x10 often superinduces on preferred moderate piece-types. Without the revision eliminating Spearman, Mastodon has clear edge, should we hear from Brown or agent...
{Mastodon = Centennial} > Eurasian > Templar > Modern.
Score: Mastodon > Unicorn Great > Centennial > Eurasian > Templar > Modern. Against all forces stygian and terrestrial has seemed our headway to advance humbly and mercifully one small step for a piece, one giant leap for mankind. First, any future try in embodiment of Centennial needs serious doctoring -- see here 15.December.2009 -- despite what can have been the best significant idea for expansion to ten-deep, namely the Pawns and Quadra-Pawns united in one mutual offsetting. Therefore notwithstanding, twelve-year-old Centennial is herewith de-coupled from Mastodon and then gets nudged by Unicorn Great Chess as per below. In contradistinction to lesser Unicorn Chess, Unicorn Great Chess adds Half-Duck and Unicorn. Half-Duck, as prolific Betza's single best piece-type implementation and invention, is tri-compound of Trebouchet, Dabbabah, and Ferz. In this Unicorn, ten-file centrally-flanked makes better placement than Betza was able to perform within his lock-step invariable 64 squares. And why not the more nearly real Unicorn, one Jungian archetype after all? What more appropriate than archetype as piece-type? Unicorn, the Bishop-Runner-Fool plus the Dawson Nightrider, thus realizes contemporary logical strong Bishop enhancement different from Carrera Centaur (BN). To novices: both Centaur and Unicorn are of the bestiary in consistent nomenclative aspiration. Escape velocity. Mastodon > Unicorn Great > Centennial > Eurasian > Templar > Modern. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303
The Ajax Orthodox Chess Game Courier preset now enforces all the rules: /play/pbm/play.php?game%3DAjax+Orthodox+Chess%26settings%3DAlfaerie1
Switching Chess happens to represent Mutators for this project and may be mis-classified. CVPage Mutators are chiefly attempts to salvage past-standard 64 squares, and there are literally hundreds. They range from Lasker's exchanging Bishop and Knight positions at the start to Fischer Random Chess to Neto's long list. Pedro Neto invented Swap Chess in 1990s to allow Swapping along line of attack in lieu of normal move. Friedlander implemented playing-applet also called Swap Chess with the same rule as the 2004 Switching Chess of Quintanilla. Both the latter have adjacent-piece switching at option counting as a player's full move. Their only difference is the CVPage game's allowing King to be switched too. The inventor acknowledges the prior art as tantamount to his own later discovery. It is nothing to revel in, that one's announced new idea or CV is not really novel, yet can just be rationalized by the adage ''great minds think alike.'' This style of switching is good example of commonplace Mutator widely applicable to almost every other CV. However, the best inventing ethos ideally assumes responsibility for full knowledge of what came before, as Ralph Betza enunciates in the 1997 interview by Bodlaender. Otherwise any earlier implementations of rules-sets are too prone to become copycats willy-nilly. Switching in place of a move, whether along line of attack or by adjacency, is not all that constructive in these Next Chesses, but was nominated and inserted for variety. Formally ranking last now here -- all these to be 30 CVs are intrinsically good ideas in their certain context -- Switching would be ideal instead for change in purely novelty CVs. Mastodon > Unicorn Great > Centennial > Eurasian > Templar > Modern > Switching.
Score: Mastodon > Unicorn Great > Centennial > Eurasian > Templar > Modern > Switching > Seirawan. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=24303 Seirawan Chess too is fundamentally a Mutator generally applicable to other CVs, and not a very good Mutator like Switching. Call it what one will, back-ranking, or gating; gating may be Seirawan's preference. Why not just insert the classics Centaur and Champion into the normal full-size 8x10 and 10x10 of Capablanca? Regarding this CV under review invented by a Grandmaster of title, here's a relevant irreverent down-home homily: ''The counterfeit of anything is the proof of the genuine, as it is impossible to counterfeit a nonentity.'' Seirawan Chess: counterfeit chess. He ought to have known better than to tinker with perfection. Out-classed. Mastodon > Unicorn Great > Centennial > Eurasian > Templar > Modern > Switching > Seirawan.
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