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David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Dec 11, 2005 01:58 AM UTC:

ATTENTION Gifford, Joyce, and other interested parties: How about playing
some of our Shatranj - Makruk - Whatever variants?  I guess the inventor
of the game should take Black (move second).  Gary, you could issue an
invitation to me (david_64) for a game of Shatranj Darwinian.  Joe, do you
want to try something on the 8x10 board?  If you are not yet ready to put
'Shatranj Capablanca' up for PBM, feel free to add a Comment here
suggesting something else.  I am usually good for at least 10 moves per
week in a game.  I may not have my own variant prepared for Game Courier
until, say, December 30.  NOTE: the Rook is 'sufficient mating force'
when the only other pieces on the board are Kings.  I am inclined to
believe that any two DIFFERENT PIECES from the following list can force
mate (most of the time, provided the board is not too big, also provided
you are not using the 'wrong elephant' on a 9x9 board).  The list: [1]
Modern Elephant on a light square, [2] Modern Elephant on a dark square,
[3] Knight, [4] Cannon.

Joe Joyce wrote on Sun, Dec 11, 2005 07:31 AM UTC:

Hello, David. I would be happy to swap games with you. I'd love to try an
8x10 shatranj game. It will probably take me a few days to get a skeleton
GC preset together, non-rules-enforcing so we have the choice of specific
pieces*. Never played Makruk, or any of your variants, so whatever you
want is fine with me. Ten moves a week is at the upper limit of my
practical ability, but five per is a good number. Looking forward to it.
Sufficient mating force: the pieces I'm inclined to use in our game of
'great shatranj' (an awkward name for an 8x10 size) are the 1-step
slide, 2-step jump pieces, like the Modern (Shatranj) Elephant. The
dabbabah-wazir ('dababba') steps one or jumps two orthogonally. Clearly,
the 2-step dababba-rider Gary Gifford and I are using in the Grand Shatranj
test game can, with the king, checkmate a bare king, having a move of 1, 2,
3, or 4 squares. But the Modern Dababba moves only 1 or 2 squares. Can king
and dababba checkmate lone king? 
*great rationalization for my being unable to do anything more than gut a
pre-existing preset.

David Paulowich wrote on Sun, Dec 11, 2005 03:39 PM UTC:

david_64-mageofmaple-2004-337-027  was my first game of Pairwise Drop
Chess, where I simply hacked the Capablanca Chess Preset and added my new
rules as Kibbitz Comments.  This was a 'private preset' - I never got
around to putting up a finished public model.  Any variant with (modern)
Elephants and War Machines sounds good to me.  As for the 1or2 square War
Machine, I suspect that even a nonjumping Mogyu (Violent Ox) from Dai
Shogi can force mate - the trick is actually herding the lone King into a
corner.  Another note: the Hiryu (Flying Dragon) is a nonjumping 1or2
square Elephant.  No need to rush your moves in our games - I know that
you and Gary have a tournament to finish.

Joe Joyce wrote on Fri, Dec 16, 2005 01:28 AM UTC:

Hello David. As I do not have your email address, I'm offering you the
invite this way. I have a non-rules-checking Great Shatranj test preset
at:
    
/play/pbm/play.php?game%3DGreat+Shatranj+Test%26settings%3Ddefault


What are your preferences for pieces and set-up? The current setup guards
all the pawns, which people seem to think is important. I would prefer we
don't use the historic fers, wazir, alfil, or dabbabah, or the not-yet
official zigzag general, but it's up to you. My e-add for a little longer
is joejoyce at sprynet dot com. I will be dropping it in a couple weeks as
I've switched providers. Pity, it never got spammed, not even once.

David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Dec 16, 2005 02:33 AM UTC:

Hello Joe.  I am quite happy with Rook=DW, Bishop=AF, Queen=FW, and the
Knight compounds NDW and NDF.  This makes for a nice collection of
old-time pieces.  Your preset looks like the mirror image of Variant
'C'.  Please invite 'david_64' to play a game when you are ready.  And
add a Kibbitz Comment to your first move in the game with your final
promotion rules: A1/B1/C2 look good.  If the 'always can promote to
General' option of Modern Shatranj is not being used, then you should
state something similar to Rules 5 and 6 and 7 of Freeling's Grand Chess.

David Paulowich wrote on Fri, Dec 30, 2005 01:12 PM UTC:

I am currently playtesting the 32 piece variant (Great taste! Less
filling!) from my Mir Chess page.  Note to Gary Gifford: I would like to
play one game each of Mir Chess 32 and Shatranj Darwinian with you. 
Issue an invitation to me (david_64) if you are interested.

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