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H. G. Muller wrote on Thu, Oct 3, 2013 09:06 AM UTC:

I declared the HaChu engine to be open source, so that it can be supplied by Debian for Linux. This begged for a Linux interface that could handle Chu Shogi, and unfortunately the 'mnemonic piece set' shown in the previous (Chu Shogi) comment is only implemented in WinBoard.

For XBoard I therefore used a representation with pictograms, (which a poll showed to be highly preferred by Chess players, despite their inferior neature), using as many of the 22 piece symbols that were already supported by XBoard. (But this was barely enough for the pieces in the initial setup. So I had to make some extra symbols for the promoted pieces, which are mainly slightly modified versions of the unpromoted piece that moves the same.

This is what I finally settled on:

Laziness prevailed in the cases of Blind Tiger (using the masked Horse that normally represents Nightrider), Reverse Chariot (using the Canon) and Go Between (using the Cobra); for the rest I am reasonably happy with how the unpromoted pieces look. The only new symbols used in the initial setup are the Lion, Ferocious Leopard and the standing and lying sword. The latter three were used in stead of XBoard's existing Falcon, Unicorn and narrow crown of the Grasshopper symbols, because the latter seemed more apt for designating some promoted pieces with unique gait. And swords seemed a very useful representation for the Vertical and Side Mover, as the way they point reminds you of the move pattern. (A similar argument led to the existing crosssed-swords symbol (the 'SMIRF' Archbishop) to represent the Phoenix, and the more roundish U.S. Marhall star to represent the Kylin.)


Promoted forms shown in white directly below the primordial pieces in black

In the above picture the pictograms can be characterized as follows: 

S . . S . S . . .
S . e e C C . C L
S . e e C C S S .
. . e e S S . . c
C = known from Chess and Shogi (B, R, K)
c = known from Chess (Q)
S = known from Shogi (P, L, S, G, DH, DK, +P)
e = easily remembered by mnemonic content
L = not likely to forget (Lion)

That leaves 14 new pieces that would have to be memorized (the Elephant counted double). If you already have used XBoard for Shogi, that is.


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