[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Comments by Adrian Alvarez de la Campa
Contrast Chess. Pieces lose or gain strength depending on the colour of the square they stand on. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I had a similar idea recently, but this looks pretty interesting. Has anyone played this? I'm surprised there's no ZRF.
Random Wormhole Chess (deleted). Introduces "wormholes" and "toroidal" movement to the game in a fun and manageable way. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This variant did not turn out to be very playable, mainly because of the practical impossibility of checkmating the King in the endgame. I have recently modified the rules, making the game simpler but much more playable: 1) There is no cylindrical movement. 2) The King does not move through wormholes; he moves normally, removing a wormhole when landing on one. I wrote a ZRF for it, but due to my very limited programming skills, I could not enforce rules for not placing wormholes when it would allow the King to be captured, etc; and Zillions plays it stupidly.
The Princess and The Warrior 
. Pieces' moves are limited by their current rank except for the two new pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thank you for the comments, Christine. I think the Princess and Warrior pieces' complementary nature makes them interesting. But (being new to programming and ZRFs) I'm not sure why Zillions assigns them such high values. I should also mention that I stole the name of the game from Tom Tykwer's film (Der Krieger und die Kaiserin), a favorite movie of mine. I haven't played this game with a human so if anyone is interested in playing it by mail let me know.
Javelin Chess . Pieces backed up by an extra row of single-capture Spearmen.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I appreciate your feedback. I fixed the error in the Pawn description and made the Pawns look like Chinese Pawns, which helps keep their movement in mind.
This game is tactically tricky because of discovered Javelins. I also like the idea of the weaker, forward-capturing Pawn with the Javelins helping defend them.
Bario. Pieces are undefined until they move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Interesting...I independently invented a similar game, which evolved into Undecided Chess (the ZRF is here). In my game the pieces start out as berolina pawns, which then can change into other pieces by moving like them. and there is only one 'cycle'. If anyone would like to play it with me over Zillions or by mail, let me know.
Templar Chess. Features the unorthodox Templar on a board with eight extra squares. (8x10, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, Michael Howe is correct about the Templar's movement. I've tried clarifying this in the rules. BTW, Fergus, did you get my e-mail about this game?
Thanks! Looking forward to playing it on Game Courier.
Pretentious Chess. All Pieces can move as and demote to a Knight. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]That's right. Also coincidentally, I experimented with using a Dragon (in
place of a Knight) which demotes to a Pawn, just as in your game! I may
include this variation when I post the ZRF. Another one of my variants with 'potential' pieces is
Undecided Chess. Anyhow, thanks for commenting!
And let me also thank you and the other editors of these pages for your work. I have long admired the site.
True. I thought these graphics were perfect for this variant since visually it almost looks like the Knight is hiding behind the major Pieces, waiting to jump out on its own, and I modified the Marshall piece to match the others.
Yes, I have tested the game with Zillions and because all the pieces have additional Knight moves and Pawns are promotable to Queen+Knight pieces, giving the King a Knight move as well does not make him much more difficult to mate. And in fact a lone Queen+Knight can still mate the Centaur-King.
Right or Left Chess . Pieces are either right-moving or left-moving and may flip from one to the other.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I just realized that the ZRF linked to here is an older version than the one described. I tried uploading the updated ZRF again but the link still gives me the old one.
Swapmate Chess. Pieces have "mates" which they can swap places with. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]1. There is no rule against a Pawn swapping with a King on the first rank. As stated, the Pawn will only regain the double step when on the second rank. Maybe I'll try to make this more clear.
2. Because the King cannot swap when in check, he is not much more difficult to attack. A King swapping with a Pawn in the mid-game will likely be exposed to danger. Hence, I don't think the game is too drawish.
Thanks for the comments.
Compromise Chess. Propose two moves and your opponent selects one for you. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This gave me an idea for a variant I would like to playtest: White moves and chooses two possible moves to make on his following turn. Black moves and does the same. White then plays one of his possible moves, and so on. If only one of the moves is legal, then that move must be played. If neither of the chosen moves can be legally played, then that player loses. This might be called Psychic Chess.
Another more convoluted idea is that a player gives a certain number of possible moves, say four, but must pick one (secretly) that he must then play on his next turn. Obviously, there is some luck involved in this game. This may make for fun over-the-board play, and the game could be named Multiple Choice (or Multiple Guess?) Chess.
I remember seeing a reference to a game called Atlantean Barroom Shantraj, but now a search turns up no results. Has anyone seen mention of this or did I just dream it up?
Thanks. The motivation for my inquiry was that I ran across the entry for Atlantis Chess, which made me recall the Game Log for Atlantean Barroom Shantraj and wondering what the results would be like if the two games were combined...
I recently ran across the entry for Berkelian C in the ECV, which consists of one rule: When a piece is unobserved (i.e. not defended) it disappears from the board. I'm not sure this would result in much of a game. But here is my development of this. Any piece that is unobserved (except the King) becomes 'cloaked'. Cloaked pieces cannot capture or be captured. They can only make a non-capturing move. Then, if the piece becomes defended again it becomes a normal capturing piece. A further development: cloaked pieces' non-capturing moves are made secretly by the player moving them by writing down the square they have moved to. I don't think you could enforce this last rule via PBM however.
Bishops
. four-player game.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]lol...I have a confession to make: that original anonymous post was mine. After seeing what a funny thread it generated, I had to take the credit...or the blame ; )
Chess Variant Pages Rating System. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I am in full agreement with both Fergus' and Derek's comments.
Templar Chess. Features the unorthodox Templar on a board with eight extra squares. (8x10, Cells: 72) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thank you, Peter. I'll send you a game invite. I took a quick look at your game and it looks interesting; have you playtested it? I also noted the coincidence in naming a piece Templar. I'm currently working on a further development of Templar Chess where the Templar can promote, gaining a full Bishop's move.
Castling didn't seem essential for this game since there are squares behind the King for him to move to. Also, if I remember correctly, I tested the game with castling, and play just seemed a bit less dynamic.
Fianchetto Chess. Rooks and bishops switched in opening setup. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Fianchetto Chess was the unlikely inspiration for my Swapmate Chess, in which you can go from FIDE to Fianchetto in only four moves.
Giveaway Chess. Taking is obligatory; the first player that loses all his pieces wins. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]has anyone experimented with different opening arrays for Losing Chess? The first thing I would try is moving the Bishops to the center to prevent the immediate giving away of the Bishops.
Game Courier Logs. View the logs of games played on Game Courier.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I created two logs for Losing Chess, which don't work because I entered comments into one of the code fields by mistake. The problem is I can't delete them. If Fergus or another editor could delete them, I'd appreciate it.
Castling in Chess 960. New castling rules for Fischer Random Chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Interesting commentary Mr. Winther. I agree with you about FRC, but why do you say that FIDE chess is approaching a crisis? I don't see how extensive opening study is leading to a crisis.
25 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.