Game Reviews by Gary Gifford

Great job!

http://www.angelfire.com/pq/YAHOSHUAH/nuclear.html

And had a fun quick 4 games. I think the applet might not be very strong... but you get a good idea of the explosive and addictive nature of this game.

I just played a game of Bland Chess against myself and must give it an initial rating of 'good' as the game stands now.  Due to the diagonal restrictions I do highly recommend the following:  (a) replace Bishops with Blocks that can't move  (b) replace Queen with Rook (or maybe a Knight?)  (c) Replace King with Wazir.  (d) replace pawn images to represent the non-diagonal capable pawns.  The reason for all this in a pre-set is to make the game more user friendly.  For example... when I just played it I would occasionally want to make a diagonal move.  Correct images would discourage that illegal nature.

What I found:  (1) The Knights, as one would expect, become wonderful pieces...  This game can really emphasize the value of the Knight... good Knight play is crucial in this game. (2) The central traffic jam I expected did not take place.  Knights and Rooks could tear into the pawns because it is hard to defend 8 pawns that can't capture or protect.  (3) When one just thinks about the game, it does seem like it would be bland... but when you actually play it it seems to be rather interesting and a bit fun.  So it seems we have here, another example of 'Green Eggs and Ham.'  We need to try it before complaining about it.  We just might like it.

(zz038) A. Black - If you want I will make a pre-set for this... but if so, I would like to substitute piece images with ones that correspond to correct ortho movement... otherwise the brain keeps slipping back into chess mode.  I believe once people play your game they will see it in a whole different light.  Some may even rate it 'Excellent.'  Best regards, g

The Courier Game {which I realize now is ''recognized'' - though I had somehow remained blind to it) appears to be the missing link between Shatranj and modern Chess.  This Shatranj Variant was first described in 1202. The rules page states that [the Courier Game was]''played up until the beginning of the 19th century. It was the first popular form of chess to incorporate the piece we now call the 'bishop' though it was then called the 'courier' (hence the name of the game).''

In addition to the rules for this 12 x 8 board game [which includes a ferz, wazir, afil (like the elephant), and man (non-royal King)] as we find in Shatranj, the author has included a printable cutout board and pieces.

This is a great historical page.  Well done.

I think there is supposed to be an Aircraft image for the ACE, instead of
the Marshall image presently shown.

As for the game itself, it appears that a great deal of thought has gone
into its design.  At a glance, it seems to be extremely challenging and
original.  I cannot rate the game accurately at present as I have not
played it or seen it played... but I would not be surprised if it turns
out to be a very good game... and so for now will go with my conservative
hunch of 'good.'

In regard to another comment about towns and lots of verbage in the intro,
perhaps that text could be condensed in the intro, but be presented in its
entirety (or even further expanded) as an Appendix at the end of the
notes?  That way players that don't care about historical or theoretical
detail can skip it (won't even see it up front) while those who like such
information can eagerly skip to the Appendix in the notes section.

This is essentially chess with cannons and elephants added. It appears to play rather well. I like it a lot.

However; in my in-progress game my opponent has 2 light-squared Bishops and no Dark-Squared Bishop. I have one of each. The reason is that when the game begins Black has a Bishop on h9 and a Knight on g9. By the rules this is wrong.

The pre-set needs to be corrected so that the initial setup has a Bishop on g9 and a Knight on h9. Of course, players can manually fix this when they begin a game, but like me, many may assume a correct setup is present and not notice the error for the first few moves.

This game reminds me of Shatranj with elephants raised on a diet of TNT and
nitroglycerin.  I have no doubt that it would make for a very fun 10 or 15
minute game using a chess-clock.  Longer e-mail type games could require
lots of deep thought and could result in some hair-pulling.

I did notice a slight error in the rules.  There is this statement,
'Elephants move like Alfils, a jump of two squares in any direction,
leaping over any pieces that may occupy the first square.'  It should
state 'any diagonal direction' instead of 'any direction.'

A clever idea.... perhaps there should be a pre-set so players could start
getting rated at this wild game?

Shogi, is of course, an excellent game. But here is what is interesting: In
relation to another CV comment, seemingly unrelated (i.e., Fergus's
comment to research a certain player to see he (Fergus) had no
double-identity).. Well, I did research that player and found out he was
in Tokyo and had a Shogi link which was quite interesting.  He also
mentioned a site where you could play Shogi in real-time.  So, I went to
http://www.kurnik.org and in minutes won my first 10 minute on-line speed
Shogi game... quite fun.  I was then crushing my opponent in a second game
when a most terrible thing happened.  I went to move the Rook, but then
realized I could drop a pawn instead and win a Lance for the pawn.  When I
clicked to drop the pawn, my Rook moved to that square instead... so,
instead of winning a Lance, I lost a Rook... oh what sorrow due to a
mechanical issue.  Anyway, it is fun to play real-time Shogi... and thanks
to the rating system double-idntity issue, a real-time Shogi site was
found.