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84 Spaces Contest Jury members. Please consider becoming a judge for the 84 squares contest![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Jan 31, 2003 05:35 PM UTC:

I remembered that David Short had *not* volunteered to be a judge.  Here is
the quote for his comment on the 84-square Contest page:

David Short said, on 12/11/2002:
'While I am too busy to offer my services as a judge for the contest
itself, I am willing to play-test my entries with any judge in the
contest. I am willing to play by email with anyone who has ZILLIONS OF
GAMES.'

John Lawson wrote on Sat, Feb 1, 2003 06:03 PM UTC:

Michael,
I felt a little funny when I thought I was the only judge for Group B, for
much the same reasons.  But getting more than three judges per pool may be
optimistic, so I'm willing to make do.  And, as it stands, it could be
just you and me judging the final.  However, this contest has been so
delayed and formless, I think judging should proceed, even if there is
only one judge for a pool.  It's at the point where a debatable result is
better than no result.
I've also looked at all the games, and there won't be any difficulty
finding games worthy of the prizes.  If some inventors are unhappy, that
is the nature of what is an unavoidably subjective process.  I have
resolved to treat any complaints like a baseball umpire: don't explain and
don't retract.

Rook. Moves across unobstructed orthogonal line.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sat, Feb 1, 2003 08:28 PM UTC:

The rook is a corvine bird, like the crow or raven. It is a homophone for the Rook in chess, and therefore the subject of folk etymology. Rooks also steal small, shiny objects to decorate their nests, whence the slang term 'to rook' meaning 'to cheat'. English speakers also refer to that piece as the Castle, probably more commonly than Rook.

84 Spaces Contest Jury members. Please consider becoming a judge for the 84 squares contest![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Mon, Feb 3, 2003 06:17 PM UTC:

Hans,

I noted an email in the editors' mailbox from George Duke volumteering to
judge Group C.  If he could judge Group A, or Mike Nelson move to Group A,
that would give us three judges for each group.  That would be great.

Completing the first round by March 31st seems a little optimistic, but
might be possible with dedicated judges.

Then, we need to decide who judges the final pool.

Poker Chess. Squares contain cards, and players win by forming poker hands with the cards on the squares occupied by their pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Feb 7, 2003 03:54 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

I'd think flushes would not only be common, but unavoidable. They would be easier to get than three-of-a-kind. And four-of-a-kind would be harder to achieve than a straight flush.

Recognized1[Subject Thread] [Add Response]

John Lawson wrote on Sun, Feb 16, 2003 04:11 AM UTC:

The voting has been very close all along.  How will you deal with a
three-way tie, if it occurs?

Polypiece Chess. Each time a piece moves, all pieces of that type on both sides change their move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Feb 20, 2003 03:45 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Isn't this kind of like Peter's Chess with Cyclical Armies?
http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/cyclical-armies.html
And I like the idea of polypiece Ultima or Rococo.  How about Polypiece
Optima?  Or Nemoroth?

Invasion

. A military inspired Chess variant played on an 84-squares board.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Feb 27, 2003 04:17 AM UTC:

I had noticed the same, and commented on it.  See the response from the
inventor here:

http://www.chessvariants.com/index/listcomments.php?itemid=Invasion

Pied Color Chess. Oh no! All the colors on the board have been scrambled -- however will the pieces move? (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Feb 28, 2003 07:45 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

Extrapolation? You mean like to Chess with Different Armies? Or to some version of Hex Chess? Or how about Nemoroth?

Knight Ceckmate[Subject Thread] [Add Response]

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Mar 13, 2003 03:24 PM UTC:

If you mean, 'Can King plus Knight checkmate a lone King?', the answer is
no.  The minimum force needed to checkmate a lone King is a Knight and a
Bishop, and it is difficult.  A mate position can be set up with just two
Knights, but the lone king cannot be forced into it.  Three Knights or two
Bishops can also mate a lone King.  
If there are Pawns on the board, then the position is very important,
since the goal will be to promote a Pawn first.

ximeracak.. A leaper-heavy fantasy variant designed for play with a standard set. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Mar 13, 2003 08:53 PM UTC:

Finally inclination and opportunity coincided and I tracked down a link for
Lojban orthography:
http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/lojbanbrochure/brochure/phonol.html#idxphonology
Incidentally, Lojban is related to Loglan.
The upshot is, if you pronounce ximeracak. with the 'x' as the 'ch'
sound in the Scottish 'loch', 'c' as the English digraph 'ch', and
the 'i' as an English 'long e', and use natural English pronunciation
for the rest, you will be close.  Finish up by ending the 'k' sound with
a glottal stop (like the 'tt' in Brooklynese 'bottle') instead of the
normal English aspiration.  Then remember to stress the next-to-last 
syllable, and you've got it.  Think 'khee-mer-RAH-chahk'.

Xiangqi: Chinese Chess. Links and rules for Xiangqi (Chinese Chess). (9x10, Cells: 90) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Tue, Apr 1, 2003 05:16 AM UTC:

I have checked the books in my library for values.

Terence Donelly, 'Hsiang Ch'i, The Chinese Game of Chess', and Dennis
Leventhal, 'The Chess of China', do not bring up the topic at all.

Sam Sloan, 'Chinese Chess for Beginners', discusses how a table of
values such as is used in FIDE chess is invalid.

H. T. Lau, 'Chinese Chess', gives:
  9    Rook
  4.5  Cannon
  4    Knight
  2    Counsellor
  2    Minister
  2    Pawn (after crossing river)
  1    Pawn (before crossing river)

David Li, 'First Syllabus on Xiangqi', has an eight-page chapter with
six charts, which may be summarized:

  Opening  Midgame  Endgame
   10       10       10      Chariot
    4.5      4.5      4      Cannon
    1        1        1      Cannon, premium when paired
    4        4.5      5      Horse
    1        1        1      Horse, premium when paired
    2.5      2.5      2.5    Advisor
    2.5      2.5      2.5    Elephant
    -        2        2      River-crossed Pawn
    -        -        1.5    Old Pawn (on last rank)
    2        2        2      Center Pawn
     .75      .75      .75   Other Pawns

There it is, for what it's worth.

Shogi. The Japanese form of Chess, in which players get to keep and replay captured pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Apr 4, 2003 01:50 AM UTC:

'Both Kings were on opposite sides of board...'
I'm not a shogi player, but isn't that situation called 'jishogi' or
'impasse'? It is recognized that the game cannot end normally and the
winner is determined by awarding points for material.  I think it is also
referred to as 'entering kings'.

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Apr 4, 2003 03:30 AM UTC:

Found the jishogi rule at http://www.ricoh.co.jp/SHOGI/rules/erules.html

'Both players have moved their King into the the promotion zone (or they
cannot be prevented to do so) and the Kings cannot be checkmated. In that
case the players may decide to count their pieces where the King does not
count, the Rook and Bishop count as 5 points, and all other pieces as one
point. Promotion is disregarded. If both players have at least 24 points
the game is a draw ('Jishogi'). If a player has less, he loses the
game.
Of course, a player can refuse to count pieces when he still has mating
chances or chances to gain material which would affect the outcome of the
counting. There is no strict rule about what to do if this is not the
case, but nonetheless a player refuses to count up (e.g. because he does
not have enough points for a draw). It has been generally accepted that in
such a case the game ends and the pieces are counted after one player has
managed to get all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.'

Motorotor. Variant where two platforms slowly orbit a central board. (11x11, Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sat, Apr 12, 2003 03:31 AM UTC:

Gavin,

Just 'sent in'.  The time taken to post a game is imponderable, and
depends on what format the entry is submitted in, and the time the editors
have available.

Chestria. Each player has 11 randomly selected pieces in this game of placement and flipping. (3x(5x5), Cells: 43) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Apr 16, 2003 04:14 AM UTC:

'ZRFolize'? As neologisms go, that's pretty good, and meets a hitherto unsatisfied need for a way to refer to the creation of a ZRF without using the passive voice. I imagine it pronounced, 'zeROFolize'.

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Apr 16, 2003 05:04 PM UTC:

'You say tomahto...'
There's room for diversity here.  I pronounce 'ZRF' as 'zee-are-eff'.
 How do you pronounce 'ZSG'?

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Apr 17, 2003 02:06 AM UTC:

Talk about dialects!
I use 'Zillions' to load a 'zee-ess-gee' of a 'zee-are-eff'.  Good
thing we only communicate in writing.

John Lawson wrote on Fri, Apr 18, 2003 01:15 AM UTC:

It seems to me that this is more of a Chess/Othello blend than a Chess/Go blend. I haven't played it, but I thought about it some, and it appears that if flips were 'cascaded', and if each player attacked the piece previously played, the effect would be that each move flips all the pieces on the board. Tony's idea of a larger battle board with pieces determined randomly each turn would not be as interesting as knowing what forces were available in advance, and then marshalling them to best advantage. The size of the game could be easily changed, of course, to tune it after the 43-square contest. So we could have 64-square Chestria, or 84-square Chestria, or Decimal Chestria, or (heaven forfend) Tai Chestria.

Betza Notation. A primer on the leading shorthand for describing variant piece moves.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Apr 23, 2003 01:27 AM UTC:

The first thing I see right off that I would change is the = sign.  I think
the use of a > sign would more clearly imply 'becoming'.  So fnWfcF=*
would be fnWfcF>*.
Also, although you didn't state it, I infer the - for promotion to a
previously captured piece means from the owner's original array.

John Lawson wrote on Thu, Apr 24, 2003 10:19 PM UTC:

OK, that's sensible. Are any of the various forms of brackets ), }, ], easy to work with? What about |, or ~ ?

Moa. moves like knight but cannot jump first diagonal square.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sun, Apr 27, 2003 04:19 PM UTC:

There was a discussion thread on this.  See:
http://www.chessvariants.com/index/listcomments.php?subjectid=Maorider

Extended Half-chess. Variant on 4 by 10 board. (4x10, Cells: 40) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sun, Apr 27, 2003 04:34 PM UTC:

Alternatives with a 4x8 or 8x4 board size on these pages are:

http://www.chessvariants.com/small.dir/limitingchess.html
http://www.chessvariants.com/small.dir/chipps.html
http://www.chessvariants.com/small.dir/halfchess.html
http://www.chessvariants.com/small.dir/killerchess.html

But the one fitting your comment best is:

http://www.chessvariants.com/small.dir/demi.html

Alfil. Jumps two diagonally. Arabic for the elephant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sun, May 4, 2003 02:56 AM UTC:

It can't be just any four Alfils. They must be 'discordant', that is, not on the same cycle of squares. In historical Shatranj, such a position could never arise because the pawns could only promote to Ferz, and though mating with multiple Ferzs was a real-life challenge, there would be only two Alfils to help out at most..

Five-Minute Poppy Shogi. Small shogi variant on a 4 by 5 board. (4x5, Cells: 20) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Sun, May 4, 2003 10:48 AM UTC:

I looked it up on Georg Dunkel's site,
http://www.kolumbus.fi/geodun/shogi.htm , 
and he gives the rule as: 
'All pieces move in the same way as in Shogi (except that they do not
promote in the same way.)'

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