[ List Latest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Comments by PeterAronson
Piececlopeida: Advancer. 
Moves like a Queen, but captures by approach.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]No, Advancer's only capture opposing pieces like most pieces. The language in the article should probably have said: 'if the Advancer moves directly towards an opposing piece'
E. Gary Gygax, the co-inventor of D&D and chess variant creator, died today at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. He was 69.
Spartan Skaki. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks interesting, Larry, but I have a few questions:
2) Push an opposing stone located adjacent right or left orthogonal to the next right or left orthogonal vacant point,Are pushes limited to one space, or do they go until the next vacant space? IE, if you have a row ---xxo--- is a push by o such that results in --xxo---- legal? Actually, now I think about, does a push cause the pushing piece to move? Would a push in this situation, ---xo---- result in --xo----- or --x-o----?
3) Leap over any number of adjacent friendly stones forward, right or left orthogonal to a vacant point.Does the leap only pass over friendly stones, or can it (after passing over friendly stones) pass over vacant spaces as well? IE, starting with ---ooo--- is o--oo---- possible, or only leaps like --ooo----? (I assume the latter, but the language is not completely clear.)
4) Capture an opposing stone on an adjacent forward diagonal point.Is capture by replacement?
Big Battle
. Large (10x10), commercial variant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is also some discussion of this variant on the 100 Square Contest Voting Page.
2007-2008 Chess Variants Design Contest. Chess variant inventors gather round! We're doing it again! Exact nature of contest to be determined with YOUR help!![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Frequently, for me, the value of a game doesn't become clear until the third or fourth time playing it. I noted that Gary Gifford didn't enjoy his first game of Tripunch but did decide he liked Tripunch very much after playing it twice. I think we should make a requirement that each person judging a game play two versions of it, one as black and one as white.When Tony and I judged the 42-Square Design Contest, we played each game at least twice, and would liked to have played them at least four times each (except we would have gone stark, raving mad, to the distress of our wives and children). I do think it takes at least two plays at a minimum to reasonably evaluate a game.
Falcon Chess Variants - Several. Some Different Setups with Falcon pieces, including with Capablanca pieces and Airplanes.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You know, Jeremy, I have Alfarie BMP files for all of the pieces from when I did the ZRF -- if they would help, I could send them to you when I get home tonight.
Given the Falcon's ability to fork, it might be interesting to try Two-King Falcon Chess, in the pattern of Two Kings Chess. That is, you replace the Queen with a second King, either of which can be checkmated. Normal Falcon Chess castling and promotion rules would apply.
According to Betza (at least at one time -- his values have varied), a Crowned Knight (Knight + Mann) is worth two Knights (the same as a Cardinal) on an 8x8 board. Because it is a short range piece, it might be worth less on a larger board. On the other hand, it is very powerful in the endgame.
Complete Permutation Chess. Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row. (16x8, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]OK, this page has returned from the dead! Or, at least, the hidden.
Rococo. A clear, aggressive Ultima variant on a 10x10 ring board. (10x10, Cells: 100) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I am feeling all out of sympathy with the Chameleon this morning. Not only is it nearly impossible to implement correctly in Zillions, but it is nearly impossible to fully describe even in English. There are just too many fiddly cases when you combine captures. I wonder if it should be simplified or replaced.
The easiest way to simplify the Chameleon is to disallow the combination of captures; although that can still lead to complex cases where there are multiple possible methods of capture available at the same time.
If it were to be replaced, what would you replace it with? Oddly, this morning I find myself wondering if returning the Ultima Coordinator , discarded during the original Rococo design process would make sense. Yes, it was felt to be unclear, but then, that complaint can be made against the Chameleon as well.
Outback Chess. New pieces on plus-shaped board. (10x10, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]When I implemented this for zillions I used this definition:
EchidnaAs far as I can recall, the author's family had a copy of Zillions and seemed to think the implementation was correct.The Echidna is a royal piece -- if it is captured, you lose the game. It moves and captures one step diagonally, it can move (but not) capture one step up, down, left or right, and it can capture (but not move without capturing or jump) two steps up, down, left or right.
There is something about this cartoon that speaks to what we do on this site.
Jumping Knights Chess. Nightriders replace Knights and War Machines have also been added to Jumping Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very interesting game, David. I particularly like how the War Machines guard the Pawns in the starting array against being picked off by the Nightriders. I have not yet fully absorbed the effect of your more severe rules for pieces on the edge -- having to capture to escape makes the edge makes the edge risky in another way than it is in Jumping Chess. I assume that is part of preserving checkmate as part of the game?
Desert Pub Chess. A game where Desert Wazirs & Desert Ferz capture by jumping. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Leap-capture is employed in Airplane Chess and Zeppelin Chess by the Airplane and Zeppelin, respectively, and it works remarkably well.The Airplane and the Zepplelin are not exactly normal leaping pieces, but rather flying leapers. The ability to pass over friendly and hostile pieces makes them much, much more powerful.
Moreover, Alquerque, as described by Murray, is probably incorrect. Arie van der Stoop has researched the game (Draughts in relation to chess and alquerque, 2005) and has come to the conclusion that it was not at all drawish: Medieval Alquerque.Leaving out the question of whether van der Stoop is any more authoritative than any of the other authors on the subject; while promotion would make Alquerque more interesting, it would still be pretty drawish without forced captures. Even with forced captures, high level Draughts/Checkers tends to be drawish, and endgame tactics make extensive use of that feature.
When we see Checker-Kings, in a game of draughts, jumping two or three pieces at a time diagonally we can see one player quickly go downhill.In Checkers, the dynamics of the game are driven by the 'must capture' rule. Ancestors of Checkers without this rule, such as Alquerque, tend to be very drawish. Combined with the fact that, multiple captures aside, leap capture is generally weaker than replacement capture (because it can be blocked by pieces behind the piece to be captured or by the board's edge), this can make games dependent on such capture hard to force to a win, even when there is a royal piece. Jumping Chess which depends entirely on leap capture, even with the King and the ring board, is probably still too defensive. In the case of Interweave, another game that depends on non-replacement capture, I eventually added a 'forced capture' rule to prevent it from being too defensive, and it too, has Kings.
Anti-King Chess. Each player has both a King and an Anti-King to protect; Anti-Kings are in check when not attacked. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I've got a question considering mate. What happens when a player mates the other player in the same move its own anti-king gets unchecked (thus being mate too). Who wins then?To repeat what David says in different words: you can't do that. It's the equivalent in regular Chess of moving your King into check in order to check the opponent's King.
It would be simpler to state that it is illegal to make a move leaving or placing your Anti-King in 'check', that is, not attacked by opposing pieces.Well, very likely. I tend to err on the verbose side in my writing.
ABC Chess. A variant with 8 armies of pieces generated by combining 1, 2 or 3 simpler pieces. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Rules of Chess: Kings and check FAQ. Answers to frequently asked questions on the rules of chess regarding kings and check.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A Pawn can certainly attack a King (technically, Kings are not captured, but mated, since the game is over when the King is in a position where it can not avoid being captured, and the actual capture is not made). If a Pawn is in position to attack a King, then the King is in check and must be moved if possible to an unattacked square or the Pawn must be captured; if neither is possible, then it is checkmate.
The Seeping Switchers. An army for Chess with Different Armies based on pieces that change color when they move.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Is there a castling rule in Seeping Switchers?You use the standard castling rules for Chess with Different Armies
Potential/Demotion Chess. Pieces may move like lower-ranked piece, but when doing so, become that lower ranked piece. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If a piece moves to the eighth rank with a pawn move, I believe it promotes to any piece in the opening array, right ?Correct, since 'The rules of Potential/Demotion Chess are identical to those of orthodox chess, except when noted otherwise.'
As for a 7x7 board without a Queen? Er, I don't know -- there's already too much power for an 8x8 board -- shrinking the board by 23% while retaining two pieces that are effectively Amazons and two that are effectively Cardinals might be even more brutal.
Triangle Chess. Chess for three players. (Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I assume you mean Invent-Tech, the invention submission company, and not Inventech, the on-line payment company? If so, you might want to take a look here.
Knightmate. Win by mating the knight. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is now available (for members, anyway) on itsyourturn.com. Unfortunately, they did not give credit to Bruce Zimov for the invention.
Fighting Kings. The King has switched places with the King Pawn - The King is now a fighting piece. And the pawn must be protected. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Non-royal Kings, AKA Commoners AKA Mann AKA Man, etc., are hardly a new piece. I suspect you could find at least a couple of dozen varients on pages that already use them without any real effort. Royal Pawns, on the other hand, while also not new, are a lot less common.
Toccata 
. A hexagonal variant inspired of Maxima.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Roberto, the fifth line of pawn movement has z8 duplicated, disallowing a few pawn captures. I believe the second z8 ought to be zx.
Willard Fiske's book Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature: With Historical Notes on Other Table-games, long hard to find, is now available on-line from Google Books here. The book, however, is not about Chess, but was his unsucessful attempts to decipher references to the game of Hnefatafl (Tablut).
25 comments displayed
Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.