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Meta-Chess. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Sun, Jan 31, 2021 09:15 PM UTC in reply to Sean Bass from Fri Jan 22 06:44 PM:

Sean Bass, are you still watching this thread? Still looking for a copy of Meta-Chess? I have good news and bad news for you.

First, the good news. I own a copy of Meta-Chess, and I don't need to go hunting for it. I've got full access to it. :-)

Now the bad news.

  1. The book wasn't bound 100% correctly. There are a few places where a page is in the wrong place or missing completely. The book came that way. You might need both Jean-Louis Cazaux's copy and my copy to reconstruct a complete book.

  2. Some pages are slightly stained along one edge. The book did NOT come that way. Public service announcement: never leave a book (or anything else, really) on the floor of your car. Car fluids can leak and seep up through the carpet. O.O

  3. I'm pretty busy these days; I'm a college professor doing remote teaching. Not much time for mailing or digitizing things. Plus, I'm pretty attached to this book; not sure I'd want to give it up. Digitizing it? Could work. I'd normally say "what about copyright", but John William Brown might not mind his work being preserved if he's not selling it anymore.

Long story short: your quest isn't over, but at least you now have a second lead. :-) We can talk over email; my email address is in my profile.


Stanley Random Chess A game information page
. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Jan 19, 2021 11:48 PM UTC:

My understanding is that the description of the game is a hoax, but the game itself is not. It's normal chess where, with each move you make, there's a 50% chance of your move being replaced with a move chosen at random from all legal moves.


ChessVA computer program
. Program for playing numerous Chess variants against your PC.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Mon, Nov 14, 2016 04:33 AM UTC:

I clicked on the link for the 32-bit version, but I got the 64-bit version instead (which doesn't work on my computer). Am I doing something wrong?

Edit: never mind, I figured it out. Just had to change the URL manually. Got the right file.

Fusion Chess. Variant in which pieces may merge together or split apart. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Mon, Jul 25, 2016 03:55 PM UTC:

I'm glad someone posted a comment about Fusion Chess, because it reminded me that I've been wanting to post a comment of my own for some time. I keep forgetting to do it. Might as well do it now.

Based on my experiences with Zillions of Games, I think that the Dragon King is too tough to checkmate (and, perhaps, so are the Pope and Eques Rex). I think I can easily force a draw in this game by forming a Dragon King, and then exchanging material as quickly as I can. (My only fear is getting checkmated while the board is still cramped.) I don't care if I'm way behind in material at the endgame, because it would take a ton of material to checkmate a lone Dragon King.

Now, this is just coming from my experiences with Zillions of Games; I haven't played Fusion Chess against a human before. Anyone want to play against me on Game Courier, and try to prove me wrong? :-)


Average Game Ratings. An ordered list of the ratings for the games on this site.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Thu, Jul 21, 2016 06:49 PM UTC:

Of all the options you listed, I think the last one (making the scale -2 to 2, then summing all the scores) is the best one. But for another option, here's how they do it on BoardGameGeek:

People can rate games on a scale from 1 to 10. Games are then ranked based on the average score they receive. But to avoid having a game with a single score suddenly becoming the top ranked game, each game also receives a set of "dummy scores", which are included in the average.

Here's how it could look here: our rating scale is from 1 to 5. Let's say each game starts off with 20 "dummy scores" of 3. (I picked 20 off the top of my head; I have no idea what number would be the best choice.) Then if one person rates a game 5 (excellent), that gives an average of (20*3+1*5)/21=3.095. If another game receives 10 ratings of 4 (good), that gives an average of (20*3+10*4)/30=3.333.

What do you think?


15-50-500YrsAgo[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Sun, Aug 16, 2015 03:37 AM UTC:
John: I've got you beat by one year. Glad to know I'm not the only one in
the "old fogies" club. :-D

One of these things is not like the others[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Jul 8, 2014 02:37 AM UTC:
Sigh. I can't decide between the old #5 and the new one.

I'm signing off for now. Hopefully some more people will weigh in...

Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Jul 8, 2014 02:11 AM UTC:
Yeah. Looks good.

Let me be more specific about my reasons for picking #5:

Good: having chess variant pieces in the logo.

Bad: letters that are too unusual, such as (in my opinion) the letters in
"play" in the first two options.

It came down to #4 and #5 for me. To choose between them, I thought about
how someone would react to these logos if they've never played a chess
variant before (other than chess). #5: "Oh, they've got a picture of a
brainy-looking guy." #4: "What on earth is that moon thing?"

#5 wins, I think.

Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Jul 8, 2014 01:31 AM UTC:
One of these things is not like the others, indeed. Out of the five
options, only the first is spelled correctly. :-D

Ignoring that easily-correctable issue, I'm leaning towards #5.

Open Letter to Garry Kasparov[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Sat, Jun 7, 2014 02:26 AM UTC:
I normally wouldn't be picky about typos, but I think it would be much
better to offer Kasparov a "warm welcome" than a "worm welcome". :-D

Rose. Can make consecutive knightmoves in a circle.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Fri, Dec 20, 2013 02:26 AM UTC:
Cameron, think back to when you first learned to play chess. Did you think the knight's move was intuitive right away, or did you have trouble visualizing it at first?

And how about the bishop's move? If you say that one is intuitive, just imagine trying to visualize the bishop's move if the board wasn't checkered. I know it would be tough for me. But I'd get used to it after a while.

I wouldn't mind playing a chess variant involving the Rose. (I'd like to try Golden Age Chess on a Really Big Board one of these days.) I agree, the Rose's move would be tough to visualize at first. I'd get used to it.

Chess Geometry[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Nov 19, 2013 04:28 PM UTC:
On a hex board, a dabbabah (a 2-square orthogonal leaper) can only reach
one-fourth of the spaces on the board.

Color a hex board in four colors, such that a dabbabah can only move to
hexes of the same color.

Claim: given two hexes, if there are two different paths of the type
Charles Gilman described between those hexes, then those hexes are the same
color. And every leap between two hexes of the same color is an even-SOLL
leap. Thus, Gilman is correct.

Proof left to the reader. :-D

AnandvCarlsen13[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Sat, Nov 16, 2013 06:15 PM UTC:
Thanks for the link, George. I had no idea that the K+R+P versus K+R
endgame had been so well-studied, or that the outcome was so highly
dependent on the specific position.

Based on game 6, it looks like Carlsen isn't one of the "hoi polloi" you
mentioned. Anand gave up a pawn to force a rook/pawn endgame, which he
apparently thought would be a draw. But Carlsen kept trying to win, and win
he did.

Joseph DiMuro wrote on Fri, Nov 15, 2013 05:30 AM UTC:
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I don't see why game 4 was a draw. At the end,
Black had K+R+P against White's K+R. Does Black really have no chance to
win at that point?

A Chaturanga Problem by Bas de Haas. Mate in two moves, following Chaturanga rules.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joseph DiMuro wrote on Tue, Oct 22, 2013 03:19 PM UTC:
Yeah, looks like you're right (and I can't believe I missed that). But if neither king has its knight-move available, then it looks like there's no solution to the problem.

Yeah, this looks like a bad problem all around.

Joseph DiMuro wrote on Mon, Oct 21, 2013 12:35 AM UTC:
Note: in this problem, it can be determined that the Black king no longer has his "move-like-a-knight" privilege. Which seems to be essential to the solution; otherwise, White would be moving into check on his second move.

What piece did Black move last? Obviously not a pawn (the pawns haven't moved yet), so he must have moved his king. Moreover, he must have moved his king from e8; all other nearby squares are either occupied or are adjacent to the White King. So Black just moved his king out of check from the pawn on d7; thus, the Black king can no longer move like a knight.

Also, I think this problem is cooked; 1.Gxb7 seems to work just as well. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

-Joseph DiMuro

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