Game Reviews (and other rated comments on Game pages)

In spite of what I see as the drawbacks of this variant (bishops clearly stronger than knights, marshalls able to be traded quickly if developed symmetrically, complex pawn promotion rules that I don't quite like), the game uses a square (rather than rectangular) board and there are no unprotected pawns in the setup, which are arguably improvements over Capablanca chess (although that game's setup allows for smothered and back rank mates, arguably good features to have). The fact that the rooks protect each other, so that there is no need for castling, is both a plus and a minus in my view (as is the fact the player's armies ranks have many empty squares in the setup - otherwise there could be 30 pieces per side, perhaps, as I tried in my own Sac Chess variant, which is a lot of pieces).

My tentative estimates for the piece values in this variant would be: P=1; N=3; B=3.5; R=5.5; C=7.5; M=9.5; Q=10 and the fighting value of the K=2.5 approximately (though naturally it cannot be traded). Note that I rate a N significantly lower on a 10x10 board than on a 8x8, 9x8 or 10x8 board (where I estimate N roughly=3.5 in all cases) as the many extra excellent central squares available to a N on a 10x10 board are IMHO way more than offset by the rather large size of the board, which makes it harder for a N to cross from one side of the board to the opposite one. Also note that on the four board sizes I've mentioned, I've kept R=5.5 as a constant value, changing the value of a B as I felt appropriate for a particular board size(s), in relation to the value of a R.

Here's an early CV invention of mine, a modified version of Grand Chess, which some may or may not like due to the positioning of the bishops in the setup, alone:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/chess-1010

Two queen per side makes for a rich variant, though perhaps my bias as an orthodox chess player goes against it (in that game a king starts with one queen, or wife, though it's possible he may become a bigamist later in the game). My more real concern with this variant is that after a very early bishop's conversion by White, both Black pawns that are guarded in the setup only by the rooks can come under a double attack.

For Black to defend or counterattack against this possibility (also a similar story for White, if he starts less aggressively [perhaps]) seems to limit his choice of responses for tactical reasons (i.e. to avoid losing at least a pawn for more or less nothing, perhaps), and that may make the opening possibilities in the early stages less rich, at least for Black.

However, Shogi suffers from a certain lack of variety in the early stages, as far as the best moves go, and yet it is a classic. All in all, I think Hexajedrez promises to be a successful variant, if it were tested more, by skilled players especially. I certainly like that there are significantly more pawns in this variant than in McCooey's Hexagonal Chess (actually the same number as in Glinski's Hexagonal Chess, which uses different pawn rules).

For what it's worth, decades ago I saw the following piece values for Glinski's, which ought to also be applicable to this variant (as well as McCooey's): P=1; B=3; N=4; R=5; Q=9. I would add that I tentatively estimate the fighting value of K=4 approximately (though naturally it cannot be traded).

Cool variant. The extra basic rules are slightly complex, but still, cool variant.

It may be worth giving here the relative piece values for Crazyhouse that I once saw on someone's blog; these values just might actually be of use in assessing the [tactical] usefulness of pieces in games of Hostage Chess, in a general way, too: P=2; B=3; N=3.5; R=4; Q=6.

Excellent concept. One can quibble about the class certain pieces ought to be in, and the extra basic rules are slightly complex, but cool variant.

My tentative estimates for the piece values of this variant are: Class 1: P=1; Class 2: N=3.5, B=3.5; Class 3: R=5.5, NN=5.75, SB=6; Class 4: C=7.5, SR=8; Class 5: Q=10, M=10, SC=10, CC=10.25; Class 6: MM=12.25, SM=12.5, SCC=12.75; Class 7: A=14.5, SMM=14.75; Class 8: AA=16.75. Note that I tend to agree with various world class chess players who historically gave the fighting value of K=4 for on an 8x8 board. I also tend to agree with chess authorities who in the past valued a B microscopically better than a N on average, so perhaps a better value for a N (or the N component portion of any of the appropriate compound pieces listed above) might be, say, 3.49, to reflect this belief, though I prefer not to use ugly fractions when thinking of most piece exchange value calculations that might arise.

The interesting bishop's conversion rule makes this variant tricky to handle in the opening stages. On a 9x8 board, bishops are only clearly slightly better than knights, the development of which can also be tricky to decide on. The extra queen per side make this a variant rich in possibilities.

My tentative estimates for the piece values of this variant would be: P=1; N=3.5 approx.; B=3.75; R=5.5; Q=10.25 and the fighting value of K=3.5 approximately (though naturally it cannot be traded). Note that a N has slightly less excellent central squares on an empty 9x8 board compared to on a 10x8 board (in Capablanca Chess I rate also rate a N as worth 3.5 approx., but actually a little less than on 9x8 when not rounding to the nearest 0.25), but the 9x8 board being somewhat smaller seems to at the least offset this IMHO, as a N can have a slightly easier time getting from one extreme flank to the other.

This variant is berserkly sharp, as befitting of the name, and a stronger player could easily suffer an upset loss if he is at all having an off day. The rectangular, rather than square, board cannot be helped, but it is clearly justified.

My tentative estimates for the piece values of this variant would be: P=1; B=3; N=3.5; R=5.5; Q=9.5 and the fighting value of K=3 approximately (though naturally it cannot be traded).

Excellent concept, as somewhat borrowed from the original French variant. I'd suggest an alternative deck of cards, the same except for more child-friendly illustrations, might be used be used for when a child(ren) is playing the game.

Dr Muller, you mention the bare king rule as used by the Nihon Chu Shogi Renmei, but I have to wonder if your computer analysis has revealed what pieces singly or in combination are sufficient to force or at least deliver checkmate on a bare king in chu shogi.

www.naviadratp.net no longer working

A variant with an interesting mix of past and present. It seems possible and desirable for White's (or sometimes Black's) central pawns to strive to both advance to the squares on the fourth rank relatively early in many cases, much as in chess. To me that's a healthy sign for a two army square or rectangular board variant with an even number of both files and ranks, as far as the richness and logic of the opening phase of a typical game of it might go.

As far as this variant's 12x8 board goes, in the old days such would be fine in someone's home on a table, but nowadays if it were to be played over-the-board in a tournament hall (as in a chess tournament) its being 12 squares wide would naturally count against it as far as having physical boards with squares (and thus pieces) that weren't somewhat small in size (otherwise the boards would often take up too much room on a table in a tournament hall). Luckily this isn't much of a consideration for internet contests involving a variant with this one's otherwise unwieldy board shape. Another concern would be that the game might take too many moves to play on average, say compared to chess, but I'd suppose it wouldn't be as bad as in the case of the original 12x8 Courier Chess variant, with its relative lack of more powerful piece types such as the modern queen.

Here's 3 different 12x8 CVs with a quirk or two:

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/wide-chess

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/champagne-chess

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/parity-chess

How can an opponent intercept a pass? Is a pass considered a move so that the other player gets a move to try to intercept? Or does the puck move at a limited speed? 

IMO One of the better contemporary variants out there, featuring a great mashup of fairy pieces old and new. Where s-chess allows for a far more sly strategy concerning the pieces in hand, musketeer chess respects the integrity of chess’ perfect information by having players pre-determine their drops. My only critique would be my concern towards the inevitability of the piece roster expanding. Will the future second and third series pieces be welcomed updates, or will they sour the game as it stands? I can’t really say. As a commercial variant though, it is fair to say that musketeer chess, and the ‘Modern Chess Variants’ project in general, is highly ambitious.

I was approached by Dr. Haddad to write an introductory article to musketeer chess. It details my experiences and developed theories playing the game, plus some basic endgames and even an interview with the creator himself. Check it out, if you’d like! https://www.chess.com/blog/Ebinola/an-introduction-to-musketeer-chess 

A cool looking game!

I'm now wondering if it's feasible to even do a non-rules enforcing preset for 2 player Bughouse on Game Courier (i.e. it would be two players controlling an army on each of two boards within a diagram, but only one clock per player unlike over the board bughouse even when played by two), as the two sides would each have a White and a Black army in front of them on their left or right side respectively. [edit: perhaps merely being restricted to just one clock per side would make such a bughouse variant preset on Game Courier unworkable, as a player might just move on one board only, when in trouble on the other board.]

This was the first chess variant I'd ever heard of, way back in elementary school around 1970. After trying it a few times I disliked a game that would rely heavily on giving away stuff to the opponent in order to win. Looking at the variant's webpage nowadays, I can see this variant has depth, in spite of my still not liking it much as far as the thought of playing it myself. The extensive opening theory that apparently one needs to know to survive (in any sense) against strong losing chess players looks daunting, and I'm a bit disappointed that the traditional and obvious chess centre pawn moves 1.e4 and 1.d4 are thought to lose for White in this variant. So, not my cup of tea (at least at present) but I can see how this variant and its basic concept might attract many other people to it.

I have sampled a few games of hiashatar on an 8x10 board and have concluded that it results in much too constricted positions, even if pieces come into contact sooner and the balance of open squares and number of pieces matches chess.  I have seen hia chess on CVP and would like to know if others have experience of the hia on a smaller board and have evaluated its suitability for a board of fewer ranks.  I used to think hiashatar seemed too large, but now I am unsure.  I would welcome opinions or accounts of player experiences.

An excellent concept!

Inspired by it, I can suggest many Chess With Different Armies-like variants that, to my taste, might be especially interesting to try out sometime:

That would be with the Different Armies idea used to make any number of versions of the following variants 1) 9x8 Symmetric Chess; 2) 10x8 Janus or Capablanca Chess; 3) any number of 10x10 variants, such as Grand or Sac Chess; 4) 4x16 or 5x16 Circular Chess variants; 5) Glinski's, Symmetric Glinski's, McCooeye's or Hexajedrez (91 cell Hexagonal Chess variants); 6) 4-Way Chess; 7) Crazyhouse, Chessgi or Hostage Chess; 8) Pocket Mutation Chess; 9) Backlash; 10) Marsailles or Progression Chess.

Is this a retail game, or a home variant?

This looks like a cool variant! It's too bad that I find the existing preset for it to be unsatisfying.

Shatranj is a cool variant mainly for its historic value, IMO. It's awkward, weak ferz and (especially) alfil (or elephant) pieces make it somewhat frustrating to play for many a modern player, again IMO. The present variant, Shatranji, removes some of this frustration, as dropping either of these weak pieces after they are captured allows the (now not necessarily permanent) binding of them to become less of an issue. However I find the elephant piece still awkward to use, while it is still on the board, in Shatranji, owing to its double binding. I'm wondering if a 'Modern Shatranji' version of Joe Joyce's Modern Shatranj variant (i.e. crossing it with Chessgi-like drops), with Joe's use of guards and modern elephants, rather than ferz' and alfils, might prove at least as good in practice as Shatranji.

[edit: Here's my tentative estimates of the piece values for this variant: E=2.06; P=2; F=2.25; N=3.5; R=4.]

Just a small update on the post by Jaymes. Taking the picture shown in the article for the starting position, the left hand side is the Queens side and the right hand side is the Kings side. The Kings and Queens should be on the movable levels next to the Rooks (or Castles). The back rank on the top and bottom levels should have the Knights at each side with the two Bishops on the centre ranks. At least, this is the setup shown in the pamphlet I got with my official Star Trek Tridimensional Chess Set almost 30 years ago.

This hexagonal variant looks intriguing, and I'm a bit surprised that so far it has received no tests on Game Courier (presumably it did by now on ZoG). The pattern of the board (vertical hex alignment, rather than horizontal) and the peculiar way the pawns move might prove a refreshing change from McCooey's or Glinski's variants. My biggest concern is that a well played game might take a relatively large of moves on average.

edit: when in doubt, see this page's Grand Hexachess link for a different wording of rules that are clearly meant to be the same.

This is a cool game to play, though I myself had some slight difficulty with possible ambiguity to the wording of certain rules, as put forward on this page. One case I solved by looking at an earlier comment about this page that George made, in reply to someone's question about a rule. Other than that, the different colouring scheme of various ranks, and the purpose to that, is one nifty aspect of this game.

Higher dimensional chess variants are often noble experiments that never seem destined to gain much popularity. On its own merits this 3D one looks noble enough, in attempting to tame the chance of the players facing a large number of candidate moves at each stage of a game, in regard to their calculations. Is a 4D version of Shatranj in the works, or out there somwhere? That might be nifty to see, too. [edit: I'd forgot about the 4D Shatranj-like variant Chess on Two Boards by the same inventor, though it's stated on that game's page that it is a 'broken' game.]

This game reminds me of an old chessboard puzzle involving the placing of a number of queens, to solve a certain task, but of course Amazons is something even more complex, in that it is a full-fledged game. It also seems almost simple at first sight, deceptively so.

Cool concept!

Another cool idea by Fergus.

Interesting game. In my limited experience with it the knightriders seem rather dangerous pieces. I'm not sure I like the detailed promotion rules, but maybe it's a matter of taste.

Here's an experimental 10x8 CV that uses unusual type of 'pawns' also:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/compound-chess

This seems like a great game, where the action might normally develop slower than in Cavalier Chess, but it's worth it.

Here's another variant that includes Nightriders on a large board:

https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/wide-nightrider-chess

The apothecary games may have a somewhat steep learning curve, but it seems it's well worth the trouble, based on my limited experience.

The apothecary games may have a somewhat steep learning curve, but it seems it's well worth the trouble, based on my limited experience.

This game kind of reminds me of the even more non-violent principle that inspired Fergus Duniho's Clockwork Orange Chess.

A cool idea for a variant. It takes some time to discover various strategies that can be employed by the players with the stated rules.

[edit: My tentative estimates for the piece values are as follows: Capturing pieces: P=2; B=3; N=3.5; R=4 and Q=6 (same values as I gave for in Crazyhouse); Non-capturing pieces: P=1.25; B=1.5; N=1.75; R=2 and Q=3 (computed using x0.5 penalty for non-capturing movements - note a pawn is thus slightly less affected in its value decrease).]

A fresh idea for a variant that at first made me wonder if the game was truly playable. The answer is a resounding yes!

Several interesting piece types in this game. Can well-played games of it be reasonably short on average? Time will tell, but I suspect most such games won't go past 100 full moves, good for such a large board.

This looks like a really interesting game. The movement rules certainly speed up play on a large board.

A poorish game by modern standards, especially due to the alfil pieces, but modern chess is indebted to this historic early version of it.

A poorish game by modern standards, especially due to the alfil pieces, but modern chess is indebted to this historic early version of it.

Here's a 10x10 Shatranj-style variant with 4 Kings per side:

4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj

You've just got to love a variant that's really big, even if you don't want to play it much. Now that there's a rules-enforcing preset courtesy of Nick, the chance of playing game(s) of it went up for me.

You've just got to love a variant that's really big, even if you don't want to play it much. Now that there's a rules-enforcing preset courtesy of Nick, the chance of playing game(s) of it went up for me.

Though this variant may never be as popular as its close cousin (and better known variant) Crazyhouse, it is equally excellent on its own merits.

A big board game where the inventor doubles-down on the 6 chess piece types, but the fast pawns rule adds an interesting twist to speed things up a bit.

A great historic variant. Games may last a large number of moves, but the slow pace may prove heavenly for some players.

In interesting variant that has a board geometry somewhat like that of Circular Chess.

An interesting concept to extend Alice Chess' idea. I'm inclined to think (but lack the mathematical skill to prove) that the connection between the three boards is a 4D one in disguise - bishops, if they were present, can travel paths one board at a time back onto their original starting board, arriving there on square(s) (e.g. their exact start point) that they wouldn't be able to reach if the variant was truly 3D (like Raumschach is).

An interesting concept for a variant! On a Canadian chess message board a long time ago, someone asked if there could possibly be a variant with quite a number of impassable squares here and there in the middle of the board, and I assumed the idea infeasible, not imagining that a player might be able to move said obstacles around!

A fine variation on the idea of Grand Chess.

Shatranj meets a 10x10 board in style!

Here's a 10x10 Shatranj-style variant with 4 Kings per side:

4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj

Another nice Shatranj variant from Joe, this time on 10x8.

I'd tentatively estimate the piece values as P=1; N=3.38(=3.5 approx.); E=Y=2.695(=2.75 approx.); Guard(approx.=K's fighting value)=3.2; HP=MI=7.075(=7 approx.); R=5.5.

This game plays especially well with its 3-mover variant rules.

This variant is clearly one of the more original chess variants, and which has been around for quite a while.

A historic and very playable variant. What's not to love?

This game is really sweet for a quite large (12x12) variant, and as advertised it has a small learning curve. Lots of fun!

This variant is almost guaranteed to produce a hard struggle. Those bodyguard pieces are tough to work around!

There's a reason this regional game has lasted for so long. Perhaps it's even a Classic by CVP standards.

I like that the pieces, including the Januses, can hope to usually develop smoothly in this variant, nice for a 10x8 board.

Another cool concept by Fergus, this time in the field of shogi variants.

This 2 piece type variant seems rather simple, deceptively so, and yet there is so much room for strategy and tactics.

Some cool Shatranj style pieces here, on the classic 8x8 board.

It's surprising how much action can be squeezed in on such a small board variant.

A variant that well serves the inventor's aim of a western chess style version of Chu Shogi.

This cool variant plays well once one gets used to it.

I wish I still had the old 3D set I had long ago that would have allowed me to play this variant over-the-board. Before my old set broke when packing it, I had no rules for playing it!

A cool variant with the sort of themes Fergus has used in several of his variants.

Interesting use of the BN piece type combo in a variant.

Interesting extra pieces and pawn movement rules here.

A fine 10x10 Shatranj style variant to add to the others on CVP.

Some pretty strong and interesting pieces in this variant, which helps on its large board.

edit: Here's 2 large CVs that also use wizards:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/soho-chess

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/wide-soho-chess

I generally like variants that have themes of some sort. This one also is a 12x12 variant, with a lot of pieces, that still seems quite playable.

A really cool looking variant. I'm rather surprised it's been so little played on Game Courier thus far.

A massive variant with lots of strong pieces. Maybe not as easy to play as any number of large board variants, but it leaves an impression when you first see it.

A cool variant that may take some time to be at ease with, but it looks worth it.

Interesting large board variant, with a number of classic fairy piece types.

Interesting variant that stars the secutor piece type, and the Gustavian board (i.e. extra corner squares). Seems to deserve to be played more often on Game Courier. I'd estimate the Secutor to be worth about a Chinese Cannon - so about half a chess rook, or 5.5/2=2.75.

A lovely use of cannons and modern elephants, on a 10x10 board. I'd note that since defending each side's edge pawns can be an issue at times (as can be the development of either elephant), that alone seems to slightly inhibit the players from emulating many standard chess openings beyond a certain depth, but this is apparently very common for chess variants.

I'd tentatively estimate the piece values (on this game's 10x10 board) as follows: P=1; E=2.75; C=2.75(but 3.5 before endgame); N=3; B=3.5; R=5.5; Q=10; K's fighting value=2.5.

Here's 2 large CVs that also use cannons in the corners:

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/soho-chess

https://www.chessvariants.com/play/wide-soho-chess

An interesting regional variant with some rules about checking the king that make winning a bit more challenging at times.

This is a great extension of the Smess idea!

I like that there are two Sissa pieces per side, reducing the chance there'll be zero of them left not long after the game starts, before an interesting struggle involving one or more of them can really begin.

If you're into quirky variants, you'll love this one. Just get a load of the ship piece type, for instance.

Kind of an interesting variant, with the additional piece type and odd board shape.

An interesting game that reminds me a bit of Amazons, perhaps even more complex.

Fergus has continued on the sort of theme I think is good stuff!

You just have to love those Unicorns!

Nice powerful pieces added, on a large board. What's not to love?

The voidrider is a really cool concept for a piece!

I like the Civil War basic version variant of this series. Though classed more as a wargame, I can see the outlines of a chess-like strategy at play during a game.

A lovely use of the otherwise powerful jumping pieces included, by having them on a rather long board.

Another cool concept for a variant from Fergus.

I like attempts to extend notable chess variants onto hexagonal boards.

A seminal variant that perhaps deserves to be part of a seperate category (e.g. 'Ultima-style Variants') on a CVP menu somewhere.

Even if you might never play this particular variant, you have to love such a gargantuan effort and game. Will we ever see a rules-enforcing preset version of it on Game Courier? ;)

Even if you might never play this particular variant, you have to love such a gargantuan effort and game. Will we ever see a rules-enforcing preset version of it on Game Courier? ;)

I've recently had the pleasure of playing a full correspondence game of Sovereign Chess, so I'm now ready to review.  The overall concept is excellent, and I know through conversations that the creator put much thought into all the principles of good game design.

Despite my five star rating I do need to mention a few criticisms, though they are minor - and a person could probably adjust the rules in their own house games anyway:

- I'm not sure if the colored square setup is ideal for creating a lot of different opening sequences, though I could be proven wrong in time.  Although I made a mistake in my game, I do feel that my original idea of occupying red as White was pretty strong and difficult to fight against (for whomever goes 2nd).  The pie rule was implemented to control this, but not sure how well that would pan out in practice.

- The board is 16 x 16, so it can definitely get a bid tedius to use pawns or knights in a genuinely effective way - except for defense.

- The rules about coup d'etat and pawn promotion regime change don't do much for me- and the less rules the better in my opinion.

Having said all that, Sovereign Chess has a lot of well-crafted rules.  The creator made sure that only one piece can control a color at a time, to make things easier to grasp and also prevent stagnant/stalemated positions.  Sliding pieces cannot go too far and gives knights a chance to thrive - or at least control the center.  The varient seems to have a lot of candidate moves at any given stage.  One could abandon their color, could try capturing the controlling piece, or simply attack the controlled pieces as needed.  Defection is a good "regime change" rule, where one decides to abadon his/her controlled pieces in favor of a better army color.  It's a lot of fun to determine the actual VALUE of certain pieces and colors, especially when trading.  An interesting tactic I found was actually abandoning a color to "neutralize it" and create an uncapturable wall around the king as needed.

Overall, I have to say that I'd play it online a lot if available.

This looks like an interesting variant that deserves to be played more on Game Courier. I'm not sure I completely like that in the setup each player has two horsemen on the rook's files that take a move longer to promote minimum than the other horsemen, nor am I sure I completely like the king-to-the-last-rank wins extra victory condition added to the variant, but perhaps it's all a matter of taste.

Nice variant, though I fear on average a well played game may be lengthy. Creating a hexagonal shatranj variant was going to be on my fairy chess bucket list, as I thought I might be filling a void one day, but once I saw this game I realized that there was no such void to fill.

There are reams more nightriders mostly unutilized than the ordinary hack one developed by Dawson a century ago. So far they remain in problems and thought experiments.  Classic essay here proposes Straight Wide Crooked, Diagonal Narrow Crooked, Diagonal Wide Crooked, and Straight Narrow Crooked.  Best of all, the essential nightrider Quintessence.  Each one makes better more interesting play than Betzan-tagged 'NN'.  Play of that ordinary Dawson nightrider is inferior because it just duplicates successive Knight moves same direction.  It is no more interesting than "limited" pieces like an up-to-three-step Bishop or Chess Different Armies Short Rook.

Quintessence itself gets play in odd-shaped 84-square Quintessential Chess, adding also  Leeloo compound R + Quintessence.  

Quinquereme takes it up to 12x12 with the same Quintessence.  Each of the various nightriders in combinations, one and two of each together with some of the other 6 or 8 piece-types in the set, on different board sizes can create thousands, well millions easily, of individualized CVs.  Worth exploring in the abstract are the standard boards 9x9, 9x10, 10x10, 10x12, 12x12, 10x16.  All the large sizes should have a variant nightrider species for improved implementations. Even rudimentary Dawson NN of such wide appearance is superior to also-overused Carreran BN and RN, four hundred years beat to death.

You have to love such a big board variant that doubles-down (and then some) on the FIDE armies' piece types.

This game has everything I love in a boardgame:  simple rules, interesting play, a fun theme, and unusual mechanics.   The stone throwing reminds me a bit of Amazons, but using the stones as roads is completely new to me.  There's a choice at every turn whether to try to build your own road, or destroy your opponent's road.  

There's also a bit of a hint of hnefatafl with the two goals of surrounding and immoblizing the other piece, and reaching the far side of the board.

I followed the link in the article and read about the history of the Moais, how the inhabitants descended into warfare as the island was deforested, and how they destroyed the Moais of other inhabitants as part of that warfare, which adds a darker tone to the theme.  

What a fascinating and unusual game.  I really love this one.  I wish it were more widely known.  
Would the designers mind if I listed it on boardgamegeek, with a link back to this page?  

I like this concept. Pieces can suddenly "come out" as something else. I suppose this could be called a variant of chess with incomplete information — as the "true identity" of each player's pieces is known to the respective players, but not to their opponents. At the same time, cloaking forces the player to decide in advance which piece will morph into what, preventing arbitrariness. 

I'm delighted to see a variant based on triangular cells, rather than squares or hexagons. Not that there's anything wrong with squares and hexagons, but that triangles are under-explored and under-exploited. Christian Freeling and Graeme Neatham invented several trigonal chess games, and I contributed a couple of my own (Rotorblades Chess and Rotorblades Fusion Chess). And of course there's Klinzha. But for the most part, inventors seem to give triangular boards a miss. 

I see that Chessagon tries to be as faithful as possible to traditional chess. That's one "pole" of the chess variant universe; the other "pole" is games like Arimaa, which barely qualify as chess variants. My own taste is for something in the middle —I like games that extrapolate the moves of the traditional pieces to the new geometry, but also introduce pieces that take advantage of the new geometry in a way that the familiar pieces cannot. The only piece of this nature to do so in Chessagon is the Duke, and I think there is room for more unusual pieces that would create interesting possibilities for play. 

Hi Silvia! Thank you for introducing us to this exotic blend, which is one of the best I've seen. I've seen a few east-west hybrids before, and even tried inventing a couple of them myself, which I never published here because I didn't like them very much — they seemed to be neither fish nor fowl. But yours blends them in a way that doesn't seem forced or stretched, and I really like that!