Single Comment

Thank you, Fergus, for fixing the label on Shatranj of Troy. I hope more
will vote for it now. I admit to prejudice; I think this is a Gary Gifford
gem. It takes the concept of openings to a whole new level. That
overstuffed Trojan Horse piece feels like having a full candy dispenser in
your pocket when you were a kid. [Now, for Jared. ;-) ] The tactical and
strategic possibilities are immense. It's a definite chess-player's
game.
Another game I would like to see in the tournament is Jeremy Good's Royal
Pawn Chess. That single change does amazing things to the game, and to my
chess instincts at least. The Royal Pawn can literally eat itself to
death: a series of sacrifices can force the RP across the board into the
opposing army. Opening strategy is turned on its head; what you need is
more of a Closing strategy, to wall off and protect the RP. Armies are
very self-blocked, and players have to work through the flanks rather than
coming up the middle.
As for STIT, I didn't originally vote for it, but you convinced me to
vote to include it [even though if given a choice I will avoid it, as I am
not very good at Chinese Chess]. It's hard to argue with a good,
established designer who says: 'This is good'. And I've enjoyed your
games before, so... As for the 2 designs of mine that are currently [I
think] in, they're the 2 best choices in my opinion. I lean toward the
Dabbabah versions over the Rook versions as the games were always intended
to be short range, but there are obviously people who prefer the rooks.
[And saying this for real is a fantasy come true. Thanks to all the
voters.] 
I assume the specific setup will be similar to last time, in that we will
have a choice of games to play within the finalists; the goal being that
all players have at least half their games in common. I thought that was
excellent last time. Whatever, it's beginning to look interesting.