Gary Gifford wrote on Tue, Apr 15, 2008 08:57 PM UTC:
This appears to be a very good variant. At a glance I was wondering about a Bishop pinning a Rook to a King on move 1... then I noticed that the Pawns are not actually Pawns, but move like Kings that are immune from check and lack promotion ability. These specialized pawns rendering the pin as not very effective.
Because the Pawns are very different from Fide-pawns, I think the pre-set would be better if Pawn graphics were replaced with one of the many King-like graphics. If I played this game I would constantly be battling my mind's desire to see the Pawns as Pawns.
On a similar note, the Knight piece is not a Knight, so a different graphic to remind us of this would be good.
Because the Pawns are very different from Fide-pawns, I think the pre-set would be better if Pawn graphics were replaced with one of the many King-like graphics. If I played this game I would constantly be battling my mind's desire to see the Pawns as Pawns.
On a similar note, the Knight piece is not a Knight, so a different graphic to remind us of this would be good.