George Duke wrote on Thu, Aug 21, 2008 04:47 PM UTC:
So one design can morph into another systematically, and we can get more
methodical, even mathematical, in treatment of applied Mutators. Let's
start with how far removed are Xiangqi and OrthoChess. (1)Trim 10x9 board
to 8x8 and ignore divisions of river and palace. (2) Enhance Knight to
leaping. (3) Enhance Elephant to all-diagonal but never jumping. (4)
Replace two weak Guards with one strong Queen. (5) Add 3 Pawns
repositioning all to Rank two, with Western way of diagonal capture and
one-time two-step. (6) Omit Cannons. (7) Polish off with specialized en
passant, castling. /// So, Xiangqi and OrthoChess are arguably roughly
only these seven steps apart. If we wildly tolerate margins of 7 Mutators, Xiangqi
and Mad Queen are even same game.