Isn't there a more sensitive choice to have a ChessVBig build separatly? This would not cut the performance for chessV small and allow users to have speed in the smaller boards case and also allow to implement 16x16 games.!
Sure, this could be done, but I am not enthusiastic about maintaining two versions. And I am not sure this is a problem in practice. There are other reasons it is not going to play Dai Shogi or Tenjiku Shogi. I'm sure there are less crazy 16x16 games, but I still don't know how well it would work. ChessV is well-written and modern computers are powerful but at some point exponential growth still overwhelms you. I don't think 16x12 has even been tried. You could try this and see how it goes.
Sure, this could be done, but I am not enthusiastic about maintaining two versions. And I am not sure this is a problem in practice. There are other reasons it is not going to play Dai Shogi or Tenjiku Shogi. I'm sure there are less crazy 16x16 games, but I still don't know how well it would work. ChessV is well-written and modern computers are powerful but at some point exponential growth still overwhelms you. I don't think 16x12 has even been tried. You could try this and see how it goes.