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Chess with Ultima, Rococo and Supremo Pieces. A series of variants with the Orthochess array transplanted to a 10x10 board and various exotic pieces added. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Greg Strong wrote on Sat, Aug 7, 2004 05:36 PM UTC:

In response to requests for <a href='http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/ultima.html'>Ultima</a> support in <a href='http://gregstrong.com/ChessV/'>ChessV</a>, it seems reasonable to implement this game first, so I can write (and test) each of the wacky pieces seperately. Unfortunately, however, this game leaves the details of pawn moves and castling unclear. My first thought is to give pawns a 3-step initial move, subject to en passant (as in <a href='http://www.omegachess.com'>Omega Chess</a>), allow castling, with the King sliding 3 spaces toward the Rook, and have pawns promote on the 10th rank, and allow promotion to the Ultima piece being used. Although, I also like the previous poster's suggestion of a <a href='http://www.chessvariants.com/other.dir/ultima.html'>Grand Chess</a>-like setup. But then again, I'm somewhat partial to Grand Chess, because castling is eliminated, and there's no 3-step pawn move necessary, which would make en passant (the other awkward move) even more pronounced. I have no idea if pawn promotion on the 8th rank is good (in this game or any other.) Of course, I can always support a couple of options, and I don't mind doing this, but I don't want to go crazy either. One thing I want to avoid is every game having so many check-boxes for options, that there are so many permutations that no two people on Earth are playing the same game. Besides, it requires more coding :) Any comments on this?