Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

This would seem to be for preset pages that members have made through the
new system David Howe set up. This page reads the URL field to get the URL
to the preset page, but this does not appear to be the field that the URL
is stored in for the member-created pages. 

David, how can I find the URL for a member-created page from the database?

Jeremy,

Since this page just reads the database, any presets added to the site
before it's over will be automatically added to the poll. I don't have
to do anything extra to make this happen.

I have a special proposal for this tournament.

I propose that Gary Gifford, since he won the last one, should be allowed to sit out as the 'reigning Chess Variants Champion' so to speak, and that this tournament be a qualifying tournament for the chance to play a 'Chess Variants Championship' match against Gary.

I suggest that the challenger (winner of this tournament) and the current champion (Gary Gifford) each select one variant and they play eight games of each, 4 with white and 4 with black. Of course, the compensatory point system shouldn't be used if one of them chooses a game like Balanced Marseillais which takes away the theoretical first move advantage of white. Most variants do not.

The 'Compensatory Point System'discussed here awards 4 points to a win for Black, 3 points for a win with White, 2 points for a draw with black and 1 point for a draw with white. Or perhaps a different point system for the drawing aspect than the one I mention here, such as zero points for a draw.

So what do people think about my idea?

Eric Greenwood's Archabbott Chess has just been added to the list of
available games, so if you have already voted, please consider adding this
one.  I think it is a very good game.  Since there are no rules listed, the
arch-abbott is a Bishop + Wazir + Dababbah.  And the Arrow-looking piece is
a Cavalier, a pretty interesting peice.  The Cavalier moves one square
diagonally, and then slides orthogonally outward (like a Griffon in Grand
Accatrix) OR slides orthogonally and then one square diagonally outward. 
It can never move to an adjacent square, and it has exactly two different
paths to any square to which it can move.

I will post more about other games later, but I am very pleased at the top
vote-getters so far.

I've fixed the label for Shatranj of Troy.

The game I would most like to see make it into this tournament is Storm
the Ivory Tower. This is my synthesis of Smess and Chinese Chess. It
borrows the board, pieces, and setup of Chinese Chess, adding arrows to
each space of the board, and modifying the powers of the pieces to be
affected by the arrows. It's an improvement on Smess, because it includes
more types of pieces. And it is at least an interesting twist on Chinese
Chess with much of the same appeal.

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.