Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.


[ Help | Earliest Comments | Latest Comments ]
[ List All Subjects of Discussion | Create New Subject of Discussion ]
[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]

Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Earlier Reverse Order Later
[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Daniil Frolov wrote on Mon, Jul 5, 2010 05:55 PM UTC:
I invented a game, but i have doubts that it's playable (i hope, it IS
playable). May i describe rules here, when i'll make GC preset, and
someone will help me to playtest it? If it's playable, i'll make page
after this. But i think that it's idea is interesting, and if it's not
playable, i'll make some changes.
It's variant of Ultima: all pieces moves as knight (or with kind of
knight's move), but captures with different methods. Pawns cannot capture,
expect for taking part in custodian capture, but they blocks the strongest
piece.

Daniil Frolov wrote on Thu, Jul 8, 2010 09:34 AM UTC:
Here are it's rules:
Setup is similar to standart chess, but board may optionally have
additional border squares, as in rococo (and this variant is probably
better): they may be entered only with capturing move, wich would not be
able to be made by moving to non-border square.
King is cavalry general. Queen is devil. Pawns are priests. King-side
bishop is simple withdrawer. Queen-side bishop is pure withdrawer.
King-side knight is simple overtaker. Queen-side knight is pure overtaker.
King-side rook is simple custodianer. Queen-side rook is pure custodianer.

All pieces, expect priests, moves as knights.
'Simple' pieces capturing methods are based on this description of
knight's move: first orthogonally, when diagonally outwards or vice versa.
'Pure' pieces capturing methods are based on knight's being single step
knightrider. Pure pieces are weker than simple pieces.

Cavalry general captures by replacement, royal. Other pieces never can move
to occuppied square.
Devil captures all piece adjecent to destination square. This method of
capturing is taken from tenjiku shogi.
Priests may make several knight's leaps in same direction, even if squares
it passes are occuppied (and thus, it actually makes (1,2), (2,4), (3,6)
and, if capturing in variant with additional border squares, (4,8) leaps).
It don't capture, expect for taking part in custodianers' cptures.
Hostile devil may not move adjecent to it. Priests, however, may move
adjecent to devil, devil's destination square is most important. Instead
move, one may promote priest to any lost piece. It don't move when
promotes. If promotes to devil, adjecent pieces are not captured, but it
may capture by promoting to one of custodianers.
Simple withdrawer captures adjecent pieces by moving directly away from
them (if diagonally adjecent, first diagonally away from piece, when
orthogonally outwards, and vice versa when orthogonally adjecent).
Example:
--12-
--w--
*----
-=-+-
On square * it captures piece 2, on square + it captures piece 1, on square
= it captures both.
Pure withdrawer captures pieces knight's leap away by moving directly away
from it.
Example:
--1
---
-w-
---
*--
It can capture piece 1 by moving to square *.
Simple overtaker moves to square, occuppied by piece it captures, when
makes another step, so what it makes camel's (1,3) or zebra's (2,3)
leap.
Example:
-**
-1-
---
o--
It captures piece 1 by moving to square *.
Pure overtaker moves to square, occuppied by piece it captures, when makes
another knight's leap in same direction.
Example:
----*
--1--
o----
It captures piece 1 by moving to square *.
Simple custodianer captures piece adjecent (diagonally or orthogonally) to
destination square, if there is friendly piece on next step in same
direction. One can also capture with this method by moving another piece in
position, wich would be capturing if one would move simple custodianer. One
can also make suicide capture by moving piece between hostile simple
custodianer and another hostile piece.
Example:
--f
-1-
c--
c - simple custodiianer, 1 - hostile piece, f - friendly piece. Piece 1 is
captured, whatever of these 3 pieces just moved.
Pure custodianer is same, but it captures pieces knight's leap away if
there is friendly piece another knight's leap away in same direction.
Example:
----f
--1--
c----
f - friendly piece, 1 - hostile piece, c - pure custodianer. Piece 1 is
captured, whatever of these 3 pieces just moved.
Capture cavalry general to win.

I'll make GC preset for this now, hope, it's playable.

Daniil Frolov wrote on Thu, Jul 8, 2010 09:41 AM UTC:
Here is preset:
http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DKnightima%26settings%3DKnightima
'Simple' pieces are upside-down.

George Duke wrote on Tue, Aug 3, 2010 08:53 PM UTC:
Http://www.chessvariants.org/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=5123, above Lavieri, or Black, or Nelson, but not all Ultima reworkers have noticed inventor's of Ultima in 1960s, Robert Abbott, comment. 

Other CVs revolve around the idea of just mostly Knight moves, like 1920s'
Cavalry, http://www.chessvariants.org/diffmove.dir/cavalry-chess.html. The CV of this thread is ''-ima'' for being like Ultima too, reminding of Black's blend Ulchesgi and Fourriere's Chessma 84, with name part of Ultima. The preset, linked in the 3rd of these 4 comments, must be including border squares to work like Rococo's.  Border squares are great there, but raise questions of access in and out of that take care in describing the rules. 
Probably Frolov's Knightima here has similar problem of clarity that same
Rococo-inventor Aronson's Jumping Chess has,
http://www.chessvariants.org/crossover.dir/jumpingchess.html. In both is required factor to visualize Knight's path, whether he is orthogonal then diagonal, or diagonal then orthogonal, or at times Nightrider-like, or something else.  In Jumping Chess it is surprising that any time the capture by Knight is optional.  In Knightima it is not at first obvious whether custodian capture is ever supposed to be only radial, the regular definition. Knight-moving Withdrawer of Knightima must give two choices to take, if disposition forces and vacancies is right -- like the example of Knight-leaping capture of Jumping Chess does give two choices, if two intervene, out of which player may pick only one.

4 comments displayed

Earlier Reverse Order Later

Permalink to the exact comments currently displayed.