Comments/Ratings for a Single Item
I agree, at least in part. Removing either or both is probably necessary to prevent Scrabblization, but may not be sufficient.
I would guess, though, that their removal would prove sufficient as I suspect the causes of Scrabble's Scrabblization are not to be found in Chess.
/Mats
Here is my spin on this: 1. I also, in 2007 (unaware of this game) happened to wonder how to do Capablanca pieces on an 8x8. End result was IAGO Standard Fantasy Chess (Capablanca 64) in its bunch of mutations, which can be found on the Zillions site (Seirawan's version isn't in it). It was different than this. I believe the best shot to get Capablanca pieces adopted is with an 8x8 board. I played with this concept years ago with my Corner Chess game also (meant to be 4 player chess on an 8x8 board) 2. I would propose that the name Sharper Chess be adopted in honor of the fact that Harper worked on it (S from Seirawan and the rest is Harper). It also sounds pretty cool as a name. 3. Here is how you settle the name controversy (people who don't want to lose the names Chancellor and Archbishop). The top two pieces in fantasy chess are the Chancellor and Archbishop. I know Seirawan wanted different, because he felt the other ones didn't make sense. Well, I say you can go with BOTH actually. If the pieces start on the board, they are Chancellor and Archbishop (or Cardinal). If they start in a POCKET position, then they would be Hawk and Elephant. I don't see it as a big deal. This way, you also know if the Capablanca pieces have entered the game or not. 4. For people arguing about this and that, and disappointed (want to have them enter different spot, have different board, and other complaints on here), please view this variant as being a METHOD to get new pieces into the game. This game is a near ideal GATEWAY to get new pieces into chess in an acceptable manner. Viewed in light of this, it is a good thing. Work with this, and then add your own tweaks. Want to have the Amazon get accepted into chess? Well, have it as a possible other piece in Seirawan chess. a. People who don't think it is radical enough, can we keep in mind, we need the FIDE crowd to adopt it to some degree for there to be enough players? b. People who feel it wrecks one line of play or another, and believe bishops will die too early (thus propose that if you move a bishop, you can't enter in the Capablanca pieces), can we play with this a bit more and see if we can keep the simplicity of what is propose, and make it lead to MORE options on play, rather than less? Also, if makes the game a LOT more open, with new lines of development, why wouldn't that be acceptable? 5. I believe an easy variant on this would be you leave the queen space blank and then players alternate turns each placing a queen, elephant/chancellor, or hawk/archbishop in the initially left empty queen space. 6. This variant can work with Chess960 as a variation of Capablanca Random Chess, and make it easier to accept. Also, it can work with Bughouse. 7. This version allows for Capablanca pieces to get into chess, without having to deal with the headaches of Gothic Chess. 8. The underlying methodology of introducing pieces here can be used with other chess-like games. Consider Shogi with this, for example. You could even go with the OLD version of Shogi without the rook and bishop on the board, and the pieces in the last two rows, and have them come into the game via the method in this game. Chinese Chess would be another. 9. Anyone want to calculate how many different ways that new ways the two new pieces can enter the game?
http://www.seirawanchess.com/
The new plastic pieces (Hawk and Elephant) look very nice. But, I would have preferred that these pieces kept their earlier names (as we see in Capablanca and Gothic Chess and many other variants) and that they kept logical designs which reflect their piece movement, as in Gothic Chess pieces. When I see an Elephant I think of the one from Shatranj, or even the modern Elephant... but certainly not a Bishop-Knight. Seeing an Elephant move like a Bishop or Knight seems terrible to me.
Initial impression I am getting from the designers of this is that they don't want to have anything to do with the variant community. I will hopefully be able to confirm, but apparently they don't want their game changed in any way. They also don't want their game anywhere near the variant community. This being said, IAGO/IAGO World Tour may be forced to come up with its own game with the Capablanca pieces, on an 8x8 board. The version would use gating, and the objective is have things set up so that the game can continue to evolve and adapt as needed. The game would belong to the chess world, to agree on how it is, and avoid falling into the trap FIDE has, where lines of play get spelled out too much, and it becomes draw-prone. My hope is that this version gets an ok to be accepted by IAGO by the designers, and they allow for variants off of it. But, if they don't, we will still use the drop. I am working up the rules now for this, and once dust settles, I can post it. One way or the other, I want IAGO Chess to end up being a leading game for the variant community to rally behind and make their own.
Actually, by using the Trojan Horse you could drop the Chancellor or ArchBishop or Amazon (etc)on a square other than the horse's initial starting point. You could also stipulate ... 'must be droped not passed the 4th rank,' or something like that if you wanted to avoid drops within the opponent's camp. The Trojan Horse method was introduce in my Catapults of Troy several years ago... I do not know if there are any earlier examples...
I am afraid that I have to agree with George Duke's well articulated POOR comment. RN and BN too powerful on an 8x8 board with only 8 pawns to 10 pieces. Disagree with George only in that I believe Omega plays excellent compared to this shoddy little variant getting a bit too much publicity. Here s an improvement using the drop concept in this game: use Joyce's short range war machine/knight and elephant/knight compounds instead for a more balanced game. So Excellent for the whole drop concept (though I would prefer that the player pay the price of 1 move to bring in a piece), and Poor in piece selection. I understand the enthusiasm of previous commentators of bringing in new pieces via gating but why use a knight compound anyway: Just drop a real Elephant (modern type) and war machine/wazir and maybe 2 ninja pawns - thats a bit more subtlety than just going crazy with powerful knight compounds.
Great comment! Especially when talking about an 8x8 board. I agree wholeheartedly.
I want to add a comment here regarding why work with Capablanca pieces first on an 8x8 board. A major reason is that these are the top fantasy chess pieces, and if we can get it to work right, MAYBE we stand a chance of them being massed produced, so we can have them go forth. Games like Grand Chess or even Random Capablanca Chess have a hard time being adapted, because they are not available. And I know that people want to use a larger board, but how available are those? 8x8 is available everywhere, which is why it serves as a good place to start getting something going. I will close here by saying that, 'Gee creating chess variant pieces is half the fun of doing chess variants'. Well, I would like to say, MAYBE FOR YOU. People would want results NOW and have it easy for them to get to things. If you listen to the arguments for Seirawan chess, you see why this approach is the best one, overpowered or no. My suggestion is to work on a way to do Capablanca chess on an 8x8 board AND MAKE IT WORK. Lead with this, and then we can go forth from there. I personally believe that drops and gating are essential here. We get this to work, then we can talk about being able to drop in weaker pieces and mixing it up. As of now, let's get this going first. I would suggest working together, unless you want to have the Capablanca Archbishop and Chancellor (or whatever you want to call them) called 'Hawk' and 'Elephant' because they are the only version of pieces you can by, followed up with the whammy that you can only play Seirawan chess, because they forbid you from changing the rules for your variants. You can't add new pieces, remove them or change how they move. This will cause Grand Chess to disappear, and do I need to add that Capablanca Random Chess will be nowhere? I ask everyone to look at the big picture here. On this note, I am looking fairly soon to get what I call IAGO Chess on here for review. I would like people to get involved with this.
'Seirawan Chess is important because Yasser Seirawan is the leading USA Grandmaster at present time.' Actually, no. Gata Kamsky is currently the top American grandmaster.
George, what I am looking to have with IAGO Chess (I am looking to get on here sometime this week), is a better framework for having a version of chess that would continue to evolve, and draw new players in. It is a framework by which we won't run into the same laments over and over that drive someone to create a stand-alone fixed rules variant, and believe it is the answer. This is the approach taken historically. Instead it is a form that allows people to contribute to a community effort, in a framework that is meant to last. It allows a large degree of freedom, while having some standardization, and enabling a version of chess to emerge from a community that will meet ongoing needs. I personally believe Seirawan Chess could meet these criterions, but it appears that they the Seirawan group, at this point and time, has no interest in Seirawan Chess being the starting point for a continually evolving form of chess. In other words, it has the same flaws that almost every other variant does. It is a game that is done for personal preferences of the creator, either to stroke their ego, or their own personal tastes. This is demonstrated in things like, 'leave my game alone', and 'I would rather the name of the piece be something I like, rather than what the community is trying to settle on'. Purely selfish in nature, and of small mind. It gets away from how chess WAS and IS supposed to be, a game that evolves by the efforts of a community of players. IAGO Chess, on the other hand, will be something whose purpose is to serve the continuing needs of the community. The first iteration of the game, does what Seirawan Chess does, but is sufficiently nuanced to be a different game. In addition, it uses the Capablanca naming conventions. It is also mean to get the Capablanca pieces in circulation, so Grand Chess and Capablanca Random Chess, and others can finally get greater exposure. I do expect the C-Class (Classic or standard) versions to likely be adjusted by the community through practical experience. Also, to be kept fresh, the M-Class (Modern, evolving) version be one that people will be able to change just it starts to get played out.
I have never been a fan of the drop, feeling it to be an alien addition to the mechanics of chess. Promotion on the other hand is not, being a well established chess mechanism.
I therefore suggest using promotion as a better means of introducing the RN and BN. Thus, for example the Rook could promote to RN on making a capture, and the Bishop likewise but to BN. The idea could be extended further allowing the Knight to promote to, say, a Nightrider.
Using promotion also goes someway towards relieving the piece-density and power increases associated with dropping; more so if the number of each of the new pieces is restricted to one.
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Scrabblization is surely the fate of any game that is deterministic with the players having complete information - given that it is played and studied long enough and widely enough.
If so, and if it is a problem, the only long-term solutions are to either restrict player information or remove the determinism. But is the game we are left with still chess?