Ratings & Comments
Bn Em wrote on Mon, Oct 25, 2021 03:55 PM UTC in reply to Georgi Markov from 01:11 PM:Ok, having actually gone to find a copy online, I agree that Tressau specifies the Kb/j–Rc/i castle; in principle one could still object that the example games may not be played by the original rules (while he says they're real, rather than constructed, games, it could still be under the influence of a misunderstanding), but it seems upon a cursory reading that for the Sultan's Game in particular his book may in fact be the original source? The Emperors Game is cited in the Spielarchiv, but Tressau explicitly notes (p.80) that a game with a Marshal had been suggested there but not described, rather being rejected due to the necessary odd number of files being unwieldy (in particular due to either same‐colour bishops or transposition of one bishop but not the other with its adjacent knight).
Unfortunately a quick search for the Archiv der Spiele online appears entirely fruitless so I can't confirm that…
The Game of the Three Kingdoms. inese Chess for three players (Game of the Three Kingdoms). (Cells: 135) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A. M. DeWitt wrote on Mon, Oct 25, 2021 02:54 PM UTC:What if there was a two player version? Or I could just make one myself...
Grand Apothecary Chess-Classic. Very large Board variant obtained trough tinkering with known games.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Bn Em wrote on Mon, Oct 25, 2021 02:21 PM UTC in reply to Jean-Louis Cazaux from 11:37 AM:The dragon is indeed a t[FR], in Betza's original notation. However, that part of it was never documented on the Betza Notation page (instead languishing on the Chess on a Really Big Board page, though it turns up elsewhere too), and is arguably a little underspecified, so H. G.'s XBetza (which is what the interactive diagram uses) specifies such multi‐leg moves in its own way. In this extension, FyafsF is indeed equivalent to the original t[FR]
The vulture afaict is mainly a longer‐range relative of George Duke's (and more recently Uli Schwekendiek's) Falcon, whose advantage over the bison (from a game design perspective) is its blockability — presumably the same is sought here. Unfortunately, due to the multiple paths to a given destination, it is quite complex to describe. Idk about the extra knight move though, that's perhaps a little gratuitous (presumably to make up for the basic vutlre's lack of maneuverability?)
I agree the birds are quite complex, if potentially interesting to play with? And whether the knight/elephant enhancements are truly necessary may be worth a playtest as well
The Sultan's Game. Variant on 11 by 11 board from 19th century Germany. (11x11, Cells: 121) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Tressau does not explicitly mention how many spaces the rook goes, but the landing square for R in the Sultan's game is obvious enough from the provided illustrative games: see mating position in game 1 (p. 87) and move 28 in game 4 (p. 89). [On move 20, White castles "to the right"; move 28 is Ri1-f1, or 119 to 116 in the original notation; that's the first R move after castling].
Grand Apothecary Chess-Classic. Very large Board variant obtained trough tinkering with known games.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]May I ask few questions:
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why is the board checkered with 4 colors instead of 2?
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is the Betza's notation for the Dragon correct? According to the textual description I would say t[FR] and not FyafsF. (I understood the Dragon is a Murray's Gryphon)
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Why is the Vulture so complex? Why not a mere compound jumper Giraffe + Zebra?
It is a matter of taste of course, but to my taste I wonder why making more complex several piece which are basically simple such as Knight (N is not enough?), Elephant (FA not enough?). Thurderbird and Firebird are very complex. I would like to play this game but with simpler rules.
HG, Are you here?
Pandemonium (Surajang修羅場). Capablanca chess + Crazyhouse.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I implemented the piece icon, how to install, and more!
OK, thank you very much!
<This> seems to work in WYSIWYG, and also in markdown if you do <this\>
It seems like you can also use < and >
Rollerball. Chess race fight on board formed by removing 3 by 3 square from center of 7 by 7 square. (7x7, Cells: 40) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Fixed.
This page has the old template, it is even not possible to the see the up bar with the menu. Is it possible to change that? Thank you
Vao. moves like bishop but must jump when taking.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]@Ben: yes, the simplest I could do is to edit this page in the CVP format: http://history.chess.free.fr/cv-set.htm
Ben Reiniger wrote on Fri, Oct 22, 2021 09:08 PM UTC:@Jean-Louis, those carved pieces look great! Would you mind sometime adding an article including the images? (You can start it as a Game page, but we'd change the type over to Craft before publishing.)
Yes this one. As I said it is the only representation we have of Grant Acedrex. When you see on a good definition, it can be seen that Aanca, Unicornio and Cocatriz are not represented as chimeras, compound monsters of different parts of different animals as it was the tradition in Middle Ages for gryphons, sphinx, etc. They are depicted as very simple silhouettes. A big fat bird with a curved beak, a horned big animal on its legs, a flat sort of lizard. Sonja Musser sees them as a giant prey bird, a rhinoceros and a crocodile. For me, it is the best interpretation.
yes Fergus. Take it easy, don't be so bad with me. Let me play with my Crocodile, it is not a crime. It is not so stupid either with the diagonal move. Bow, Arrow are also good choices, maybe better and I don't pretend to force anybody to use Crocodile. At least I hope Crocodile was not used for something else. Naming pieces is difficult because it may create confusion. For example Champion in Omega Chess. They were different Champions before in history of CV. Or the numerous Hawks and Falcons, all different. Before Crocodile I was using Bow. I stopped using Bow because I discovered the Hunter of Hunter/Falcon chess where the Hunter was represented by a Bow. That's it. Later I've made my own set in wood and my Crocodile is cute! http://history.chess.free.fr/zanzibar.htm I can't throw it away, I have to use it now
I have moved this discussion to the Vao page.
I assume JL means this one?
Okay, I missed that, because I was looking for an illustration of the piece itself and didn't realize he meant the illustration of the board. The piece in the Bishops's position has four legs and the general shape of a crocodile. So, crocodile may be a fair translation. But my other point still stands. Since the piece that could be translated as crocodile was a Bishop and not a Vao, it doesn't set any precedent or provide a good enough reason for using that name for the Vao.
Bn Em wrote on Fri, Oct 22, 2021 02:08 PM UTC in reply to Fergus Duniho from 01:21 PM:Originally posted on Pemba, where this piece is called a Crocodile.
I assume JL means this one? His page includes it thrice: that ‘close‐up’ at the beginning of the Rules section, the full page featuring it after the list of volumes in Alfonso's book, and a reproduction on a commemorative stamp at the end of the page
Originally posted on Pemba, where this piece is called a Crocodile.
The depiction I was talking about, and S.Musser is talking about, is the unique illustration that is known of this game, the one on the codex
Link, please. I already hunted for a picture yesterday and came up with nothing. Your website included a link to another site, but that site was down, and archive.org wasn't very helpful.
Bear Chess. A popular Russian game; bears leap to second perimeter.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This appears to be a fine variant, in spite of the 2 unprotected pawns per side in the setup (that kind of helps make up for the 6 ranks distance between the initial pawn ranks, actually).
@ Greg:
Hi. One player mentioned to me that this preset doesn't seem to work perfectly. Namely only two-square K move to castle either side (i.e. not three-square K move to the queenside) has been allowed by it. Also, capturing by en passant isn't always allowed, I guess meaning if a 3-step pawn move is made by the opponent. Has this preset been tested for either of those possible problems? If not, please fix if you can, at your leisure.
K
. Adds rifle-capturing archers and royalty-inheriting princes.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]“Rook” is a mistranslation of an Old Arabic word for “Siege Tower” Could you elaborate on this? I don't see what you mean.
Delta-Nabla Chess. Chess translated to a triangular grid as naturally as possible.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]You understand correctly. Whether it's a feature or a bug is a matter of opinion I suppose. Pawns potentially getting stuck with only capturing moves is a natural consequence of a hexagonal board with players at opposite edges. Playtesting is probably the best way to determine whether that's an interesting new strategic consideration or just a nuisance.
If it is just a nuisance, then in place of castling, Delta-Nabla's own cludgy rule should probably be to give pawns the option of moving (without capturing) in the obliquely forward rook directions whenever they're not in a position to promote by moving directly forward, or perhaps only when the directly forward option is impossible due to reaching the board edge.
Vao. moves like bishop but must jump when taking.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Originally posted on Pemba, where this piece is called a Crocodile.
Dear Fergus
I'm glad you accept my first point.
For the second, you just repeat what I said, it is a name consistent with my tree of CV, so I don't see why you insist it is only consistent with myself. It is what I said. To elaborate more, I don't want to give another name to a piece I have used under this name on 6 or 7 other variants.
For the last and most interesting point, sure your objection is valid. Indeed a Bishop is not a Vao. But both are diagonal and this is just the starting point of the association I'm making. It is a thin point, but it is better than nothing and there are plenty CVs where there is no logic at all behind the naming of the pieces. The way you had chosen Arrow is very elegant, really. I have nothing against that. Few years ago when I was using a Vao I used to call it a Bowman, which is not so far from your idea. I have no problem you call this piece an Arrow, just let me call it a Crocodile if I like. (And Vao is not a good name imo, I would have say a Xao to look more Chinese and the X is better bearing the diagonal character than the V)
For the last point on Alfonso's codex, I worked very closely with Sonja Musser who got her PhD on this text and together we studied carefully the Spanish text (hablo español). Of course a Cocatrice is a mythical beast, and a Crocodile is a real animal. I know this. But in 1283 they didn't have Wikipedia, and behind many mythical beast there is sometimes a real animal, living in very remote lands, that could have inspired the legend. Interestingly, this is the case in this Codex with the Aanca, for the Unicornio and for the Cocatriz. About this animal the text says: E la otra que esta dell otro cabo del Rey a la mano derecha es a semeianca dela Cocatriz que es bestia & pescado. & esta es fecha como lagarto. & cria en las aguas dulces & sennalada mientre en el grant rio que llaman nilo. & ha tan grant fuerca que teniendo los dos pies de caga o la cola en el agua; no a cosa que tome en seco que non tire assi por fuerte que sea. & quando quiere tomar alguna cosa;
Sonja Musser translates as this: To the right of the [white] King is a Crocodile [The crocodile's piece is very realistically drawn] which is a beast and a fish like a lizard. It lives in fresh water, notably in the great river called the Nile. It is so strong that with two hind feet and its tail in the water that nothing it grabs on land can escape. Whenever it wants to grab something it pretends that it is looking somewhere else to lull it into a false sense of security and then it turns quickly and obliquely and goes after it until it captures it.
If you see a better description than a crocodile, tell us. The depiction I was talking about, and S.Musser is talking about, is the unique illustration that is known of this game, the one on the codex. Please refer to it, the drawing is small but it really looks like a crocodile. Everyone can check with good faith. We have this and no more than that.
Also you may understand that a given name of a mythical animal could refer to different representation for different people, different places, different times. A gryphon could have goat's legs here, a snake's tail there, etc.
Originally posted on Pemba, where this piece is called a Crocodile.
this is my variant. I name the pieces as I like. Plenty of other chessvariants have names for their pieces that I don't like. I beg you to respect my choice
Agreed. I respect the right of game creators to use the piece names they wish to.
I use the name of Crocodile for the Vao for several of my variants already published here and on my site. So, I wish to be consistent in the tree of my variants. See Zanzibar-S, Zanzibar-L, Maasai Chess, Teramachy, Gigachess II, Terachess II, etc.
While consistency makes sense, it is only consistency with yourself, and you retain the right to rename the piece in all your variants if you desire to.
Saying it has no sense is wrong and upsetting.
It would be wrong to say that you had no reason for the name, because of course you did. I can't speak for Theresa, but I was aware, more or less, of your reason for the name Crocodile. I just don't think it is a good one.
In Grant Acedrex (from 1283) there is a Crocodile, named Cocatrice to be precise in medieval Spanish but which is depicted as a crocodile in that codex. This piece plays as a modern Bishop. The diagonal move is the inspiration for the name of Crocodile in my variants. You can estimate that this reason is weak but it is not "no sense".
Okay, it is weak, and I will now back that up. First of all, I disagree with the principal that it is a good idea to intentionally name a piece after a different piece that moves similarly to it. To be clear, this is different than accidentally giving a piece the same name as another piece or intentionally giving a piece the same name as another piece despite that name already being in use. I consider a name already being used for another piece a prima facie reason against using the name. But as long as you have other good reasons for using a name, these reasons may override this reason against using the name and independently justify the use of the name. In this case, though, you have no independent reasons for using the name Crocodile. Your only reason is that the name was used for the Bishop, which moves in the same directions as the Vao. Since I would count this as a reason against using the name rather than as a reason for using it, I do not consider this a good reason for using the name.
Second, you are using a translation of the original name, and I do not trust your translation. Cocatrice (or cocatriz as I actually found it spelled in the text of the Grant Acedrex) is not the Spanish word for crocodile, which is actually cocodrilo. Both spellings, cocatrice and cocatriz, are suspiciously close to cockatrice, which is a mythical serpentine beast or dragon with two legs and the head of a rooster, and when I search for either term, that is what I get articles on. Although you claim that the Grant Acedrex depicts the cocatrice as a crocodile, I did not find any depiction of it in the images we have of it on this site. But if you have images we don't have, I would be happy to see them. Additionally, the Grant Acedrex has included the names of other mythical animals that you have translated into the names of real animals, such as AAnca and Vnicornio. I am suspicious of those translations as well. Naming pieces after mythical animals has not been uncommon. So, if a name in a historic text looks like the name of a mythical animal, that may well be what it is.
Finally, I did have very good reasons for selecting the name Arrow. My first idea for a name was the punny name of Canon, which is a kind of cleric whose name sounds like Cannon. But it's not really a good name for the piece in a game that already includes a Cannon, and I also decided to give it a Chinese name. For that, I chose the character 矢, whose meanings include both arrow and vow. The idea of an arrow fits with the idea of a cannon as a long-range projectile weapon that can go over the heads of others, and vow is a homonym for Vao, the name that the piece goes by in fairy chess.
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Tressau modified the rules for the Kaiserspiel (e.g. castling rule is different in the Archiv der Spiele description) and practically developed the rules for the Sultanspiel himself based on Peguilhen's initial - but never fully developed - idea. Later sources are ultimately based on Tressau, with errors. Thus it's Tressau's rules that should be taken as definitive, the illustrative games were played by Tressau himself and after his own rules, so there is hardly any chance for a misunderstanding. There's a discussion of all that in my paper in press, I'll provide a link when it's published.