Ratings & Comments

Replacement capture should work normally. If Fire Dragons try to burn each other, the moving one is destroyed, and won't burn anything else. Just like the Fire Demon in Tenjiku Shogi.

A few minutes ago I was editing the Diagram, slipping in two extra pieces. There might have been a short transient period when the wrong piece had the burning properties. And you might have been so unlucky to try it at exactly that moment. Now it should work.

I was not really happy with the fact that there were two Kirins and Phoenixes on each side; that is very un-shogi-like. The Kirins on b2 / i9 are essential for preventing the initial position to be a forced win. (These play the role of the Eagles in Tenjiku Shogi.) But those on i2 / b9 weren't. So I now replaced those by Phoenixes. (Sorry Jean-Louis, an off-center asymmetry. ;-) ) And replaced the Phoenixes on a2,j2 / a9/j9 by a Side Mover.

This raised the problem of how to make that Side Mover promote. It would be logical to let it promote to Ninja, as these have the same footprint, and the Ninja is stronger. But I had used the Ninja as promoted Minister. So I now changed the Minister's promotion to Rook General (which was not participating before. In Tenjiku Shogi the RG aren't very useful; their fate is to be traded for each other.) That at least makes the promoted Minister stronger than a promoted Gold, which I think it should be, because the Minister is stronger than a Gold. Not that the jumping would be very important in the end-game. But Ministers and Side Movers are very difficult to promote anyway, only stepping forward.

This raises the number of participating types to 27 (20 different moves, of which 3 only obtainable through promotion).

Is there a reason not to have stalemated just use the pawn subroutine?

Yes, the pawn subroutine is designed for handling actual moves, not potential moves, it sometimes exits the whole program with the die command and an error message, it resets nopvc to 0, and it asks for extra input for incomplete promotion moves.

Could an editor please add this description:

"Squares can be visited a limited number of times."

Many thanks.

I am tempted to submit the following variant ('Minjiku Shogi'):

Is it intended that the Fire Dragon doesn't burn when capturing another Fire Dragon?

Is there a reason not to have stalemated just use the pawn subroutine? I ask because I'm trying to figure out how to implement pieces with non-displacement capture. Is it possible for a function to relocate a piece after it captures?

Is it conceivable - or already realized - to derive a ranking of attention or interest from the frequency of hits on a variant page?

No, we have not been using hit counters, and I did not find any logs with this information. It might be possible to set something up, but I would like to have a way to ignore robot activity or frequent visitors to the same page, and I'm not sure how to do that.

We already have other measures of popularity. See Which are the Best Chess Variants?.

Hi, David! Glad to see you back! This is a nice helpmate and looks like an interesting 'little' game to play - all that power in the corners and a weak center, on a small board! The central rook is a rare feature, or was, a decade or two ago. Who's used it besides Ralph, you, and me, any idea? I don't remember it in even any semi-popular game onsite aside from what you and Ralph have done.

I have made the 404 page more powerful. While I had previously set it up to give suggestions, it wasn't always doing a good job of that. It now does a better job, and if you enter just about any Chess variant name right after the domain, it should be able to direct you appropriately. Try it out and let me know if there is any way to improve on it.

Yes, non-zero track always keeps track of the coordinates of all piece types, and type N is special by the adjacent squares getting the 'nodes' mark in the 'neighbor' array, so the user can  test it, and do whatever he wants with moves that touch the spellZone in some way. Defining a spell only makes the corresponding action already performed by the Diagram script itself.

I guess I should add some more spell flavors: protect could make pieces standing in the spell zone uncapturable. And hide could make them transparent, allowing any piece to hop over them..

I am tempted to submit the following variant ('Minjiku Shogi'):

If I can prove that it is not a forced win for white, that is.

Note that it is entirely implemented without user-supplied JavaScript, using the captureMatrix to define the jumper ranking and Dragon burning, and using the trackPieces with spell=burn to cause the passive burning. The shape of the burn zone is controlled through blastZone=F and spellZone=F.

That sounds like an interesting little variation!

Okay Ben, sorry for the short rules section.
I added the rule about excluding capturing pieces to the rules section. If there is anything else missing from the rules section, please let me know.

I have played the game many times and did not get the impression that the queen and rook play a decisive role in the final result of the game.

If someone should take the pity to program the game, it will turn out that the strategic component of the game cannot be determined by single pieces.

In the rules I have emphasized: In contrast to all chess variants, the capturing of opposing pieces is excluded. Only the king can be captured.
 

I changed the name of the parameter to specify burning or freezing from curse into spell, and added parameters spellZone and blastZone. The latter can be used to define the area on which the spell (e.g. passive burning) and the active burning works, relative to the tracked or moving piece. They can be given the value K (the default), W, F or N.

white (blue) can put the king in check on ranks 5-7

I wonder how hard mate will be; you can't get very close to the king while still giving check, so a rook/queen net seems the only way, but with all the other pieces getting in the way...
On the other hand, maybe all the other pieces actually help? A sample mate (preferably one arising from actual play) would be helpful.

In Borderline, capturing pieces is excluded

Oh boy, sorry. Maybe add that all-important bit as the first bulleted Rule so skimmers like me don't miss/forget it from the intro (ugh, and even the short description, maybe it's just me)?

Hi Aurelian. I'm glad you have looked at that link (more than once, presumably) in the past. I meant to say I was pondering about making settings files/('unofficial' presets) for many CV invention ideas of mine, which I was thinking of not trying to publish at least for a while longer. I thought you might be a typical user of CVP site in some ways, so I asked you about the link (featuring a list of possibly played presets on GC) since I know you, and you are paying attention to the present thread (sorry my post is off-topic again).

I was hoping by people (e.g. one being me) playing at least one game with a given 'unofficial' (that is, unpublished) preset of mine, that preset might have at least a slim chance of being stumbled on by someone using that link I just asked you about (then such a someone could play or popularize said CV of mine, if I never got around much to either). Slim chance, yes, but better than if I just left said preset as an unplayed Settings File of mine (people might have an even slimmer chance of finding it that way, I thought, even though I am a known inventor). Publishing presets (plus rules pages) would be best, but that could take ages since for one thing I have over 20 CV invention ideas of mine stored away since 2019 (e.g. there was a limit of 9 submissions at a time [including a given preset or rules page] suddenly introduced during that period - so I just kept letting my ideas pile up).

Do you mean white (er...blue?) pieces don't give check except when they are on ranks 4-7?

Almost - on the border line the king cannot be attacked. The king can be put in check only when a piece of one side has crossed the border line. Specifically, white (blue) can put the king in check on ranks 5-7, and black (red) can do so on ranks 3-1.

What do you think about the volatility of facing rooks and queens?

In Borderline, capturing pieces is excluded - except for the king, which must be captured to win the game. In this respect, it is not of particular importance when rooks and queens face each other. Did I understand the question correctly?

Why Boderline? Unlike the variants where the board is complexly changed (this also goes to my own address with Chess 66 or Chess 69) or new pieces with new move possibilities are created, I was looking for a mechanism which has a certain independence and which has not existed before (hopefully). Maybe I succeeded with a game where there is only one king, which both parties want to capture and which can be moved by both parties instead of one of their own pieces. It is also possible that the game has become too simple for many and they do not want to deal with it. We will see.
 

This reminds me a little of the Unreal-Tournament-inspired Domination Chess.

Do you mean white (er...blue?) pieces don't give check except when they are on ranks 4-7?

What do you think about the volatility of facing rooks and queens?

Any updates here?

I did some minor editing (fixed the header levels, changed the origin of the berolina pawn, shrank the custom setup image). The en passant rule "same as Horizon" should be explicitly spelled out on this page, please.