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After fifteen years I finally decided on an excellent rating. One contributing factor was the Checkmating Applet telling me that a King and two (improved) Knights can checkmate a lone King in 33 moves or less on the 10x10 board.
Estimating Pawn=1, Knight=4, Bishop=4.5, Minister=5.5, Rook=6, Queen=10 points. I started with my usual values on the 10x10 board, then added 0.5 to the Rook and 1.0 to the Knight (8 more moves) and Bishop (4 more moves, plus no longer colorbound). Now a Queen is only worth as much as a Rook and a Knight.
I'm not quite sure whether I want to rate this Good or Excellent so I'll go with the higher rating. This is a great way to enhance weaker pieces without making them too strong. An interesting variation of this idea might be to have all the pieces except the king and queen start without their non-capturing king moves and gain them by promoting on the last two ranks.
I've recently noticed that this older variant also adds noncapturing moves to pieces, although the move added is quite a different one.
By 'moving freely' in my previous comment here, I meant an Ajax move that would allow Generals and Ferzes to leave and re-enter their Fortress - or for the matter the enemy one - by a noncapturing move, and Elephants to cross the River by a one-step move. Sorry for taking so long to explain.
Charles, Not sure I followed you there. The game we are playing is with all pieces gaining their Ajax moves. The King, Guard and Elephant definitely have specific improvements over their Chinese Chess counterparts related to the Palace and River. But the other pieces: Rook, Cannon and Knight (Horse) all also get Ajax moves. Rooks and Cannons have a 1-step non-capturing diagonal move. The Knight (like the Elephant) get a 1-step non-capturing move in every direction (orthogonal or diagonal). Maybe I misunderstood your comment...
Well of course having the Ajax moves inherit the River and Fortress limitations is only one interpretation. That's the game we're currently playing, but what about one where pieces can move freely by one-step noncapturing moves?
Gee thanks! Feels like opening Pandoras' box... I'm actually going to enjoy much Ajax Xiangqi! My problem with Xiangqi was the uselessness of the Elephant (Alfil). But the Ajax version, while still limited to it's own side of the board, can reach all squares! That's an improvement!
My goodness, given that these presets do not enforce rules, you could play an Ajax version of anything! An Ajax game of the Carrera/Bird/Capablanca family would have some really powerful pieces. Ajax Courier, Ajax Timur's, Ajax Duke of Rutland, I'm an Ajax Wazir... you've hit upon something remarkable here. The Xiang Qi preset could be used for my Eleport XQ, Elliards XQ, and Alibaba Qi! If there were a 'rate other comments' option this use of presets would merit an 'Excellent'.
Interesting idea. Want to try it? http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DAjax+Xiangqi%26settings%3DCambaluc http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DAjax+Xiangqi%26settings%3DChinese I'll send you and invite. Interesting new elephant! Now it can reach ALL squares behind the river. Pieces move as in Xiangqi, with the additional Ajax non-capturing steps. All other Xiangqi rules are the same. King/General: moves and captures 1-step orthogonally, plus Ajax 1-step diagonal; can't leave the palace Advisor/Guards: moves and captures 1-step diagonally, plus Ajax 1-step orthogonal; can't leave the palace Rook/Chariot: regular rook, plus Ajax 1-step diagonal Horse/Knight: regular chinese knight, plus Ajax 1-step around perimeter Elephant: regular chinese elephant, plus Ajax 1-step around perimeter; can't cross the River Cannon: regular chinese cannon, plus Ajax 1-step around perimeter Pawns/Soldiers: regular chinese pawn - No Ajax additional moves.
It occurs to me that an Ajax Xiang Qi would be interesting. Short-range pieces would be considerably enhanced relatively to standard Xiang Qi.
Thanks Charles!
I have to admit I like the 'Ajax Rider' concept you coined together!
I will experiment with these riders later, especially the Ajax Rider Rook.
Thanks also for the link on Bolyar Chess!
Funnily enough, I am experimenting an Ajax Citadels variant with Carlos Cetina, and lately (after Omega chess) I seem to find Citadel variants all over the place...
I find interesting the Bolyar concept of a higher promotion at the Citadel (to Generals) and may explore this concept.
Ajax Rider Rook (represented below by a Boylar Queen): It moves & captures like a Rook, and it may also play as a non-capturing Bishop.
I have to admit I like the 'Ajax Rider' concept you coined together!
I will experiment with these riders later, especially the Ajax Rider Rook.
Thanks also for the link on Bolyar Chess!
Funnily enough, I am experimenting an Ajax Citadels variant with Carlos Cetina, and lately (after Omega chess) I seem to find Citadel variants all over the place...
I find interesting the Bolyar concept of a higher promotion at the Citadel (to Generals) and may explore this concept.
Ajax Rider Rook (represented below by a Boylar Queen): It moves & captures like a Rook, and it may also play as a non-capturing Bishop.
The rating is really for the whole family of variants, which has inspired to scrap Bolyar extrapolations and go for Ajax extrapolations instead. I just wanted to thank you for pushing me that extra distance, and hope that the choice of heroes named for other directions is to your liking. For now I've put such pieces using the hybrid diagonal aside.
Thanks Antoine. Can you also add the Guard (Man or Commoner) to the Alfaerie for Ajax piece set? 'G' => 'alfaerie/wguard.gif', 'g' => 'alfaerie/bguard.gif', - - - Below is the full new Ajax Piece Set definition: http://www.chessvariants.org/graphics.dir/; $pieces = array( 'K' => 'alfaerie/wking.gif', 'k' => 'alfaerie/bking.gif', 'Q' => 'alfaerie/wqueen.gif', 'q' => 'alfaerie/bqueen.gif', 'B' => 'alfaerie/wpromotedbishop.gif', 'b' => 'alfaerie/bpromotedbishop.gif', 'M' => 'alfaeriemisc/lavallee/wsissa2.gif', 'm' => 'alfaeriemisc/lavallee/bsissa2.gif', 'N' => 'alfaeriemisc/bagleyjones/wknightzzstar.gif', 'n' => 'alfaeriemisc/bagleyjones/bknightzzstar.gif', 'P' => 'alfaerie/wpawn.gif', 'p' => 'alfaerie/bpawn.gif', 'R' => 'alfaerie/wpromotedrook.gif', 'r' => 'alfaerie/bpromotedrook.gif', 'F' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajaxfalcon.gif', 'f' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajaxfalcon.gif', 'A' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajax-archbishop2.gif', 'a' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajax-archbishop2.gif', 'C' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajax-chancellor2.gif', 'c' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajax-chancellor2.gif', 'G' => 'alfaerie/wguard.gif', 'g' => 'alfaerie/bguard.gif', 'E' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajaxelephant.gif', 'e' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajaxelephant.gif', 'S' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajaxsilverelephant.gif', 's' => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajaxsilverelephant.gif' ); ?>
Hi Antoine Fourrière, Can you please add my two new pieces below for the Ajax Elephant to the 'Alfaerie: Many' piece set? Can you also add them to Alfaerie for Ajax set? I'm assuming you are going to call them: White Elephant => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/wajaxelephant.gif' Black Elephant => 'alfaeriemisc/carrillo/bajaxelephant.gif'
Hi Antoine Fourrière, (or Fergus),
Can you please add my two new pieces below for the Ajax Elephant to the 'Alfaerie: Many' piece set?
It's a Burmese Elephant (Shogi Silver) that can also move one (non-capturing) step sideways or backwards.
Thanks.
Can you please add my two new pieces below for the Ajax Elephant to the 'Alfaerie: Many' piece set?
It's a Burmese Elephant (Shogi Silver) that can also move one (non-capturing) step sideways or backwards.
Thanks.
Fergus said: But this game avoids these faults (Ultra Chess), because the pieces cannot capture with their additional powers of movement.
Absolutely!
In a simple way (in my opinion) Ajax Chess allows players to increase their tactical play without sacrificing or taking away the distinctiveness of the orthodox pieces.
Ajax Chess was an independant creation to Ultra Chess. I never heard of Ultra Chess until David Paulowich's comment below pointed out the similarity.
As I had pointed out earlier, this position shows one reason why I didn't want my Ajax Rooks, Bishops and Knights to be able to capture with their 'adopted' moves:
This position is from my game with Vitya Makov is after 5.Bi7 with the Bishop pinning Black's Knight.
Should the Black Knight be able to capture on it's one-square 'adopted' moves (like it could in Ultra Chess), this type of pins would be impossible, for ... Nxi7 would remove the threat, which would make the game boring, and eliminate some of the chess tactics (i.e. the simple Pin above) we are acustommed to.
Absolutely!
In a simple way (in my opinion) Ajax Chess allows players to increase their tactical play without sacrificing or taking away the distinctiveness of the orthodox pieces.
Ajax Chess was an independant creation to Ultra Chess. I never heard of Ultra Chess until David Paulowich's comment below pointed out the similarity.
As I had pointed out earlier, this position shows one reason why I didn't want my Ajax Rooks, Bishops and Knights to be able to capture with their 'adopted' moves:
This position is from my game with Vitya Makov is after 5.Bi7 with the Bishop pinning Black's Knight.
Should the Black Knight be able to capture on it's one-square 'adopted' moves (like it could in Ultra Chess), this type of pins would be impossible, for ... Nxi7 would remove the threat, which would make the game boring, and eliminate some of the chess tactics (i.e. the simple Pin above) we are acustommed to.
It shouldn't be difficult to program this game for Game Courier. But instead of doing it myself, I will leave it as an exercise for someone else. You can use one of the chess include files. The chess2 include file makes development easier, though the chess include file will also work. Since most of the pieces in this game are divergent pieces, you can look at the code in chess2 for Cannons to see how to program divergent pieces.
If you do a search on Ajax Chess, you'll find some web-based Chess programs, so called because Ajax is short for Asychronous JavaScript and XML.
This game is very similar to Ultra Chess from 1999. While I haven't played this game, what I recall from playing that game is that adding a King's move to each piece took away from the distinctiveness of each piece, making it harder for pieces to threaten each other without being threatened back, and I believe it made the Knight a little too powerful. But this game avoids these faults, because the pieces cannot capture with their additional powers of movement.
Thanks Antoine. Sorry, you made the Black Ajax Falcon invisible, but not the White one. The White Ajax Falcon shows a gray background when used: http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DAjax+Wars+Chess%26settings%3DAlfaerie Can you fix it? Thanks.
Thanks Antoine.
Sorry to bother you again, can you please add my new Ajax Falcons too?
They have the combined movement of a Korean Elephant, Korean (or Chinese) Knight and Wazir, plus the characteristic Ajax one 'non-capturing' step in the remaining diagonal directions.
Ajax Falcons are improved Korean Elephants, which move one orthogonal step plus 2 diagonal steps. All squares in the path of the Korean Elephant must be unoccupied for the Elephant to reach it's destination.
The Ajax Falcon is not a leaper, so just like the Korean Elephant must also have the path clear to reach the 2nd diagonal square (labeled 3 on the diagram), but the Ajax Falcon can also move and capture at any square along the path to their 3rd square.
Therefore the Ajax Falcon can stop at their 1st diagonal square (labeled 2 on the diagram), provided the first orthogonal step is empty; giving the Ajax Falcon the Korean Knight move capability.
The Falcon can also just move and capture on it's first orthogonal square (labeled 1 on the diagram) in the path of it's Korean Elephant move, just like a Wazir.
Finally the Ajax Falcon has a one 'non-capturing' step in the remaining diagonal directions (red circles in the diagram), like a Ferz, to complete the one-step movement characteristic of the Ajax pieces.
Thanks.
Sorry to bother you again, can you please add my new Ajax Falcons too?
They have the combined movement of a Korean Elephant, Korean (or Chinese) Knight and Wazir, plus the characteristic Ajax one 'non-capturing' step in the remaining diagonal directions.
Ajax Falcons are improved Korean Elephants, which move one orthogonal step plus 2 diagonal steps. All squares in the path of the Korean Elephant must be unoccupied for the Elephant to reach it's destination.
The Ajax Falcon is not a leaper, so just like the Korean Elephant must also have the path clear to reach the 2nd diagonal square (labeled 3 on the diagram), but the Ajax Falcon can also move and capture at any square along the path to their 3rd square.
Therefore the Ajax Falcon can stop at their 1st diagonal square (labeled 2 on the diagram), provided the first orthogonal step is empty; giving the Ajax Falcon the Korean Knight move capability.
The Falcon can also just move and capture on it's first orthogonal square (labeled 1 on the diagram) in the path of it's Korean Elephant move, just like a Wazir.
Finally the Ajax Falcon has a one 'non-capturing' step in the remaining diagonal directions (red circles in the diagram), like a Ferz, to complete the one-step movement characteristic of the Ajax pieces.
Thanks.
Hi Antoine Fourrière, (or Fergus),
Can you please add my two new pieces below for the Ajax Silver Elephant to the 'Alfaerie: Many' piece set?
It's a Silver Elephant that can move one (non-capturing) step sideways or backwards.
Thanks.
Can you please add my two new pieces below for the Ajax Silver Elephant to the 'Alfaerie: Many' piece set?
It's a Silver Elephant that can move one (non-capturing) step sideways or backwards.
Thanks.
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Indeed the Ajax Knight is 'potent', as the F move allows it to switch its attack from c1 to a1 in a single move (e.g. Nd3-c2). So it should be able to checkmate in combination with almost any piece.
Note that on 8x8 I never saw much effect of adding moves to a Bishop that lifted the color binding. Giving the Bishops of one player a single orthogonal non-capture step, and the other player that same move on the Knights, did not really swing the score away from 50%. If color binding is a handicap, it seems to manifest itself only for the unpaired piece, making its value less than half of that of the pair. This argues for the Knight gaining more from getting 8 moves than the Bishops gain from 4.
I also did some tests with multiple color-bound pairs (for evaluating the Color-Bound Clobberers CwDA army). The results were best explained by the theory that the intrinsic value of the pieces is half the pair value, but that you have to subtract a fixed penalty if the color bounds are not equally distributed over the two shades.