Enter Your Reply

Now you are overreacting. I never said nor implied that rectangular variants are a requirement. Just that as a matter of personal taste I don't like hexagonal boards very much, and as a consequence have never really studied the Shaffran's Hex Chess. So that I have no opinion on its playability. (Even though a first glance doesn't show up anything that is very different from what hundreds of other Chess variants have. There is nothing 'unplayable' about a hexagonal topology per se; it is just different.) Likewise I never implied that there is anything against larger than 8x8 rectangles even tastewise. (Even though I would probably qualify 1000x1000 as 'unplayable').

Ideas that don't work, no matter how original, are not really of interest, IMO. If they could be made to work in another context, then just present those ideas in that context. If they are really worth persuing, that should not be too difficult. There is also a large difference between small flaws, (like a slight imbalance, participation of a piece that isn't very useful, spurious rules that in practice are never invoked), and fatal ones (such as a guaranteed draw or win). And indeed, a lot of variants here suffer from minor flaws. But that cannot be an excuse for just allowing anything to pass; it means we have to be even more careful then we were in the past.

I don't think the existence of many sub-variants prove there was something wrong with any of those, though. On the contrary; their existence indicates how successful the original was. Being imitated is a complement. Many people with not too much imagination try to share success that way, and I am pretty sure that others just joined in to annoy Ed Trice. Ed's analysis on Capablanca Chess is flawed, btw: it is based on incorrect piece values (it assumes the difference between RN and BN is as much as the orthodox exchange, R vs minor). So his line that is supposed to provide a winning advantage for white in practice just leads to equality. (The open file created in the Archbishop for Chancellor exchange is enough compensation for the tiny difference in piece value.) Statistics on computer-computer games has shown that the white advantage in Capablanca Chess is not larger than in orthodox Chess.

Although I am an editor, I don't really consider it my task to referee and publish submissions; I was mainly made editor for upgrading existing articles with Interactive Diagrams. That doesn't stop me from commenting when I suspect to be a major flaw when I stumble across one, though, like any contributor can.