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Comments by GaryK.Gifford
Two Large Shatranj Variants. Missing description (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The idea seems quite good to me. I even like the opening story because it has me wondering how many great games were lost through natural disasters, sinking ships, etc. Some board graphics (with initial piece placement) would be a great plus to the rules page. After seeing these games played I may very well upgrade my comment to 'Excellent.' I look foward to seeing game couriers for these variants. On a related note: Despite these Shatranj games being great and grand, we should also be aware that there are several large Shogi games. The largest that I am aware of is called 'Tai Kyoku Shogi.' It is (was) played on a 36x36 board with 402 pieces per side. Hard to imagine.
The Bermuda Chess Angle. Pieces can vanish in a central grid (The Bermuda Chess Angle) depending on dice-determined coordinates. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I just noticed that all the graphics are missing for the Bermuda Chess Angle page. Could the links have been broken? Has this happened with other games? The page without the graphics is rather bland.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]To answer lordking's chess question: When a King is in check there are three possible legal actions (aside from resigning): 1) capture the checking piece, 2) move the King out of check, or 3) block the check. Regardless of which action is taken, the King must not be in check after the move is completed. If the King cannot get out of check he is said to be in 'checkmate.'
Shatranj. The widely played Arabian predecessor of modern chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I like the 'Bare King' concept and am a little surpprised that it did not continue down with the evolution of today's orthodox chess. Also, though Shatranj seems not to be very popular today, I wonder if the rule variant cited by Pritchard, i.e., 'A stalemated King may be transposed with one of its other pieces, as long as this does not result in check' is being used in the game courier? But I imagine it is not. Pritchard's variant is mentioned on the ChessVariants page. I imagine we are not employing it in our game courier games. If it is being used, however, I would like to know as it could completely change the endgame in certain situations by changing a forced stalemate to a win.
Geodesic Chess. Variation of hexagonal chess on a geodesic sphere with a few new pieces added. (Cells: 279) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The idea of playing on a sphere (composed of hexagons) is quite interesting. If I were to play this game I would like to try playing it on a 3D modeling-based program, such that I could click on the sphere and rotate it to view the various sectors. But maybe it is easier to use two 2D projection maps.
Queens or Castles. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Comment no longer applies due to reconstruction and rewrite of this game.
Shatranj of Troy. A Shatranj variant with Shogi-like drops, a Trojan Horse (with 6 pieces inside),. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have read several comments about Shatranj of Troy and also few e-mails that are not posted as comments. Thank you to all who have commented and e-mailed. I will try to briefly address two issues here. (1)Regarding no Bishops - I wanted to keep original Shatranj pieces - thus the Elephant stayed, as did the Ferz, Knight, Rook, and same pawns (with a promotion difference). Aside from the Trojan Horse, the 2 pieces added seemed logical orthoganal counterparts to the Ferz and Elephant. (2) Trojan Horse, captured with cargo - I think the 'Captured with Cargo' concept is logical and a bit exciting. Somewhat double-edged. I like this as it motivates a player to develop logically and not charge hog wild towards the opponent without paying consequences [should his Trojan Horse be captured]. A player can use the Trojan Horse to place pieces behind his pawns, in front of them, a bit of both. This would constitute a logical opening phase, i.e., initial setup. It would also make a captured Trojan Horse much less valuable to the opponent, i.e., by quickly emptying the cargo. However, a player can neglect piece placement to a desired degree and boldly venture towards the opponent with one, two, (or more)pieces inside the Trojan Horse for a deadly attack. Personally, I think I'd position all of my pieces except 1, and then use the Trojan Horse and that housed-piece as a dangerous attacking weapon. Best regards to all. And thanks again for your feedback. - Gary
Shatranj of Troy
. A Shatranj variant with Shogi-like drops, a Trojan Horse (with 6 pieces inside).[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Hats off to L.L. Smith on his creation of this challenging ZRF. I have play-tested it and am amazed at the variety of tactics the program has employed... the most humorous being what I call a 'marching double-camel mate.' In another game I forced a Rook triple wazir mate... quite fun. When you play you will see the contents of each Trojan Horse, but not any captured pieces. However, simply click on a vacant square and you can see what you can drop there (providing it is legal to drop something). You may want to keep a note of what pieces the ZRF has captured. When a Trojan Horse is captured and dropped, it is easy to tell the original from the dropped horse (important because of the retained cargo). For example, if we see two blue Trojan Horses on the board, the original has a blue T and the captured Horse has a white T. That is a clever idea as you can quickly see which Horse controls which cargo... there is no confusion. I have played about 12 games of this thus far. Play has been dynamic in each case. And each game has been very different from the others. The shortest game, thus far was 9 moves. The longest 40 moves. In closing, well done Larry!
Shatranj of Troy. A Shatranj variant with Shogi-like drops, a Trojan Horse (with 6 pieces inside),. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Charles Gilman wrote that he had an idea for a 'Byzantine array' but with the Knights as Trojan Horses containing pieces NOT in the array. He then wrote, 'Would you be happy with me posting such a variant as long as I credit you for the Trojan Horse?' Answer: I have no problem with others using the Trojan Horse. And if the use of it was inspired by 'Shatranj of Troy,' then a reference to that game and me as author would be much appreciated. Also, note that it was my simpler Trojan Horse (Troy Horse) of 'Catapults of Troy' that led to this more heavy duty horse with a cargo of 6 pieces, instead of 1. I look forward to seeing the Byzantine variant.
I have created a game courier for Shatranj of Troy by editing a Shogi pre-set. It seems that the pre-existing Shogi 'move enforcing code' has remained in tact and thus messes up this game courier;
Any one know what I need to do to fix this? I tried deleting the Shogi code and re-saving... but the code seems to remain. If you click on 'Move Pieces
Yourself' you can't, and instead see code and a syntax error.
The link to the new malfunctioning game courier is as follows: Thanks in advance for your help in getting this to work. Sincerely, Gary
Thank you very much Antoine, for fixing the bug(s) in the pre-set. I just tested the 'move feature' and it is indeed working. I realize that it does not enforce rules; but I am happy and thankful that moves can be made and that the positions and captured pieces can be kept track of. Once again, thank you very much for fixing the problem. Best regards, Gary
Queens or Castles. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Three items of news for Queens or Castles: 1) Least important: On the Rules Page I placed a 3D computer graphic (that I made) showing how I think a real 3D Diplomat piece would look (based on the related Diplomat Alfaerie Graphic). 2) I made a preset for this game. See following link. Graphics in the preset do not match those in the rules 100% as I did not see a link to the miscellaneous piece set that included the Jester and Diplomat. But the substitutes are easy to understand. Rules are not enforced by the pre-set. http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DQueens+or+Castles+%3F%26settings%3DQueensCasltes 3) I've tested the most recent L.L. Smith ZRF (Beta version) of this game (not yet released). L. L. Smith has done a great job in getting some tricky functionality to work properly ... I am aware of some of the behind the scenes tinkering with code, and Larry is certainly an impressive and respectable coder. Hopefully we will see the final ZRF in the very near future.
Odin's Rune Chess. A game inspired by Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity, runes, and Nordic Mythology. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have just completed a non-enforcing pre-set for Odin's Rune Chess. It can be reached via the following link. The pieces retain the correct orientation for black and white when the board flips. This is important because the pawns move in their depicted vector pattern. http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DOdin%27s+Rune+Chess%26settings%3Dodin-runes
Queens or Castles. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Michael: I am glad you are satisfied with the 3D Diplomat. I have just added your name in the graphic intro since you created the Alfaerie Diplomat image. I also added your name in the crediting notes. I think the Diplomat piece image you created is a very nice graphic. Simple,yet highly symbolic, and relatively unique. It is a great piece. Now, if I could only get it into the Queens or Castles game Courier pre-set.
Transmitter Chess. Drone pieces have no movement until activated by one of three friendly Transmitters. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Christine Bagley-Jones correctly pointed out that I neglected to state what rank pawns promote in. They are to promote in the last rank in this game. I will add that information at this time and give you credit for pointing out the oversight. Thank you for that and your overall comment.
Yes, J Andrew Lipscomb is correct. Wazir King movement should be, and now is a part of Action 'C' as was intended, but left out as an oversight on my part. I have given Mr. Lipscomb credit in the rule notes, in the form of a special thanks for finding the omission.
I have just created a game courier pre-set (non rule enforcing) for Transmitter Chess at this link: http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DTransmitter+Chess%26settings%3DTransmitter Although I did not find an existing set of pieces to 100 percent match those in the rules, the ones used are still easy to identify.
(zzo38) A. Black stated 'Good game, but I think even blank Drones should be able to move, maybe like pawns but cannot promote.' I appreciate the comment ; and if desired two players could agree to play that way using the pre-set. But I do not like the idea of a double-pawn fence that would result from having Drones with pawn movement at the initial setup (as it currently stands). I personally like the idea of mindless, remote controlled blocks that need an initial radio transmission to trigger their movement, and can change with additional transmission commands. I also like the idea that when a transmitter is captured, the Drones [with its image] shutdown and require another trigger. As it stands now, with moveless 'block' drones, there is real incentive to use transmitters to the utmost and take down your opponent's transmitters.
Case Western Reserve University Medieval Society Games Page. Case Western Reserve University Medieval Society Games Page.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Case Western Reserve link offers much historical data regarding chess, e.g., there is a great deal about pieces used in Shatranj. On a related note: I had felt bad about using a Camel image instead of a War Engine (or War Machine Image) in my Shatranj of Troy, But, I just checked this wonderful site and was delighted to learn that the 'Jamal' (not a typo) was first introduced with the first variation of Shatranj Kamil (bout 1000 years old variant). The Jamal (Camel) moves exactly as I happened to depict in Shatranj of Troy. So, it seems that by coincidence the Camel image I chose is quite appropriate.
Shatranj of Troy. A Shatranj variant with Shogi-like drops, a Trojan Horse (with 6 pieces inside),. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]In regard to the Shatranj of Troy Camel: From the Case Western Reserve Historical Chess link I found that the 'Jamal' (not a typo) was first introduced with the first variation of Shatranj Kamil (this is supposedly a variant about 1000 years old). The old Jamal (Camel) moves exactly as I happened to depict it in Shatranj of Troy. So, it seems that by coincidence the Camel image I chose is quite appropriate.
Balbo's Chess. Odd-shaped board, bishops as powerful as knights.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game seems like fun and is a bit different. I did not see a game courier for this game but believe it highly deserves one, so I made one. It does not enforce rules. It can be found at the following link. http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DBalbo%27s+Chess%26settings%3Dbalboa
Shatranj Darwinian. Missing description (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Should anyone want to play Shatranj Darwinian I have created a non-rule enforcing Game Courier Pre-Set at the following link. I had to substitute a piece image for the Nymph-Horse. Overall, the existing set-images work well and do not justify creating a new one. http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DShatranj+Darwinian%26settings%3DShatranjD
Bario Shogi. A shogi game with pieces that can be change typed. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think the rules need expanded to include diagrams and some examples as to what is going on. I like Shogi and Bario; but these instructions to combine the two are very confusing to me. A short sample game, or short set of opening moves plus an end-game diagram would be a great help. Also, in English, what does Kara happen to mean? Just curious, thanks.
Color Square Shogi. Shogi with color squares you place at beginning of game. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I didn't get the big picture the first time I read the rules, but now I do and this game has tremendous opening variety. I think the game would be more challenging if players placed 'both a piece and a color' during their turn. This would allow players to try to weaken color-bound pieces, or strengthen their own color-bounds. Also, with 40 dark squares and 41 white squares, we have a light-dark balance. I think the game would be much more dynamic if there were only 17 dark squares per-side (or some other value below 20). Or perhaps each player gets 15 dark squares and 5 orange squares (orange being a square which no piece can come to rest upon). This could introduce a very dynamic imbalance factor. The use of Fischer Random Setups for colors and/or pieces is a possibility (as someone else commented). Also, the use of a setup shield (like in the 3M Game of Fuedal (to allow each side to set up secretly) would be an interesting aspect. Any way, I think this game has lots of potential.
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