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Charles Gilman wrote on Mon, Jun 27, 2011 06:05 AM UTC:

How might one take two FIDE armies and strengthen them in different ways?
Strengthening one player's Rooks to Goldrider might intuitively be matched
by strengthening the other's Bishops to Silverider. Likewise Rook to
Golddragon might be matched by Bishop to Silverdragon. The difference in
the number of moves added would balance replacing a Bishop with an unbound
piece - but would that be balance enough given that one player will still
have two bound pieces and the other only unbound ones? Should the other
player's Bishops be replaced by something even weaker, like a Copperider
in the first instance and a Copperdragon in the second?
	The reason why I ask is because I have had an idea for a themed variant
using Goldddragons and Copperdragons in that manner. Silverdragons would
not be relevant to the theme. I suspect that Copperdragons will be too
weak, but perhaps some partial extension to that player's Knights as well
might balance everything up. I welcome any thought on the matter.

Jeremy Lennert wrote on Mon, Jun 27, 2011 06:58 PM UTC:

Ralph Betza's 'About the Value of Chess Pieces' would be an excellent
place to start:

http://www.chessvariants.org/d.betza/pieceval/index.html

H. G. Muller wrote on Tue, Jun 28, 2011 09:06 AM UTC:

I always use Fairy-Max to evaluate the new pieces. E.g. give white Dragon
Kings in stead of Rooks, and black Dragon Horses in stead of Bishops, and
let it play 1000 bullet games against itself. Then you will have a pretty
good idea whether the Rook or the Bishop benefits more from the
enhancement. And if you repeat the experiment by giving the winning side
Pawn odds, you also know by how much.

Charles Gilman wrote on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 08:42 AM UTC:

Well a few games against myself with just the changes to the pieces do
suggest that the Golddragons have an advantage. However, that's before
adding in a further complication of severe restrictions on crossing between
the two middle ranks.
	Perhaps I should explain more about thet theme. The setting is either side
of the Bristol Channel, the expanse of water into which the Severn estuary
opens. On one side of this is the well-known territory of Wales, whose flag
features a red dragon that could reasonably be represented by Ryu Shogi's
Copperdragon. On the other is the part of England that in the Dark Ages was
Wessex - comprising the counties of Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire,
Somerset, Wight, and Wiltshire. Wessex was one of the many Saxon and
Anglian kingdoms that merged to form the original England. Descriptions of
its flag vary but some accounts credit it with a gold dragon. The suggested
substitution of pieces reflects the predominance of Anglicanism (with
bishops) in England and especially in southern parts such as Wessex, and of
nonconformist churches (Methodist, Baptist, et cetera - without bishops) in
Wales.
	As the Bristol Channel forms a more substantial barrier than a river, I
was planning to have most pieces require a Ferry (as per Ferry Xiang Qi) to
cross it. However, any kind of dragon would be presumed able to fly and
therefore not require a ferry. Perhaps a good way to improve the balance
would be to rule that the Rook can also fly, as its English name also means
a kind of bird and its Japanese name - the language of Ryu Shogi's own
name - of Hisha means Flying Chariot.
	Now all I need is to think of a name for the variant.

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