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I don't think you have to worry about equipment too much. Life is going
virtual, and computers will be able to provide any virtual equipment. Be
it 3d stereo displays or extra Queens.

What s our opinion about Superchess? (The variety as in 'Superchess and
Monarch'.) It seems many of your goals are implemented there. E.g.
promotion only to pieces hold in reserve (i.e. captured or replaced from
the initial setup). It is friendy to introduction of exotic pieces, as the
initial array has much shuffle character (brought about by players picking
replacements for the pieces in the Mad Queen array and symmetrizing
those), so that intrducing something new does not automatically make tons
of opening knowledge go down the drain. Over 50 pieces are already
defined, and people can by mutual agreement decide which of those are
available as replacements and promotion pieces. All the pieces are
available as hardware (high-quality wooden piece sets).