Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

I like very much short-ranges games, even with not very strong pieces, and this game falls into this category. Here the piece set (only of max 2-square range) is logical and works well, and the presence of 4 Kings, of which one must be checkmated (with the consequence of a unstoppable fork on several Kings being a checkmate), is here to help the outcome of the game. However, even with the 4 Kings, the game seems to take a very long time to finish; the two games in this website that had been led to a conclusion took 85 and (for the game that ended with checkmate) more than 110 turns, which seems too much for a game of that type. And I am a little bit sceptical concerning the mating potential: when most pieces have been exchanged, the four Kings can more easily prevent the Pawns to promote.

One solution would have been stronger 2-square range pieces, in a game closer to a short-range version of Sac Chess, with a KNAD being the strongest piece (or at least Centaurs, or KADs). The presence of the KNAD, able to force checkmate without assistance, would obviously make the game faster and more decisive, but in the same time maybe less balanced and tactically interesting. (In Metamachy, the power of the KNAD/Lion is well balanced by powerful long-range pieces.) And I wouldn’t suggest a change in the piece set of this game; it works well as it is, and a like it.

Another idea is making a game with 2 moves per turn. With the same pieces and victory condition, not only this would make the game shorter, but also the attacks more dangerous and less easy to counter (and the possibility of double check with two pieces). This solution seems to me more interesting, while keeping the character and the concept of the game, than to have stronger pieces.

Thanks for the rating, erik. One thing editor Joe Joyce told me long ago is that Shatranj-like games are typically not short in terms of number of moves, so I didn't feel too unhappy that this CV is typically going to result in long games. However, after one game with Joe, he noted this CV may lack 'clarity' in terms of being able to calculate ahead. It's another CV where I invented it mostly by following a set theme, rather than being sure it's a world-beater. As I told Joe, I think the pieces in the setup do have something of a can-of-worms-puzzle aspect to them. :)

@ H.G.:

I'm curious if you think that this CV would be fairly suitable to make a Play-Test Applet generated preset for, given the rules the CV has regarding the 4 kings each side have. That is, if from an interactive diagram that used no special modifications in making it (beyond accommodating no-castling rule for kings), would a generated preset announce checkmate if two or more kings were in check at once, and not all the kings could get out of check on the next move?

This CV has not proven popular on Game Courier so far, so there's probably no rush that I need have to make such a preset, even if it seemed quite easy to do.

No problem; you just have to untick the checkbox 'extinction royalty' in the Play-Test Applet to get absolute royalty instead.

files=10

ranks=10

promoZone=1

promoChoice=NEXAQWM

graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG/

squareSize=50

graphicsType=png

lightShade=#851a1a

darkShade=#404189

coordColor=#385698

rimColor=#871a1a

firstRank=1

borders=0

extinction=0

pawn::ifmnDfmWfceF:pawn:a3,b3,c3,d3,e3,f3,g3,h3,i3,j3,,a8,b8,c8,d8,e8,f8,g8,h8,i8,j8

knight:N:N:knight:b2,i2,,b9,i9

modern elephant:E:FA:elephantferz:c2,h2,,c9,h9

phoenix:X:WA:elephantwazir:c1,h1,,c10,h10

alibaba:A:AD:elephantwarmachine:e1,f1,e2,f2,,e9,f9,e10,f10

kirin:Q:FD:warmachineferz:b1,i1,,b10,i10

woody rook:W:WD:warmachinewazir:a2,j2,,a9,j9

man:M:K:man:d2,g2,,d9,g9

king:K:K:king:a1,d1,g1,j1,,a10,d10,g10,j10

edit: weird. I viewed the page source for this part of Haru's diagram comment, copied the part (i.e. between div statements) and pasted it into the Play-Test Applet - at that point it did not generate a diagram properly. So, I next posted the same part of Haru's diagram in a Comment of mine (this one), after I had added line spaces at first, while deciding what to do. Next, I pasted the same part (to here), but without the line spaces, THEN tried copying and pasting it to the Applet from this Comment of mine (here) that I abandoned while it was still 'being edited'. Only then did the Applet properly generate the diagram. I had been prepared to make the diagram from scratch myself using the Applet, but then I saw Haru's diagram and knew I should be able to do it even more easily. Thanks Haru. I may soon try to make a rules enforcing preset using such a generated diagram by pasting from a CVP Comment (such as from the one here), now.

Note to Fergus:

I edited my PBM preset page for this CV a few moments ago, but no notification appeared as a comment, if you were expecting such (as I was).

The author, Kevin Pacey, has updated this page.

Indeed, it is very annoying that one cannot copy-paste directly from page source to the PTA. It seems some invisible stuff is put together with the selected Diagram description onto the clipboard, when you copy from a page source page, on which the PTA then chokes. So far I have not been able to figure out what it was, because attempts to print the offending stuff apparently left it invisible. Next week I will make it print what was pasted as a list of hexadecimal ascii codes, that should reveal what was hidden in it, and then I can add code to automatically remove it. That should restore the ability to copy directly.

There is a notification immediately above your comment.

@ Fergus:

No, I mean there was no notification for my modifying the PBM preset launching page (little green box icon in upper left hand corner).

There was indeed a notification for my modifying the Rules page (little blue box icon in upper left hand corner).

I have been thinking about "Shatranj Style" variants where Pawns promote to Rooks (and only Rooks). Perhaps the endgames would be more decisive. Personally, I have no objection to promotion to a "brand new piece" in this game, as I already have the appropriate chess pieces lying around my house.

An interesting feature of this game is that the four White Alibabas in can be traded directly for the Black Alibabas. Even if each Alibaba is replaced by an Alfil, this remains true (a feature of the 10x10 board). This inspires me to try an unusual setup on 64 squares, which I will cover later today in a comment on

Equalized Shatranj.