Comments by ChessShogi

@Fergus

I have updated set files for the Seireigi graphics. Unless I made a mistake in the sets, this should be the final update, as Dai Seireigi is no longer in flux (though it still needs updated, which I will take care of soon).

https://www.chessvariants.com/membergraphics/MSchuseireigi/seireigi-set-files-final.zip

@Fergus

It seems I made a slight mistake in my Seireigi set files. Here is the corrected version.

https://www.chessvariants.com/membergraphics/MSchuseireigi/seireigi-set-files-final-corrected.zip

The simple Bear icon works just as well in my opinion, but that Strong Bear icon is a perfect alternative. As for the Wizard Stork, we could just use the Ibis icon combined with a Wizard icon. Ibises and storks are closely related.

However, for now I am focused on making an up-to-date version of this game's the GC preset. Updating graphics is easy. Not so for GC Presets with full rule enforcement and display of legal moves.

@Fergus,

When finalizing Dai Seireigi, I renamed one of the pieces and changed its ID to match. Here are the updated set files that reflect this change.

https://www.chessvariants.com/membergraphics/MSchuseireigi/seireigi-set-files-final-corrected-final.zip

The original Unashogi is quite interesting, but has a fatal flaw. Because King drops are unrestricted, impasses are easily attained by dropping the King into the promotion zone, making draws very common, as most pieces have a forward bias to them making a King on the far side of the board very difficult to mate, especially if surrounded by friendly pieces.

I thought up with variant of Unashogi, called Unashogi II in this comment, which is the has the same rules as standard Shogi plus the following additional rules.

• The board is initially empty and the players start with the usual 
• A piece cannot capture or move into the promotion zone in any way unless the friendly King is on the board.
• If the friendly King is in the hand, Pawns and Lances cannot be dropped on the last four ranks, and Knights cannot be dropped on the last five ranks.
  • This is a corollary of the restriction against dropping where you cannot move.
• The King can only be dropped on the first three ranks.

Edit: This solves the problem of impasses, but allows for easy checkmates if the first player drops his King early.

@Fergus,

Since the last update to the Seireigi set files didn't seem to go through, here is the same .zip file with a new name.

For best results, refresh your browser cache before downloading.

https://www.chessvariants.com/membergraphics/MSchuseireigi/seireigi-set-files-final-correction.zip

Also, something has gone seriously wrong with Game Courier. The GAME Code works fine, but for some reason whenever I pull up certain presets, that preset doesn't display the board properly on the preset pages. The main ones I see this problem on are the ones with Shogi-style hands. Here are some examples:

Shogi

Seireigi

Kamikaze Mortal Shogi

Pocket+Shogi+Copper

I think A. M. DeWitt and Bn Em would make suitable editors if they're willing.

Hmm...this is an unexpected turn of events. I take it that this implies that you are offering Bn Em and I a position as members of the editorial staff.

A part of me wonders if I am the right person for the job. I suppose the best route is for me to take up the offer and see what happens.

Is there another way to approve a submission other than going directly into the database and updating the IsHidden field for the submission's row in the Item table?

Edit: I answered my own question. Now I feel silly.

The Jocly implementation has two mistakes in it. Please fix these.

1. Player B's Heavenly Horse (promoted Knight) has its jumping moves reversed (the stepping moves are fine).
2. Pieces that get dropped into the promotion zone are able to promote, which shouldn't be possible.

As for the Kanji, the current implementation works fine, but may be a problem if you want to implement the larger Seireigi variants in Jocly as well.

Otherwise, stellar implementation.

This looks good so far, but please ensure that all pieces in the Interactive Diagram are showing.

This looks good.

My only suggestion would be to maybe break up the rules into something resembling a list to make it easier to read.

This is certainly a novel idea. However, I must ask you to clarify what you mean by "jumping over a friendly Pawn in its starting position."

Does this mean jumping over the Pawn like a Checker would an enemy Cherker (land on square immediately on the other side of a checker)? Or does this mean something else? How does this change if the condition that the Pawn must be on its starting square is removed?

In the second house rule about the special move for the Knight, is this bound to the same restrictions as the special moves for the other pieces? If so, then the Knight would never be able to jump horizontally, as it starts behind all the Pawns.

Also, if a Pawn jumps over another friendly piece on its first move, how does that affect en passant captures?

This is certainly an intriguing idea.

I think this page would benefit greatly from an Interactive Diagram.

Also, are there any other differences in the rules of the game? If so, you should put those in the Rules section. Otherwise, I'd say in the Rules section that the rules are the same as in Chess except where contradicted.

This looks good, aside from the lack of a Diagram in the Setup section. However, I must ask about this line in the promotion rule.

Promotion is mandatory upon reaching the furtherst row.

Does this apply to all pieces, or just the Pawns? If the former, it seems a bit random to me. Also, does this apply if the move starts on the back row?

Thank you.

I was thinking about porting your Jocly implementation of Seireigi over to this site. I looked at your site's Jocly files and saw a bunch of files beginning with "seireigi-shogi" in the directory "https://biscandine.fr/variantes/shogi/dist/browser/games/chessbase/". Are these the only files that I need if I want to port the implementation, or is there something else that I am missing?

Edit: I have added a link to the implementation on your site for now.

This is almost good enough to be approved.

I would recommend having an image showing the Pawn move, which would help explain the difference compared to standard Chess.

Also, if the left horizontal double step is allowed, then it may be wise to adopt the rule from Glinski's hexagonal chess, which allows Pawns that end up on the starting square of another Pawn to make a double step from that square, so you don't have to keep track of which Pawn started where.

The Interactive Diagram completely lacks piece images, and so just looks like an empty board to me. Please fix this.

Other than that, this page looks pretty good. Simple, but effective.

Now that I have actually bothered to look at this page due to my newfound job as Editor, I must say, this concept is hilarious.

The page is well-done and I relish the novelty (get it?).

P.S. Unfortunately, it doesn't want to show up on the What's New Page for some reason...