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Comments by GeorgeDuke
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Right, that paragraph could be improved, let's see. That was written in late 1996, when copyright mailed in USA, and not revised for the CVP 2000 article. If one King and Falcon stand on own back rank, and other King at its bank rank, with no other pieces on board, no checkmate is possible with good play. So, the situation is like K + 2N. You must be talking about a set-up position after a capture, that I will check later whether it works, and so sometimes(rarely) K+F beats lone K. (Therefore, your 'NOT') If *NOT* belongs because of that, the sentence would be best omitted so not to stretch a comparison. Let us check, thanks, David. All the [additions] after that one are more precise, except maybe *slim*: the other piece could be Rook one supposes. /// Second topic: At the first of two games played with Antoine Fourriere around April 2006, when I was not Commenting here, the official Rule, being in transition, in fact, became promotion to RNBF only. Earlier games with RLavieri et al. we had Queen promotion. Now it stays as no Queen Promotion on 8x10(and 10x10). So, hopefully rule-enforcement can be changed. Likewise, individuals can agree to allow it in a case, and we do not mind. As officially as it can yet be, free castling requires King 2+ and promotion to RNBF and array RNFBQKBFNR. That's it for any ambiguity. The last of the three is the one most likely still to change, if there were a consensus for some alternative, but hopefully we are near the (more or less) final Set of Rules. (If by mutual agreement other array is used now in GCTournament, that's fine, as I read such options being taken for other selections played)
That's right. For example, if King must capture at a8(a Queen or Rook) and King is at c7 and Falcon can move to d6, Checkmate. We did not think of that properly yet. Thanks. So, since there are no such cases in OrthoChess with two Knights, the original sentence is wrong. And David Paulowich's revision is correct with *not*-- becoming different sentence that still can remain to distinguish Falcon's keeping slight value edge over those others(B or 2N) in (remotely-)possible end game. Thanks for pointing out couple of necessary revisions.
'This game has been independently invented several times.'--page 1, David Pritchard's ECV 1994. A new dimension of Proliferation is the doctrine of re-inventing the wheel of JJoyce. He has enunciated his doctrine for a year and welcome him to explain it here. It says that proponents of proliferation may re-create as their own prior-existing forms. Thus, 'prolificists' are not liable for finding relevant prior art. The doctrine has precedent in earlier CV 're-inventions'. Fischer Random Chess(1990's) is nothing but a revival of Baseline Chess and Randomized Ch., types around since early 19th C. FRC is the 10th or 20th reincarnation otherwise including Free Ch. and Permutation Ch. also. Another example, Chessgi, named by Ralph Betza, actually dates to year 1827. Peter Aronson says that he found Jumping Chess, or close types to it, have appeared frequently not much different. The Page 1 (no less) reference above of ECV is about Absorption Chess, under letter A, an immediate theme running through 1994 ECV. Prolificists now loosen standards further to avoid study of others' work and go on with their cranking out endless initial arrays. Several attempts met with resistance to look at 'Proliferation' in years 2004-2005. Re-inventions are just one part of it: the pointless so-called designing of starting set-ups one after another ad infinitum.
Falcon Chess 100. Falcon Chess played on an expanded board of a 100 squares with special Pawn rules. (12x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]To DPaulowich's question, FC100 will always have promotion to Queen in its further Promotion Zone 1. That extra step or two of Pawn to Promotion Area 1 square entitles the alternative to Queen(or F or N). Zone 2 is to only RNBF.
Thanks, are there war games at all in this page since your next but last Comment mentions war games? Chess-Battle would not be a war game as well as a Chess game? Just asking for simple clarification. I went to a gamers' convention a few years ago that was mostly war games, so I sort of understand and have an opinion whether there can be a hybrid Chess-Wargame. I notice prolificists tend to review their own productions and not Comment, analyze or rate others' much. Don't get me wrong, I like to listen myself; but others especially relative newcomers might want your expert perspective on other material. How do you like Chess-Battle? Or would you consider that a trick question to evade? Just a quick look-see and Comment on Chess-Battle, an old Russian game none of us have a stake in, might find some common ground. Thanks and will be getting to your CVs, you know, with so much material I have not finished appraising one single JJoyce CV yet. We do not have to stay strictly on topic, 'Proliferation(and the senselessness of it: a guide for new readers)', but agree with JJoyce, since it's a debate, to be systematic, after this Comment.
Falcon Chess. Game on an 8x10 board with a new piece: The Falcon. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Touche. So, it is more complicated, as there are thus more cases where K+F can force mate. Also it has not been determined whether even two Falcons can always can force mate, but I think it is so many moves they are not a resign position. These have not been studied in detail yet.
Are many of the following points true? Hard to tell. (1)Prolificists(15+CVs), when they rate others' CVs do not evaluate, and when they evaluate do not rate. (2)Prolificists are almost exclusively from USA and UK (recurrently in objective, scientific worldwide opinion polls the two 'overseer', or aggressor, nations) (3)Prolificists' own game write-ups are longer than average the more space for interesting annotations. (4)Despite their engagement in the field, Prolificists have less knowledge of Chess history and CV precedent, for the time they put into it, than Inventors who claim 1 or 2 CV novelties. (Example: Historical expert John Ayer has no own Inventions) (5)Prolificists actually play their own games less than average. (6)Prolificists' Rules write-ups tend to fall at extreme either very complete or very sketchy. (For ex., RBetza either gets carried away in detail or offhandedly describes in one sentence an alternate) (7) Prolificists are nowhere welcome except at Chess Variant Page. (8) Prolificists are especially unwelcome at Xiangqi or Shogi websites, since there is no corresponding obsession of their adherents to toy and tinker their Rules ad infinitum. (Suppose we do it for them)
(9) There is no corresponding addiction either on the part of Scrabble-tm enthusiasts, or Monopoly-tm, or Bridge, or Checkers, or Mahjong, or Diplomacy, or Bowling, Badminton, Baseball. (10) Take the last one, Baseball. What aficionados would welcome 3000 BVs, Baseball Variants? In combination, 100 feet(bases), 10 innings, 10 players, 10 hours(games), 10 seconds(pitch), 1.0 kilo(bat). (instead of 90 feet, 9 innings, 9 players etc.) A variant 'double run' scored might take, let's see, running from home to second then to first to third to home. 2 runs(points) not 1! Hey Ralph Betza, viva free expression.
Switching Chess. In addition to normal moves, switch with an adjacent friendly piece. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'stuv' Switching Chess had 15 Comments in 2004, all favourable, and none for almost two years now. Not a single move either for a year in GC of Switching Chess, except completion of Jeju-Rodriguez one half year ago. FIDE having the obvious problem of stale, over-analyzed, computer-overwhelmed standard, several of us listed SwCh as in the top 10 for FIDE replacement, if CVPage were ever asked. TQuintanilla became disillusioned because of an earlier related form differing only in not allowing King to switch at all. As pointed out before, Switching is a Mutator that can be applied to virtually any chess form you make up. Still nice easy concept whether considered original with Tony or 3 years before elsewhere.
Vyrémorn Chess. Large variant on two overlapping square boards. (Cells: 132) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'STUV' The Inventor answered my 2004 Comment a year ago, no other Comments intervening--for a 1999 Number 1 Contest Winner! And no Preset to keep Vyremorn fresh. McDonald's design philosophy includes reckoning 'total piece count, number of opening moves, types of moves...to maintain the ratios that exist in traditional chess'. A Pawn in the Field is already promoted just by exiting its native court. No move ever fully transits the field into the opposite Court, but the field can be bypassed. Some similarity in varying degree to divisions, areas and/or blockages within the board structure itself of Gala, Chess with Terrain, Novo Chess, Eight Stone(pieces actually), In the Bin, Conveyor, and Big Outer. Vyremorn and Eight Stone are very playable, and Novo and Gala of great historical importance.
Eurasian Chess. Synthesis of European and Asian forms of Chess. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]One on my short list with Switching is Eurasian, because this is the CV Fergus Duniho himself held highest of his own in the 'replacement' category. The rationale is to keep the three sliders RBQ. Then add Cannon and Canon(Vao here) that are more related to Knight in their screen-capture mode. So, three of one category and three hoppers/jumper for balance. To Westerners, the River here or in Xiangqi itself may indefinitely be a distraction for facile play, but there is always a balanced logic, if not extreme novelty, in a 'Duniho'. It may make sense to keep Eurasian in top 10 for radical reform of FIDE-type. Game Courier same story as with Switching Chess: frequent play of Eurasian through 2004, one game completed almost two years ago, and nothing since.
Swap Chess. A move can consist of a series of pieces swapping places. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'stuv' From 1998 Swap Chess is older than both Switching Chesses. The Swap, in lieu of a move, is along the line of attack of some Piece One, with Pawn's catalyzing its swap one square diagonally. I still think, as in prior Comment, that the better implementation would be one Swap only rather than the serial Swapping described. Same modality found in 'Swapper' piece incorporated into great 2002 Rococo. Besides Switching, similarity to later Delegating Chess of same developer JPNeto. An entire game score, interestingly annotated, is within this write-up.
Vyrémorn Chess. Large variant on two overlapping square boards. (Cells: 132) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Conscientious Nathan McDonald here is world's apart from Daniel Macdonald of pretentious Omega Chess. Whew, nothing overlooked after all. Nice game Vyremorn written and laid out with consideration for the readers.
Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'20b22b' is one CV, specifically Falcon Chess RNBFQKFBNR with selective drop of any captured Falcon changing sides and conventional same-coloured Swap in lieu of a move. 5 Quadrillion 856 Trillion CVs defined plain as day. Rule Number 22: (a) no effect (b) In lieu of move, player may swap any Piece(s)/Pawn along one's line of attack with Pawn having the power along its one-square forward diagonal (c) King prohibited to initiate Swap (d) King dis-allowed to be swapped at either end (e) If Cylinder Rules(RN15) in effect, swap permitted across the sides Cylinder-like (f)Swap allows Cylinder-compability and also across any Warp Points(RN14)by Warp Point rules (g)Medium swaps only up to 4 squares (h) Short swaps only exactly 2 squares pieces so spaced. For ex., '7b15b20b22c' is standard with Falcon singled out for both Cylindrical power and selective drop capability as a move any time after one's having been captured, and also normal Swap(of any piece/pawn except King) as a move. 5,856,000,000,000,000.
Or there are an intermediate category and complication. MWinther groups almost all his CVs together as 'Bifurcation pieces', like 'FC91.5...' does group related forms together, so MWinther's belongs more within not willful 'Proliferation' category but another, call it 'Methodical Multiform', as the sheer number is not the whole point. (All your ? at 'US?' can be removed I think: Aronson, Short, McComb, Betza all US. Interesting list.)
Assassination Chess. On a 10 by 10 board with teleporters and assassins. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'ABC' This is a Chess from year 1998 having a Switch/Swap mechanism recently raised(Switching and Swap Chesses) just when Proliferation itself began to be encouraged. The rest of the rules and piece selections are mediocre on second look(we commented on this 3 years ago). Interesting Teleporter Pawns, whereever they reach, can transpose a same-side piece there and Teleporter itself returns to home row 3(or 8). Three of the five admonishments at the end are about Teleporting, so they are supposedly the key, such as always trying to keep a teleporter spot clear. Really with ten spaces it would not be a problem, so that is just some authors' filler. In all, the central idea might work well with a smaller set of available squares to return. See similarity to AFourriere's Jacks & Witches' Teleporter Squares, the squares being the sole mechanism there without necessary pawns.
The Seeping Switchers. An army for Chess with Different Armies based on pieces that change color when they move.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]About Comments lately at Falcon Hexagonal Chess, here on squares JKnappen uses colour-changing and coulour-switching synonymously, whereas at hexes we recommend preserving a distinction for whether such change is compulsory or not(See Comments there where the key difference is 3 bindings). RBetza has an earlier couple paragraphs on colour-switching, but as Knappen says at end: 'Colour-switching seems to be rare, much more rare than colour-bound ones. Besides the Knight, there is the Wazir of course.' When CGilman brought it up, we thought of Zebra and Knight right away. This Seeping Switchers develops some more such pieces colour-switching. There could be countless number of them in the imagination, but really only Knight is important other than in 'ChessVariantese' lingo. This lineup is for Betza's Chess Unequal Armies. JKnappen's is always high quality work and does not over-advertise itself, as is ever the temptation when technically falling near the 'Prolificist' category. Having 10 and approaching 15+ CVs tend to put one too in the Entitlement category ever to self-promote(Actually it may be possible to make 20 bad games, verdad?). Not so Knappen who lets the work speak for itself all the best quality. Article 'Nachmahr' is excellent summary of the major elements in probably his best concept of all, multiple Knight continuations.
Confusion Chess 1b. Every piece is replaced by something roughly equivalent that moves strangely. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Ralph Betza's TwiKnight Doubleheader(Rhino) is invented here for Confusion Chess in 1996, usually called Rhino later. It is not colour-switching, but comes to mind when you think about colour-changing. Its 'quasi-mirror' is the KnightTwi, Mirror Rhino, in the same article. Actually, they are both nothing but non-colourbound, like the Rook. We use the Rhino in the series of 20 Immobilized initial arrays under special topic 'Game Design' in 2007, because its being long-range, an opposite-side piece close to King moved may open pathway to distant Rhino, being illegal. Those locked positions are much harder to design than the popular overworked conventional making of standard arrays prolifically, but we need to do one with the counterpart Mirror Rhino. The DoubleRhino, or Bronx, Ralph describes herein combines both and so is two-path[to some of its squares] in the multipath classification. This RBetza article was never commented for 11 years.
Complete Permutation Chess. Game with all possible combinations of Falcon, Rook, Bishop and Knight on the back row. (16x8, Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Complete Permutation Chess was made 4 years ago and a GC Preset added this month. Thanks to PAronson for the fine concept of a Carrera-Capablanca extension. The whole point of 8x16 Chess is to apply all possible combinations of the 4 fundamental pieces. There is a common misconception. Rook one-step(Wazir) and Bishop one-step(Ferz) suggest their indefinite continuations and so are not fundamental, and actually they should be characterized as 'fractional' pieces instead. Rook and Bishop themselves are the fundamental line pieces of course. No one would be interested in a design keying off four 'elements' 'Ferz', Rook, Falcon, Knight. Nor in 'Wazir', Bishop, Falcon, Knight. Knight is ever more the only true leaper because it has no 'obvious' pathway(s): are they 2 steps compounded of Ferz and Wazir, or the other two of Rook 'fractions' alone; or all 4 of those? Mathematically to be developed in Game Design thread, Falcon is the first among equals, because the other three RNB derive logically from previously-hidden Falcon by itself, and not vice versa. So, it is unique that way. No Car-Cap extensions work with RNB and Camel, a colourbound leaper imitative of Knight. Nor with RNB and Zebra, a coulour-changing leaper imitative of Knight. Nor with RNB and anything else except (exemplified in that RNB's very deriving from the 'Falcon template') this 3-step 3-path primoridial-piece precedent.
Battle Chieftain Chess. Warriors and a king fight on a board with walls and holes. (10x11, Cells: 84) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Here is a CV with but one piece-type like Checkers or Go. There are other CVs with only 2 or only 3 piece-type you could easily name. Commented for its first 2 years, BC has been left alone for 3 1/2 years til now. The immediately-preceding Comment made a Design Analysis of BC, as other DAs were done for about 50 CVs. Full Design Analyses take much longer than a plain Comment, and that experiment suffers anyway with usually only rough estimates for piece values to determine other criteria, including Power Density, Exchange Gradient, Game Length(expected average), the latter by mathematical formula. We assume Craig Daniel is no relation to Charles Daniel, who this week published 'Flying Bombers'. Battle Chieftain has interesting variant boards by way of the obligatory multiplying of its possibilities.
A Visit to Nemoroth. Ralph visits Nemoroth in a dream, and reports a game by its greatest champion.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Incredibly Nemoroth has not been Commented for 5 years. It was so popular in year 2002 that there were requests to rerun it on Halloween. The one Comment immediately here gives a full game score of Nemoroth. It is not so easy to find, or re-create, the move of the Basilisk and the Ghast and the Mummy, and this is the only information page on them, but they are all described or implicit within, or we can consult John Lawson. RBetza' tale also leads into full game score, and over-all he is always the most conscientious in doing so, including full or partial games by moves in up to half his write-ups 1996-2003.
Coherent Chess. Variant on 9 by 9 board with special knights. (9x9, Cells: 81) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]9x9 being unusual size, Mexican Carlos Cetina in this 1997 invention Coherent Chess probably emulated Puerto Rican(USA) Gabriel Maura's Modern Chess. Posted in CVPage in 1996, 9x9 Modern Chess was played internationally to some extent around the Caribbean in 1970's. There were only hundreds of CVPage posts then, and Cetina must have noticed Maura's. In turn, Maura himself likely was aware of North American Ben Foster's Chancellor Chess 9x9 also, as the main difference is switching from Marshall(RN) to Cardinal(BN) and going to same-coloured Bishop pair from Foster's off-center array. They are 'normalized' in Coherent Chess array with Bishops standing back to back centrally. The real novelty is first use of Sissa, later featured in Sissa Chess. Interesting Sissa is multi-path, two-path to Nightrider squares, and four-path to Rook squares. None of the pathways follow the typical Nightrider or Rook pathways. 'The [Sissas] gain more power when the board gets empty'. That remark precedes full game score taking up most of the essay. In 1990's and 2000, even when an article was not completely polished (including RBetza's usual one a week), there were always a newly-invented piece or clearly unique mechanism. None of today's perpetual 'new combination of elements' only and then the more vociferous the more attention.
Wand Chess. Pieces have a magic wand, that gives random outcomes.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is a series of mutators that apply to almost any other set of rules, and we shall use some in '91.5 Trillion...' for one place. Ralph Betza: 'Instead of a normal move, a piece may zap its wand at any neighboring square or itself'. A random number generator(coins, dice) determines which wand is in effect of twelve. 'Twelve' work for dice perfectly, the first shows which of 1-6 or 7-12, and so the chances being equal, the second specifies the exact number. The adjacent target square named, the 12 Wands(effects) may be 1)Teleport the piece there to square of choice 2)Death(capture) 3)Sleep 4)Stoning 5)Sloth 6)Polymorph 7)Demotion 8)Peace 9)Sickness 10)Speed 11)Protection 12)Healing. In a further toss of dice, there is a 1/3 chance of a misfire, meaning no effect and a wasted turn. Once a piece has its wand, it is stuck with it for the game. If a piece has a Speed Wand(10), one of the few favourable, the player probably applies it to itself, in order to move twice, or a different fast piece move once. This one 1996 Betza article is more packed than some entire month's of 'What's New' after 2003. Roberto Lavieri likely got the idea for Reducer(which causes adjacent pieces to be able to move one square only) of Altair, Achernar etc. from these Betza mutators, and there are similarities in other CVs that must have also drawn inspiration here without commenting. Betza recommends an alternative Wand of Invisibility.
Ninety-one and a Half Trillion Falcon Chess Variants. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Easy as pie. or Pi. or Pi to 23 places, 3.14159265358979323846264... Rule Number 23(after RBetza's Wand one): a- no effect b- Queen has power, in lieu of a move, to teleport an adjacent piece to any empty square c- Falcon only has such capability d- Knight only has the power at option e- Q,F, and N may so teleport only an enemy piece f- King alone may so teleport any enemy piece within two squares g- Just Pawn may teleport any adjacent enemy piece to vacant square behind that Pawn's position any rank h- Pawn alone may teleport any adjacent friendly piece forwardly to any empty square of any rank. Resulting in 46 Quadrillion Eight Hundred Forty-Eight Trillion CVs. 46,848,000,000,000,000. For example, one as perfectly playable as any typical post-up is '2d7g21d23h'. 2d7g21d23h represents precisely Chess with Falcons starting 8x10 as RNFBQKBFNR with free castling, Berolina Pawns and said Pawns alone able to teleport any adjacent friendly piece forwardly to any available empty square in lieu of ordinary move.
Gridlock Chapter 2. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Freedom Pawn General has a working cannon introduced here as a future Power Piece. Lil Medusa Pawn suspends anything's field of influence just by checking. Gridlock Rebuilt first portal is just one of the levels. Just as the Queens Guard III moves three spaces any direction, all 'the Queen guards are limited range queens' and capable of using the Footstools. 'All Gridlock pieces are surrounded by an invisible cubicle space'. The Class B Colony Rook is a tree with branches and leaves that occupy those pesky sublevel squares that hang out in Gridlock Space.
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