Sam Trenholme wrote on Thu, Jul 12, 2007 07:28 AM UTC:
For Chancellor chess, I like the CRNBQKBNRC opening setup myself. The thing I don't like about 'Univers Chess' setups, like RBNCQKANBR (Univers chess), and the Chancellor setup you propose, is the the bishops face each other in the opening, making it more likely to be early bishop exchanges. This is somewhat offset, however, by the knight being able to block the diagonal in question. But, then again, the natural square for the knight blocks the bishop's primary diagonal, making both pieces harder to develop.
One interesting variant is one where we have one chancellor and two queens. Then the following setups look interesting: RNQBCKBQNR and RQNBCKBNQR, with me preferring the second setup, since the knights are more likely to be used.
Of course, it may make more sense to have, on an 8x10 board, no queen, an Archbishop, and then, from Shogi, have a 'Dragon' (Rook + King) and a Horse (Bishop + King) piece. Here, the archbishop is the most valuable piece, and the power balance on the board may be better. One possible opening setup is RHNBAKBNDR.
One interesting variant is one where we have one chancellor and two queens. Then the following setups look interesting: RNQBCKBQNR and RQNBCKBNQR, with me preferring the second setup, since the knights are more likely to be used.
Of course, it may make more sense to have, on an 8x10 board, no queen, an Archbishop, and then, from Shogi, have a 'Dragon' (Rook + King) and a Horse (Bishop + King) piece. Here, the archbishop is the most valuable piece, and the power balance on the board may be better. One possible opening setup is RHNBAKBNDR.