John Vehre wrote on Wed, Dec 21, 2016 11:36 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I have had a chance to start 4 or 5 games using this variant. I think it is an excellent game and has great potential for further development. Theoretically a game could be played with any piece ever thought up for chess variants and the wide variety of potential pieces reminds me of Navia Drapt, an oriental chess-like game, from a few years ago. One would just have to make up a suitable piece to represent the desired piece. The game is similar to some ways to Seirawan chess, but the resticted deployment of the reserve pieces does add tricks and traps to the openings. For instance I lost this quick little game White Hawk c0, Archbishop g1 Black Hawk f9 Archbishop b9. 1 d4 d5 2 Bg5/Hc1 Nf6 3 Hc3 Nc6/Ab8 4 Hc5 and black already is losing a piece! There is no defense against Hxf8 taking both the bishop and the Hawk deploying behind it. The Jocly.com boards are easy to use although the 3D version is a little touchy and I prefer entering moves on the 2D version.
As far as new additional pieces that might be introduced, I would suggest pieces like the Shogi Horse and Dragon, maybe a King/Man and Knight combo, and a reflecting bishop or Horse, which was an interesting piece from Navia Dratp. I like the chess-like feel and would not necessarily recommend changing the pawns.
I have had a chance to start 4 or 5 games using this variant. I think it is an excellent game and has great potential for further development. Theoretically a game could be played with any piece ever thought up for chess variants and the wide variety of potential pieces reminds me of Navia Drapt, an oriental chess-like game, from a few years ago. One would just have to make up a suitable piece to represent the desired piece. The game is similar to some ways to Seirawan chess, but the resticted deployment of the reserve pieces does add tricks and traps to the openings. For instance I lost this quick little game White Hawk c0, Archbishop g1 Black Hawk f9 Archbishop b9. 1 d4 d5 2 Bg5/Hc1 Nf6 3 Hc3 Nc6/Ab8 4 Hc5 and black already is losing a piece! There is no defense against Hxf8 taking both the bishop and the Hawk deploying behind it. The Jocly.com boards are easy to use although the 3D version is a little touchy and I prefer entering moves on the 2D version.
As far as new additional pieces that might be introduced, I would suggest pieces like the Shogi Horse and Dragon, maybe a King/Man and Knight combo, and a reflecting bishop or Horse, which was an interesting piece from Navia Dratp. I like the chess-like feel and would not necessarily recommend changing the pawns.