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For any questions, contact jeffkubach@yahoo.com or post here.

A puzzle: Black to move and save the game for a forced draw:

Rules have been updated to include revised abilities on the sentry piece.  It will add a more unique feel to the game than the original sentry (which was too ineffective in closed positions- even moreso than a bishop).

This game looks interesting. It would be good if it had a Game Courier preset.

erik I'll look into creating one.  I'm admittedly not too familiar with Game Courier.  At the moment, for online playing I've been using a "sandbox" environment without rule enforcement.  I'd be happy to work something out so we can play a game (or if necessary, even using a video stream of the board, with moves entered in the chat box or something).  If you find anyone on your end interested in playing over the board, I'd love to know how the game went (try to record it!)

New fairness-based rule to the Randomized version of this game: in the opening setup, the sentry must reside on the c, d, e, or f files.

A quick puzzle based on this variant, with Black's pawns moving up the board - playing from the bottom (using abstract pieces as this is from Tabletopia) 

Anyone insterested in playing a game, we can arrange a time/date to play live online.

Nice!

Ben, if you liked the sentry example, here's another one, a bit trickier. White to move and mate in 5:

Spoiler(?) (should we consider adding a spoiler tag plugin for CKEditor?):

Qxc5+, ke6 // in check both from queen and sentry->lancer
Qd5+, ke7
Qxf7+, kd6 // again doubly checked
Ld2=n+, kc6
S-c6Kd6# // checked by Lancer, no piece to interject; cannot move back to Sentry's square, and Queen and Pawns cover last escape squares.

You’re asking the admin team for Spoiler text as a feature?  Or did you want me to simply post the sequence for now?

I've put (what I think is) the solution in my last comment, but as an html comment.  You can see it by viewing the page's source code (ctrl+u on most browsers; then ctrl+f to search for "spoiler" should get you there quickly).  I was suggesting/asking whether we (the editors) should pursue adding a spoiler-hiding method and, probably, a button in CKEditor to insert such a spoiler to the site.

A common work-around for spoilers is to print them as white text on a white background. Selecting it then usually makes it visible. This editor doesn't seem to have a button for selection of the font color, though. But of course this could be done through HTML tags. Like below:

This sentence is printed in white.

Thanks H.G., I've changed my older comment to use the inline-style whiteout.

Nice one Ben, exactly right.  In addition:

Pushing the King to d5 also works, but my original idea- just like your line of thinking, was "return to the square it just left" like in my checkmate example in the Pieces section. Even though it can do a lot, I'm pretty sure the sentry is still just a bit weaker than a bishop (and that's how I wanted it), for example if the sentry were a pinned piece here, it can't perform the final mate move, while a bishop already has it mated. Advantages and disadvantages is what I was going for.

This page is missing an image. This turned up in the error log:

[15-Feb-2023 14:22:50 UTC] 404: https://www.chessvariants.com/membergraphics/MS8-piece-chess/Setup with inexpensive materials.jpg
[15-Feb-2023 14:22:50 UTC] Referred by https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/8-piece-chess

I looked for the image in question but didn't find it. I assume it has to be uploaded.

Here's a photo of a possible way to set up for 8-Piece Chess with some Musketeer Chess pieces. Affiliate links for buying these pieces are provided on the Musketeer Chess variant kits page. This setup uses pieces from three different kits, each visible behind the black pieces. For the Jailer, it uses the Spider from the Spider & Dragon (or Amazon) kit. For the Lancer, it uses the Unicorn from the Fortress & Unicorn set, whose horn can be set to point in different directions. For the Sentry, it uses the Archibishop from the Chancellor & Archbishop set. In case you want to save money by buying only two kits, some alternative pieces are shown along the side. If you use the Fortress from the Fortress & Unicorn kit for the Jailer, you could leave out the Spider & Dragon kit. Alternately, if you use the Amazon (or Dragon) from the Spider & Dragon (or Amazon) kit for the Sentry, you could leave out the Chancellor & Archbishop kit. I favor the Archbishop for this piece because it's shorter.