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Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern. Book that describes a variety of chess variants.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Fri, Mar 25, 2005 09:41 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

The first edition contained several errors that I hope were corrected in the second. In Chapter 2, Chaturaji, the starting positions of the green and yellow forces have been transposed. Chapter 11, Grande Acedrex, does not note that a pawn reaching the last rank in the f file is promoted to aanca (gryphon). Chapter 15, Turkish Great Chess Variation 2 (Atranj or Qatranj), omits from the starting array four knights at e3, f3, e8, and f8. In Chapter 21, Korean Chess, he failed to note that a hpo (cannon) may not capture another cannon. In Chapter 22, Japanese Chess (Shogi), the table of starting positions contains three errors: the kaku (bishops) start on b2 and h8, the hisha (rooks) start on h2 and b8, and the next-to-last pawn starts on h7, not h4. Chapter 23, Tsui Shogi, states that captured pieces are returned to play, as in Shogi. In fact they stay dead. The rules are correctly stated on this website (well, tsui shogi, or chu shogi, is off-site). In addition we have found that Chapter 1, Chaturanga, is inauthentic.

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John Ayer wrote on Mon, May 30, 2005 03:22 AM UTC:

Well, I seem to be still participating.  I am 53 (how did that happen?).

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John Ayer wrote on Mon, May 30, 2005 04:13 AM UTC:

Derek, you several times use the word 'intransigent' where I think you
mean 'intrinsic' or 'inherent.'  Please consult a dictionary and see
whether you want to edit your essay.

You make some interesting points, but this is all in the realm of personal
taste.  Games are essentially frivolous, and some people can't be bothered
with a game unless it features imperfect information and is played for a
stake.

Ninth Century Indian Chess. Differs from Shatranj in the setup and the Elephant's move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

📝John Ayer wrote on Thu, Jul 21, 2005 12:54 AM UTC:

I have been asked for the pawn-promotion rule. My only source, al-Adli as quoted by Murray, does not mention promotion. He describes the rules he found in India by comparing them with the rules he knew in Arabia, and as he makes no mention of pawn promotion, I can only guess that it was the same as in shatranj: a pawn reaching the last rank is promoted to firzan.

NOST: kNights Of the Square Table. kNights Of the Square Table.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Sun, Jul 31, 2005 11:55 PM UTC:

I would love to see a file of NOST-algia made available somewhere. I hope there is such a thing.

Viking Chess Set. Game board and pieces in search of rules. (Cells: 37) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Wed, Sep 14, 2005 12:22 AM UTC:

It seems we must go beyond the resources of this website. You might approach www.abstractstrategy.com, the Abstract Strategy Games website; they have recovered the rules for some other obscure games. I am doing some searching of boardgames sites, but have not found it so far.

Grande Acedrex. A large variant from 13th century Europe. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Sat, Sep 17, 2005 03:44 AM UTC:

I have read the translation linked in Eduard Navratil's comment, and it appears that there is no difference between the unicorn's (rhino's) first move and its later ones. It makes a knight's leap, and may rest at that point or continue diagonally away from its square of origin. Otherwise put, it leaps over the first square orthogonally, and from that square moves one or more squares diagonally.

As for the lion, the manuscript usually follows the medieval convention of counting a piece's square of origin in describing its move, so I think we have a leap to the second square orthogonally: what we usually call a dabbabah.

And the king and the aanca are on the wrong files. I wish some qualified editor (which I regrettably am not) would correct these various errors.

Two Large Shatranj Variants. Missing description (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Tue, Oct 4, 2005 02:45 AM UTC:

Looks good, though I haven't gone over it thoroughly. The people of that western land would not know what an elephant was, so that name wouldn't be used.

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John Ayer wrote on Thu, Oct 13, 2005 03:05 AM UTC:

'If I can't track down another OC set, I'm going to consider sawing
apart and gluing up some standard pieces to make variant pieces; given the
low cost of basic club chess sets the only serious investment in doing that
is time.'  Besides, it's fun.  For inspiration I recommend Mr. Bernard
Hempseed's composition at
http://www.chessvariants.org/crafts.dir/fairy-chess-pieces.html .

John Ayer wrote on Tue, Oct 18, 2005 03:12 AM UTC:

For those who would rather buy than build, http://www.superchess.nl/ offers
three groups of wooden expansion pieces for sale.

Shogi. The Japanese form of Chess, in which players get to keep and replay captured pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Sun, Oct 30, 2005 02:26 AM UTC:

That the Japanese chess-king is a jade general rather than a jeweled
general is supported by the wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi and this other website:
http://www.crockford.com/chess/shogi.html .  Murray seems to say that he
depended for his information on nineteenth-century German translations of
a few Japanese documents.  This is rather a shock; it has been 'jeweled
general' to us for so long!

Pacific Chess. Variant on ten by ten board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Fri, Dec 23, 2005 12:50 AM UTC:

With all due respect to John Gollon, I don't see why pawns should be allowed to take a first move that would cross the centerline, and I also don't see any reason for castling when the king can easily drop back into the bottom rank and let his guard protect him.

Thud. Link to variant invented by Trevor Truran in association with Terry Pratchett. (15x15, Cells: 164) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Thu, Feb 9, 2006 05:08 PM UTC:

There is a website devoted to this, linked to the Terry Pratchett website,
at http://www.thudgame.com/ .

ArchCourier Chess. This game is Courier Chess expert Eric Greenwood's modernization of Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Fri, May 5, 2006 11:54 PM UTC:

And very interesting it is! Still, a few thoughts bubble up. A different piece is listed in the Piececlopedia under the name 'Duke,' and the inventor is Eric Greenwood. The piece that combines Man and horse is usually known as a centaur, and I wish we could be a little more consistent. Then, I know, you would have had to find a different initial for the crowned rook, or rook-ferz, also known as a Dragon King.

The knights are at a disadvantage so far from the center, but the duke and squirrel are admirably placed and armed to do the knights' usual duty.

With the guard in front of the king, I personally wouldn't bother with a king's pawn.

Not only is the king probably safer where he is, I don't think castling makes much sense on a board so broad.

Your exposition of your logic is indeed instructive. The notes at Emperor Chess show most of the steps by which I evolved that game into something that I think should be much better; when I have gotten someone to play-test it with me (next month, I hope) I intend to offer that one, too.

John Ayer wrote on Mon, May 8, 2006 03:32 AM UTC:

Eric Greenwood replied to me privately, but has assented to my posting some of his remarks:

As to the Duke name, the piece in Ed Friedlander's Exotic Chess (the Make-your-own game) which has the guard-and-knight move is the Duke, which is why I selected that name. The name of the piece in Renniassance Chess (where the Duke piece comes from that's in the Piececlopedia) which corresponds to the knight-and-guard move is the Page. With pawns also starting with p, you can see why I used the Duke name for the piece. Also, and it's a matter of taste, I don't like the name Centaur--there are too many C-names for 'better' pieces already established.

Interesting point on the knights--but perhaps they can do flank duties from there? It's never been a disadvantage for me. Taking two moves to get centralized allows a more flexible deployment--and since it's not a slam-bang variant, players should be able to find the time to develop them 'properly.'

As far as the g-pawn goes (the pawn on the third rank), there we may just have a difference of style. I wanted it there for the extra protection around the king it affords. Plus, remember, this variant is based on Courier Chess among others, where a pawn is advanced even farther (actually, the rooks' pawns are also advanced to the fourth rank in Courier). I left it on the third rank to give players more choices as to deployment, as well as the king safety factor.

Thus far Eric Greenwood. I had not known of the precedent that he was following in naming the Man+horse, and all of his choices are, of course, perfectly valid. In my favorite variant, Courier Spiel, I found myself using the sage (centaur) to contest the center (with the fool backing it) while the knights do indeed do flank duty. I think this invention looks quite promising.

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John Ayer wrote on Sun, May 28, 2006 03:22 AM UTC:

Years ago, when I corresponded briefly with John Gollon, he sent me some
chapters of _Chess Variations: Then... and Now_, in which he described
Chezz, which I believe was played on the same principles as Chess (the
focus of the game is checkmating the king) but contained no standard chess
pieces, using built-up pieces in place of each standard piece, I think. 
The chapters he showed me contained the greatknight, the superknight, the
ultraknight, the masterknight; the greatqueen, the superqueen... and that
was as far as he had written.  Does anyone know any more about this?

Jetan. Martian Chess, coming from the book The Chessmen of Mars. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Mon, Jul 24, 2006 03:12 AM UTC:

The appendix to _The Chessmen of Mars_ says, 'The game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and twenty orange by his opponent, and is presumed to have originally represented a battle between the Black race of the south and the Yellow race of the north. On Mars the board is usually arranged so that the Black pieces are played from the south and the Orange from the north.'

So what's YOUR favorite?. Yeah, we've got a list of recognized variants. But what games are YOUR personal favorites?[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Fri, Oct 6, 2006 11:44 PM UTC:

My favorite is Courier Spiel. The reason is very simple: the game is great fun to play. It does have a number of interesting symmetries.

Rules of Chess FAQ. Frequently asked chess questions.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Thu, Oct 26, 2006 02:36 AM UTC:

It stays where the pawn reached the promotion-rank. That is, it stays until your next turn, at least.

Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Sun, Oct 29, 2006 02:54 AM UTC:

Harry, you seem to be asking whether the capture is obligatory. It is not.

Jedi Chess. Maharajah and the Sepoys modified with a Star Wars theme. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Ayer wrote on Tue, Nov 14, 2006 02:32 AM UTC:

This looks like fun... BUT: Rule 4 says, 'The goal for the Jedi is to eliminate checkmate the Sith Master.' Should I delete 'eliminate' and go with the result?

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John Ayer wrote on Fri, Feb 9, 2007 03:46 PM UTC:

Chess Empire is a new commercial four-player variant with extra rooks and
knights and with a new piece called the spy.  If I buy a set and describe
the rules on this website, can the proprietors sue me out of existence,
claiming that the game is their intellectual property and I have infringed
on their rights?  If not, will they try anyway, to make me a horrible
example?

John Ayer wrote on Sun, Feb 11, 2007 03:51 AM UTC:

I don't know, Mats; I haven't bought a set yet.

Turkish Great Chess VI. Large variant adding an Archbishop and a General (Amazon). (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

📝John Ayer wrote on Fri, Mar 30, 2007 05:21 PM UTC:

Are you asking for an acknowledgment that the symmetry is rotational rather than mirrored? or that there are four singleton pieces in the center rather than two?

Turkish Great Chess II. Gollon's large historical variant. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]