Kevin Pacey wrote on Mon, Mar 5, 2018 07:54 AM UTC:
Tonight I've thought of a 12x8 variant idea, the setup diagram of which I'll post here for my study at leisure. Aside from the usual 6 chess piece types, there are the champion (from Omega Chess, called WAD in Betza notation) and nightrider types I've added in, in a way that leaves all pawns guarded in the setup. If I submit this idea eventually, which I may dub 'Wide Nightrider Chess', I'm thinking of using the same quirky fast castling rules that I introduced in my earlier 12x8 variant (Wide Chess). That is, the castling rules for Wide Nightrider Chess are as follows: A king that has never moved, and is not in check, can 'leap' once a game, along the first rank, to any unattacked empty square between it and an unmoved rook, followed by said rook 'leaping' to the king's initial square so as to complete castling in one single move. It does not matter if any squares in between are occupied or under attack:
A possible downside of the setup is that after such a 'traditional' opening as 1.g2-g4 g7-g5, White has 2.Bh1-e4 and he is threatening to take on h7 thanks to his kingside nightrider, although Black appears to be 'okay' after defending against this with his kingside champion or knight (e.g. 2...chj8-h6 and if 3.f2-f4 chh6-g6 seems okay, so that if 4.Be4xg6 f7xg6 5.f4xg5 qf8xf1+ 6.Kxf1 then 6...nnk8xh2+). Note, however, if in the setup all the knights were switched with the nightriders on their own wing, the move 1.g2-g4 would just lose the g-pawn to Black's kingside nightrider, given that possible alternate setup.
My tentative estimates for the piece values in Wide Nightrider Chess, on its 12x8 board size, are: P=1; N=3.06(or 3 approx.); B=3.75; CH=3.86(or 3.75 approx.); R=5.5; NN=N+(N-1)x3/4+P(on this fairly large board size)=5.6(or 5.5 approx.); Q=B+R+P=10.25 and a K's fighting value=2.67. [edit: Note a lone CH and K can always force mate against a lone K on a 12x8 board (in 37 moves at most - H.G.).]
[edit: Below is my backup setup, which I'm currently preferring (plus see my next post in this thread); since composing this second setup, I've noticed that on smaller sized boards (8x8, 10x8) in the Nightrider Armies presets, nightrider pieces are frequently consigned to the boards' corner squares or the squares next to them. I'd use my fast castling rules with this backup setup too, since e.g. castling long always in Capablanca Chess castling rules style might very often leave a number of queenside pawns vulnerable:]
[edit: Below are 2 possible setups for 12x10 version variant idea, not named as yet. Pawns would move as in Omega Chess:]
Backup possible 12x10 setup (doesn't seem as good due to nightriders'/rooks' locations' possible early effects on opening phase of a game):
Tonight I've thought of a 12x8 variant idea, the setup diagram of which I'll post here for my study at leisure. Aside from the usual 6 chess piece types, there are the champion (from Omega Chess, called WAD in Betza notation) and nightrider types I've added in, in a way that leaves all pawns guarded in the setup. If I submit this idea eventually, which I may dub 'Wide Nightrider Chess', I'm thinking of using the same quirky fast castling rules that I introduced in my earlier 12x8 variant (Wide Chess). That is, the castling rules for Wide Nightrider Chess are as follows: A king that has never moved, and is not in check, can 'leap' once a game, along the first rank, to any unattacked empty square between it and an unmoved rook, followed by said rook 'leaping' to the king's initial square so as to complete castling in one single move. It does not matter if any squares in between are occupied or under attack:
A possible downside of the setup is that after such a 'traditional' opening as 1.g2-g4 g7-g5, White has 2.Bh1-e4 and he is threatening to take on h7 thanks to his kingside nightrider, although Black appears to be 'okay' after defending against this with his kingside champion or knight (e.g. 2...chj8-h6 and if 3.f2-f4 chh6-g6 seems okay, so that if 4.Be4xg6 f7xg6 5.f4xg5 qf8xf1+ 6.Kxf1 then 6...nnk8xh2+). Note, however, if in the setup all the knights were switched with the nightriders on their own wing, the move 1.g2-g4 would just lose the g-pawn to Black's kingside nightrider, given that possible alternate setup.
My tentative estimates for the piece values in Wide Nightrider Chess, on its 12x8 board size, are: P=1; N=3.06(or 3 approx.); B=3.75; CH=3.86(or 3.75 approx.); R=5.5; NN=N+(N-1)x3/4+P(on this fairly large board size)=5.6(or 5.5 approx.); Q=B+R+P=10.25 and a K's fighting value=2.67. [edit: Note a lone CH and K can always force mate against a lone K on a 12x8 board (in 37 moves at most - H.G.).]
[edit: Below is my backup setup, which I'm currently preferring (plus see my next post in this thread); since composing this second setup, I've noticed that on smaller sized boards (8x8, 10x8) in the Nightrider Armies presets, nightrider pieces are frequently consigned to the boards' corner squares or the squares next to them. I'd use my fast castling rules with this backup setup too, since e.g. castling long always in Capablanca Chess castling rules style might very often leave a number of queenside pawns vulnerable:]
[edit: Below are 2 possible setups for 12x10 version variant idea, not named as yet. Pawns would move as in Omega Chess:]
Backup possible 12x10 setup (doesn't seem as good due to nightriders'/rooks' locations' possible early effects on opening phase of a game):