Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

It seems problematic to me that a player can guarantee that he will never lose, in a trivial way.

Thank you for that

well i do not know i like it this way but if you have a better idea how to change it im all ears Also did you guys played my game or just checked out the rules and thats all if you guys played it how was it?

Oh my god thank you for making this for me i just checked on it after years thank you! May i ask why did you specificly choose mine to make?

I moved the Diagram into the article, with a few modifications. Besides the coloring, I used a different method for implementing the 1st-rank double push: a morph prevents Pawns from moving into the enemy board half, but the single steps are then exempted from that by writing a prime behind the corresponding Betza atoms. This gives a more palatable move description in the piece table than the method of 'sensing' the board edge.

Note that the chess font in the 'winter' directory here is actually known as 'Companion' or 'Good Companion'; I now uploaded the SVG for that font to CVP so it can be used by fen2.php (t=companion in the query string), and made a few 100x100 PNG images of it (and some knight compounds), which I put in /graphics.dir/companionPNG/ .

As to the variant itself: it might be too easy to build an impenetrable wall preventing the opponent from reachin your King or back rank.

Thank you so much!

One more remark: you do not specify what happens in case of stalemate. This is actually one of the few variants without checking rule where a stalemate can be realistically achieved, by blocking all the opponent's pieces.

Black to move...

Hmm... Incase of a stalemate one must await that until black collapses of economical crash.

On a more serious note I have never ecounterd this while playing this myself at home or anywhere, I do not think any side would win in this case. I don't think there is any alternative that would be fair and not overly complicated.

The games agaisnt the bot is pretty good tho it seems many times the bot doesn't really know what to do but majority of the times it does make some very good moves. However its not coded yet that if the king reaches the other side then that side that reached it, wins. Also if pawns reach the other side they shouldn't change to anything. I forgot to write that down in the rules.

I am not surprised the bot can be undecisive. It uses the normal strategy for a typical chess variant, where the winning goal will be far beyond the horizon for most of the game: it tries to get a material advantage. But this is not possible here, so all that is left to guide the play is some vague notion of centralization.

BTW, reaching of the last rank is programmed. If you play (with the AI off) Ke1-g6, Kg6xg7 (the Diagram accepts illegal and out-of-turn moves, to ease setting up positions), then switch on the AI, and play a7-a5 for black, it will play Kxh8, and announce a win with the message "checkmate!'. (It considers occupancy of a goal square by the designated piece as being in check, and it cannot cure that situation.)

It is probably just that it does not have any strategic incentive too approach the goal square if it cannot actually force the win within its tactical horizon. This is a general problem of the Diagram's AI; perhaps I should add some dedicated code in the evaluation for variants with a 'capture-the-flag' winning condition. I am not sure what a good strategy is, though, in cases where the piece that has to reach the goal square is the royal one.

Anyway, the design goal of the bot is not to be an expert on the variant it was configured to play, but to be an entertaining beatable opponent for someone who just got acquainted with the rules. To get a flavor of what a game would be like.

I now set maxPromote of the Diagram to 0, for suppressing Pawn promotion.

Strange but if you are the playing it doesn't showcase checkmate despite reahing last rank, so I guess the player has to announce their own victory in this case. But thank you for doing this for me. It means a lot to me, even if nobody playes it.

I found this funny. By the way, the rule about stalemate is still not mentioned even though it's possible as HGM pointed out.

IMO, a stalemate should count as a loss for the player inadvertedly causing it. Even as a draw, it is a bad outcome for the player with Raumvorteil. White can always retreat some pawn to allow controlled movement of Black, occupy the starting square where black came from, pulling out the black piece and capture it with the King. Finally, White has a way to win in this situation.

I managed to bring the black King to rank 1 and the diagram did not recognise the checkmate resulting from that move. Here's the game transcript:

{1781357515} 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 e5 3. Nc3 c5 4. Qd3 b5 5. O-O-O Bf5 6. g4 Qh4 7. Nf3 Qg3 8. Ne4 f6 9. Bg2 Bd6 10. Qd2 Nc6 11. Rde1 Nb4 12. c4 a5 13. h4 Ne7 14. b3 Ng6 15. Neg5 h5 16. Ne6 Ne7 17. Qd3 g5 18. Ng7 Kf7 19. e4 Kxg7 20. a4 Nec6 21. Re3 Bf8 22. Bh3 Kf7 23. Rh2 Qg1 24. Re1 Qf1 25. Rh1 Qe2 26. Nd2 Rb8 27. f3 Rb6 28. Rd1 a6 29. a5 a7 30. Rde1 Ra6 31. a4 Ra5 32. Rd1 b6 33. Rh2 Rb5 34. a5 Na2 35. Kb2 Ncb4 36. a4 g6 37. g5 Bg4 38. a5 f5 39. Ra1 Bd6 40. a4 Bc7 41. a5 Re8 42. Bg3 f4 43. a6 b7 44. a5 Re6 45. Rf1 Rf6 46. a4 Ba5 47. Ra1 a6 48. a3 b6 49. a4 Qd1 50. Rc1 Qc2 51. Ka1 Ke6 52. c3 c4 53. Rhh1 Rf5 54. f2 Kd6 55. Rh2 Bd1 56. a3 Nc6 57. b4 Qb3 58. e3 e4 59. a4 Kd7 60. Rc2 Ke7 61. Bg4 f3 62. a3 b7 63. Be5 Bc7 64. a4 Na5 65. Bf6 Ke6 66. Rc1 Bc2 67. Nb1 c5 68. Qc4 Kf7 69. Be5 Bd6 70. Rh3 b6 71. Bf6 Bg3 72. a3 Nc6 73. a4 Ra5 74. Be5 b5 75. a3 Ra4 76. Bf6 Ne5 77. Rh2 g7 78. Bd8 Bf4 79. g6 Kxg6 80. Bg5 Nd3 81. Rd1 Ne1 82. Qd3 c4 83. Rg2 a5 84. Rd2 Bd1 85. Rc2 Be2 86. Nd2 Nc1 87. a2 Ra3 88. Rg3 a4 89. Bh3 Rf6 90. Rg2 Kh7 91. Bg4 Rf5 92. Be7 Bg5 93. h3 e5 94. Bf6 Kg6 95. Ne4 d6 96. h4 c5 97. Rg3 Bf1 98. d5 Ne2 99. Rg2 Nd4 100. e2 c4 101. h3 h4 102. e3 Be2 103. Rg1 Ng2 104. Re1 Nf4 105. f1 h5 106. Rd1 Kf7 107. f2 Ke8 108. Nc5 e4 109. Rb2 Kf7 110. Nd7 Kg6 111. Rc2 Bf1 112. Be5 Bf6 113. h4 Kf7 114. Nc5 g5 115. Rdd2 Be2 116. Ne6 Ng2 117. Nf4 Ne1 118. f1 f2 119. Bf3 g4 120. Ne6 Rf4 121. Rd1 d7 122. Bd6 Be5 123. Nc7 h6 124. Bc5 d6 125. Na6 Ke7 126. Bb6 Kd7 127. Nc5 Kc8 128. Rdd2 h5 129. Ba5 Bf6 130. Rd1 Bd8 131. Bb6 Bc7 132. Rdc1 Bd1 133. Ba5 Bb6 134. Na6 c5 135. Qc4 Kb7 136. h3 h4 137. Bg2 Kxa6 138. Rb1 Ba7 139. Bf3 Bb6 140. Qd3 c4 141. Rbc1 Kb7 142. e2 Kc7 143. Rb1 Kd7 144. e3 Ke7 145. Rbb2 Kf6 146. Bg2 Ke5 147. h2 Kxd5 148. Bf3 Ke5 149. h3 d5 150. Rb1 Kf6 151. Qe2 Kg5 152. h2 h3 153. Bg2 Rf3 154. Qd3 g3 155. e2 Re3 156. Bf3 Ng2 157. h1 h2 158. Qd2 Nf4 159. e1 Nd3 160. Rbb2 Ne2 161. Bg2 d4 162. Bh3 g2 163. Be6 Ndf4 164. Qd3 Kf6 165. Bg4 Ke7 166. Bf5 Ne6 167. Rd2 Bc2 168. Bh7 Kf7 169. Bf5 Kg7 170. Bg4 h3 171. h2 Kg6 172. Rb1 f3 173. Rb2 Kg5 174. Bf5 Kxf5 175. f2 N6f4 176. Rd1 Ke6 177. Qd2 d3 178. Rc1 Ke5 179. Qd1 Ne6 180. Qd2 N6d4 181. Rd1 c5 182. c4 Qc3 183. b3 b4 184. Rdb1 Nc1 185. e2 Kd6 186. Qd1 Kc7 187. e1 Kb7 188. Qd2 Ka6 189. e2 Kxa5 190. f1 Ka6 191. e1 Kb7 192. Qe2 Kc6 193. f2 Kd6 194. Qd2 Nce2 195. Rc1 Ke5 196. Qd1 d2 197. Rcb1 b5 198. Qc1 Kf4 199. h1 Ba5 200. Qd1 Bd3 201. Qc2 d1 202. Rc1 Kg4 203. f1 f2 204. h2 h4 205. Rcb1 Kf3 206. h3 Kg3 207. Rc1 Kxh3 208. Rcb1 Kh2 209. b4 Kh1 210. Qb3 Kg1 211. Rc1 Kxf1 212. Rcc2 Kxe1 213. Kb1 Rh3 214. Ka1 Rh1 215. Kb1 f3 216. Ka1 Kf2 217. Kb1 d2

OK, I see. After 209. b4 it should have resigned after 209... Kh1, but it doesn't. It does see that it has lost, because its last move allows a checkmate through 209... Nb3#, and it had other moves (209... Rc1) that would not result in mate. It does resign after that mate, but not on Kh1. It does announce mate when you play 209... Rc1 yourself, so that it moves 210. Kh1# for black.

This is a 'delayed win' condition, (similar to baring), as I configuerd it such that the King should reach the last rank through a legal move. I guess there is something wrong with selecting the message in that case.

The editor H. G. Muller has revised this page.

Now it is forbidden for the Black King to enter the 1st rank at all, see the potential capture after move 119 and the situation after the last move:

{1781357515} 1. e4 e5 2. Qg4 f5 3. Qg6 Ke7 4. d4 d5 5. Bg5 Kd7 6. Nc3 b5 7. O-O-O Qf6 8. g4 Kc6 9. Bc4 Be6 10. Nf3 Bf7 11. d3 Ne7 12. Nd4 Kd7 13. Na4 c6 14. c3 e6 15. Nc5 Kc7 16. a4 a5 17. Bf4 Kb6 18. Nd7 Kb7 19. Nc5 Kc8 20. b4 Qe5 21. h4 Kc7 22. Na6 Kb6 23. Nc5 Nd7 24. f3 Ra6 25. a3 a4 26. h5 Ra5 27. Rd2 Nc8 28. Bg5 Be7 29. f4 Bf6 30. Rhh2 Nd6 31. h6 Rha8 32. Rde2 R8a6 33. Rh3 Nb8 34. Nd7 Kb7 35. Nc5 Kc7 36. h5 Nd7 37. Ree3 Nb6 38. h6 Nb7 39. Ref3 Kb8 40. Nd7 Kc8 41. Nc5 Kd8 42. Rfg3 Ke8 43. h5 Qd6 44. e5 Qd7 45. Rg2 Nd6 46. h6 Ne4 47. Rgg3 Qd6 48. Rh4 Nc8 49. Bb3 Qc7 50. Rgh3 Ncd6 51. Bc4 Ng3 52. Rh2 Nde4 53. Ne2 Qd6 54. d4 Ra8 55. R2h3 Kd8 56. Nb7 Kc7 57. Nc5 Rd8 58. Rh2 Raa8 59. R4h3 Qd7 60. Na6 Kb6 61. Nc5 Qa7 62. Rh1 Qa5 63. Nd7 Kc7 64. Nc5 Rd6 65. R1h2 Kd8 66. Nb7 Ke8 67. f3 c5 68. Rh1 Kd7 69. f4 Kc7 70. R1h2 Kxb7 71. Rh4 b6 72. Bb5 Ra6 73. R2h3 Rd7 74. Rh5 Kc7 75. Rh2 c4 76. b3 b7 77. R5h4 Kb6 78. d3 Kxb5 79. Nd4 Kb6 80. Re2 Ka7 81. Nb5 Ka8 82. d4 Qb4 83. Nc7 Kb8 84. Nb5 Kc8 85. Na7 Kd8 86. Nc6 Ke8 87. h5 b5 88. Rh3 Rd6 89. h6 Kd7 90. Nb8 Kc7 91. h5 Kxb8 92. Bh4 Kb7 93. Qg5 Bg6 94. h6 Kc7 95. Rhh2 Nf1 96. Re3 Ned2 97. Rhh3 a5 98. Re2 c5 99. h5 Qc4 100. a4 Qd3 101. c2 b4 102. Rf2 Qc3 103. b2 c4 104. Rff3 Rab6 105. Rh2 b3 106. Bg3 Rb4 107. Re3 a6 108. Rg2 Kb6 109. e4 e5 110. Rg1 Ka5 111. f3 Kxa4 112. Rg2 Ka5 113. f4 Ra4 114. Kd1 Qd3 115. h4 Ra1 116. b1 Ka4 117. h5 Ka3 118. Rg1 Kb2 119. c1 Ka3 120. b2 Kb4 121. Rg2 Rb1 122. f3 c3 123. Rh2 Qc2 124. Ke2 Kc4 125. d3 Kd4 126. f4 h6 127. h4 b4 128. b3 Rb2 129. Rf2 b5 130. b4 b6 131. b5 Rb4 132. Rff3 Kc5 133. h5 Kxb5 134. d4 Ka4 135. Rf2 Ka3 136. Rd3 Ka2 137. Rg2

I do not know I was thinking that the one causing the stalmate should win as he is making the enemy side isolated in the manner of cold war sense. Of course we could also just disallow the player to cause a stalmate by not allowing them to put a peice to force a stalmate.