(I mentioned this on Feature Requests, but it seems more appropriate here.)

Would anyone like to play Ministers? It's Chess on a 9x9 board with an extra queen. It looks like fun.

http://www.corinthiangames.com/

BK would need permission from the company, I suppose. I should hope they would welcome the publicity - I found only a handful of pages mentioning it on Google.

joshua9000

Hi Caissus,

FRCEC is a club for Fischerandom chess players around the world to meet and play this chess variant among the different chess servers in the net that support this variation.

At FRCEC we do not (and do not intend to) have a FRC playing interface that competes against any of the other chess servers in the net.

Instead we promote playing FRC in all the different chess servers by arranging matches and mini-tournaments among our players in any of the chess servers out there.

It is our members own choice to join any or all the chess servers in the net that support FRC to play their games.

What FRCEC does do, is to keep an universal correspondence FRC ELO rating that is updated whenever they play a FRC game regardless of the chess server or servers they use to play their games.

So if our members play games in 2 or more chess servers, their FRCEC rating gets updated each time they finish a game in any one of the serevrs they choose to play.

FRCEC is a new club, only started in April 2004. We currently have 53 members representing 25 countries around the wolrd.

I can't guarantee that our members would play mainly in any particular chess server, as it is complety their choice to join any of all the servers that we are aware that support FRCEC.

Becoming paying members is also their choice. We do have members that are paying members in some of the chess servers that play FRC, but this is totally their choice because they enjoy playing in that particular chess server.

Jose Carrillo
FRCEC Moderator
http://frcec.tripod.com/

Hi Jose, could you please explain the activities of your email-chessclub? How many members has it and would they play perhaps here mainly and become paying members? This would allow you to organize special FRC-tournements and create FRC-fellowships.

Does BrainKing.com plan to support the FRC variation?

I run the Fischerandom Chess eMail Club (http://frcec.tripod.com), and I'm looking for different servers to promote the game among the members of the club.

Let me know if you will entertain FRC in your site, so that I can start promoting BrainKing immediately FRC becomes available.

Screen chess is no good to setup FRC positions as it doesn't allow castling or en passant.

Thanks.

Jose Carrillo
FRCEC Moderator
http://frcec.tripod.com/

You probably meant "bughouse"? We don't have it here, but you can try "Loop Chess" instead (2-player version of bughouse).

i wonder if a version of bunkhouse could be played here? that would be a great version to have. has anyone played that lately?

Yes, Pardubice in Czech Republic during the Chess tournament

In Pardubice happened this year the 15th championship of Chess,Bridge and other games (Go,Backgammon,Checkers etc) with 3600 players from 46 countries.Chess was played as blitz,tandem,with problems and fisher-random chess.Those who are interested can find more here:www.czechopen.net and www.czechtour.net.

Do you mean Pardubice in Czech Republic?

Hi all
It will be great to have Shogi here, because next European Shogi Championship will be in Pardubitce in July 2005
It is also possible to read book "Japanese chess - Shogi" on Russian
http://www.bookpost.ru/Hidden/p30178.pht
ml
Hope it will be usefull for someone
Hope it will be usefull

I certainly wouldn't want to play Chinese, Japanese or Korean chesses with some bizarre "western" characters, imagine playing chess with the pieces replaced with letters K, Q, B, etc. It's no more difficult to memorise oriental characters than it is to memorise quaint little statuettes. Fencer, for shogi pieces I hope you'll use the top ji only, as is done in books, newspapers, etc, not the full characters that appear on normal sets.

Alice chess is good fun, I'd love to see it here.

I am running a tournament there in Alice Chess, but I would love to play here! Great game.

is interesting as well and can be played at
http://www.schemingmind.com/.But better here :-)

What about Alice Chess, does anybody play this game?

Redsales, it is interesting, as you write, that Chinese characters are used in lieu of Hangul -- is there an historical reason for this; had Korean been written with Chinese characters in the past, or does it merely reflect the route of transmission of the game?

As to the shape of pieces, my only exposure to them is the shape of pieces that I purchased at shops of emigré Koreans and pictures on the internet. I have two sets in plastic; both have octagonal pieces of three sizes corresponding to their importance, the king being the largest, the pawn the smallest. The script is, as you write, Chinese. The red pieces are in a nicer printed script, and the green look like cursive versions of the same characters to be seen on a set of xiangqi pieces (although on both sides the kings' character is not the general/governor seen on xiangqi kings).

I have seen on the internet a set of Three Kingdoms' Xiangqi. Did you see or play that variant during your time in China? Have you ever read any articles on the history of xiangqi and its historical enlarged versions? I have wondered if there is a possible connection between them and the large shogi variants. I only know of one non-Asian source on the history of these games, Peter Banaschak's _Schachspiele in Ostasien_, but my ability to read German is not so good, so I await its future English translation.

I have suggested in earlier postings to this board that shogi and its smaller variant tori shogi would be grand additions to BrainKing's offerings (my personal preference is for shogi above all other representatives of the chess family of games). I wonder if other posters to this board enjoy shogi and whether any have tried tori shogi.

hi Mike, I play only xiangqi but am in the process of learning changgi. I know the basics but am unsure of all the rules because I'm being taught in Korean in Korea and my Korean is a work in progress too. Let me ask about that rule...!! In xiangqi, the kings can't even oppose each other in the first place. I am good at xiangqi though, I learned it when I went to university in China and can beat the avg Chinese guy off the street. I can't say which is better, bc i'm such a novice at changgi. Interesting to note that even though Koreans COULD write changgi pieces in hangul (written Korean), they leave it in the original Chinese...that should be a lesson to us as well to keep the universality of the game. In Korea, i have yet to see any octagonal pieces!

I have very few sources available to me on changgi, and none authoritative: can you confirm the stalemate rule for changgi that I have seen described as occuring when one side has given up the right to win by using his king to check the opposing king across an open file? That is, if he actually succeeds and wins, it is no win because he had resorted to using the king in this way.

I infer that you play both xiangqi and changgi: do you think that the slightly weaker cannon of changgi but its greater pawn strength from the opening move and the lack of movements restricted by a river make it a bit more enjoyable than xiangqi? I confess that the elongated knight move of the changgi elephant is still a bit difficult for me to deploy effectively.

By the way, would you know why the commonly available changgi pieces are octagonal and the nicer, wooden ones are round -- ease of carving, aesthetics?

i am totally in favor of the original pieces for shogi and xiangqi and changgi. Xiangqi and changgi are the same 2 characters, the Koreans just pronounce Chinese characters differently than the Chinese do. If you need a legend graphic, maybe that would do the trick for those who find the characters unintelligible. THink about it, if you do enjoy this game on brainking and ever have the opportunity to play in real life, wouldn't it be a shame that you couldn't, because even if you knew the rules you wouldn't recognize the REAL pieces?? Korean and Chinese chess use the same pieces, so if we get one on BK, we will definitely get the other, very easy promgramming feat.

Here an example for a setup on a
11x8board

I have an idea for a chess variant. It has the regular chess pieces, chancellor, archbishop, queen, and amazon on a 11x8 board.

The rooks are on the a and k files and the king is on the f file, which gives 4 pieces inbetween the rook and king on each side.

Now, the other pieces set-up is random so long as the bishops are on different colors.

In castling you move the king 4 spaces on either side. Because the king and rooks always start on the same files there is not a problem having to implement difficult castling rules.

What do you think guys, would you like to see this on BK?

Amazon Chess, Berolina Chess and Cylinder Chess first ... :D thankies to Fencer ~*~

it is also a thought,that if many beginners are to try this as a new game.we might as well learn the original pices.but then we could also be open to both variations.but it might be wise not to compilicate it any more than needed.

are just slightly simplified and more recognizable as symbol ... about like
the step from kanji-scripture to hiragana, or take it egypt :) still 'flat' pieces as
it's due and contrary to caissus the geometrics are not the same, let go the river ~*~

Perhaps there is a solution if each opponent may choose how the game appears when he views it, i.e., traditional or Westernized? I have always treated the characters on the pieces as an identifying graphic, much like the shape of new pieces or a non-standard shape for a piece, to both of which one quickly accustoms himself.

In favor of the traditional pieces, may I mention that most of the literature on xiangqi or shogi that one would consult presumes a knowledge of these characters?

An intelligent internationalization of shogi and xiangqi pieces has already been made by the Shogi Association in the UK (George Hodge's lamentably defunct organization) and by the Asian Xiangqi Federation, respectively. I think that both of these international versions of the pieces are represented in the game fonts at http://www.partae.com/fonts/products/products.htm
l

More important, however, is to have these wonderful games available here on BrainKing. I am strongly in favor of shogi over xiangqi, if some priority must be established. Without wishing to complicate matters overmuch, dare I say that I think that Korean chess (changgi) might be a slightly more pleasing game to play than xiangqi?

That does sound good. We could switch to the Eastern after we get comfortable with the setup and game play.

Not absolutely.It should be only another suggestion to make this game playable for the players from the western world.I think would be enough if we could choose between the eastern and the western pieces.

Would there be a benefit to such a change, Caissus? Seems like it would be more confusing than anything, to us beginners.

I think it could be played as the same game except that the intersections are replaced by fields as adaptation to the western boardgames.

it not the same without the chinese board,if u knows the game.
but the western interpreted pices are a g00d idea.

Here are some examples about Chinese chess with
western pieces and with western board

have published a book about chinese chess
and suggested european figurines, too ...
selectable like for gomoku gfx, perfect ~*~ :)

The Japanese pieces, too. I've been learning Shogi (managed to find a commercial copy in the store), and that game has about a gazillion different depictions for the pieces.

I don't know how I'm managing to learn 'em, but I recognize the basic pieces now. I just have to memorize what their promoted counterparts look like. lol

Perhaps with eastern a n d with western (chess) pieces, because the chinese pieces are very complicated for us from the western world?

Sure, it's planned to be added as well.

I once played a very interesting gmae called chinese chess.it was quite different from chess.used a pice called the cannon.fencer,ever heard of it?

if its going to be amazons,how about a tall athlete well developed queen?
ok ok just kidding

oh god,another game varition idea.
this may sound nuts but it could be fun.
I thought about the possiblity of a multiplayer game of regular chess(that is chess for 4 or more players)
I envision 2 possibilities.
version 1...reg chess for 4,same rules as chess.
play area consists of 5 reg chess boards arranged with one in centre surrounded by the other board.thus approx.the shape of a cross.
4 sets of chess pieces,4 different colors.
this could be a good variation.board graphics & logics design...hard? yes no...not sure.
-
version 2...reg chess for 4,6 or 8,same rules as chess.
play area consists of 1 reg chinese checkers board.this would be easier to design than the board for ver1.
8 sets of chess pieces,8 different colors.
but this idea has just come to me.I must get & set up a chinese checkers board & see how it "feels" with the pieces.8 players may be a little too much.I think 6 might be a good limit.
just an idea..any comments.
in general,I love this site better than any other.unique games.nice operator.no criticisms.
would love to see more multi-opponet games..any comments?

Thanks Caissus.

Fencer, I will send to you some pics of the amazone as examples.

Okay, I have prepared Berolina Chess, Amazon Chess and Cylinder Chess. They will be released with the next batch of games.
Btw, does anybody know how the Amazon piece should look like? :-)

Dropping pieces makes shogi a very dynamic two-player game, and its play is much more satisfying, I think, than loop chess because of the balance of weakness and strength with piece movements.

If there are ever multiple-player games on BrainKing, there is a very entertaining 4-player version of shogi, yonin shogi. Effectively, you can play the game where two players act as team partners. Maybe that could be implemented even now on BrainKing without having to accomodate other multiple-player games?

Yes, I figured it would be too much of a pain to implement. Would be interesting, though.

I see. Unfortunatelly, BK doesn't support games for more than 2 players at the moment.

(from http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/bughouse.html)

Bughouse is a chess game for four players, played on two boards. Actually, it is two chess games played simultaneously in teams. The black player on board 1 is partnered with the white player on board 2, and vice versa. To win, a team must win on either of their boards.
The most notable difference from normal chess is that pieces captured on one board are handed to the partner on the other board. He can drop these pieces on his board for one of his turns.
***

Piece drops work pretty much like loop chess, except you get to drop the pieces your partner captures from his board, and you hand the pieces you capture over to him.

What is bughouse?

I would be interested to see bughouse implemented here. I usually suck at it at lightning speed, but maybe I won't screw it up too badly for my partner on a correspondence game.

lol

Shogi is very interesting!

I think that cylinder chess and berliner chess would be fun to try.

Amazonechess can be implemented in minutes because the amazone is an equivalent to maharajah of Maharajah chess :-)
But I'll read the rules of other mentioned variants first.