Sam has closed his piano and gone to bed ... now we can talk about the real stuff of life ... love, liberty and games such as Janus, Capablanca Random, Embassy Chess & the odd mention of other 10x8 variants is welcome too
For posting: - invitations to games (you can also use the New Game menu or for particular games: Janus; Capablanca Random; or Embassy) - information about upcoming tournaments - disussion of games (please limit this to completed games or discussion on how a game has arrived at a certain position ... speculation on who has an advantage or the benefits of potential moves is not permitted while that particular game is in progress) - links to interesting related sites (non-promotional)
I've been watching some games played between top players, and realize that the game has more merit than I was led to believe at first. Since I am not that good at it (1600 or so), it often frustrates me, but a game needs to be judged by how the strong players play it, and the number of strategies I see being used with the 2 new pieces creates a very different game that not all of your 8x8 Chess skills can account for. The outward push of the bishop, knight, and rook also require different thinking, and I still see regular knights being used very effectively in 10x8. They look pushed out further, but if you know how to use those things, they can still be pretty effective.
I just viewed one game played by the #1 rated player, and he essentially defeated black with just his RN (Marshall) by threatening a fork of his opponent's king and queen. He didn't castle and sacrificed his rook just before his opponenet resigned.
Chess has far more active players on this site, but Embassy has shown to me at least that it has a great deal of value, but the majority of the chess playing public has a hard time opening itself up to an expansion of Chess.
Janus Chess is probably the easier game to play between the 2, but I've found that it's a little too easy for the Janus piece to attack the queen and king right from the start. There's not as much need to come up with a specific plan in that game.
I believe that with more promotion, 10x8 Chess with the RN and BN can make a difference in the chess world. At the height of its complexity, it is about as complex as Shogi but requires far less moves than Shogi which is a good direction for Chess.
(kaŝi) Se interesas vin la progreso de turniro en kiu vi ludas, vi povas diskuti pri ĝi kun viaj kontrauŭloj en la forumo de la turniro. (HelenaTanein) (Montri ĉiujn konsilojn)