mahavrilla: Here on BrainKing, the number of running games (see http://brainking.com/en/Statistics?p=2):
67. Janus Chess 120
73. Embassy Chess 96
117. Capablanca Random Chess 41

PhatPlaya: Even nicer example (Capablanca random chess):
Black to move and checkmate in 2 moves

Walter Montego: What's wrong with A and C notation and piece names? They were introduced by Capablanca, why change them?

SMIRF Engine: Why it does make sense to create a game for computers to play? If you are looking for real AI challenges you can try e.g. Arimaa or Dark chess. These are two chess variants where humans are still much superiour to computer. CRC in not more challenging for computer programming then say Gothic or Embassy chess.

Still I think CRC is very good by itself as a game, especially if you like Fischer random chess idea, which avoids memorized book opening play.

nabla: Hopefully Pritchard will not miss Capablanca Random Chess. As an example game I can suggest the following interesting miniature:
Caissus - andreas

Anencephal: How strong is it comparing to Smirf?

Pythagoras: If you would annonce in advance that you will be online, then may be somebody would play with you. I think the best place to make such annoncements is on Gothic Chess Forum.

I don't think Fisher will play with Kasparov, not even Fisher Random Chess... Kasparov is younger and would easily win.

Reinhard: I played with Smirf several Blitz games in Janus, CRC and Bird's chess and two draws were the only I could achieve. I hardly hit any problems, it hang once, but there were no other serious problems. There are certainly some features which I miss in Smirf GUI:
* menu item "Resign" (I rarely want to play until checkmate)
* "Analyze" mode, which would allow me to play with myself (analize game) and Smirf engine would run in backround with infinite search time, suggesting the best moves
* In position editor selector of white/black piece set is tied with specifing which side moves after editing done. It would be better to separate this.
* It would be nice to have a collection of .pgn game for different chess variants supported by Smirf. Especially Janus chess games played by chess grandmasters would be interesting if you manage to find them (two games by Yusupov and Leko one can find on http://www.janusschach.de)

Grim Reaper: Any plans to introduce turn-based option on GothicChessLive?

tedbarber: Mistake was 15....g5? The move 14...Cg7 was also not especially good. Why move chancellor away from a nice opened line?

In position after 14. Nc3 black should think about how to develop knight b8. Immediate 14...Nc6 doesn't work because of 15. Ad7. I would first check move 14.... Nf5 with idea 15...Ne3. Looks like 15. e4 dxe4 16. fxe4 Qxd4 17. Cd3 Qxd3 18. Qxd3 Ce5 fine for black. After 15. Cd3 Nc6 position of black also seems to be fine.

danoschek: After playing Gothic a lot, standard chess is felt almost as an endgame. Just like in chess after queen exchange.

Grim Reaper: Is the broadcast available anywhere to download and hear it offline?

Grim Reaper: Too late, I already switched to Backgammon

Sumerian: So, what notation are you currently using in Smirf, say when you need to save a game in German notation?

gotti2000: How about:
Chancellor -> "Kanzler" and use "Z" for notation;
Archbishop -> "Kardinal" and use "A" for notation.

Sumerian: Thanks a lot! Now it works.

Sumerian: I tried to download a PGN file from this site (see link to the game in the recent post by Ed Trice). However Smirf just displays: 1. e3 f5 1-0.

Sumerian: Where can I download Smirf?

Does anybody knows any software (preferable freeware) to view Janus Chess PGN files?

Caissus, BrainKing.com collects membership fees using US servers, MoneyBookers and PayPal. This could be consedered as doing buisness in US or at least as an export to US. Both should comply to US laws.

Walter, I don't see why Fencer should change anything, as soon as license fees stay at very generous 1$/year. In contrary, he gets some advertisements from Gothic Chess Federation, see http://gothicchess.org/brainking_central.html by providing Gothic Chess here.

Walter, patent law in Europe differs from that in USA, see European Patent Convention:

"(2) The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions within the meaning of paragraph 1:

(a) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
(b) aesthetic creations;
(c) schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers;
(d) presentations of information. "

Caissus, the game rules are not patentable in Europe. However BrainKing (as well as other web page) have to comply to US laws or provide technical means which would make BrainKing unusabe by US people. For example, there is a precedent when one French web-page with nazist propaganda was taken down by court desicion, because it violated German constitution.

Walter, the second problem (by Mw. L. Ferris) is right. White mates in all variants. This problem is really very nice!

These "new" pieces, Chancellor and Archbishop are known since about 14th century. You can read the history about these pieces in

"The Piececlopedia: The Rook-Knight Compound" and

"The Piececlopedia: Bishop-Knight Compound"

There are 3 problems with a Chancellor from 19th century on chessvariants.com:

Mate in Two by Samuel Loyd

Mate in Two by Mw. L. Ferris

Mate in Two by John Keeble

My vote:
White: King a1, Bishops a8,j8
Black: King c2, Pawn j7
White to Move.

I setup a similar position in chess:
White: King a8, Queen h2, Pawn d2
Black: King f1, Queen g7

White wins in 76 moves by playing Qf4 or Qh3! All other moves lead to the draw or loose. I get this result from Nalimov Tablebase Server
on http://www.lokasoft.nl/uk/tbweb.htm

The larger board in Gothic Chess allows the black to survive more then 3 times longer (assuming Ed's software to compute Gothic Chess tablebases doesn't have bugs).

One more chancellor checkmate: White moves and wins.

Is there any translation of new pieces names (Chancellor and Archibishop) in other languages? In particular, I am interested in German and Russian translations.