The one thing that Henry Bird and Jose Capablanca did when they made up their games was keep the King and Queen together. This isn't the case in Gothic Chess and I view it as a flaw. Ed says he put the pieces as he did so all the Pawns are guarded at the start of the game and certain Chess like formations can be played in the game. I think if the King and Chancellor's positions were switched, the game would be the best possible set up of all these variants. With the Kings on the e squares and the Chancellors on the f squares all the Pawns would be guarded at the start. The board would be even more Chesslike as the left five files and the three right files from White's view would appear as they do in regular Chess. About the only difference would be that castling would be long to the reverse side. This should make possible other similiar openings besides the Indian one. Center Counter, Sicilian Defense, and French Defense type starts. Plus the Chancellor and Archbishop's Knight part of their moves wouldn't step on each other coming off the back row as they do in Gothic Chess.

I think this is an improvement on all three variants. I wish there was a way to set up the pieces for the board as the players would like to have them, instead being forced to use whatever set up is imposed. Screen Chess isn't what I mean. Kind of like the Fischer Random Chess where everyone gets the same set up. It'd be nice to be able start a tournament on the 8 X 10 board with what ever configuration the tournament organizer deemed for his tournament. Ed gets his game played, why can't I get mine? I'll try a feature request on the board for it.