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)
Véčet klobu na mloveni
Néni tě dovoleny datlovat do toďteho klobo. Abes mohl datlovat do toďteho klobo, mosiš mit némiň členstvi Brain pinčl.
whew, my opponent and I both played "decent" Gothic Chess in this game but it didn't amount to much when I made a severe blunder on my 22nd move. The position was arguably won by me until I blundered (but in Gothic that doesn't mean a whole lot, the "technical win" is difficult to judge). Irregardless of the negative result I enjoyed the game immensely and had alot of fun playing it.
O čem je toďten plk: Re: Single janus/archbishop checkmate
WhisperzQ: I think not . . . Black was dominating the game after hxg. certainly avoiding the mate in two was necessary but the open file will be dominated by Black . . . controlling a rook file near the opponents king is usually winning.
O čem je toďten plk: Re: Pawn capture in Embassy Chess game
Walter Montego: seeing as the machine didn't stop the blocking of all those files I'd say you have already tested SMIRF's programming . . . I wouldn't begin to know how Pythagoras defeats SMIRF . . . I never have . . .
O čem je toďten plk: Re: Pawn capture in Embassy Chess game
Walter Montego: I saw the line you mentioned with a Knight sac and the Marshall and rook stop . . . however, I should think the Cardinal could come into play (you've seen how well Cardinal's aide passers). ;)
O čem je toďten plk: Re: Pawn capture in Embassy Chess game
Walter Montego: I like the position, Walter . . . to me it looks as though you are winning (however, as Pythagoras noted, it may require a sacrifice or two and certainly it will require alot of careful calculation). Anyway, a very nice game and a far cry from my Tactical attempt at SMIRF.
O čem je toďten plk: Re: Pawn capture in Embassy Chess game
Walter Montego: I like the position, Walter . . . to me it looks as though you are winning (however, as Pythagoras noted, it may require a sacrifice or two and certainly it will require alot of careful calculation). Anyway, a very nice game and a far cry from my Tactical attempt at SMIRF.
Walter Montego: the tournament's maximum number of players can be exceeded (according to my settings) So that's not the issue). Also, I wanted to accommodate people with busy schedules by making each round a one game match (this includes myself). I would rather see a variety of talent play a single game than a few players play several. If people want more rounds just invite more players. (that's the goal in my mind . . . get people interested in the game and then try for the big sectional round robins).
I just recently created a tournament with outlandish parameters (it has now been deleted). I have created a new tournament that now has more flexible parameters. If you are interested in an Embassy Chess tournament to see who is the best (and to get as many rated games in as possible) then by all means join! invite others!!
Pythagoras: Very happy to oblige with answers to very thoughtful questions.
1st - Blitz on Gothic Chess Live = usually a time limit of around ten minutes per game (with a 5-12 second delay). this is not enough time to cheat (successfully, anyway) and the games are all databased by the site.
2nd - I was working on the premise that someone cheats because they have to . . . if you can beat the best computer programs at Gothic . . . why use them to cheat? that makes no sense.
Thad: It is well known that to "weed-out" computer cheaters you decrease time limits ('blitz') because the would-be cheater can't input data into his program fast enough to make much difference. Ed is the champion at blitz Gothic and that makes any thought that he might cheat moot in my opinion. As to your question as to "who is the best" I really can't answer . . . I can only tell you who isn't the best . . . me . . . that's the extent of my knowledge (and it is true strength to "know thyself") you too can only know your personal limits . . . any other attempt to calculate fails because nobody ever set out to play everyone who played the game . . . that would be the only true decision maker.
HalfPawn: I believe Embassy came first (or at least I know for sure the Lasker and Capablanca versions came first). If you look at the patent for Gothic Chess (check the US Patent office website) Gothic chess references several other chess variants as well as their inventors . . . then you'll know just exactly where Gothic came from . . . very interesting reading but it's been awhile since I read it.
O čem je toďten plk: Re: The 2005 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship
ChessCarpenter: I predict a win for white in the next Vortex - Smirf game. It appears that Reinhardt has been hard at work making Smirf play better, they're all looking pretty good (except for poor Zillions) but ChessV is nice.
Walter Montego: if the machine made the same opening move every game without an opening library to draw from then the problem is with the game . . . not the program. I was simply asking to satiate my curiosity.
Grim Reaper is no longer able to reply to messages or to post on the message boards. That's why we haven't heard from him in awhile. beyond that I don't know anything else (you'll have to contact ed to know any more, I'm just the messenger).
andreas: I agree with the assessment of my move 15 (part of the opening mistakes I was talking about). I would like to point out that tedbarber was rather rude in demanding my resignation in the later portion of this game and thus my comments (which he quotes accurately) were in response to his rudeness. He failed, however, to quote my praise of his taking advantage of my mistakes. As a side note it is gratifying to hear better players than myself ( and more experienced) agree with my assessment.
Grim Reaper: hehehe, I'll think about it but I have already been introduced into a game with HerculesBeast(2159, #?). Dresden will most likely have a turn at my scalp eventually. :)
O čem je toďten plk: Re: capablanca what setup ever
andreas: interesting view, and sort of rings true, except that Gothic doesn't usually last long enough to go into an endgame (if you really want to win you usually keep most of your pieces until a sac comes to you . . .).
Chessmaster1000: I won't talk about a dynamic comparison (I still believe in the "old standby" chess) but I will say this about positional gothic, how does anyone think like that? I tend to look for almost purely tactical themes when I play gothic, it must take a very disciplined mind to look for the "quiet" moves in gothic (I personally can't resist the long range attacks made by those wonderful new pieces and the queen). I agree that in Gothic sacrificing material for attack is somehow more feasible, and the themes are somewhat similar. (classic bishop sac, rook for knight sac, etc.)
danoschek: It is possible that I was wrong, perhaps you are a "positional" player. (but in what sense?). I have seen your games, and played you some time ago, you are not what people generally refer to as "positional". You use tactical means more often, which makes you a "tactical" player (who doesn't play positional when they have to? I was refering to those "given a choice" situations). I think you should seriously reassess starting an argument, that isn't what I was trying to do (and the moderators should take notice of this for future reference).
O čem je toďten plk: Re: well the realationship is obvious of course
danoschek: I assume you mean that when one side is playing poorly the game becomes boring (much more boring than, say, a 60+ move draw?). obviously you are not a positional player. Many times I have lost in a positional battle because I tried to make it interesting instead of the dead draw, needless to say I am fast becoming tactical.
O čem je toďten plk: Re: the correlation between gothic and 8x8
Chessmaster1000: I agree in reference to extinction chess but I still think Gothic has helped me at 8x8 chess. In the interest of not insighting a riot I think that it can be agreed that a healthy helping of both games can not hurt anyone . . . agreed?
O čem je toďten plk: the correlation between gothic and 8x8
my strength has improved tremendously just by starting to play gothic and beginning to move my mind in that direction. many people have told me recently that I must be a master, I've been studying harder than ever at my correspondence games and the results are good. (those who think I'm a master would faint to know that I'm only a class B OTB but I'm certainly creeping up on master level (or at least above expert) at correspondence.