Gentlemen,
It is an honor to be counted among such esteemed company as yours, and it is my sincere hope that such pleasant and reasoned discourse may prosper and increase.

I am contemplating the significance of promoting to a Newpiece in leiu of a Queen, and not merely for its immediate effect, but for what follows thereafter. Sometimes the game continues for more than a few moves after promotion, but also, the promoted piece becomes an immediate target. I am thinking about the added element of uncertainty which now accompanies promotion. It seems that the same acceleration that the Newpieces add to the game at large are added to the act of pawn promotion.

I am also curious about the decision to make the new board 10x8. Was there much experimenting done with other formats, or was it a conclusion quickly arrived at because it simply works so well? I have played 4-corner chess with my kids, and it is a real jungle out there! Two other people move after the one that follow your move, so the board changes in wild ways before each move, and there tends to be a r-e-a-l l-o-n-g t-i-m-e between successive turns.

I looked at the website that shows games in action, and the play is exhilaratingly rapid, but that is what the mind needs in order to absorb the spirit of the game.
Surely my observation of games in action will go far to answer my concerns, but it seems I enjoy the wonderment of anticipating consequences and the making of valid generalities. I have always found such pleasure in the moves of chess: wondering what will be coming next; which is near to the heart of mental combinational calculation (computers are heartless!) and the thrill of taking a risk with informed confidence, that one's opponent could not have seen a better move...or could he? It seems to me that it is the learning of when to be sure of one's next move and when to recognize that instinctive voice warning of some vague danger ahead, that makes playing chess (and now gothic chess!) worth the effort.

There is always a thrill to be had when one's play improves, and now with gothic chess, a genuinely new element is added which promises a geometric increase of the very pleasure which makes chess advocates love their game. I expect that by learning both games well, one can use each to expand his skill at the other.

This is the first variant of chess that has held any interest to me, for the others have seemed to be cheap knock-offs of the best game ever devised in recorded history (my own bias). This is different. It's kind of like putting a turbocharger on a hemi. You get more power, and the ride is more exciting. But it's not necessarilly the best format for everyday use. I cannot imagine ever losing my love for chess, and as much interest as I may develop in gothic chess, I expect to always return to the reliable standard, at least from time to time! Having to face a grand prix speedway is more intense than driving down the freeway. But who would want to commute to work every day in a formula 1 car? Okay, some would. /Fx/