Thanks for all the comments.

I prefer Janus. I think Janus is more tactic than Gothic and i think the strategy of chess can be extended to janus in a natural way.

Does anyone know here where to purchase a wooden Janus chess set? I would also like to purchase a wooden Gothic chess set. Any suggestions? I am starting to think that I am going to have to make my own.

Trice claims he has a contract with Hasbro. They should, allegedly, start selling Gothic Chess sets this summer.

mahavrilla: You can get a Grand Chess set and use it for Janus Chess, though you might ask them to send you two extra Cardinals with your order. You'll have to get your own 10 X 8 or cover two rows of their 10 X 10 board. This is something I'm thinking of doing myself. Grand Chess sounds like it'd be a fun game to play too. They used to have a site for it. The game was made up in the 1970's. Perhaps a browse of the Chess Variants page is in order, eh? They used to have the link to the creator's site and his ordering information with pictures of some nice looking sets. They might be able to help you out for the 8 X 10 board, too. Grand Chess uses the same exact pieces as Gothic Chess and the design of the pieces themselves is one I like. They use the names Cardinal and Marshall for the Archbishop and Chancellor. I like how they incorporated the Knights into the pieces and it makes them easy to tell apart and also remember how they move. Their design for the Cardinal would make a good looking piece for the Januses, but they'd need to supply you with one extra of each color to play Janus Chess with their set.

Walter Montego: Or buy two sets and have lots of extra pieces to play the various games.

mahavrilla: As for finding a Gothic Chess set, I believe you can still purchase a nice high-impact plastic set with a rubber-matted foam board at www.gothicchess.org

I purchased one a few years back when Gothic was just getting started and have really enjoyed my set.

There's a horse named King Of Gothland running in the 4:50 at Sandown, tipped by the Guardian.

Finished 8th @ 33-1.

Ughaibu: I didn't know you like betting at the ponies. Did you lose any money?

A little but not on KOG.

Is this someone can indicate to me if there is an Internet site which
makes it possible to play Gothic chess on line (in real time, no turn-based).

I believe that Ed Trice is working on this right now. I don't think that it can be played in Realtime yet (as far as I know). I believe that when this is completed it will be available through http://www.gothicchess.org/

Caissus: (From Feb 15th) www.janusschach.de, I think. I have to check it. I am not sure about 4 times, as I have not read it in a while, but more than once.

I checked. It seems that Janusschach makes it possible to play Janus chess, Fisher random chess (chess 960) and standard chess but no gothic chess.

First all let me say I have no axe to grind either way with regard to Gothic Chess or its inventor. However, I see a whole load of people who like to play the game here and I see the possibility of that being in jeopardy. So here's a suggestion. I hope it's seen as a constructive one by all concerned. It's certainly meant that way...

I've looked through Ed's patent and it's very specific about the way the pieces are arranged and which files they're on. Obviously this is very important to the dynamics of the game vis-a-vis Capablanca Chess. However, because the piece placement is stated so specifically (e.g. "the chancellors are located at e1, e8 respectively"), other arrangements of the pieces would seem to me not to infringe the patent.

However, what piece placement could be different enough to steer clear of the patent but still retain the desired characteristics of Gothic Chess? Simple. All we need to do is use a mirror image piece placement! The board is numbered and lettered in the normal way with a1 in white's left hand corner but now his king is at e1 not f1, his queen is at g1 not d1, his chancellor is at f1 not e1 and his archbishop is at d1 not g1.

Now this is not Gothic Chess as defined in the patent. And players would have to get used to playing with the king and queen sides swapped over, but people do seem very versatile here! And it'll need a new name (like Storm Chess of course! ) and a small amount of reprogramming from the Fencer and co. But surely everyone would then be happy?

Stormerne: Or place the pieces in columns A, B, I, & J (then rotate the board 90 degrees).

Or just play Gothic Chess........

Chessmaster1000: but please without any worry about any sh* laws or patents please.

I don't understand what you are saying......
I just said to play Gothic Chess legally. Not ignoring the patent........We don't have to invent new games that are the same with G.C without breaking the patent, we just have to play Gothic Chess......!

Is it true that the "horsepart" and the "bishoppart" of the archbishop work better together than the "horsepart" and the "rookpart" of the chancelour?

Nobody knows.........
And in fact your question is not well defined so actually nobody can't answer..........

Uhm, I wasn't looking for a logical proof or something, but I will restate my question:
I have the feeling that the archbishop as compared to the bishop has gained a lot in power, while the chancelour as compared with the rook has gained less power. (the weakness of one-colour-squares of the bishop is neutralized, more combi-attacks are possible (?))
Is my feeling correct that generally speaking the three pieces (queen, archbishop, chanselour) have about the same strenght?

Fwiffo: I agree that the archbishop compared to the bishop gained more power than the chancellor compared to the rook. But since the rook has more power than the bishop to start with, this doesn't prove much.

I think the better question is, has the knight gained more power as the archbishop, or as the chancellor?

Fwiffo: have a look at http://www.chessbox.de/Compu/schachveri1_e.html where I have calculaed the average values (the values for C and A at 8x8 will be recalculated soon).

Fwiffo: in a sense, they are the same strength because any singular endgame combination thereof (A vs C, Q vs A) is a draw under most circumstances. But as for which is more powerful, C or A, remarkably I have found A is better than its theoretical move values as compared to a C. However, it always depends on the game :)

Thank you all for your responses. They were very helpful.

redsales: your arguments ar combinatorical thoughts but the average values depends on positional interdependencies (in my personal philosophy on that, of course), thus I implemented those values in Smirf.

Sumerian: what has a "nightrider" to do with capaches and why is his worth so low?

Caissus: It is a piece moving iterated like a Knight as a sliding piece. It is an example for to demonstrate the ability of my calculating method to evaluate even fairychess pieces.

I still think that all games in a match should be rated. If this occurred my actual won lost draws would be 58 wins 39 losses and 4 draws;and my rating would be much higher since 6 of my wins that will never be counted or rated are against players rated from 90-300 rating points above me as opposed to only 2 losses against these same opponants;1 loss against the 90 point leader and 1 against the 300 point leader. Against the 300 point leader;I am leadining 3 games to 1. This is why I think all games,even match games should be rated. I would fell the same even if I had lost all these games;since I think ALL GAMES should be rated.

tedbarber: This only includes my Gothic Chess games in my foregoing message.

tedbarber: All games should NOT be rated. I am currently playing Pente against two other players trying to hlep them improve their skills. In many of our games, I lose intentionally while showing them a particluar sequence. Clearly these games should not be rated. I have also replayed a game against a few opponent to try and understand where one of us went wrong. Again, we should be able to make these game unrated if we so choose, since these games amount to practice. And also, I have a few friends who are rated way above or way below me in certain games. The hihger rated player does not like to play these games, because, if they win, their score does not go up, but if they lose, it goes down a lot! Playing unrated allows us to play and have fun despite our BKR differences.

Thad: I meant when you choose to play a rated Match;you havethe option to make games or matches unrated if you so specify when you set them up. However if you choose to play a rated game or match;then all games should be rated and counted. Maybe I should have been more specific in my other messages.

Thad: This is also how both the USCF and all other Chess organizations do;to the best of my knowledge.

tedbarber: If you choose to play a rated game or match, then all games ARE rated and counted...I don't know what's your problem

He means the individual games IN the matches don't affect any BKR. The BKR is only affected by the results of the match, as a whole..

Play 3 1-game matches instead of 1 3-game one. As easy as that.

Pedro Martínez:What is the point of a 1 game match;anyway all my matches have been 2,4, or 10 games;and I still say ALL individual games should be rated.

tedbarber: DO NOT PLAY 2, 4, OR 10-GAME MATCHES AND ALL YOUR INDIVIDUAL GAMES WILL BE RATED.

I disagree, a match is a single event so why should it be rated in parts?

ughaibu:because all other chess sites do it.

So what?

tedbarber: So BrainKing should be JUST like all other chess sites?!? tsk tsk tsk...

WhiteTower: It couldn't hurt to have the option to have it either way before the series of games in a match starts. I think that's all he was asking for. Perhaps you should try the "Feature Request" discussion board, ted. See if Fencer will have a listen to you.

Walter Montego: I think there is such an option...

I tried that board;but Fencer will not do it.

I wish to know if someone knows web site(s) with at least an embryonic Janus opening theory.

1. If you have the white pieces, move the white pieces. DO NOT move the black pieces, your opponent will not like it.

2. Try and capture more of your opponent's pieces than he can capture of yours. If you are unsure what to do, refer to suggestion #1.

3. If nothing comes to mind after reading #1 or #2, then I recommend moving a Janus.

EdTrice: