My favourite variant is atomic (check my ratings and you will see why LOL) so you can guess which one I would vote for :)

I really like atomic chess also (even though I'm not good at that either) - and I thought about an "atomic Gothic Chess", but with the extra 2 "power" chess pieces, I think the white player can start an attack really quick and win the game without black having much of a chance.

(but I did not do a lot of research of atomic gothic chess, so I might be wrong) :-)

BBW - i think you are right but being on the offensive first up means that you must continually put on pressure which can cost pieces. Would like to try it out though.

Hum...... maybe with different "atomic" rules - maybe like no pawn that is in the 2nd row (that was not been moved) can be taken by the other player, but will not "blow up" the other pieces next to it. Once pawn is moved, it will blow up the other pieces.

No unauthorized explosives without expressed written permission of Fencer! We already had one server blow up this week!

Right.
I am afraid that it would lead to a heap of variant combinations [gothic loop chess, atomic janus chess, omega crazy screen chess, ...] which is exactly what I don't want to do here.

omega chess ???? never heard of the one ... and there is a crazy screen variant !!!! WOW (LOL)

Omega Chess
I've never tried them. And the board looks strange.

To celebrate the fact that we recently received additional funding for the Gothic Chess Federation, we will have a $3000 first prize tournament for the title of World Champion. There is no entrance fee!! First round winners from each section of 8 players will also receive $250 as soon as the play completes. If more than one winner, this $250 will be split equally. Winners of the second round (if there is one) will receive $500 each. This money will be split in the event of multiple winners in each section. The winner of the tournament will receive an additional $3000. The second place finisher will receive $1000.

I'd love to enter, but I'm a lowly Brain Pawn, and stuck in the interminable BigBadWolf #3 tourney...any way to bail out of an existing tourney I've already finished my games in and have no chance of advancing through?

sure
upgrade to rook. it's currently only 28$, slightly more than half the price this tournament originally asked for as entrance fee

matthewhall: Your in luck - the tournament you were in, the other people in the section finished their games today, so you are allowed to enter another tournament.

It is my hope that this board is used to publish interesting information about the game of Gothic Chess. On more than one occasion, I have removed derrogatory remarks and posts that are obviously inflamatory in nature.

Here is the editing policy I employ.

1. If you post something that is blatantly antagonistic, that post will be removed.

2. If you continue to use this forum to carry out personal disputes, you will have your posting priviledges revoked.

That being said, try to resolve matters of dispute with the person you are having the dispute with, and do not make it everyone else's business.

Are the world ratings still in effect? I would like to suggest using the world rating for certain games, especially the tournament ones.

I am not sure what you mean. The BrainKing ratings are always in effect, and I think they are more than adequate.

Can you please explain what the world ratings are, and why you believe a substitution is necessary?

The World Rankings are what I assumed you called the ranking points that you calculated manually, when we first played back in the Yahoo Club, while I was sketching the board diagrams on pieces of paper and naviguessing my way around the board. Oh BTW, where ever has Streetman gone?

Are you saying that all previous rankings are now null and void, and the BK ratings is the only official one now? Hhmmphh... you might have said that earlier, before I threw a few games to the wind...
[Just kidding!]

I've started to play Janus Chess. Just wondering what kind of creature/symbol is the Janus?

Janus is a Roman god with two faces.This symbol looks like a dog. It would be better to use the regular Janussymbol (www.janusschach.de)what I have proposed to fencer.

A Roman god -- of what? I thought it was a cross between a wooly mammoth and a horse or a cloaked figure caught in the wind! Thanx for fillin' me in. LoL

Those ratings were mostly for over-the-board play. I included a few yahoo games at the request of players who had no rating at all.

Why on earth would we use OTB ratings for a tournament on here, especially when there is a system in place to rate you here?

Oh OK. which of these two ratings then would be considered as the official world rating?

You have never played over-the-board, so you have no such rating. This is not an over-the-board tournament anyway, so even if you did have one, that rating would not be used.

The only official World Ratings, as you call it, are those played over-the-board in over-the-board tournaments.

The tournament is played under different constraints. The BrainKing rating is the only one that matters.

You have played more BrainKing games than under the other system, so I consider the BrainKing rating more accurate anyway.

I have returned to the task of building more web pages after a bit of a hiatus. This month's game is rather interesting, featuring a "smack down" attack where both sides just go after each other.

August Game is the link is anyone would like to see it.

I will gradually work on annotating the other games from months gone by, and work on making this a regular feature at the end of each month.

OK Ed, I believe you are the best, but dont occassionally other players deserve to have their
game promoted? :) I am just a mere beginner, but perhaps you could search a way other people can send some candidates, and perhaps some prize awarded to participants of chosen game to encourage players create artworks :))Even in such cases like you present here your opponents would deserve at least whipping-boy prize ;)
Read this with a bit of sense for humor :P

Every month I ask for annotated submissions from the players here, and I do not get any.

As I review my games, I select the ones with themes that would help explain certain aspects of the game.

I think this approach makes the most sense for the time being, but I always welcome input from other players.

I am looking for some chessboard (for windows)
for gothic chess, as its sometimes better to check some variations on the board instead by memory. I see Zillions of games board mentioned but couldnt find it until now. There is Gothic evolution chess, but if the piece functions change after taking a piece, its not quite the same. And there are also lots of other variants like Capablanca chess, but to avoid of checking and downloading all possible files I am asking here. I need just a chessboard, without engine.
Ed, I see you were using some boards prior to Gothic Vortex, as your screenshots show. But you aint willing to share it, are you? Hope not only business plans with wooden boards and Gothic Vortex are important for you but also overall progress of players strength in the world :P
Just dont be mad on me if something sounds somehow offensive, its not thought that way :)

Of course its a circle, or vortex :P, higher level, more players, more sets sold, more federation members, more incomes etc. Of course now there are some investitions too.
But its not only a business plan, I believe, like your stories about visiting clubs show, you really like the game, as you found something where your talents show. Or perhaps you want to be famous and known to next generations as the inventor/starting setup modifier of a great game and a great player :)

A chessboard which supports load/save of PGN format would be the most appreciated one ;)
Usable to review some interesting games offline,
unharassed by server lags.

The images on the website were created on my Macintosh with a little program I wrote to save and replay games.

When Gothic Vortex comes out, there will be a free version that just can save and replay games.

Great!

We need once again four players to start this tournement. Sign in!

It would be easier if you add a link to your tournament here.

It's danos' tournament, and there's a link 6 posts down :-)

Thanks Kevin :-)

I am still waiting for confirmation of my registration in the tournament. I sent in $50, but have not heard any news. When does this start? Today is Sept. 1st, and it is 23:00hrs here in LA, so it's already Tuesday on the East coast where Ed Trice is from.

What's going on?

Felix: The tournaments rules have been changed, there is no more a registration fee and the prize has been raised to $3000. I am sure that if you ask Ed to send the $50 back to you, he will do it.
And the tournament starts on 1st October 2003. You can find more information on GothicChess.org.

I sent an email to everyone who registered for the tournament, but one email bounced back, so I guess that was you Felix. Just sent an email to GothicChessInfo@aol.com with your info, and I will send your money back to you.

Ed, will the person who comes in 2nd place win the Gothic Set since it looks like your going to come in 1st!

No, you all have to take up a collection and buy me a Gothic Chess set :)

And they said you didn't have a sense of humor!

And the collection can be collected here on BK using "Support Us" page :-D

The members and friends of the Killing Machine have been directed to the "Support Us" page. The only bad news is that many of us get lost on the way to the bathroom. :o)

Myself and Defrag1971 played the longest game ever that was completed on September 1st! The game was 86 moves which eclipsed the record which was 74 played by CaissasDream-GothicIventor. The game was a draw which for some people might not seem dramatic, but for us I would say that the game was hard fought and well played. There were probably second best moves played throughout the game, and other than myself losing a pawn which I never was able to win back this game is definitely worth taking a look at!! Game #98600
If anyone knows of a longer game of either one of these please post it.

Thanks

Rob's game is at Defrag Game for those that want a quick click.

On the other end of the spectrum, I think I have the quickest game,

mate in 5 which only took 5 moves.

Of interest is that Rob defended a difficult Queen vs. Queen + Pawn ending in his 86 move draw, but in my 74 move win, it was a rather complex Chancellor and Pawn ending, the first time this class of positions was ever reached.

Just a side note - it is better to use relative URLs, e.g. <a href=/game/ArchivedGame?g=98600>Defrag Game</a> to make them compatible with both possible host addresses - brainking.com and www.brainking.com.

If we finished games and the results are needed for the tournament should they be posted here?

Yes. I can set the correct result for all games that have been finished before the crash and their results are known.

While BrainKing was down, I was counting the number of Gothic Chess positions that were possible. I came up with 32,099,674,107,692,140,366,789,953,222,888,490,987,180,838,400,000,000 positions before any pieces were captured so I know this final number will be huge.

If anyone wants to double check my math, visit...

this link and let me know what you get.

Ed,

Interesting calculation, but I think you can do better. Since this is only a count of board positions WITHOUT any captures, any given pawn can only occupy one of six squares, NOT sixty, right? Also, once a white pawn is advanced, this decreases the number of available squares for the black pawn in the same rank by the number of squares the white pawn is advanced and vice versa.

What you've calculated is that there are at MOST x board positions without caputres, but what we really need is to know that there are at LEAST x positions. ;-)

Still interesting, though.

Thad

Yes, as stated on the page, I wanted to calculate a reasonable upper bound that could not be exceeded.

The lower bound can be estimated easily by not placing the kings on the board at the end, and restricting the pawn count as you indicated. It gets messy though, when you consider a position that has a legal en passant capture, even though not executed, can also look the same as a position where the en passant capture opportunity has expired. These identical board setups are actually two different positions.

The same is true of castling rites. If I move my king to the left, then move it back to the original square, but it looks like I can castle, it is really a different position than an indentical setup wherein I have not moved the king.

If someone wants to work out the numbers to that level of detail, they are welcomed to it!

I also made a formula error for the Bishops. I listed them as a summation of a choose formula, rather than of the form (T/2)^2 where T is the total number of vacant squares that 2 opposite color bishops can occupy. The formula should not be T choose 2 as I indicated at the top of the page, since that implies the Bishops can be both on the same color squares.

I did explain this part of the calculation properly but I did not redraw the formula yet.