The Janus is worth almost a Queen, according to an analysis by Ed Trice, the developer of Gothic Chess (which has a piece that moves the same as a Janus but is called an Archbishop). I think a good estimate is about 8.5 for a Janus.

I think the Janus has a little less worth as a queen, I would say the value is 7,5-8,0. But the Janus has one special advantage: He can alone checkmate the king in the corner and in the middle of the game you have very interesting tactical possibilities

Interesting. Is this value of the Janus published anywhere or is it based on your experience? In Gothic Chess, giving up a Queen for an Archbishop (the same as a Janus) is called the "Gothic Exchange" and is considered less of a sacrifice than the standard Exchange (giving up a Rook for a Bishop).

No that is my own opinion which is based on the worth of knight and bishop (Janus,archbishop) on the one side and the worth of rook and bishop (queen) on the other side. When the worth would be the same if you say ,what would be the worth of the chancellor (rook and knight) in gothic chess? It is sure a little bit stronger then a Janus and then a little stronger as a queen? i think no

OK, I looked up the article on the relative value of the Gothic Chess pieces. Based on a computation of the "probablility of delivering a safe check," the values (on a 10x8 board) of the Queen, Archbishop (Janus), and Chancellor are 8.70, 8.41, and 8.17, respectively. It is interesting to note that this scheme rates the Chancellor the least of the three; however, my experience playing Gothic Chess is that the Chancellor "feels" more powerful than the Archbishop. The most surprising thing is how close the Archbishop and Chancellor are to the Queen in strength.

I have only just started playing and I find this discussion interesting. So far I have found the knight attribute extremely helpful and i think this is because it is the beginning of the game where there are more pieces and fighting is at closer range. I expect, as with the knight, the advantage will dimish slightly as the game progresses and the board becomes more open. I can see why the the Janus and Chancellor are closer in values than the Bishop and Rook as the Janus will not be restricted to one colour diagonals but I am not sure why it should be worth more as the Cancellor has the ability to cover an additional two squares.

juangrande ... i would be interested to know, from your previous research, the relative values of the rook, knight and bishop when they are on the board with the queen, janus and chancellor. I assume a pawn is 1.0

OK, the values of the pieces in Gothic Chess (a 10x8 board) are (according to the "safe check" theory) as follows:

Piece....... Value
------....... -----
Knight........2.50
Bishop........3.03
Rook..........5.67
Chancellor...8.17
Archbishop..8.41 (Note: Arcbishop = Janus)
Queen.........8.70

Note: According to this theory, the value of all the pieces goes down from that on an 8x8 chessboard. For example, the value of a Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Queen on an 8x8 board are 3.00, 3.25, 6.00, and 9.25, respectively.

One should, of course, realize that these "values" are, at best, guidelines. The actual values vary according to the position. Just like there are positions where a Knight is better than a Bishop (or even a Rook), there a positions where an Archbishop (Janus) is better than a Queen.

Thanks, you have been most inciteful

I tested yesterday the values in Gothic Chess with "Zillions of games" and the result was that the values of the chancellor and the queen was nearly the same and the value of the archbishop was clear deeper. But the application is not very strong.
But I have another idea: Perhaps we can play both Januschess and Gothic Chess. There are only to make some small changes at the rules.
Who asks fencer?

I have posted to the 'Features requests' board my request that Fencer implement Gothic Chess (and Omega Chess, another interesting variant). He said something like "Why not?", but it would probably be helpful if you posted a request for Gothic Chess as well.

By the way, when you say the value of the Archbishop was "clear deeper", do you mean that it is "clearly less"?

Yes,sorry my english is not so good...
I know Omega Chess too and it would be great if we can play it here too. I informed fencer in the last month about "Januschess", but I can not ask him every week for another game.The best would be if you send him setup,rules and images of these games. That is sure the the best way.

Thanks, I'll have to take a closer look at the value of the Archbishop (Janus). In the article, the author makes a cryptic comment about "adding an extra parameter" to account for the fact that the Archbishop can perform an unassisted mate of a lone King. I have to agree with you that my playing experience is that the Archbishop is definitely weaker than the Queen, although I think the Archbishop may be stronger in closed positions (just like the Knight is stronger in closed positions than the Bishop and sometimes even a Rook).

I've already asked for Omega Chess and Gothic Chess and provided Fencer with the URLs explaining the rules, setup, etc. It might still be worth anyone else mentioning it again to him in order to show that there is more than just one interested person. It appears lots of people are playing Janus Chess and I think lots would play Omega and Gothic Chess as well. So, show your support for Omega and Gothic Chess by sending Fencer another note! :-)