Introduce Yourself / discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Introduce Yourself.

Grayhawke

Grayhawke 1176935551|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

My name is Graeme C. Neatham and I live in Fife, Scotland, with my wife and (currently) 8 dogs. I trained as an Actuary but switched to IT in the early 1990's, working on various projects in Europe, North America and the Far East. I retired in January 2007 due to poor health and now spend my time pursuing a variety of hobbies and interests.

These include, apart from Chess and CVs, Wargaming (almost exclusively Ancients), Open Source Software (PHP, Java, C, C++), Science Fiction and Fantasy (I especially admire the writing of David Gemmell and have been a Star Trek fan since my University days) and not forgetting the Dogs (Jo, Merlin, Zen, Nikki, Beagan, Mo, Kat, and Kyle).

Re: Grayhawke

Rich Hutnik 1207433671|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello Graeme. Can you help with coming up with a good open-source licensing agreement that will bes serve the variant community on a "Linux" type framework for a version of chess the variant community can contribute to? It should allow for free distribution, but also a chance for people doing commercial variants to integrate it into their work, and be able to make a living. The idea is to make the variant community more financially viable, and also considered more legitimate. I would also then would like this to be part of IAGO/IAGO World Tour, so that variant tournaments be run, player champions be crowned and so on. My idea isn't to make this a glory thing for IAGO, and have it try to force its way on the world, but have the world give serious input into what things should be, so that the fullness of chess (variants onward) would be insured is reflected in what IAGO does.

Re: Grayhawke

Grayhawke 1207439918|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Rich,
I would suggest using the licence that by default covers the work on this wiki

the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 License.

Cheers
Graeme

Re: Grayhawke

Rich Hutnik 1207445292|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Thanks. I will keep that in mind. What I do want people to do is to be able to sell the contents for profits if they choose to do so, redistributing them with equipment they have if they choose to do so, or putting it in a book for profit. I want them somehow to point back to the original work. If they distribute for free, that is one issue.

What I don't want to have happen is that by people being involved with IAGO Chess System, the end result was they lose the ability to make money using it. As for the Chess of the Future Project, that I will let others decide on.

Re: Grayhawke

Rich Hutnik 1207445342|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I should also add, I would like to be notified (aka, IAGO) when this happens to be done, so I can be aware of where it is going. Maybe I can reframe this somehow.

Re: Grayhawke

Rich Hutnik 1207452557|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Feel free to sign up on the abstractgamers.org site, and that would start. There is also the news site you can sign up on. There is a Wiki section allowing for editing. I happened to change the terms and conditions of IAGO Chess. I will need to do the same for the IAGO Framework. The object now is, the stuff is free to use and modify, provided that people point to the latest version of the document. Such can also be done for commercial purposes, if the author (myself) or IAGO World Tour Enterprises is contacted in writing. There is assumed no legal liability on the part of the author or IAGO World Tour Enterprises if through said use and distribution break any laws. That is what is being driven at now. The idea here is to facilitate its use and people adding to it. The terms may get modified as the changes are shown to make more sense.

I believe there is a news wiki that allows for the signing up for latest new blurbs. Most of these are IAGO World Tour events that get added.

Joe Joyce

Joe Joyce 1176942560|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi. My name is Martin J. Joyce III, but Joe is easier. I live on top of the east bank of the Hudson River just north of New York City, a beautiful view on winter nights, with my wife, her collection of animals and plants, and, currently, one child (the older).

Got a degree a long time ago, but had so much fun back then I was an 8-year man. For my sins, I wound up working for the US Postal Service for a third of a century, retiring when I turned 55 in 2003. Until my knees went (an occupational hazard), I enjoyed tennis and free-climbing. Now I enjoy ping-pong and hiking, and have just started kayaking.

Learned to play chess and got addicted to science fiction at 10, got hooked on wargames at 12. By 15, I was "improving" some of the wargames. I discovered chess variants 3 years ago, in 2004. My sedentary hobbies include reading sf, fantasy, and science, and designing boardgames. I am trying to put together a small game company to sell some of the non-chess games. The ups and downs of that try (mostly downs) have been interesting and informative, but fortunately not totally discouraging. That's my avowed ambition.

My secret ambition is to become a world-famous chess variants designer (known by tens around the globe).

Gifford, Gary K

gary g 1177018297|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Like other members I've read about here, in addition to games and chess variants, I too like science fiction and fantasy.

In regard to chess variants, I have created around 40 (see www.chessvariants.com) - most of them were created subconsciously, such that I woke up with them in my head, or was driving a car or riding a bike, or watching TV, when a game seemed to suddenly appear.

I am currently working on a chess book with Bill Wall (an established chess author) and Davide Rozzoni (former editor of Unorthodox Openings Newsletter (UON). UON is an electronic magazine these days about strange and wonderful chess openings which are often overlooked by the typical chess player. I am the current editor of UON. Note that we should complete our chess book by fall 2007.

I am the author and illustrator of a book, "The Bermuda Pie-Angle, Cartoons and Word Play." In staying with the subject of writing, but drifting away from chess and cartoons, I am currently involved with a project through Amazon.com. It is a science fiction project that you can read about at my web page, www.cosmicsubmarine.wetpaint.com. Also there is a page there about the Bermuda Pie-Angle. That page includes several drawings of mine.

I have a wife, 4 kids, 2 cats, an old hermit crab. We all live near Lake Erie in Ohio, USA. I am employed as a technical writer/illustrator/documentation coordinator and have been maintaining and updating databases for hardware and software data acquisition components [yawn]. Long before that, I was a submarine sailor who spent a lot of time in the Mediterranean.

These days, on the long drive to and from work, I listen to Spanish tapes in hopes of becoming fluent in Espanol.

In closing, if you have read this far and are still awake, "Hasta la vista." And in case you dozed off… "buenos nochess."

Re: Gifford, Gary K

Grendel 1256000234|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi. My name's Wesley Parish, and like a lot of you I'm an SF addict; I'm currently doing a programming course to get up to date on one of the current popular languages, Java. I live in New Zealand.

I learnt chess at an early age, though I haven't done a lot of playing over the years; I've invented one (or perhaps more) chess variants, though on a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri that can quite safely be predicted not to have any influence from the Earth game: it's got a few twists - you have a citadel aka City, you have a Massif in the middle, and you have a set of free actors who are nominally on your side, in a "valley" running up both sides of the board: the trick is to suborn the opposition's free actors by placing one of your Lords (bishop plus Castle) within the free actors' "valley" on the opponent's side of the board, thus giving you a free pass to attack within the opponent's City and bypass the Massif, which is otherwise the key to success. I suspect I got a lot from my exposure to one of the Chinese versions of Chess, which I learnt to play in my late twenties.

Jos Jansen of Lorkeers

Jos Jansen 1177061830|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello everybody,

I live in the Netherlands in a town called Apeldoorn: quite near Arnhem (which some people know from "A Bridge too far")

In Apeldoorn is a very lively chess-scene: from elementary-school clubs (nearly every elementary school has some sort of chessclub)
to 2 chessclubs for children and adults. One of the chess-clubs participates in the highes chess-league of the Netherlands.

I got interested in chess on my 12th year. Played a few games and then forgot about it.

After that i gor married / moved to Apeldoorn / got children. And then chess started again. A teacher on the elementary-school asked my wife if she knew somebody who could help in the chess-club of the school. My wife said í would come and help them (what she sometimes regrets now :).
I helped for a while / became responsible for the finances, after the chairman left i became chairman: have been doing that for 10 years: resigned April 2007.

I do play some chess-games on www.chessworld.net - hardly play any "real-time games behind a real chessboard".

I did some translations into Dutch for chessvariants.org: mainly because the children in our club are nearly all on elementary-school and do not know enough English to understand the English texts.

Currently i work as a system-/networkadministrator for a company that makes locks/security hardware.

last edited on 1256112341|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Jos Jansen + show more

Dale Holmes

DaleH 1177081018|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello, all. Not quite sure what I did to get invited to join such a distinguished company (David, was one of your mailing lists from dullards.com?), but I'll gladly listen in to the discussion now that I'm here. I freely admit that Chess is not my game (I'm more attracted to Checkers and Go, really) but I do have a lively interest in boardgames generally, and--what might be relevant here--the different finite geometries pieces might live and move around in.

I live and move around in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the moonshinin' and inbreedin' goes on; but I grew up in Michigan, where they build trucks and stockpile ammunition; and I used to work as a college professor in upstate New York, where the Jesuits of tomorrow are wearing sandals and knitting windchimes today. Not a remarkable past, to be sure, but sufficient to keep me from getting bored.

Though I admire all of the occupations mentioned by y'all (author, actuary, lockmaker--good trades, every one!) I'm putting my time & money aside like Joe these days: trying to sell various games of my own invention.

last edited on 1177235685|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by DaleH + show more

Hello

Knight-errant 1177106427|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey, Joe, Larry, and all!

I am Gavin Smith (Gavin being a derivation of Sir Gawaine, the original knight-errant). In a flurry of activity in 2004 whose impetus was combating boredom while recovering from surgery, I invented the 3D chess variant Prince. I met Joe Joyce (above) and we even tried to play a game of it. But it's a game that's too complicated to play in one sitting. I have pretty much fallen off the face of the earth since, and am now in Washington state pursuing a masters in math. But I still lurk on the various chess variants sites and groups, and look forward to someday having the time finish playing at least one game of Prince, and trying out other variants as well.

Peace.

Re: Hello

Joe Joyce 1177110086|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey, Gavin! Great to hear from you. Larry is probably lurking about; he surfaces but rarely. However, he's made 2 recent appearances, so I expect he'll see this - he's still interested. Things are getting interesting here; members old and new are getting involved in discussions, disagreements, and diverse designs, from too small to too big [I'm only guilty of one]. Good luck with the math masters, and hope to see you in some games in the future. Should I warn people about your playing ability? You thumped me so bad in hype I had to write it into the rules page! Hope I've gotten better since then, but I've found 2D to be easier to play. Still, I certainly haven't given up on higher dimensions, and I finally own enough chess sets and boards to be able to play Prince as a board game - after we label all the different pieces appropriately ;-)
Look forward to hearing from you again. Enjoy,
Joe

Karen Robinson

KarenSDR 1177358000|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello, everyone. I'm Karen and I live in Colorado with my husband, to whom I've been married for 28 years. We have two grown kids, a son and a daughter. I'm a math teacher at a community college.

I'm terrible at chess but I love it anyway, probably partly because of Alice Through the Looking Glass. I have a couple of items on the ChessVariants pages: Queen's Quadrille and Chess Contradanse. The former is like a 15-puzzle, and I mostly made it up for something fun to do with chess pieces that's within my meagre capabilities. I've had mail from computer programmers who like to find optimum solutions, but that's not what I was aiming for. I was just kind of doodling.

I have a page of games I've made up at www.angelfire.com/my/zelime/games.html

I probably won't post here much, but I do enjoy lurking on the ChessVariants pages, and I'll probably lurk here too.

Karen

Crazyhorse

crazyhorse 1177809041|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Aloha friends. My name is William C. Schmidt. I live on the Island of Hawaii, with the active volcano. Small engine mechanic by proffession and engine efficiency by hobbie I had never entered the web until I bought my daughter a laptop for her 13th back in Sept. of 2006.

I have played chess since age 8 but never new of variants. I was introduced to Othello some years ago and became bored with the strategy and designed a 9 x 9 game in my head but never told anyone. This led me to develope a 9 x 9 chess variant Niners, which I also kept to myself.

When my daughter recieved HER laptop, Daddy had to wait till she went to bed to try it. I didn't sleep for two weeks!

Grandious delusions of great wealth had me searching Made in China dot com to find a producer for my game to sell to Walmart. Rollout vinal chessboards led me to Chessvariants. At this time I discovered my Knighted Queen already existed and had more than one name per the Piececlyopedia. When I studied the Piececlyopedia I saw a lot of blank spaces. This led to two more weeks of no sleep while I filled in the blanks with a 13 x13 Knightmare, standard board Knightimes, & 7 x 7 Missing Link.

I am not very good with computers and have trouble accomplishing my desired tasks. Knightmare was posed for me but I haven't been successful posing the rest. I'm not sure why I was invited either but here I am when the world outside will let me be here.
Aloha.

Scharnagl

Scharnagl 1177962268|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi to all chess variant lovers. I am Reinhard Scharnagl from Munich, Bavaria, Germany. One of my hobbies is to develop a multivariant (FullChess) chess program SMIRF and its own GUI. Now I am about to migrate with it to Mac OS X, what will need a lot of time. Its name will probably be changed then.

Sam here

samiam 1188425394|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello, everyone, this is Sam Trenholme. I have been interested in Chess Variants since the early 1990s, and in 1994 uploaded a text file describing Chess Variants to the internet. This is, to the extent of my knowledge, the first ever internet resource for Chess Variants, and predates the original Chess Varian pages by a couple of years.

I have actually only "invented" one variant: Schoolbook Chess. However, I am working right now on adding some more theory to the short-range project.

I am busy, and have an intermittent internet connection (this is why I am unable to play in the tourneys), but will make contributions here when I have time to do so.

John Lewis - Variant Designer

neoliminal 1193326435|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi, I'm John Lewis and I design chess variants. My goal(s) here are to help with unifying the chess names for fairy pieces and coming up with an easy to understand system of values for those pieces. (probably based on board size.) Most of my variants are available either on chessvariants.org or at schemingmind.com

Some have been implemented elsewhere by enthusiast. Thanks to those people.

My current holy grail is building a chess site where you can battle other players on a variety of boards and pieces of your choosing so that we can have battles between Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Indian/Western chess. I will call this variant World Chess. It will feature many fairy pieces and their values will be important so I have a vested interest in helping with those aspects…

Re: John Lewis - Variant Designer

Joe Joyce 1193352817|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello, John. Welcome to the madness. I see you have quite an ambitious program. I guess this is the place to try to make it happen. Several of us have vested interests in things like a truly useful Piecelopedia and the relative values of pieces. Some few things have been done, but we're really just starting out. If things work out right, you can go your own way, with help.
Enjoy,
Joe

HI.

deslock 1193355497|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi!

My name is Claudio Martins Jaguaribe. I'm a 37y.o. lawyer that lives in Rio de Janeiro. I live with my family and 3 dogs and a cat (all 4 necessary to the house: house guardians and mouse catcher (really)).

Besides loves chess, I'm always have been a anarchist, so, I never accepted the rules and the movements of the pieces, mostly the knights and pawns. One rainy day in the campus library I've discovered historical variants in a enciclopedia and I loved!! I even designed a huge variant that used a board, roughly, 1x0.5yd (each cell 1.4 inch) but I lost my notes when I moved. :-(

Recently I came across the CV Page and discovered that I was not alone! Thank you guys!!

Besides chess I like RPGs, swiming, soccer, cigars, beer and wine, women, hevay metal and bikes. (the last five I call the "fun pentagam" (beer+wine=alcohol, so 1)).

I'm taking public exams to get some office (judge, DA, state defender, public defender, police captain, so on…); when I get it I'll buy a bike and drive, perhaps all the way to US. ;-)

Hugs and pints 4UAll!

Jianying Ji AKA Ludic

ludic 1201337131|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

My name is Jianying Ji, a name I have never got a good explanation for, so I am going with Ludic as my moniker. My interest in chessvariants more or less started with me finding chessvariants.com . Ever since I being drawn in. As time went on, I became most interested in board topology and piece values. I am also especially intrigued by sit tu yin.

When I have a chance, I would like to implement that piece market thing, that will economically value pieces right.

Besides chess variants, I also like to contemplate go variants. Beyond games, I like to write poetry, read a good story, and prove impossible theorems.

I look forward to reading and learning much here.

David Cannon

Davidcannon 1205104557|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I'm excited to find this wiki devoted to chess variants. Not that I see anything wrong with the classical FIDE game, but I have a rebel streak in my personality that cannot leave anything alone. I try to work out improvisations for everything I find. Of house, there are some variants that I like much better than others - but that's the beauty of websites like this one - there should be something for everybody (and if there isn't, they can always make their own and post it here).

I am currently working on a number of variants involving different boards and pieces, and am learning the Zillions of Games programming language. Whenever I can squeeze in the time from my busy schedule, I will contribute here.

P.S.

Davidcannon 1205104861|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

One thing I forgot to mention is my dream for chess variants:

1. Keep the FIDE game (perhaps with minimal modifications, such as upgrading the stalemate to a win) as an international standard.
2. Encourage each country to officially adopt its own national chess variant (some countries, such as Japan, China, etc. already have one).
3. Jurisdictions that are part of a federation, such as American states and Canadian provinces, should also be encouraged to adopt an official variant for their state/province.
4. Cities and other municipalities should be encouraged to adopt local variants.
5. Each individual chess club should adopt, or make, it own unique variant(s), to be played alongside the FIDE, national, regional, and local variants at the club.

That's my wish-list. Who's going to help me make it happen?

Re: P.S.

ludic 1205223329|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Welcome to this wiki! It is always great to have another person join the quirky vocation as ours. A hearty harrah, indeed!

Interesting that you mention regional variants, I think the following is a partial list of country with their unique variants:

Mongolia- Shatar, China - Xiangqi, Japan - Shogi, Korea - Changgi, Burma - Sit Tu Yin, Thailand - Makruk, India - Chaturanga (historical?), Iran (Persia) - Shatranj (Historical) Turkey (Byzantium) - Byzantine chess (Historical), Turkey - Turkish Great Chess (Historical), Germany - Gala (Historical?), Spain - FIDE chess, Bulgaria -bolyar chess (historical)

It would be intereting to have a system where to be a world champion, one must be top ranked player at the greatest fraction of all the regional variants.

Re: P.S.

Rich Hutnik 1207432827|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello David, can I add my two cents, based on my experience and asking around?
1. I personally believe there is room for this, but why not have a framework that is more friendly to the variant community as a whole, that allows them to have a say? FIDE rules are a fine start, but if you say you play variants, you are considered on the level of being a freak.
2. It would be nice if a nation has its own variants. However, from the IOC standards, which is what chess and so on push for, they want games to have a worldwide appeal. I believe having a game originate from one country, but then spread out worldwide, is more beneficial. At this point, what you want, is what is there, and a game like XiangQi is so nation specific, it has a hard time being adopted outside of China. So, if you want more variants play, I suggest a global promotion of variants. By the way, what should be the standard version of chess for Canada and the United States? Should they be different games?
3. The regional adoption ends up being that everyone rallies around FIDE chess and that is it. This ends up binding games to an area, when everything is globalizing.
4. What I suggest there be is a larger framework that would allow people to run with their own local version if they like, but it dialogs with others. On this note, do you want governments to get into the business of regulating variants?
5. I see here a balkanizing of the chess community as a whole, which may or may not work. I would rather this not be forced on anyone, but if it develops that way, so be it.

You may be onto something here, with small communities being involved in testing variants and so on, and local dialects arise that people play. I would support that happening, under the provision that such lend to the global version of chess.

If you would like to get involved with the future of chess, please do contact me on the abstractgamers.org site, for IAGO. My hope is enough people can get together and we open-source evolving of chess. I can't say I fully agree with your approach, but in it may be part of the answer.

George Jelliss 1206997953|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hallo, I'm the author of the "All The King's Men" page, included in your piececlopedia references, which describes a lot of old variant chess pieces. I've been interested in variant chess since about 1973 and published the magazine Chessics (1976-87). Then in 1990 I started the magazine Variant Chess, which is still going under the editorship of John Beasley. I've not been very active in variants since I moved to Leicester in 1999, but now that I've been elected President of the BCVS I thought I ought to get back to doing something. Your project looks interesting, though I've not yet examined in detail what has been done so far.

Joe Joyce 1207054899|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello, George:
Welcome to the CVwiki. You certainly bring a better resume than most. I suspect we are just beginning to see what this forum can facilitate; it's quite true that if you are looking for variant chess, you will find some wildly variant games here, as well as some more "traditional" sorts. And we seem to be just getting started. A certain amount of order may be appearing amid the chaos. With luck, you've joined at a very interesting time. Enjoy.
Joe

Rich Hutnik (IAGO/IAGO World Tour)

Rich Hutnik 1207433419|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello everyone.

I am Rich Hutnik. I am involved with IAGO (International Abstract Games Organization) and the IAGO World Tour (think World Poker Tour but with chess, checkers, variants, Go, etc…) and a range of abstract strategy games. The mission is to get abstract strategy games to go through a boom like poker had AS A GENRE, and not just a single game the way chess did in the 1970s. The point is to get it sustainable, and have it grow and be more profitable. In other words, work with a genre rather than a single game, as is normally done.

A byproduct of this, is I am working with chess variants, in order to help the community develop some common standards, terminology, and so on, to facilitate holding tournaments and perhaps working towards having perhaps a world chess variant champion, to legitimize variants as being an actually form of chess worthy of respect. To this end, I am proposing a "Chess of Tomorrow" project be started. The end result would be an open-source framework to facilitate the variant community to communicate with each other, be able to get needed equipment, and develop a roadmap for chess to continue to evolve, instead of just being stuck on the fallout of the Mad Queen. I am looking to offer the IAGO Chess System as a starting point here, and would look for people who want to be involved, to get involved. Please look at, test, rip and rebuild this. I also would like to have the best "terms and conditions" form with this document, so that it is free for people to use to make money, but also has people giving back to make sure that the framework grows and matures.

Anyhow, that is my take. If anyone is interested in the "Chess of Tomorrow" project speak up. We can end up having heated arguments, disagreements, ideas, compromises, etc… the end result should be a framework for chess to operate in (with some details) that won't dead-end up keep growing, that will tend to all the needs of all people into it, from the purist to the variant people, to people who like to experiment.

Re: Rich Hutnik (IAGO/IAGO World Tour)

Rich Hutnik 1207453222|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

By the way, if anyone has a better way to word this, let me know:
These are the terms and conditions regarding usage of the IAGO Chess System rules. It is meant to be flexible for people, and seeks to be a useful resource. It is also meant to grow and sustain chess as a game, and coordinate efforts, instead of fragmenting it. To accomplish these ends, these terms and conditions apply. These terms, and this document are NOT meant to excessively restrictive. Reasons for the written communications is to have individuals who use it get in touch with IAGO, in order to build community. This should also be seen as something you can modify, if IAGO is properly credited. PLEASE add any findings to the discussion so that this can be shaped and molded into a better foundation. Lastly, this framework should represent, to a large degree, the “inner plumbing of IAGO” instead of something that is being forced on the world. The object here is to have this as a way to produce consensus, not as a means of restriction, and if this needs to be reworded, please state you wish it were, and how.

The terms:
1. This document may be copied and distributed, at no costs, provided that that the copy of this document informs users where they may get ahold of the latest versions of this document. This document may also be modified, and abridged, provided the same conditions may be met. Portions may be quoted out of fair use, but in those case, a reference to this document, and where the latest version can be found, are sited. In addition, this document is free to be modified in distribution, provided that reference to where to obtain the latest version of this document is provided. Works derived from this work should not be construed as approved or endorsed by IAGO World Tour Enterprises, unless said approval and endorsement is given. Said works are considered distinct documents from this, and may be subject to their own terms and conditions for use. Users creating their own derived work off this document, maintain full legal ownership of their document, in light of the prior conditions.
2. Others may copy and distribute this document, commercially (for a fee), provided that IAGO World Tour Enterprises, or the document creator, is contacted in writing of this intention. This written permission may take an electronic or physical form). In the case of profits being made from the distribution of this document, the creator would like to know for what use, and have such effort further the cause of abstract strategy gaming. Distributed for a fee includes references to parts or whole of this document in any material that is sold. Reference to this document's existence, where the latest version may be obtained, and a description of its purpose, is excluded from this restriction. In event of whether there are questions about whether such use applies to this condition, contact the document creator for more information. There is no guarantee, explicit or implied, that such written permission and the consideration required to obtain, will be consistent between individuals who wish to distribute this document for a fee.
3. Said distribution of this work, shall be done in accordance with the laws regions where said distribution exists. IAGO World Tour Enterprises assumes no liability for distribution of this work by individuals not part of IAGO or IAGO World Tour Enterprises, by illegal methods. IAGO World Tour Enterprises also assumes no legal liability for distribution of works derived from this.
4. This document may be used as the basis of other frameworks, provided that reference to this work is made, individuals are informed of how they can readily obtain to obtain a copy of the latest version of this document. Individuals who use this document as the basis for other frameworks are encouraged to provide feedback on making this framework better.
5. Feedback on this document is recommended and encourage. Information of the extent of the distribution of this document is likewise encouraged.

These terms and conditions are in effect as of April 5, 2008. These may be subject to change, as governed by potential changes in laws, and also the needs relating to the purpose of this document. Please always consult the latest version of these rules, and the terms and conditions, before using them for commercial purposes.

'Modern' Chess Variants

j_carrillo_vii 1213238756|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello all!

My name is José Carrillo. I'm originally from the island of Puerto Rico, and I currently live in Ontario, Canada.

I'm the founder of the Fischer Random Chess eMail Club (FRCEC), and I'm a rookie chess variants designer.

I recently discovered the Prime Minister piece (Bishop + Knight) and Modern Chess (I know, I know, who cares about 9x9 variants…[I do!]), and after defining the general 'Modern' principles, have designed several 'Modern' Chess variants including: Modern Random Chess (9x9), Prime Ministers Chess (9x8), Contemporary Random Chess (8x8), Modern Capablanca Random Chess (10x8), and I'm working on a couple others.

Re: 'Modern' Chess Variants

ludic 1215390833|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Belated Welcome! It is good to have you here!

I like the reverse symmetry idea, it gives random setup variants a natural tension from the start. With each side starting with a strong half and a weak half. And with each side's strong half facing the other side's weak half and vice versa. One must decide to attack or defend. each of these necessarily take away from the other. I f you attack too much your defense suffers, If you defend too much you make no progress to winning!

Welcome!

-Ludic

Larry Gilbert: geek

LarryGilbert 1221963029|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello all,

I've known about the Chess Variants site for years, but only recently got caught up in it again. I've become a fan of Game Courier, and, being a computer geek, I've gotten drawn into learning GAME Code and programming presets. The documentation for the language is a tad difficult for me to wade through, though, so I thought having an alternate reference on a wiki would be something worth trying. Lo and behold, a search-engine search revealed that there is already an unofficial wiki for the Chess Variants site, so here I am!

Re: Larry Gilbert: geek

Joe Joyce 1221976855|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi, Larry, and welcome. I've put up a page called Preset Primer, which is a start at making a simple guide to presets. Since my tech skills are so 20th century, I stick to telling people how to make a basic non-rules checking preset. So I'm very happy someone wants to tackle the code end. I look forward to seeing your stuff.
Enjoy!
Joe

Alberto Giusti for Shuuro

guanxi 1245609538|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi, I'm Alberto from Italy. I'm a chess fan and I'm here because I'm trying to learn GAME Code and programming presets to create a Game Courier version for Shuuro (http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MSshuuro). Here the rules in English. Now I'm at this point but I don't know how to create a random function to generate 2 plinths in each quadrant of 6X6 squares. I've read the Preset Primer (thank you very much Joe) but I've no idea. Could you please suggest me the best solution? Thank you. Alberto

Re: Alberto Giusti for Shuuro

guanxi 1245609664|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Sorry… I don't' know how to create the plinths that are squares where only the knights could go. Thanks

Re: Alberto Giusti for Shuuro

j_carrillo_vii 1245616667|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Alberto,

I created this simple preset that does what you need, randomize 2 Plinths per 6x6 quadrant:
http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game%3DShuuro%26settings%3DSetup2

I selected a red circle to represent the Plinths, and Knights with a little orange line on the bottom to represent Knights standing on Plinths.

You can customize the pieces however you want, but this preset will give you just enough to get your variant going.

To test it go to the link, and press the Move button. It will clear the pieces from the board and randomly place the plinths.

Now you are ready to place your pieces according to your rules.

The preset doesn't enforce any rules.

Good luck!

Jose

Re: Preset for Shuuro

Joe Joyce 1245617430|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi, Jose:

Thank you, both for Alberto and me! I know he will like this; would you mind if I grab this preset and put it in the Preset Primer? Or, you could add it, with a bit of explanation. I am very non-technical these days, and appreciate every bit of info I can get. This is definitely worth saving and adding to the primer.

Thanks again,

Joe

Re: Preset for Shuuro

j_carrillo_vii 1245629296|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Sure Joe.

You can use and do with the preset or customize it however you want.

I'm into random variants, so when I saw Alberto's issue, I took it as a challenge.

I have to admit I like the concept of the random pillars. I may use it as an option in some of my random variants. It's quite neat!

Cheers,
Jose