hgm wrote:
* The Windows version of Sjaak does not seem able to find its variants.txt file. Apparently it does not look for it in the current directory. Not even when I give the filename on the command line (or that of a user-supplied file). I have to give the full path name as an argument to make the user-defined variants available.
Are you sure the working directory is the one that holds variants.txt? I remember his being tricky when starting programs in Windows.
Note that you can also specify the file in the engine options dialog. Since SjaakII has persistent options, it will remember this for the next time.
* In the variants.txt file supplied with Sjaak II, there is a definition of Judkins' Shogi, but the method for forging this into a name for in the CECP variants feature does not seem to understand the quote, so that it appears as 'judkins'.
I think this is by design; does XBoard allow quotes and spaces as part of the variant name? I guess I assumed that it didn't.
* Sjaak seems to have a King-safety issue in the larger Shogi variants. In Crazyhouse, mini-Shogi and Tori Shogi Sjaak scores 35-40% against CrazyWa (40 moves/min), in Judkins' Shogi even ~50%. (I don't understand why CrazyWa has so much difficulty with this. It seems to make wrong trades with the Knights all the time.) But is regular Shogi I stopped at a pathetic 17.5-0.5 (the draw being due to an 6-move game where both sides just moved their Golds back and forth). In Wa it is now 16-3 for CrazyWa. Sjaak happily moves his King in front of his Pawns (which Crazywa is eager enough to stimulate, when it gets the chance, but sometimes even happens spontaneously). This is totally lethal, even in games where it is very much ahead in material.
Tell me about it.
I haven't found a king safety term that works well across variants. I suppose a plain "king should not be ahead of any pawns" might be adequate as a middle-game term (I don't advance game phase in drop variants).
I'll check the repetition issue. It should avoid all repetitions (because I don't have side-specific rules).