Musketeer Chess Variant pieces available at HouseofStaunton

[Nordlandia]

I think the archbishop sligthly stronger than the pair of Bishops.
It's simply due to the fact that the Archbishop can control all the squares on the board (black and white alternatively) but does not need coordination whereas for the Bishop pairs even if they are a strong association but they need coordination to be efficient and strong.

Thanks

[musketeerchess]

It's a pleasure to discuss chess and chess variants.
I really think that the future of chess is chess variants especially those who are played on 8x8 boards like Musketeer Chess.

Musketeer Chess is imho the variant that brings the most diversity for chess, respecting the old principles and strategies of classic chess, but bringing a lot more fun.

I play more and more Capablanca Chess online for example. I hope some day i find talented programmers to help me get an excellent engine, to see tournaments between many engines playing Musketeer Chess and that this variant becomes wide spread.

I'm willing to help it spread by offering 2 kits for every 10 kits you buy. For that you have to send me an email with a copy of your order and then i'll do what is necessary with the House of Staunton staff. Conditions will be even better if a Chess Club is interested.

I'm also looking for programmers to help me implement Musketeer Chess in my website sothat funs could play Musketeer Chess online.

[Evert]

It's a pleasure to discuss chess and chess variants.
I really think that the future of chess is chess variants especially those who are played on 8x8 boards like Musketeer Chess.

Chess variants can be immense fun, and they offer a fascinating insight the the possibilities of the game. I would really like to see a wider appreciation of chess variants. However, let's not kid ourselves.
What we call Chess is already a bit of a niche interest, interest in chess variants is a fraction of that. While it's probably true that chess will continue to evolve with time, it's hard to say how it will develop.

There have been many attempts to "revitalise" chess, going at least as far back as Capablanca. None have really caught on, with the possible exception of Fischer Chess - and as chess variants go, that's really not very interesting.

Many people like to play things like Atomic, Bughouse, Crazyhouse or Suicide (which is sufficiently different in one aspect so one could argue it's not really a chess variant anymore). I think even Knightmate has an over the board following. Most people don't play these on a competitive level though, and I think they're mainly played by kids who are learning to play the game and more open to other varieties. So perhaps that is where you should set your aim.

Musketeer Chess is imho the variant that brings the most diversity for chess, respecting the old principles and strategies of classic chess, but bringing a lot more fun.

Maybe. It's a super-set of Seirawan Chess, which is a benefit in that it potentially interests people who are already familiar with that. On the other hand, Seirawan Chess seems to not be very popular, but this could be due to having too many strong pieces on the board: it's possible to have 36 squares out of 64 occupied, with 3 queen-class pieces on a side. Musketeer ameliorates the problem by introducing rook-class pieces instead.

As I think I've mentioned, it reminds me a bit of Super Chess, which has a similar idea of introducing a set of pieces players can choose from at the start of the game. The way they're introduced is a bit different, but the idea is the same. As far as I can tell, there was an initial spurt of activity and then everything became quiet. I don't even know if the sets are still available (I'd quite like some if they are, guess I should check).

I play more and more Capablanca Chess online for example. I hope some day i find talented programmers to help me get an excellent engine, to see tournaments between many engines playing Musketeer Chess and that this variant becomes wide spread.

Wide-spread in an absolute sense is probably a tall order. Games like Gothic Chess and Omega Chess have had a reasonable coverage, but as far as I can tell they're no longer available (I've seen a Gothic Chess board for sale once, at a very high price; I've never seen a set). Making sure sets are easily available long-term would seem to be a pre-requisite for this.

Or - easy accessibility through computer play. For that though you need engines that people can beat, which are now available. If there's sufficient player demand for stronger engines, they will appear.

I'm willing to help it spread by offering 2 kits for every 10 kits you buy. For that you have to send me an email with a copy of your order and then i'll do what is necessary with the House of Staunton staff. Conditions will be even better if a Chess Club is interested.

Ok, so first of all be careful: it may be against the site rules to make this type of offer.
If you want to get chess clubs interested though, what you need to do is approach them directly. Give demonstrations if you can. I became aware of Superchess because it was advertised on the notice board of my chess club.
Speaking for myself - the pieces are sortof expensive, and I'd prefer wood to plastic.

I'm also looking for programmers to help me implement Musketeer Chess in my website sothat funs could play Musketeer Chess online.

Do you want something whereby people play against eachother, or where they can play against a computer? For the latter, you may want to look into modifying an ICS to play the game.[/url]

[Nordlandia]

Ceteris Paribus trading Queen for Chancellor is fairly bad trade, although the difference may be hard to exploit with several pieces remaining on the board.

[Evert]

Ceteris Paribus trading Queen for Chancellor is fairly bad trade, although the difference may be hard to exploit with several pieces remaining on the board.

Of course. The Chancellor is also stronger than the Archbishop.

"Queen class" just means "much stronger than a Rook (and much weaker than an Amazon)".

[Nordlandia]

Here is some interesting details about gothic chess and piece values respectively.

http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/georgecm ... Chess.html

[Evert]

Here is some interesting details about gothic chess and piece values respectively.

http://www.angelfire.com/ultra/georgecm ... Chess.html

Piece-value estimates based on tactical considerations (like safe checks, ability to fork, mate potential) or piece movement are notoriously unreliable.
There is no simple formula that allows you to derive (relative) piece values of two pieces from just how they move. It really depends very much on how they interact with other pieces on the board, and it should be measured empirically.

HGM is the one to ask about this (he's done a lot of numerical experiments); captures are worth more than normal moves (2:1), forward moves are worth more than backward moves (again 2:1, from memory), distant slider moves are worth less than close leaper moves (they can be blocked; B is similar in value to FA). The ability to promote adds to the value of the pawn, as long as they can promote to something that can make the difference between a draw and a win (but this effect should not be overestimated). For leapers the value is roughly quadratic with the number of squares it can jump to.

The piece value model I use in SjaakII is a very crude fit based on these considerations, tuned to get the reasonable values for ortho-chess and to get the relative ordering in Shogi correctly (but it's of course better to assign values by hand if you know them).

See
http://z13.invisionfree.com/Gothic_Ches ... wtopic=421
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforu ... =1986;pg=4
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess96 ... id=4383142

[Nordlandia]

Thanks for the insightful links. By the way, speaking of the topic title - why not 10x8 chess board for sale?

[musketeerchess]

Hi
The pieces from Gothic Chess does not look very nice.
Plastic pieces are meant to hold for life. The pieces developed for Musketeer Chess are from high quality, triple weighted with a billiard cloth. I think that the pieces got very good design, they are Stanton compatible.

I'll make the pieces available for a long period of time. If you know persons interested in making wood pieces let me discuss with them. But plastic when the pieces are well designed (and naturally a little bit more expensive than the wide spread plastic chess sets which are in general not triple weighted and which deteriorate easily with shocks). It's the price of an excellent product.

Concerning my offer of giving two pieces for each 10 bought kits, the kits are mine. I can do with them whatever i want. So it's not going to be a problem to offer some kits freely.

Nowadays we need some apps on our smartphone but also our game should be available for online play and permitting someone to play either vs a human or vs a computer. Those are the basics to help make the game more known and more widespread.

Zied

[Nordlandia]

Hi
The pieces from Gothic Chess does not look very nice.
Plastic pieces are meant to hold for life. The pieces developed for Musketeer Chess are from high quality, triple weighted with a billiard cloth. I think that the pieces got very good design, they are Stanton compatible.

I'll make the pieces available for a long period of time. If you know persons interested in making wood pieces let me discuss with them. But plastic when the pieces are well designed (and naturally a little bit more expensive than the wide spread plastic chess sets which are in general not triple weighted and which deteriorate easily with shocks). It's the price of an excellent product.

Concerning my offer of giving two pieces for each 10 bought kits, the kits are mine. I can do with them whatever i want. So it's not going to be a problem to offer some kits freely.

Nowadays we need some apps on our smartphone but also our game should be available for online play and permitting someone to play either vs a human or vs a computer. Those are the basics to help make the game more known and more widespread.

Zied

I support your idea!

This board looks rather luxury.