From: Thomas Majewski IBMMAIL COM> Date: 24 oct 1995 Subject: No Subject An: I4083069--IBMMAIL Betreff: Re: Variants I have a few things to say about shogi variants, as I have tried out a few and also have talked to a lot of players who have played variants too. Also I know the variant programs, Phil Holland referred to, as I am playing with the author too. In my opinion mind games do not have to be compared with each other. They are made not to be better than other games, but to have fun with. This in mind there is a lot to be found in variant play. Here is a short discription of how I look at those games I know: Tori shogi on 7x7 squares is played with drops. It is highly tactical, as pieces can be captured from move one on and there is not much room on the board. Wa shogi is played on 11x11 squares and most people in the west are playing with drops. At least the postal Wa shogi world championship is played with (the participants are propably most of the peopole in the west). The main factor is the large board that has to be covered against drops, which seems to be quite difficult. Chu shogi is played on 12x12 squares and most of the variant players seem to agree that this is the most interesting of the shogi variants. You have to play on a strategical basis more than tactically. The lion, a very special piece, that can play two king moves in a row (for example taking a piece and going back to its original sqaure) gives the game a special flare. In fact without the lions the game tends to become too slow and can be boring. Propably for that reason it is not allowed to excahnge lions. After Oyama, meijins death it seems that Wayne Schmittberger is the foremost expert in Chu shogi. He has written articles about Chu in George Hodges magazines and has written the part about strategies in the new Chu shogi manual. This manual includes the rules, the old chu shogi games, a couple of commented handicap games up to even play, a part about opening, middlegame and endgame startegies and a lot of problems, partly not yet solved. I have buyed it and can recommend it highly to everybody interested in Chu shogi. Dai shogi on 15x15 is played by almost nobody. It is almost the same as Chu, but because of the larger board the armies do not get in contact as soon as in Chu. That could become very interesting. Tenjiku on 16x16 is the most violent variant (I have seen a game, which was over after 8 moves), containing pieces like a queen, that can jump over any number of pieces, hookmovers (two rook moves in L-shape) and fire demons, burning downeverything in the vicinity. I have not played this game myself, but what I have heard from other players, suggests that these pieces are too powerful. Dai-Dai shogi on 17 x 17 squares introduces a new concept of promotion by captur e rather than by entering a promotion zone. This gives the game a completely different flare. Roland Marounek of Brussels has made two programs for DOS on IBM compatible PC, Shogi++ and Kimilsum. They work as game recorders for almost every shogi variant even including Royston shogi on 5x5 squares. The pieces are shown with the lette rs they are referred to in gamescores with a small arrow showing the direction andare moved with the mouse or the keyboard. When pointing to a piece the program shows where it can move to (very convenient in the very large games). Alternately it c an show all the pieces covering a square the mouse is pointing to. Attacked unprote cted pieces can be shown too. Via menu some special features like progressive play, k orean variants or drops can be set. Imagine playing progressive Chu shogi with drops. The Kimilsum program has the feature to include new games. One can insert new pi eces with new movements. Then a boardsize is given and pieces can be positioned. Afte r that the program has a new game that can be played. The two programs are of course best suited for postal (or net) players. When the next move arrives you can load the game and have it replayed up the positon. This isvery helpful especially in the larger variants, where it is difficult to set up the p ieces each time a move is coming in. It would be nice if other shogi players would be interested in playing such game s via mail. These games are really interesting and can be enjoyed and I for my part do not care too much who had invented them and to what purpose. Thomas Majewski WABCO Hannover, Germany DEWABMAJ(a)IBMMAIL.COM