From: Benjamin Good <bg18+ <at> ANDREW <dot> CMU <dot> EDU>
Date: 13 feb 1997
Subject: the shogi variants

Excerpts from mail: 12-Feb-97 are the shogi variants play.. by George
Jost <at> CA <dot> NEWBRIDGE
> I am curious about other's experience with Shogi variants.
>
> I think Tori shogi should be fun with simuliar feel to Shogi. Is it played
> in Japan at all? Is there any T.S lore? How old is this variant. Are there
> any common castles or other patterns studied for this form of the game?
>
>
> I wonder if Chu(Dai, ...) Shogi can be very fun? Seems to have an awful
> lots of pieces, I wanted to try it as a novelty. I also wonder what
> ste]rategies here have been developed. I guess the simuliarity between
> this game and Shogi is the element of promotion and slow moving pieces?
> I suppose no way has dared to try this with drops?? (Imagine Tai shogi
> with drops, what a nightmare? Would the champion be significanlty better
> than a beginner? (Game too complex))


i'll give my own opinions from my experiences, but i too would be
interesting in hearing what else everybody has to say about the various
variants.

tori: ok, crowded (in the opening setup the pieces occupy something like
62% of the board).
wa: ok w/ drops, boring and too slow w/o.
chu: excellent game.  don't think of chu shogi as a novelty or just a
big shogi game, it is a high quality and fun game in it's own right.
dai: somewhat slow, i found it to be a rather unimaginative extension of
chu shogi.
tenjiku:  also an excellent game.  i've been playing w/ colin adams via
telnet, our main concern is that black can always win.

the other 3 i haven't played, and i only know the rules tai, which i
read a couple of days ago after roger hare pointed out that they're now
on the chess variants page.  i can't tell if it's a good game or not.