From: Nick Bardsley <nbardsley <at> ICC <dot> CO <dot> UK>
Date: 24 nov 1999
Subject: Re: Capturing a Chu Lion

[I am disputing that having moved a Lion to an empty (1) square the only =
option is to stay there or move back to the origin - Colin disagrees]

Colin> Because the rules say so: (Lion rules (a) and (e) on page 6)

Well no, they don't (explicitly). The rules set out what the Lion can do =
and give either the only way it can do it or the best way it can do it =
if there are two routes (consistently) to the same end result. We are =
disputing the legality of one route to a certain end point, i.e. a Lion =
ending up on an empty square of the player's choice, the variation being =
by another empty square rather than a direct move to it.

To be honest I still find it deeply odd that exactly equivalent =
manoeuvres should have differing legal status, however... I am not going =
to press a point that is abstract in the extreme given that it has no =
bearing whatsoever on the choice of moves a Chu player may make.=20

I care rather more about the issue of a Lion capturing a Lion on a (1) =
square - this has a real bearing on how the game is played and really =
needs to be sorted out to the satisfaction of the Chu playing community.

[Now a separate issue...]

Colin> Rule 4 c) specifically says how you may capture a Lion on a (1)
square. That is Capture and move on (or back). This implies (to me)
that you cannot capture and not move the Lion. Of course, this is
nonsense, but there you are.

It is primarily nonsense because there is no good reason for it in terms =
of gameplay. I do stand by my belief that MSM has a small inaccuracy =
(until GFH says otherwise).
  =20
Colin> My program does all this correctly (I think), as also the =
repetition
rule, bare king rule (now I am finally clear on it - thanks George),
promotion rules, and even (optionally) touch-and-move! it is ready to
release now, but probably I won't do so until next weekend. It plays
with a 2-ply search, and no intelligence, in about two minutes on a
450MHz Pentium II, so fairly slow, and dreadfully weak (improvements
in later releases). This is a result of writing it in Java
(interpreted, so slow, but portable across nearly all operating =
systems).

Can you say what the clarification of the bare king rule is?

Nick Bardsley