Handicaps

I have implemented the handicap system given in MSM, but the following should be noted:

• I have added the Free King handicap (see historical game 3 or 4), as I feel the gap between a Vertical Mover, and Two Lions, is quite large.
• I have added the Free King plus Dragon King handicap (see historical game 5 or 6) so that people can more easily play through these historical games. I have also added the Rook handicap, as it is mentioned as an historical handicap in MSM.
• I have re-banded the handicaps according to my assesments of approximately equal grading steps. A difference of one band should correspond to my estimate of a difference of 1 kyu/dan in grading strength. Note that this is the most conservative estimate I could come up with. On this scale I was 3 kyu in 1997, when I won the first european championship. I now estimate my strength at 1 dan for the purpose of grading the computer (this includes an allowance for my knowledge of how the program works). A beginner who has just learned the rules is supposed to be 15 kyu. See the announcement letter for my current guess at the computer's strength.

  The positions of the Free King and Free King and Dragon King handicaps in the list are speculative (the Rook is certain). The Free King and Dragon King handicap is definitely bigger than Two Lions and smaller than Three Lions. I am not certain of the relationship of the Free King and Two Lions handicaps.

If you don't like the handicap set-up arrangements, just edit the set-up on the board, and save the position as a Chu set-up file. I have adopted the following naming convention for Chu set-up files. Part of it is enforced by the program, so you are strongly advised to follow it:

• All the file names are case-insensitive.
• The file name must end in .data (the extension) (but a file name of pieces.data is not allowed, as it is reserved for the definition of the pieces.)
• The file name should begin with characters describing the handicap (them stem). These are as follows:

  Even game

  board.data is a fixed name

  Copper General

  copper

  Silver General

  silver

  Gold General

  gold

  Ferocious Leopard

  leopard

  Blind Tiger

  tiger

  Side Mover

  sidemover

  Vertical Mover

  vertmover

  Rook

  rook

  Free King

  freeking

  Two Lions

  twolionsMSM.data is a fixed name

  Free King and Dragon King

  dragonking

  Two Lions and a Copper General

  twolionscopper

  Two Lions and a Silver General

  twolionssilver

  Two Lions and a Ferocious Leopard

  twolionsleopard

  Two Lions and a Side Mover

  twolionsside

  Two Lions and a Vertical Mover

  twolionsvert

  Three Lions

  threelionsMSM.data is a fixed name

  Three Lions and one piece

  threelionsoneMSM.data is a fixed name

  Three Lions and two pieces

  threelionstwoMSM.data is a fixed name

  Three Lions and three pieces

  threelionsthree

  Three Lions and four pieces

  threelionsfour

  Three Lions and five pieces

  threelionsfive

• Between the stem and the extension, any additional characters are allowed which are valid in a file name (if you intend to share this set-up file, then be sure to choose non-controversial characters, so that they will work on all file systems). I have a further convention (not enforced by the program) for specifying these characters:
• For set-ups used by example games in MSM, then the characters MSM are specified (where there is more than one example, then MSM is followed by a lower case alphabetic character).
• Otherwise, for a standard arrangement, the characters STD optionally followed by L or R (signifying removal of pieces from the Left side, or Right side respectively), optionally followed by a lower case alphabetic character (signifying that there is more than one possible arrangement of an STDL or STDR set-up). Note that one of these possible set-ups will duplicate the MSM set-up, in which case I have only distributed a *MSM.data file for that particular set-up.
• When there is no standard set-up, (i.e. for the free-arrangement handicaps), the convention is to use your initials in upper case, followed by a single lower-case character. I distribute CPAa files corresponding to the set-ups in Release 2.1, as well as MSM set-ups. I am likely to add futher CPAx files to the distribution, simply because it is easier to do that, than to exclude them. I will add your favourite set-up files to the distribution if you so request.

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