Capablanca Chess?

Looks very interesting....does anyone want to play a game with me in this variant, or discuss it here in the forum?

I also would like to play fantasy chess:

If a piece moves on to any file, it transforms into that piece (excluding pawns or kings) :

This is now a bishop.

Or backwards chess:

(The pawns go the opposite way)

Or I-forgot-what-it's-called-chess ( Whenever you capture a piece, you can move like that piece. For instance, if a queen captures a kngiht, it can move like both a queen and a knight).

that would be nice!

They said that they would start doing more variants when they start V3.

great! when though, and where can i play on the V3?

You can try to join the group "Chess.com V3" You can test it there. However, if you play on live chess there, it abandonds the game, so don't do it there.

ok

Indeed, Capablanca Chess is a great game. (Gothic Chess is still a little bit better, though.) I run a server that supports both for live games, but there are never any people there. You would need WinBoard as a client (connect to winboard.nl port 5000). Or you can connect to it with telnet, if you don't mind playing with an ascii board.

That is not really the problem. There just aren't enough people to maintain a viable live server for these kind of variants. Even if you would attract the entire community by a large advertizing effort. And I don't really advertize the server at all. I only run it as a test facility for the public ICS code, and use it to conduct the occasional engine-engine tournament.

But it can still be useful as a place where people that are aware of it, and are really motivated to play such variants, can meet 'on appointment'. For most people downloading a dedicated client that works 'out of the box' is not a problem. A large fraction of the users of the 'most popular Chess servers' that you refer to actually prefer to use such dedicated clients over the web interface. My ICS supports Gothic, Capablanca, Seirawan, Spartan, Knightmate, Shatranj, Makruk, Xiangqi, Shogi (plus some others).

Besides using a server, there of course is also the possibility to use a peer-to-peer connection. WinBoard also supports that. But it is usually a pain to set it up, as you would have to open all kind of ports in various fire walls to allow your peer to connect to you.

Facts do help, however. On 81dojo.com, which does have a web interface, there also are never any people on the Chu-Shogi server, unless there is a bot running there to provide a default opponent that can capture people's attention until a human opponent arrives.

But it is a moot point, as I am not interested in web interfaces. And I would be a fool to start developing a new interface that no one would use anyway because the population of players is sub-critical. And, most importantly, the ICS just exists as an enhancement of the capabilities of WinBoard/XBoard. It is not a goal in itself.

whAt are chancellor and arch bishop?

The Chancellor is a Rook-Knight compound (like the Queen is a Rook-Bishop compound).

The Archbishop is a Bishop-Knight compound.

Both are worth nearly as much as a Queen, only slightly less.

It would be really awesome to see Capablanca chess, and other chess variants, added to both live and correspondence play. I still wonder why chess.com didn't do it? Maybe they feel threatened by the new variants. I mean, if, indeed, these chess variants catch on, who would like to pay for the old chess. And I kind of doubt that the masters will want to develop the theory for Capablanca chess.

I personally would love to see Capablanca chess catch on. It, in my opinion, is even better than Fischer chess. Fischer chess creates a chaos and confusion on the board; Capablanca chess, on the other hand, adds complexity but still maintains the harmony of traditional chess. I also think that in many ways it is more interesting, and therefore better, than the original chess.

It will happen in V3, acc

ording to the staff.

They say that "they will add more variants once they reach V3"

Version 3 of chess.com app has been released on February 2015 and I did not see any additional variant other than Chess960. I hope a new variant is in the pipeline. Maybe Crazyhouse or one of the 10x8 variants like Capablanca, Gothic, Embassy, Janus, etc.? I am sure it will attract some new players.

What's Millenium Chess

It's a 3D chess variant. (The one in my avi, actually) This particular one is not too complex, but is instead very true to classic chess. Check out my blog if you're interested. :) http://www.chess.com/blog/ijgeoffrey