NCV: 4P Gothic

NCV: 4P Gothic

Gamerules: Teams, =HEQRBN, promotion on the 11th rank

Time control: 2 | 10 (standard Teams)

Test games (previous iterations): #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7

Test games (final version): #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12

Description: This variant is a 4P adaptation of the 2P game Gothic Chess. Much like Gothic chess is intended to be a natural outworking of standard chess, so also 4P Gothic is a natural outworking of standard 4PC. Unlike many NCVs, this variant plays very similarly to standard Teams, and has a quick learning curve. Openings have great variety, and new possibilities for checkmates and tactics are available in the middlegame and endgame. Also, due to the board being at maximum size, the pawns on the wings have been replaced with soldiers to avoid immediate tension between pieces.

Notes: The first 5 test games were done as self-partner, so as to speed up the testing process (I often had a hard time finding players). The strategy in those games is the same as in any Teams game, so gameplay was unaffected. The other two previous-iteration games simply had different promotion rules, which also didn't affect gameplay since no one promoted.

I ended up setting promotion to default at the 11th rank, but I considered doing it at the 12th rank, thinking that this would be best because rank 11 is out in the square section of the board. However, I thought this might not be a good idea after realizing in game #7 that it would be difficult for a teammate to move his pawn out of the way to allow for promotion. If the CGAs do think that 12th-rank promotions would be better, then I'm all for it.

In the future, I intend to test this position in FFA as well, so that it can be both FFA and Teams. For now, however, it is only a Teams NCV.

Thank you, CGAs, for considering my variant!

if you self-partnered, ur probably going to get banned.

1. There must be 5 games of the final version, you only have 4. Game #6 did not have "Promotion To" game rule.

2. Please follow the game rule format: Promotion On and Promotion To game rules are not specified in a valid format.

3. Games #8, #9, #10 are quickly-resigned.

Also, in the next submissions you can omit FEN4: we do not require creators to specify it.

Thanks for the feedback @bsrti. When I get more games and update formats, so I need to post a new thread, or update this one? Also, how do you define “quickly resigned”? What is the minimum number of moves a game must be without resignation?

If a game is resigned before/on move 5, it is quickly resigned.

Just update this thread.

Got it, thanks.

I am officially resubmitting my NCV. The original post has been updated with the correct format and new test games.

I don't want to be a nag, but it's over 6 days and I haven't heard anything back from any of the CGAs. Is my position still actively being reviewed?

Sorry for inconvenience, @qilp should have posted this two days ago:

We have tested your position and, unfortunately, we did find critical issues that significantly deteriorate important aspects of NCV. First of all and foremost, your position just does not have enough move variety and opening structure variety, not to say about the gameplay flavours. RY can threaten checkmate in one with 1.f4 and 1. Hg12 immediately, and hawks are like the only pieces that are worth to develop. As such there are only two adequate structures: k6-k7 for green for example with stacking up pieces on the weakened diagonals, and sicilian with the early hawk development. Everything is just inferior and puts one in a much worse position. Thing two, knights do not serve any purpose, they are practically useless in the higher-level games, due to the fact they can barely threaten anything. Even in endgames they are very easy to stop, so you may want to reconsider board geometry. Thing three, unlike in Gothic Chess, the bishop, queen and hawk diagonals immediately point to the weak enemy squares, which results in a forced gameplay. Plus, after major pieces are exchanged which is also easy to do due to the tactics, the gameplay is pretty slow overall, not a bad thing by itself but in conjunction with issues above it only aggravates the gameplay.

I see. Thank you for your time. I'll see if I can revise this and make it better!