There has been another thread where it was concluded that a piece with only king-like movement could be worth 4 points.
At home I was trying a piece that is 'transparent' for other friendly pieces - meaning friendly pieces that normally don't jump do jump over that piece - and it temporarily passed that same transparency to all pieces adjacent in that position. It's fun that your bull dog looks like it.
Only I would not prefer the name bull dog. Chess represents some medieval setting and then what's the bull dog doing there?
There has been another thread where it was concluded that a piece with only king-like movement could be worth 4 points.
I think it's correct that a king-like piece should be worth more than 2 points. My guess is it's closer to 3, just because it is slow-moving. But maybe a good player can put it to great use both for defending and attacking - we'll see!
I also like your ideas for pieces that transfer abilities to other pieces. Something for me to try later on?
I agree the name bull dog has some problems. I don't think bull dogs were used in medieval fights either - but they were once used to help corner or lead wild bulls.
But I cannot think of another name for this piece. The bulldog might actually be worth slightly less than a pawn because it can never promote to another piece. So its name has to be about equivalent to a pawn. Maybe a pikeman? (but if a pawn can promote, why not a pikeman?).
Also, if the piece gets a different name, then the name of the game might need to be changed too! But we can consider anything for new games in the future! Any creative ideas from anyone?
It's not my idea. Take a look into the Magician and Femme fatale in Superchess.
There has been another thread where it was concluded that a piece with only king-like movement could be worth 4 points.
Back in the 1970s, 4 points was the accepted "equivalent fighting strength" of a King, yes.
There has been another thread where it was concluded that a piece with only king-like movement could be worth 4 points.
Back in the 1970s, 4 points was the accepted "equivalent fighting strength" of a King, yes.
I think 4 points is about right. It has access to 8 squares when in the center of the board, same as the knight, and has access to more squares than the knight when it is on an edge or corner.
You guys seem to be right! Wikipedia has a table "Chess piece relative value" that shows two chess champions or grandmasters (Lasker and Evans) estimated the king is worth 4 points in fighting value (Evans also estimated the knight and the bishop are 3½ and the queen 10).
So the guard(4) maybe fills a "hole" between the knight and bishop(3 ea) and the rook(5)
.
I'll also update the table above here:
classical chess bulldog chess
Board size 8 x 8 = 64 10 x 8 = 80
Value of all material: 39 x 2 = 78 49 x 2 = 98
(not including king)
Power density: 1.219 1.225
(value of pcs/board size)
This means the bulldog setup has almost exactly the same "material power density" as classical chess. We're just on a bigger board and no complete opening books to use!
I agree the name bull dog has some problems. I don't think bull dogs were used in medieval fights either - but they were once used to help corner or lead wild bulls.
Siege tower? As it allows you to attack while being defended yourself.
I like that idea! It will be a small siege tower because it cannot attack large pieces but that is OK. Medieval warfare had many types of siege towers - small and large. I will make an icon for a siege tower, and then maybe I can use it in a game in the future!
You guys seem to be right! Wikipedia has a table "Chess piece relative value" that shows two chess champions or grandmasters (Lasker and Evans) estimated the king is worth 4 points in fighting value (Evans also estimated the knight and the bishop are 3½ and the queen 10).
So the guard(4) maybe fills a "hole" between the knight and bishop(3 ea) and the rook(5).
I'll also update the table above here:
classical chess bulldog chess
Board size 8 x 8 = 64 10 x 8 = 80
Value of all material: 39 x 2 = 78 49 x 2 = 90
(not including king)
Power density: 1.219 1.225
(value of pcs/board size)
This means the bulldog setup has almost exactly the same "material power density" as classical chess. We're just on a bigger board and no complete opening books to use!
Wouldn't the larger board also increase the power of rooks and queens slightly relative to short-range pieces? So a rook in bullgod wouldn't be worth exactly the same as a rook in chess, and therefore you can't easily compare "power densities" of the two games.
Yes, I think you're right. On the other hand short-range pieces (knights, and the king if he fights) might be at a slight disadvantage because now they can be farther from potential action. I don't know if it balances out or not.
I think the question of how much power to place on a board has always been a question when new variants are considered. When Capablanca and Lasker played Capablanca chess, they found games rarely lasted more than 25 moves because of the power of the new pieces. But they probably enjoyed the dynamics. But Winter (a British champion) believed there were too many strong pieces, making the minor pieces less-important. I don't know if Capablanca had any other methods to analyze his new game, except by playing it. I'd be interested if now there is any computer-based methods to check out some of these chess variants.
Siege tower? As it allows you to attack while being defended yourself.
So I did make an icon for a siege tower. Here it is (next to a pawn and a rook for comparison):
It is modeled from this image I found:
(''http://perrysheroes.free.fr/spip.php?article422)
Can a rook jump over same color bulldog/siegtower?
Yes any piece from the siege tower's own army can jump over a siege tower (as long as that piece normally has the range). So a rook, bishop, and queen can move or capture over a siege tower. But pawns, guards, and the king cannot jump over a siege tower because they can't move two squares anyway. I look forward to playing a game with you soon!
I see there are a few variant games going on which is great to see (waterloo, bulldog etc.)!
The bulldog icon has returned. Now he looks like a little dog! Here he is next to a pawn:
He is the same piece as the siege-tower (same abilities), just a different icon. Anyone can play with either icon.
And he makes a brief appearance (here) in the off-topic forum (post #24).
This thread is for anyone who would like to comment on bull dog chess.
Played on a 10 x 8 board.
Two new pieces:
1) Guard (G): Moves and captures like a king. But no other penalty if attacked or captured. (worth 2 points?)
Castling is similar as in classical chess, however, with the board 10 files wide, the king travels three squares rather than two. The rook finishes adjacent to the king, either on the d-square if queen-side, or h-square if king-side. (note files are numbered "a-j" with "a" and "j" being the new flanks). As usual when castling, all squares between the king and the involved rook must be unoccupied, and this includes the square where the guard is initially positioned.
Other rules of this game are identical with rules of classical chess.
(value of pcs/board size)