Chess Triathlon

Chess, Xiangqi, and Shogi belong to three separate branches of the chess family. There are no other traditional chess variants that are as distinct from each other as these three.

I wonder how many people here play all three of these games. For those who do, what do you think about a chess triathlon where players compete against each other in all three games? It would a great test of mind power where you have to strategize in three different ways! It should be a very fun and exciting tournament.

I've searched the World Wide Web, but there doesn't seem to be a tournament like this anywhere in the world.

I play all three, but western chess the most seriously.

A great and exciting idea.

So... basically chessboxing minus boxing, plus Xiangqi and Shogi?

I came up with this idea today, and searching "Chess triathlon" brought me here, to realize it had already been thought of! A great idea. I think it would be especially challenging and interesting if, as in chessboxing, you cycled through the three different versions mid-game on a certain time schedule, rather than doing one complete game after another.

That said, I play chess actively, know the rules of but am terrible at Xiangqi, and am quite intimidated by Shogi.

I'm interested in XiangQi and Shogi lately.

It shoud be fun, I like the idea.

The point is:
Altought it is impossible to swim and run and ride a bike at the same time, it is possible to consider playing three boardgames at  the same time.
So, does the players shoud play each game one after the other or playing the three games at the same time ?

Also, just as there are different triathlon distances, there can be different Tria-Chess (we got the name !) formats.
For instance :

Mini (sprint) :
A miniChess variant (which one ?) ; miniXiangQi ; miniShogi
at Blitz Time Control

Traditional (long distance) :
Traditional games of Chess ; XiangQi ; Shogi
at Rapid Time Control

Ironmind (ironman) :
A large Westen Chess variant like Metamachy ; a large XiangQi variant which yet have to be invented, Chu Shogi.
at Classicl Time Control

The future of chess is being written here.

I have a concept of chess as a triathlon.

Western Chess, Chinese Chess.

Backgammon as a tie breaker.

You cannot eliminate chance, in chess, or in life.

I call it The Gamesters of Triskelion.

I know Chess.

I know Xiangqi. It is basically old Indian chess with Chinese ingenuity added.

I don't know anything about Shogi. What makes it special and unique?

The Rook and Bishop in Shogi are relic genes that don't belong neatly in Shogi. Just looking at the rules of Shogi, I was able to realize that there must be a form of Shogi that don't have those relic genes. And there was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heian_shogi

I don't know anything about Shogi. What makes Shogi special?

The rules are not simple and elegant.

Western Chess.

Simple and elegant rules.

Pawns, moves forward, capture diagonally. Very intuitive (for geniuses that is).

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/reason-for-the-rule-of-pawns-attacking-diagonally#comment-86552409

King moves 1 square. The King is the model for all other pieces.

Rook, orthogonal.

Bishop, diagonal. Add them together and you get the King in 1 step.

Knight. 8 squares. Like a King, 8 squares. Bigger, but not as agile as a King.

The Knight dances around the King in a criss-cross pattern. The genes of the Knight, Bishop, and Rook, comes from the King.

Queen. Queen complements Knight and vice versa. Where the Knight can go, the Queen cannot go in the circle of the Knight.

Pawn, smallest, can become Queen, the largest.

King is the most important piece. Queen is the most important offensive piece.

32 occupied squares. 32 empty squares.

Everything is balanced and symmetrical.

Chinese Chess.

King is the head. Can move like a joystick.

Guards are shoulders, they protect the head.

You have a clear distinction between orthogonal and diagonal.

Elephant is the extension of the Guard. They are boxing blocks.

Cannon is unique. Move directly like a Rook, but attacks indirectly by hiding behind another piece. Very Chinese.

Pawns are Minie-Me Rooks after they cross the border.

Pawns in maniple formation.

They both have 16 pieces a side. The same as the original Chaturanga.

Everything makes sense.

There is no poetry between the pieces in Shogi.

It is a copy of a copy. Like straight out of the movie Multiplicity (1996). A copy of a copy is not the sharpest copy.

Consider this.

Rook. The same in 3 versions. Chaturanga, Western Chess, Chinese Chess.

Knight. The same in 3 versions. Chaturanga, Western Chess, Chinese Chess.

Bishop. Almost the same in 3 versions. Chaturanga, Western Chess, Chinese Chess.

The Knight and the Lance don't look anything like its progenitor.

And the Rook and the Bishop are Frankenstein genes inherited from Western Chess.

The Silver General is a wacky Vizier that can move forward.

The Gold General is a wacky King that can retreat back.

It is all messed up without any poetry.

Shogi is the odd man out.

Chess and Xiangqi has 2 genes from Chaturanga.

1. 16 pieces.

2. Symmetry of pieces.

The Rook and Bishop in Shogi do not have pairs.

It's like in the movie Multiplicity.

Chess and Xiangqi are logical descendants of Chaturanga.

Shogi is a mutant freak.

Shogi has a drop piece gene of Go.

It's a Frankenstein.