i'm Glad to see Final War's game released

Hi All

As a Chess Variant fun, i'm glad to see a new Chess Variant. It seems at first site very interesting. A nice trial to improve the game of Chess.

I'd like to challenge game_designer for a Game.

For a great YouTube video on the spirit of chess competition check this out:

(The history of Chess)

It's about 5 minutes, and shows an animated chart of the greatest chess-players from 1809 to today. It's great to see some competition!

Note that in the description of Pawn blocking 'jump' is not the correct terminology, and actually quite confusing. Pawns do not jump in their initial move, in orthodox Chess. Jumping is moving over an occupied square. But for an initial Pawn double-push the square in front of them must be empty. So the Pawns actually slide two squares forward.

Also note that 'castling' is defined as a double move that moves a King and a Rook on the same rank that brings the Rook to the other side of the King. Castling is considered 'normal' if the Rook ends up next to the King. So this game actually does have 'normal castling'. That for a-side castling the King ends up on the b-file is usually referred to as 'symmetric castling' (e.g. in Janus Chess).

Well, there surely isn't much novelty in it. It just seems the umptieth minor rule variation that does something to en-passant, castling, promotion or stalemate. All of it has been done before, although perhaps not exactly in this combination. But who cares?

Stanley Random Chess is just an extended joke -- there is actually no such game.  It's chess's version of "Mornington Crescent".

I think I would like to see Final Wars combined with pieces from musketeerchess.

So what's the attraction of Final Wars? Just that it is a shuffle game? Making stalemate a loss just seems to empoverish the game, and restricting the Pawn double push... Well, I guess people discovered this was not such a good idea already 500 years ago.

Sorry I was just giving my final wink to game_designer, who also was a fan of musketeerchess.

Still, after looking at so many exotic options, I had almost forgotten that it is also possible to invent a variant while staying so close to FIDE chess.

Oh, there are zillions of such 'hardly-modified' variants. Castling and e.p. capture are usually the primary targets.