1999 Large Chess Variant Contest Journal

Registration is
CLOSED
Thanks to all who submitted entries (37 in total)!

The Finalist Voting phase has been completed.
Results will be posted Monday, August 2, 1999, starting at 5pm.

As promised, here is the address of the (no longer)
Secret Voter Feedback Page!

Monday, August 2, 1999
     Results!!!! are HERE!!!! 








Sunday, August 1, 1999





    

The votes have been tallied! Many thanks to all
who voted! I will be posting the results tomorrow starting at 5pm EST.
We have some ties, so instead of just four finalists, there are eight.


Check out the comments pages, with over 100k of commentary on the
various games. Next week, the play testing phase begins, so stay tuned
for details...










Saturday, July 31, 1999





    

Last day for the finalist voting! There are two
frontrunners that are significantly ahead of the pack, but the remaining
two position are still up for grabs as the remaining entries are very
close together. A few extra votes could make the different between
becoming a finalist and just missing being a finalist...


The results will be announced Monday evening (5:00pm EST), August 2nd, 1999.
The winners will be announced in true contest fashion, by posting the lowest
rated games first. I'll post ratings for 5 entries every half hour.












Friday, June 25, 1999





    

Three more non-competing entries
to the contest. Perfect 12, by Jean-Louis Cazaux,
Bishops, a 3 or 4 player variant by 
EJW consulting,
and
Double Chess, 
a 2 board variant by David Short. These are non-competing entries
and should not be voted on, however, you may still comment on them by emailing
me your comments, and I'll post them on the voter feedback page. My email
address is 
alcove@frontiernet.net.
Feel free to comment on any of the entries to the contest (both competing
and non-competing). You can also discuss these variants by posting messages
at Hans' 
Chess Variants Club.


With a bit over a month to go before finalist voting ends, we have
almost 350 votes made by 83 voters! And lots of good comments (about 70k
of text). All of the competing entries have at least one comment. So
keep those votes and comments coming! And thanks to all who have voted so
far!











Friday, June 18, 1999





    

Typhoon, Adrian King's very large
variant has been implemented in Zillions of Games! For his next
trick, Adrian will implement his huge variant Jupiter
(not really, but it would be amazing if he was able to)!


Look for the Zillions of Games version of Typhoon to appear next
week on Hans' Zillions page, and in the Large Variant game pack.


Addendum: I put Typhoon in its own .ZIP file. You can download it
from
here.










Wednesday, June 16, 1999





    

Two more entries in the Large Variant contest
have been converted to Zillions of Games. Bomberman Chess and
Big Outer Chess are now available for those who would like to
try them out. Thanks to Jens Markmann for implementing 
Bomberman Chess. I implemented Big Outer chess, which you don't want
to try to run on an 800x600 screen -- it doesn't quite fit!


Both games are available either at Hans' site, or in the
installable download from the 
Alternate Chess Variants page.

















Wednesday, June 9, 1999





    

Another
non-competing entry has been submitted. This one is from
Jean-Louis Cazaux called
Perfect 12. It completes his trilogy of large variants
which include 
Shako and 
Tamerlane II. 
A Zillions of Games implementation of
Perfect 12
is available also.  
Download Perfect12.zip.


Jens Markmann has been busy creating Zillions of Games versions 
of some of the entries. His latest implementations are

Omega Chess 
(download here)
and
Bomberman (which should be appearing soon on Hans' website and in the
downloadable Large Variant contest Zillions pack). 
Jens' website is at
http://cruise.de/jens.markmann/index.html. Thanks Jens!















Sunday, May 30, 1999





    

Jupiter is the name of Adrian King's
latest non-competing entry in the large variant contest.
The link to it is 
here. This variant is HUGE!!


Two new games have been added to the downloadable collection of
Large Variant contest games implemented in Zillions. Mammoth Chess
(implemented by Jens Markmann) and
Ultra chess
(implemented by Pavel Tikhomirov) are now available. Just follow this
link.












Friday, May 28, 1999





    

The following people have sent in votes, but I 
was unable to contact them to verify their vote. They should contact me so we
can get their votes verified. My email address is:
alcove@frontiernet.net.


    

  • Claire Blake

  • Bailey



I've been very impressed with the number of comments
that have been sent in with the votes. These collected comments will be
a great resource for the various designers. I'll be making all the 
comments public at the beginning of July, so if you want to see them
before then, just cast a vote!


Also, anyone wishing to discuss the comments, or any of the entries
in the contest, I encourage you to visit and join Hans' Chess Variant Club
at:



http://cl
ubs.yahoo.com/clubs/chessvariants
















Friday, May 14, 1999





    



Wow! I'm very impressed with the voter
turnout so far. And lots of comments too! For a peek at some of the
voting stats, and voter comments, go to the secret voting
results page. Of course, you must vote first to get the address
for that page. ;-)


I'm still busy getting all the various pages updated, so if I haven't
gotten to your's yet, please be patient. Thanks!


Pavel Tikhomirov (one of our editors) has implemented 
Ultra Chess for Zillions of Games, so look
for that to appear on the CV pages soon.














Sunday, May 2, 1999





    



Go visit the 
Alternate 
Chess Variant Pages (ok, well, Page
since it's only one page so far). From there you can download an
installer for all the Zillions of Games implementations of entries
in the Large Variant Contest. It was a self-extracting zip file,
but GeoCities (in all their wisdom) would not let me upload an
executable file. Ah well, what do I expect for free?!


Voting scheme is done. You should be seeing
little VOTE buttons appearing on the Index pages, and maybe popping up
here and there and everywhere. Go to 
the voting page for more information on how
finalists are going to be selected.


Adrian King has written two more non-competing
large (and I do mean LARGE variants. Look for web pages for them
in the near future.














Saturday, May 1, 1999





    



The deadline for submissions has come and
gone, with FIVE last minute (and one not so last minute)
entries. The last minute entries are:


Big Outer Chess, a 12x12 variant with special zones, by Peter Blanchard

Scheherazade, a 10x10 variant in which pieces can combine, by Robert Shimmin

Spiderball, a board shaped like a 'globe shaped spider web'!, by JR Schmidt

Fantasy Grand Chess, a 10x10 fantasy variant where players use different armies, by Peter S Hatch

Cheops, a 3D pyramidal variant inspired by Frank Herbert's 'Dune', by Gregg Johnson


Stephen (Soleste) Larson has also submitted a second entry called
Keyles, which is a different way of playing Quex.


Look for updates to the index 
page soon (Hans' index page will not be
updated until May 10th or later), and web pages for the new entries (again,
there won't be any updates of Hans' Chess Variant pages until May 10 or
later). The voting for the four finalists officially starts today, but
I haven't finished the voting pages and scripts, so if you really feel the
need to vote right away, just send me an email. Anyone can vote, you can 
vote for as many submissions as you like, but just once for each. When you
vote for a submission, you'll be asked to rate it and the submission will
be given points based on that rating (from -1 to 2). At the end of the voting
period, the points will be added up and the top four submissions will be
finalists!


GOOD LUCK TO ALL, and may the best games win! ;-)





Ok, the voting system is up and running. Here's the 
link to it if anyone
wants to go take a peek, or even actually (gasp) vote!? ;-)












Friday, April 30, 1999





    



Deadline day!
And we have one, possibly two, more entries. The one definite entry
is Napoleonic Chess by Tom Hartley. This is a 14x14
variant that tries to remain true to the spirit of the armies of
the Napoleonic period. Web page coming soon.


Voting for the finalists is the next phase
of the contest. I'm currently working on the voting scheme and will
be posting more information in the near future. So stay tuned...














Thursday, April 29, 1999





    



One more entry, and one less entry, so we 
remain at 30 entries. The new entry is Chess99 from 
Alfred Pfeiffer. I'll have to wait to describe the game as the
web page hasn't yet been translated from German. Look for an 
English language web page soon.


The entry removed is 
Bach Dang chess on request from the author,
Vu Vo. He has redesigned Quang Trung Chess to include
the features from Bach Dang Chess.














Tuesday, April 27, 1999





    



Three more submissions, and one less submission.
First the new ones: 
Quex is played on the 10x10 board, and features a new piece, the
Prince, and various types of pawns (or Pions). Submitted by the 
mysterious Soleste. Next we have Typhoon (and you thought
Scirocco was large) by Adrian King. Typhoon is what Chu Shogi might
have been had it been based on Scirocco instead of Shogi. And finally we
have Bomberman Chess, an explosive new game submitted by 
Bryan Lambert.
This game features (as you might have already surmised) Bomb pieces,
and also Diffuser pieces.


Many Worlds Chess has been moved into the non-competing section due
to the improbability of anyone actually being insane enough to play a
game of it! ;-)


Needless to say, all these new submissions, plus
the fact I have to get a voting page ready, are keeping me very busy. So
please understand if it takes a little while for me to update the index
page. Thanks! And thanks to all who have submitted games for this
contest and/or who have helped out in other ways! You've helped make this
a rousing success, and I hope the same enthusiasm and energy will be used
when it comes time for the voting and playtesting! ;-)













Thursday, April 22, 1999





    



OK, about one week left until the deadline
for entering the contest. I am currently at work designing a voting
page, and also trying to create as many Zillions of Games implementations
of the entries as possible. If anyone would like to pick a game and
implement it, the following have not been implemented so far:


Edge of the World Chess,
Jester Chess, Camblam, Spinach Chess, 
                Ultra Chess,
                Conveyor Chess,
                Kings Court,
                Vyrémorn Chess,
                Round Table Chess (and RTC II),
                Royal Court, and
                Flee!


If anyone wants to take on any of the above games, let me know before
you do, so we aren't duplicating effort. I will also be working on an
installer which will make it easy to set up all the Zillions of
Games implementations on your system.


Adrian King has submitted a variant called
Many Worlds Chess, which would make a fitting last entry to the
contest, seeing as the first entry was another 'way out' idea variant called
Chesseract. Many Worlds Chess involves multiple chess boards, the
number of which can expand dynamically. For a full 
description, look for the web page, which will be appearing soon on Hans'
web site.


Web pages for
Mini Citadel Chess, 
Divergent Chess 
have been created on Hans' web site.
There are also Zillions of Games implementations, but they didn't make
it on the last update. Andy Kurnia's Flee! also didn't make it for
the update, but will appear in the next update.





Hold the presses, Rich VanDeventer has just
submitted another entry called Round Table Chess II which utlizes a large
board for more manuevering room. Web page will be appearing soon, etc. ;-)















Thursday, April 15, 1999





    



3 more entries have been submitted to
the contest! The first two are by A.J. Winkelspecht, called
Divergent Chess and Mini Citadel Chess. Divergent Chess
was inspired by Michael Howe's (no relation as far as I know) 
Asymmetric Chess. Mini Citadel Chess was inspired by
a variant of Shantranj called Citadel Chess, or Shatranj al-husun.
Complete Zillions of Games implementations of these two entries have
also been submitted and will be available for download from Hans'
web site. Look for web pages in the next Chess Variants pages update.


Andy Kurnia has submitted a large variant
called Flee!, which uses a 16x16 board with a powerful King.
I think this might be the largest variant so far in the contest.
Look for a web page coming soon...


The web page for 
Royal Court 
has been posted, as has the web page for
Round Table Chess.
The web page for 
Ultra Chess has been updated.


















Monday, April 12, 1999





    



Richard VanDeventer has
submitted a kinda-sorta,
circular variant called Round Table Chess. The board combines
the features of both a rectangular board with a circular board! Also
two new pieces are introduced. Look for a web page for this game to appear
on Hans' site soon.


And Sidney LeVasseur has submitted
another entry called Royal Court, which is another oblong
variant in a similar style to King's Court. As usual, a web page
will be appearing soon on Hans' site.














Sunday, April 11, 1999





    

A new submission! This time from 
Charles Nathan McDonald -- a variant he has been working
on for almost 12 years called Vyrémorn Chess! His
web page for it is at


http://members.xoom.com/Yletan/v_chess/vchess.html


This game looks like it's doable in Zillions, however it will require a 
bit of work, since it's a diagonal variant, and has a piece that can 
combine with other pieces. By the time this contest is through, I'll be
an absolute Zillions guru! ;-)


Thanks to John William Brown, who has been
helping people out with their web pages. John is a writer (author of
Meta-Chess), editor and illustrator, and is willing to help out
those who would like their submissions edited by a professional. John's
email address is:


jwb1@magnolia-net.com


Thanks John!














Thursday, April 8, 1999





    


Many thanks to Hans Bodlaender and
whoever pointed him to the site at 



http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/3154/




 

This site contains a picture of Grande Acedrex chess from King Alfonso's
book!! Yes, the picture we've been looking for to put on the cover of
the finalists prize. I hereby name Grande Acedrex Chess as the official
mascot of the Large Variant contest. ;-)












Wednesday, April 7, 1999





    

Jean-Louis Cazaux has created a Zillions of
Games implementation of his 
Shako 
variant. It should be appearing in 
the next update of Hans' Chess Variant pages. I have completed the
Zillions of Games implementations of 
Omega Chess 
and 
Quang Trung Chess, 
so look for
those to be appearing soon also.


Real Chess is being removed as an entry in the
contest, because that game already exists as "Minister Chess", which
is a commercial variant. "Ultra Chess", however, will remain in the contest.
Look for a web page for it to be appearing in the next update of Hans'
Chess Variant pages.















Thursday, April 1, 1999





    

I've moved the preceding journal entries to
a seperate file since it was getting large. This should make the loading
time go down significantly.


Thanks to Adrian King for supplying the Zillions of Games version of
Chesseract, which I used to generate the small version of the board
on the index page. It's a testament to both Adrian and Zillions of Games
that an implementation of Chesseract could even be created. For those
curious about Chesseract, I will be making Adrian's Zillions of Games
implementation available. Please note though that the game runs extrememly
slowly. Look for it soon on Hans' pages.


The web page for 
Kings Court 
is on its way to Hans, so that should
be appearing in the next update of the CV pages. Also, Hans has set up a
club at



http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/chessvariants



It's a fun place to go and discuss chess variants, and possibly get news
that you might not hear anywhere else.


The Zillions of Games implementation of 
Pick-the-Team Chess is also on its way to Hans. I think I've implemented the
rules correctly (we'll see what Hans says), but the graphics still leave
something to be desired to say the least. But hey, at least it's playable.











Older entries





    

Older entries have been moved, and
are stored
here.


















This page maintained by David Howe. For more information about the 
1999 Large Chess Variant Contest, see the 
official rules page.