Search found 25 matches

by H.G.Muller
Sat Jun 05, 2021 5:18 pm
Forum: Musketeer Chess
Topic: Piece value
Replies: 5
Views: 17388

Re: Piece value

Game results are not very sensitive to the piece values assumed by the playing agents, and as a result it is very hard to tune them from game results. Especially if a piece is much stronger than all others, the assumed values don't matter very much, as long as it is high enough to discourage 1-on-1 ...
by H.G.Muller
Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:10 pm
Forum: Musketeer Chess
Topic: Counter-Picking
Replies: 4
Views: 13073

Re: Counter-Picking

I think he means with 'the same piece' that black and white get the same piece, no matter who chooses it. Not that black chooses the same piece as white when his turn to choose comes up, so that each player has a pair of those. (Which I thought was not allowed by the rules anyway.) And I agree with ...
by H.G.Muller
Thu Nov 26, 2020 3:26 pm
Forum: News & Future Projects
Topic: NextGen Pawns, how to improve the Classic Chess Pawn
Replies: 19
Views: 99372

Re: NextGen Pawns, how to improve the Classic Chess Pawn

Concerning the issue of novel pawn types, the following post of Matts Winther might interest you: https://www.chessvariants.com/index/listcomments.php?id=40765 In short, he proposes (in simulation of medieval battle) connected head-to-head pawns to push the opposing Pawn one rank backwards. It seems...
by H.G.Muller
Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:16 am
Forum: News & Future Projects
Topic: Win-Draw rates when playing with various modified Pawns: The Lieutenant Pawns, Moscovia Chess
Replies: 3
Views: 16066

Re: Win-Draw rates when playing with various modified Pawns: The Lieutenant Pawns, Moscovia Chess

My experience is that it doesn't matter very much which engine you use, as long as you play it against itself. Because in that case any preference associated with style (e.g. like aggressively going for a King attack), and even plain misconceptions (wrong piece value that inverts the desirability of...
by H.G.Muller
Mon Dec 23, 2019 8:21 am
Forum: Musketeer Chess
Topic: Some results from Musketeer Chess End-Game Tables
Replies: 3
Views: 13618

Re: Some results from Musketeer Chess End-Game Tables

FairyGen is an EGT generator for pawnless 3, 4 or 5-men EGT with fairy pieces. It is available from my website at http://hgm.nubati.net/fairygen.zip . The package contains separate executables for 3-, 4- or 5-men endings, plus a piecedef.ini file that defines how the various pieces move. Usage is fo...
by H.G.Muller
Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:27 pm
Forum: Musketeer Chess
Topic: Some results from Musketeer Chess End-Game Tables
Replies: 3
Views: 13618

Some results from Musketeer Chess End-Game Tables

I investigated some pawnless end-games with Musketeer pieces, to determine their drawishness. (Which often plagues pawn-less end-games.) To this end I had FairyGen generate the required End-Game Tables, and interpreted their statistics. For a chess engine it is important to have such knowledge; othe...
by H.G.Muller
Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:04 pm
Forum: News & Future Projects
Topic: Win-Draw rates when playing with various modified Pawns: The Lieutenant Pawns, Moscovia Chess
Replies: 3
Views: 16066

Re: Win-Draw rates when playing with various modified Pawns: The Lieutenant Pawns, Moscovia Chess

How do you mean, remained high? I usually see only about 32% drawing percentage in orthodox chess. I am not sure that tinkering with the Pawns will achieve much in this respect anyway. The extra moves might help a bit for winning KP-K, but only a tiny fraction of chess games ends in KP-K. It doesn't...
by H.G.Muller
Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:42 pm
Forum: Musketeer Chess
Topic: Musketeer Chess engine (free download)
Replies: 1
Views: 10718

Musketeer Chess engine (free download)

I converted my engine KingSlayer (a simple demo) to play Musketeer Chess, and made some slight adaptations to WinBoard to work well as an interface for this. I especially focused on human-engine games, and how the engine could use WinBoard to conduct the game 'prelude' in which the players negociate...
by H.G.Muller
Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:27 pm
Forum: Geneva Chess
Topic: Geneva Chess available on Musketeerchess.net
Replies: 6
Views: 39274

Re: Geneva Chess available on Musketeerchess.net

XBetza would allow you to create only e.p./o.c. rights in the non-passed square by splitting the oblique move in one that hops (and doesn't create rights) and one that 'moves' (and does create rights): ifmnarmnalWifmnarpalWifmnalmnarWifmnalparW The 'm' would all be redundant here, as move-only is th...
by H.G.Muller
Sat Dec 14, 2019 11:38 am
Forum: Geneva Chess
Topic: Geneva Chess available on Musketeerchess.net
Replies: 6
Views: 39274

Re: Geneva Chess available on Musketeerchess.net

OK, that explains it. So an oblique Pawn move like b2-c4 can generate both an e.p. square and an o.c. square, depending on presence of enemy Pawns (on a4 for e.p. and on b4 for o.c.). The o.c.-square is different from an e.p. square in that it matters which capture move (left or right) of the Pawn r...