This is not a feedback but rather a question to developers: are there any new chess variants that you guys are planning to add in the near future?
Hope so!
Any variants you had in mind? I would fancy Spartan Chess. Although the large number of unorthodox pieces could scare players away. So Werewolf Chess, which only has a slightly modified Queen compared to FIDE, might be a better choice.
What are your thoughts on Seirawan Chess being added to Lichess @HGMuller ?
Well, I am not sure there would ever be a real downside to adding a variant, and it seems Seirawan Chess does have quite some fans that currently can go nowhere else for real-time games. So it would certaily be a good candidate.
That being said, to my taste Seirawan Chess is not a very appealing variant. (But tastes of course can differ.) Chess players seem to feel some instinctive attraction for strong and super-strong pieces. But cramming 2 x 3 Queen-class pieces on an 8x8 board gives an extremely tactical game, that is very difficult for humans to fathom. On the 10x8 board of Capablanca Chess it is already somewhat better, and certainly fun to watch computers play it. But having to play it yourself is quite exhausting.
So I favor variants that are more similar in complexity to orthodox Chess, which do not only feature new super-pieces, but also new minors. I like end-games, and winning those with just one or two weak pieces rather than with pieces that can do almost anything is a nice challenge.
That being said, to my taste Seirawan Chess is not a very appealing variant. (But tastes of course can differ.) Chess players seem to feel some instinctive attraction for strong and super-strong pieces. But cramming 2 x 3 Queen-class pieces on an 8x8 board gives an extremely tactical game, that is very difficult for humans to fathom. On the 10x8 board of Capablanca Chess it is already somewhat better, and certainly fun to watch computers play it. But having to play it yourself is quite exhausting.
So I favor variants that are more similar in complexity to orthodox Chess, which do not only feature new super-pieces, but also new minors. I like end-games, and winning those with just one or two weak pieces rather than with pieces that can do almost anything is a nice challenge.
@HGMuller I actually didn't want to name any specific variants because I know that a small fanbase might not justify the development cost.
As far as I remember from the forums there was a strong signal that people want to have a bughouse, but I understand that the investment is huge (2 boards, new rules, players sychronization of players and many more challenges).
I actually would like to see bughouse or some of the variants that requires new pieces. It would be also nice for me to see Arimaa or games that are played on not-a-standard chessboard.
Because of these complications I decided to ask developers for their roadmap. Now I see that it might be helpful to have some page, where players can vote for a variant (from a predefined list)
As far as I remember from the forums there was a strong signal that people want to have a bughouse, but I understand that the investment is huge (2 boards, new rules, players sychronization of players and many more challenges).
I actually would like to see bughouse or some of the variants that requires new pieces. It would be also nice for me to see Arimaa or games that are played on not-a-standard chessboard.
Because of these complications I decided to ask developers for their roadmap. Now I see that it might be helpful to have some page, where players can vote for a variant (from a predefined list)
I would love to see Hostage chess, which is very similar to crazyhouse.
How about 3 or 4 player chess?
I would love to see spartan chess. It is such a unique game and the balance is amazing for two completely different armies. Sure there would be a large learning curve but I think that the benefit of having a completely new game to learn and develop at would be huge.
I urge people to give a look at the rules at spartanchessonline.com
I urge people to give a look at the rules at spartanchessonline.com
@HGMuller thinks Spartan chess could even replace orthodox chess, and I'm not in total disagreement with that (it's good enough, I agree, but I don't like anything replacing anything).
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