How about a game of Japanese Chess, i.e. Shogi? Now playing Shogi4 — Page 48

K-30

If it would have affected your move, feel free to take it (SCx22) back and do something else.

Leonardo said:

What do you mean? An african or european swallow?

 Oh, I forgot to tell you, I fart in your general direction ;)

FSx29

I think it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.  Let me double check our positions, though.

k
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hh
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gs
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Gs
rc
T
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b
K
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darth_ender: p, hh, rc
RicOlie_2: P, T, FS

Kx29

And yes, our boards are in agreement.

I edited my last post, in case you missed it.

HH*26#

I'm glad our boards agree :)

K-30

RC*29 mate.

And I will say that it could have been avoided, if you had instead moved to 27.  Then if I dropped my RC on 29, you could have dropped a blocking piece on 28 and I'd be destroyed.  It was a gamble that I took hoping you wouldn't notice your predicament, and if I let you take the move back, I honestly might as well resign.

I also am a little anxious to try out the weaker bishop, and I'm curious again on your opinion of the dropping rules.  It might be better to go ahead and allow dropping with either face up.  The reason why it was a problem before was because there were too many powerful pieces, but I think we've toned it down now.  It would be nice to see the more powerful faces more often, and yet it remains not always the wisest choice since the first capture leads to the weaker face up and often a stuck position (as I had with three of my pieces that first game).  Do you think it would be good to try out the dropping of either face again?

I find it interesting in our crowded first game, the cannons were more effective and the L/RC was almost useless.  Now that the board has been freed up, the silver cannon gets far less use and the reverse chariot is actually more powerful, perhaps the more powerful of the two.  I guess it just depends on the number of free squares and the number of occupied squares which piece is more powerful.  Any thoughts or suggestions regarding that?

Back to our last game, you played very well.  You had my RC trapped very nicely, and I wasn't sure what I could do.  I honestly thought you were going to win this game.  Well played.  I suspect it was your tendency to try and keep your king snug and safe that led to your demise.  Had you considered simply attacking with him, you would have ensured a far superior position.

I on the other hand have to be more aware of your potential drops.  You are starting to use them very effectively, and I often find myself startled at your moves.

How did I not see that? :(

I really need to work on not always moving my king back all the time. Almost every game of Ito Shogi we've played has ended with a drop behind my other pieces, moving my king to the wrong spot, and a drop that traps my king. It was fair though, and I wouldn't take my move back even if you offered it.

What bugs me though is that I could have checkmated you in two moves had I avoided that. I was just waiting for a chance when I didn't have to worry about your RC so much and my king was more safe.

To be honest, I thought the pieces worked well as they were this game. However, we can try a weaker bishop if you want. I think the game demonstrated that a good, fun game can be played with the set-up and pieces we have now, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved (I think we could be getting close to a finalized version though).

I also noticed that the SC hardly got any use. However, you have to remember that when we played before, the SC was also a GC, so it was able to jump pieces no matter what its value was. Additionally, we were allowing drops with either value facing up. That allowed the silver cannon to be dropped onto the board, but now only the reverse chariot can be dropped. So it isn't just the removed pieces that have made it a less-frequently used piece, but also the altered drop rules and the merger of the L/RC with the GC/SC. I think the piece itself is definitely fine as it is.

As for drops, I kind of liked that only the demoted value could be dropped, but we could try another game with the original rule. If we did so, I'd like to make that the only change, so we can better compare the two. Thus far, we have not played more than one game with the same set-up and I'd like to play the next game without any major changes.

I was surprised at myself this game as well. :) I analyzed the board a bit more and was able to accurately predict many of your moves. I think I've become a lot more conscious of the paratrooping aspect as well and am not as surprised by your drops as I used to be. Now that I'm paying more attention to that aspect, I try to defend my pieces against both your pieces in hand and on the board. That awareness of the drops is probably what allowed me to do so well.

So are you OK with playing another game and only changing the drop rules to allow either value to be dropped face up?

Yes, I'd like to play again with only that change.  After we decide which is better, I think we could settle on the official rules.  Then we might try some variants, but still keep the 'real' Ito Shogi rules.  You go first :)

P-18

Actually I have one recommended change to your setup as well, and it is only slight.  Let me know what you think.  I know we've already started, and it may alter your opening move, but I recommend moving the FS back one square.  The reason for this is because it's pretty easy to free up its path to the opponent's camp.  Since the piece can step one backwards, thus altering the color of squares it's limited to in forward movement, it wouldn't drastically hurt its mobility.  But it would add at least one move to give it such long range.  And since we're sticking for now with the more powerful FS, I think it's best to try and limit it a bit more in the earlier stages of the game.  I will wait for your response before I move.

The change is small enough that I don't think it will affect the game too much, so I'm OK with making the change, just this once. :) My first move remains the same.

P-14

RC-22

HH-11

I tried to move last night, but the silly site went down as soon as I clicked on this page. :(

K-30

Yeah, it's been going down a lot lately.  No worries.  We take our games pretty slow as it is.  RC-8

T-21

Gs-10

T-19

You had time to post a chess move but not a Shogi move? :(

I was at work until moments ago.  I knew what my chess move would be, but I did not know what my shogi move would be.  I'll move now.

P-15

No worries. :)

T-17

P-16