jadarite: Do you think you could make a set of "westernized" tori shogi pieces for those who cannot read Japanese characters? Similar to the standard Shogi set.

jadarite: Nice work.

jadarite: Just make them and I'll be happy to add them to BrainKing.
By the way, would you create pieces for >Tori Shogi as well? I would like to add more Shogi variants but I cannot do that without a good graphics.

YuryShpilev: It can be marked by a blue dot or something.

ニコ: The handicap games won't affect your BKR but they will appear at the win/loss statistics (unless you define these games as "not counted").

Spirou: The level of handicap is determined by the game invitation creator. Nothing is automatically adjusted.

All right, it should be fixed now. White starts and the first black move is marked as "-" in the notation section.

YuryShpilev: I understand. It won't be a problem, of course. But if the game recording starts from the 2nd move, does it mean the white's 1st move is not recorded?

YuryShpilev: I did't know that. Why should white make the first move?

YuryShpilev: All handicap games are automatically unrated.

flummoxed: All right, you can try it now.

flummoxed: Thank you. As I can see, there is this set of handicaps:

1. Six Piece Handicap - White removes rook, bishop, both lances, and both knights.
2. Five Piece Handicap - White removes rook, bishop, both lances, and either knight.
3. Four Piece Handicap - White removes rook, bishop, and both lances.
4. Two Piece Handicap - White removes rook and bishop.
5. Rook and Lance Handicap - White removes rook and his left lance.
6. Rook Handicap - White removes his rook.
7. Bishop Handicap - White removes his bishop.
8. Lance Handicap - White removes his left lance.

The gnushogi site describes an eight-piece handicap too. Should it be added to the list?

takodori: It shouldn't be a problem (handicaps). But I don't know how the Shogi handicap system works.

jannix: I've accepted your request.

I've restored the deleted post.

tedbarber: You cannot checkmate by dropping a pawn. Other pieces are allowed to checkmate by dropping.

tedbarber: I've bought this book and it seems to be a good resource for beginners. Moreover, it contains a paper board and pieces.

Sorry for the off topic. I've noticed there are many Russian players contributing to this board. Is anybody interested in moderating the Russian mutation of BrainKing.com board?

andreas: The upside down direction of the upper pieces is necessary at least for golden and silver generals in order to symbolize their movement abilities.

Caissus: Thanks. I don't think Kurnik would like it if I steal their graphics. But it's good inspiration to create a similar one.

Caissus: I like it. What can I find it? I see it's a Java applet.

Wow, I am impressed, I didn't know Shogi variants could be that interesting and popular.
Anyway, I want to finish some pending things with the current Shogi model first (more graphics options, minor improvements of the interface) and then I'll add some variants, probably create an extra category for it (apart the normal Chess and its variants), just to keep it better organized.

Thanks for all valuable suggestions. I'll implement some of the proposed variants when I am finished with other things.

ughaibu: Yes, 25x25. Looks weird to me.

What about Tai Shogi, anybody has a real experience with it?

Could somebody recommend a good Shogi variant which would be worth implementing?

Uh-huh.

Spirou: Do you mean just the Japanese characters without surrounding pentagonal shapes?

Try Settings / Shogi page.

takodori: This is the reason. But it will be changed in the future.

Spirou: I know what happened but you don't want to know it.

Mirjam: 1) Can be fixed. 2) Backward is contained in "vertically" :-)

All right, give me the checkmate now.

Spirou: I'll look at it.

Spirou: That's better.

Spirou: A bishop is always on the left side (from each player's perspective).