UNICODE Pieces added
Added unicode pieces. A site visitor tipped me off to them. I hadn't even known they existed. I like to minimize
the graphics where I can. Unicode is the default, but GIF pieces are still an option.
kat [28 JAN 07]
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New version 3.0.0
Version three is basically a complete rewrite. I hadn't fiddled with this in some time and it appears that a major PHP upgrade broke a lot of my code. It is unfortunatly somewhat of a step backwards, as Omega Chess and Ren Chess are no longer supported. The code is *much* tighter, however.
Ren chess, Omega chess, Capablanca, Big Outer Chess, and Grand Chess support is planned for the 3.1.0 release.
kat [15 DEC 04]
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Updated contact information.
kat[18 Nov 04]
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Added support for the varient Omega Chess[v2.1.0]. The wizard and champion pieces found at www.omegachess.com.
kat[18 Oct 02]
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Pieces for Reniassance chess added today. Pieces found at:
http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/renaiss.html
kat[18 Oct 02]
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Improved the support for Renniassance chess. I hadn't at first noticed that the knight becomes a horse in Ren Chess. Added a checkbox that allows the user to specify whether or not they are entering a Ren chess board[v2.0.2].
kat[16 Oct 02]
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Ameoba chess's empty spaces are now shown as black spaces, rather than thier ASCII symbol("###")[v2.0.1]
kat[16 Oct 02]
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Made some pretty drastic changes. Enough to call it 2.0.0. Changed a lot of things internally [read: did it right this time]. Now, all varients that use a rectangular board should work. If there are not an even number of ranks and files, the colors might not turn out the way they should. Basically the light and dark squares might be flopped. Not that big a deal, but still. Also, varients that have non-standard chess pieces in them will not display perfectly either. Standard pieces will show up fine, but the non-standard pieces will show up in their text versions. As soon as someone designs piece graphics for these, this will go away.
I also started to add a few bells and whistles. The first is already visible. The ability to select the colors of your squares is now available. Right now, the choices are limited, but more will be added soon. Maybe I'll also add an "other" where you could enter your own RGB number.
Rank and File designations are on the horizon. Maybe someday I'll also get around to adding captured pieces pile, but I personally don't find it necessary, so therefor I'll admit that it's not high on the list. Some GM once said something to the effect of "Pay attention to what stays on the board, not what comes off". Sounds good.
Further down the road we may see support for western chess varients with non-rectangular boards. Boards of dynamic size should be currently supported, so long as they remain rectangular.
Okay, just finished the colors(v2.0.0a). I'll add the 'enter your own' feature another time, as it's 0517 here and I do have a class at 0900. The colors I chose are semi-random. I'll sit down and try to make them a little nicer sometime. I think that there is enough there to satisfy nearly everyone, though.
kat[16 Oct 02]
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I've played chess via email before, but always ran into a little trouble. After about 10 moves or so, I can no longer play the board through in my head. At this point, it's difficult to grab a board or throw the position up in a program some sort. I check my mail from several different locations, so using one of the fine email chess programs out there is pretty much not an option. I could only move from home, but I'm currently a student, and like to pass the time between clases by making a move or two.
Enter Richard's PBeM server. A great, great place that I'm sorry to say I only discovered about a week ago. The PBem Server supports a vast amount of games to be played over email, AND it sends you a nice ASCII board with each move. Excellent!
The ASCII board allows me to play without having to set up the position externally. There are, obviously, limitations to an ASCII board. I found that the ASCII board is sufficient about 95% of the time, but every once in a while, you'll hit a move where the position is tight and the text based board is a little hard to use to calculate complex, deep variations ( for me at least). So, I threw together Kevin's PBM Chess board viewer. Just past the ASCII board from your email in the box and submit. Poof! Graphical board. Version 1.0.0 was thrown together in less than 45 minutes using all of the poorest programing practices known to your author.
Suggestions and comments can be emailed to the author.
kat[03 OCT 02]
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