#chess variants

[blake447]

Therapist: Klein bottle chess isn't real, klein bottle chess can't hurt you Klein bottle chess:

[flaxen-phoenix]

Deicide Chess

I was fucking around on some chess variant resource pages and found this tool called the Board Painter, which allows you to create your own setups for custom chess variants. I played around with it for a bit, searched through all the piece graphics, started toying around with them... and then I made the board 16x16.

Eventually, I ended up with a board that looked like this. 16x16, with no less than 25 unique piece types.

I call it "Deicide Chess", because God is dead and I looked him square in the eye as I pulled the trigger. Full rules are under the cut.

Before I explain the piece movements, here's a short glossary of terms that I'll use when describing them.

Step - Movement to an adjacent square. Notated with a dot in the destination square, or an X for capturing-only steps.

Slide - Movement along a straight path of unoccupied squares to reach a square that is not adjacent. Notated with an arrow that follows the path of squares.

Jump - Movement directly to a square that is not adjacent, ignoring any pieces that may be in the way. Notated with an arrow.

(X, Y) jump - When a piece makes an (X, Y) jump, it jumps X squares in one orthogonal direction, then Y squares in a different, perpendicular direction. X and Y can be swapped freely, so an (X, Y) jump is equivalent to a (Y, X) jump.

Orthogonal - Forward, backward or sideways, perpendicular to the edges of the board.

Diagonal - An equal amount of movement along two perpendicular orthogonal directions.

Forward - Towards your opponent's side of the board. (Backward, similarly, is towards your own side of the board.) For White, this would be moving towards the 16th rank of the board, while for Black it would be moving towards the 1st rank.

In any direction - Orthogonally or diagonally.

(Unless otherwise stated, and with the exception of the above definitions, "move" specifically refers to non-capturing moves, while "capture" specifically refers to capturing moves. "Giving check" refers to capturing moves that can only target a King.)

The King

Moves or captures by stepping one square in any direction.

Royal - If your King is threatened with capture, you are in check, and you MUST remove the threat. If you cannot remove the threat, you are checkmated and you lose the game. You may not willingly move into check.

Castling - Castling is done by having the King move two squares towards its Rook, then the Rook jumps to the square the King passed through. The King may not castle into, out of or through check, all squares between the King and Rook must be open, and neither the King nor the Rook used may have been moved this game.

The Queen

Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in any direction.

The Rook

Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in an orthogonal direction.

The Bishop

Moves or captures by sliding any number of squares in a diagonal direction.

The Knight

Moves or captures by making a (2, 1) jump.

The Pawn

Moves by stepping one square straight forward. Captures by stepping one square diagonally forward.

Head Start - May slide up to four squares forward if it is on or behind its starting rank. (For white Pawns, this only works if done while on or behind the 4th rank, for black Pawns, only on or behind the 13th rank.)

En Passant - If an opposing Pawn uses its Head Start to move past a square where your Pawn could have captured it, you may move your Pawn into that square, then capture the opposing Pawn anyway.

Promotion - A Pawn that reaches the other side of the board (the 16th rank for white Pawns, or the 1st rank for black Pawns) becomes any piece except for a King, another Pawn, a Drunk Pawn, or a Rookie.

The Archbishop

Has all the movement capability of both the Bishop and the Knight.

The Chancellor

Has all the movement capability of both the Rook and the Knight.

The Cannon

Moves like a Rook, but cannot capture like one. Instead, to capture a piece, there must be a hurdle of either color between the Cannon and its target, which the Cannon jumps over to reach the target. The Cannon may not jump if not capturing, and may only jump over exactly one piece per move.

The Archer

Moves like a Bishop, but cannot capture like one. Instead, to capture a piece, there must be a hurdle of either color between the Archer and its target, which the Archer jumps over to reach the target. The Archer may not jump if not capturing, and may only jump over exactly one piece per move.

The Time Machine

Moves and captures like a Queen, but three turns into the future. To do this, declare a valid square that the Time Machine will land on, then remove it from the board with three time counters. Every turn, after you make your move, remove a time counter from the Time Machine, then if there are no time counters left, return it to the board on the square that was declared three turns ago. Any piece in that square is captured, even if it's a friendly piece. The Time Machine threatens the square it's about to land on, even if there are still some turns left before it will land. Kings who are standing in that square are in check, and if a Sumo Wrestler could push a King onto the square a Time Machine is about to land on on the next turn, that King is in check.

The Champion

Moves and captures by stepping exactly one square orthogonally, or jumping exactly two squares in any direction.

The Wizard

Moves and captures by stepping exactly one square diagonally, or making a (3, 1) jump.

The Kitsune

Moves and captures by making a doubly-bent sliding move; first, the Kitsune steps one square in an orthogonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right and slides any number of squares (including 0) in the resulting diagonal direction, then turns 45 degrees left or right again and steps one square in the resulting orthogonal direction. The Kitsune cannot capture until the final orthogonal step.

To be Continued... (because I ran out of space for images on this post)

[alexyquest]

i feel like everyone is into chess these days so i made this 

i made 30 of the stupidest chess variants imaginable. i hope u enjoy.

download for free here.

distributed by @strongbranchpro​

[allstartrekgames]

Klin Zha

Original Release: 1989

Developer: John M. Ford, Len Loyd

Publisher: Self Published

Original Platform: Board Games

A Klingon chess-like game that was described in the Star Trek book The Final Reflection by John M. Ford (who helped develop the three Star Trek III Solitaire Games) and then developed into a full game by fans.

There are pieces with different movement rules, the most important of which is the “Goal”. This can’t move on its own, but can be moved by other pieces. The object of the game is to kill your opponent’s goal or to block them from being able to move. Each player sets up their pieces on one segment of the triangular board, with the third being empty space that can be moved into.

The game encourages to play like a Klingon, flaunting your goal for honour and glory. There’s nothing but shame if you play like a P’takh and hide your goal behind the blockade’s shields.

[the-chessboard-is-personal]

@yurimartyr sorry for the @ here's bishop car chess

rule ideas:

capturing a non-bishop piece does not hinder a bishop's movement as they run the piece over

knights can avoid being captured by bishops by jumping over the car

bishops can "pick up" at most one non-king piece, which can then leave the car on a later turn and move normally

if a bishop captures another bishop, both are removed but the cars stay as obstacles

(optional) cars have a 1/4 chance to be still drivable after a collision (bishop takes bishop), and can be driven by any non-king piece

context for other people under cut

[isoraqathedh]

"Evolution described in promoting fairy chess pieces": My take on the "Pokémon evolutions vs. Digimon evolutions" meme.

If this wasn't so incredibly high-context, it'd be a meme.

[wizardglyph]

Re-interpreting Chess as a Sburb session based on Qabbalistic principles

It’s as I said.

Now, there’s one big dissimilarity between Chess and a Sburb session.

A Sburb session is co-operative, though the trolls initially mistake it for a competition. Chess is a player against the other. This has to be re-interpreted in some way, such as the competition being an illusion or what else.

Some pieces, such as the Pawn, show up many times, but we assume there’s only one Page player.

For the similarities.

Chess pieces each have a name analogos to a class. Knight is already a piece and Sburb class both.

The King is analogous to Lord. Pawn is also a clear analogue to Page, who is said to become a threat in the end of the game (a reference to promotion).

We’ll look into Chess and two variants allowing 4-players.

Though most sources note that Enochian Chess is influenced by Shatranj, it’s even closer to Chaturaji as you can see.

Enochian Chess gives an attribution of elements to the boards and pieces that’s relevant, though the part where it has four boards (each with a different element likewise) because of similarity to the Enochian tablet and can be used for divination will be overlooked as it’s not to do with Homestuck.

Knight, for its leaping, is fire.

Bishop is air.

Rook is earth.

Queen is water.

King, Lord, is Spirit.

Page, pawn, is a mix of elements and spirit.

Muse, if not the queen, is too passive to participate.

As for the board, a Sburbian set can perhaps have its Angles be breath, light, time and space. Light is a good analogy for water as they both spread to all directions available to it.

Lord and the fifth element

The king is perfectly analogous to Caliborn.

It has to be checkmated, though not killed (as it’s “immortal”).

Doing so is the goal of the game. (At the least as far as we’re concerned, not knowing of a session without the Lord). We don’t know of a session where him or Page are not there.

King is Osiris in Enochian Chess. Caliborn is shown in an egyptian themed coffin in the finale.

Although it’s said that it influences the flow of the game (by Enochian Chess Qabbalists; Wherever it goeth, it commenceth and initiateth a fresh current, whence it is represented by the motion of only one square in any direction and there staying for this purpose before moving onward) and Lord is supposed to be the most active class, its movement is small; only one square. This represents how Caliborn isn’t smart but as he’s Lord, Time revolves around him.

This is where it gets eerie in the matter of retroactive coincidences. The symbol of the fifth element, spirit, is symbolized as... that’s right. It’s the movement of the king; to all sides.

Though also the Queen. Unless the circle is meant to say only one square? Is water close to spirit? Is queen water+spirit?

In the board, this fifth element is said to be present in the movement of the pieces. Or perhaps in the rules themselves? Whenever Chess has an oddity like an assymetrical piece (not the knight, rook or bishop), checkmate rulings or en passant, it’s clear that we can also assign it to the spirit. At least I do it. I mean, why not.

The queen, however, does not have such a freedom in 4-player Chess. It tries to move in a straight line like a ray of light, but the board has been divided from 2 to 4 sides... you do the maths. Same for the Enochian bishop.

[tropylium]

new sports: Underwater Chess

you have as much time for your game as you can hold your breath; you lose if you’re the first to come up for air or pass out