Chess Variants

[Gervie]

Game: Kinglet

Invented by V.R. Parton, 1953.
Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


The objective of each player is capture all the opponent's pawns. A player wins when he takes the last pawn of his opponent, or when his opponent promotes his last pawn.

The king is a normal piece, like every other piece.
There is no mate, no castling ...
Pawns always promote to kings.

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[Gervie]

Game: Kings of Babylon

Invented and implemented by Markus Salo, January 2002.

Win by moving your king to the opposite side corner.

Pieces move like Rooks in Chess and enemy pieces are captured by surrounding them from two opposite sides.
To capture enemy King it has to be surrounded from all four (three if the King is on the edge of the board) sides.

The Black Squares can only be entered by the King and they can be used to capture opponent pieces like in Tafl.


Kings of Babylon is a variant of Ancient Boardsgames, the Latrunculi and Hnefatafl.

Download Kings of Babylon Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Kings or Lemmings?

Invented and implemented by Ingo Althofer, June 2003.

Dedicated to all players, who never had a chance against the Zillions engine in any other chess variant

It is almost normal chess...
But in addition to the traditional rules a player can produce clones of his king. For winning it is enough to checkmate one of the opponent's kings.

Serious players will clone their kings only very seldomly, namely in special endgames. In contrast, Zillions likes to clone all day long. The engine erroneously believes that each king is worth about 100,000 points in evaluation.

When you never had a chance against the program in any other chess variant, please try this: Simply repeat Nb1-a3-b1-a3-b1-... until Zillions has ruined its own Black position. Then you will also understand the name of the game. It is also fun to watch Zillions playing against itself.

Download Kings or Lemmings? Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Klin Zha

Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, May 2001.
Piece design by Kevin A. Geiselman.
Rules for the game Klin Zha Copyright © 1989 by Leonard B. Loyd, Jr.

Klin Zha is Klingon Chess. The game was introduced in the Star Trek novel, The Final Reflection by John Ford. The rules have become standardized among Star Trek fans.

Klin Zha is a board game played by two opponents. It is played on a triangular field of 81 triangular spaces.

There are two ways to accomplish the initial set-up:

Gold arranges all their pieces but the Goal in one of the three corner zones. Then Green does the same in another corner zone. Gold places the Goal and Green places the Goal. Play then commences and both players attempt to capture the opponent's Goal.
Gold and Green alternately place their pieces in one seperate corner zone, placing their Goal last. Play then commences and both players attempt to capture the opponent's Goal.
The Goal moves according to the piece which is carring it and that piece will be centered on its appropriate emblem. If a piece can pick up the goal, a move indicator(dot) will appear upon the appropriate emblem, then merely move that piece to its post. That piece now carries the Goal and the Goal now moves, according to the move restrictions of the carrier. To drop the Goal, merely move that carrier from its post to the board.

Pieces are captured by landing on them. Klingons prefer the term, killed.

Taking the opponent's Goal is victory.
Upon capture of the goal, the body of the carrier, if any, remains at its post for the pleasure of the public and ridicule.

The winner declares: Zha riest'n, teskas tal tai-kleon.
Translation: A Pleasant game. My compliments to a worthy opponent.

Check out The Authorized Klin Zha Homepage for more details.

Send comments to: [email protected]

Updated 06/09/01
assorted corrections and additions.

Download Klin Zha Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Klin Zha 3D

Invented by John Ford.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, September 2001.

This is the three-dimensional variant of Klin Zha.

All standard rules apply.

When moving between levels, piece make level changes first and move in straight lines. Such level changes are restricted to the number of moves allowed the piece and must be preformed first and in a straight line. Any remaining moves allowed the piece may then be preformed upon that level and must obey normal restrictions.

Just think dimensionally.


Klin Zha is a chess-like game, a product of the imagination of not only John Ford but many Star Trek fans.

Rules for the game Klin Zha Copyright © 1989 by Leonard B. Loyd, Jr.
Check out The Authorized Klin Zha Homepage for more details.

Download Klin Zha 3D Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Kobayashi Maru Variant of ST3d Chess

Envisioned and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, July 2002


I've been a great fan of Star Trek since it first aired when I was young. Over the years, I have seen this tri-dimensional chess game featured on several of both the old and new episodes.

I have search many places for coherent rules but none reflected the type of play presented by the actions of the characters during the scenes which featured gameplay. Movement of the pieces between the fixed boards and movement of the smaller 'attack' boards.

I recall one episode in which Spock, or was it Kirk?, moves a piece from a lower fixed board to an 'attack' board located above the upper fixed level. I also recall an episode in which a player re-orients an 'attack' board and re-loads it with pieces.

From this I began to visualize potential rules for the movement of pieces and 'attack' boards.

I present here my version. There may be similarities to others and I offer my apologies. I assure the reader that every rule was carefully considered by myself and tested for playability.

Updated 08/03/02
improved graphics

Download Kobayashi Maru Variant of ST3d Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Kogbetliantz 8x8x8 3D Chess

Invented by Dr. Ervand George Kogbetliantz in 1918.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, January 2003.


This is one of the earliest 3D Chess games for the 8x8x8 playing field. Each player's force consists of 64 pieces arrayed on the four central levels.

Archbishop [A] slides diagonal or triagonal.
Bishop [B.] slides diagonal.
Favourite [Fa] slides diagonal or orthogonal.
Fool [Fo] slides triagonal.
Hippogriff [H] leaps to the opposite corner of a 2x3x4 area.
King [K] steps orthogonal, diagonal or triagonal.
Pawn [P] steps one vacant forward orthogonal or two on the first move, captures one forward diagonal or triagonal.
Queen [Q] slides orthogonal, diagonal or triagonal.
Rook [R] slides orthogonal.
Space Knight [N] leaps to the opposite corner of a 1x2x3, 2x2x3 or 2x3x3 area.

A castling move may be preformed by the King on its initial level, with the usual restrictions.
Pawns may also perform en passant captures. Remember that such can occur in 3D.

The game is won by checkmating the opponent King.

Updated 04/05/03
corrected promotion option

Download Kogbetliantz 8x8x8 3D Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Korean Chess for Westerners

Implemented by Malcolm Maynard, July 2002.

This is a modified version of my Janggi script. Graphics generated by David Howe and modified by myself.

This version of Korean Chess has been modified to make it easier to learn for players more familiar with Western (or European) Chess. The pieces are figurines instead of octogons with ideograms, the pieces are placed on squares instead of on the intersections of lines. The board is checkered to make visualization of diagonal moves easier. There is no "river" on this board and there are light lines running through the fortresses to indicate the diagonal movement of several pieces within a fortress.

For more information on Janggi, please visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Janggi (or send a subscription request to [email protected])

The piece graphics used in this game were generated from the Chess Alpha font by Eric Bentzen as well as those created by Fergus Duniho.

Updated 03/29/03
corrected turn order; improved graphics

Download Korean Chess for Westerners Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Korean vs Western Chess

Invented and implemented by Ingo Althofer, January 2003.

In the western world 'Western Chess' is very popular. In Korea 'Korean Chess' is similarly popular.

This new game is a mixture of both. Red pieces are from Korean Chess, black pieces are from Western Chess. They all move according to their 'local' rules.

The side which checkmates the opponent, is winner. Players move in turn. Red starts.

In contrast to the rules in Korean Chess both players are NOT allowed to pass! In contrast to the rules of Western Chess castling and En passant are not allowed.

For more details of the rules look in the respective descriptions of 'Chess' and 'Korean Chess'.")


Try to find out, if the starting position gives fair chances to the players. If you find more balanced or other interesting set-ups, please inform the author.

Download Korean vs Western Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Kriegspiel

Invented in 1899, by Henry Michael Temple (South-Africa).
Implemented by Andreas Kaufmann, January 2003.

Everything as in standard chess, but you see only own pieces and don't know how the opponent moves. On each move you can touch any of your pieces to see all of its possible moves. This gives you some information about the position of opponent pieces. If you are given a check (you may not see this), only moving of the King will be allowed.

Kriegspiel is a quite popular chess variant. For more information and links, see web-page on Chessvariants site.

When playing this game, please switch off the move list (in 'View' menu). You should also switch off 'Smart moves' ('View'/'Options'/'Board'). In classical Kriegspiel both players don't see enemy pieces, but in this implementation, the computer actually does. This makes a computer very strong opponent. You can select easier variants of game: Black without Queen, Queen and Rook or Queen and two Rooks. Alternatively you can select variant when only King or Queen is invisible.

You can get one interesting variation of Kriegspiel, if you switch on option 'Show'/'Attacks' from context menu. Black circles will show positions to where you can move, red one will show position occupied by enemy pieces, which you can capture. For after game replay, press 'Switch Piece Set' button. All pieces in alternative piece set are intentionally visible to let you see what happened in the reality.

There 9 variants in zrf file:

Kriegspiel
Kriegspiel (Black without Queen)
Kriegspiel (Black without Queen and Rook)
Kriegspiel (Black without Queen and two Rooks)
Invisible King
Invisible Pair
Kriegspiel, Mate with a Rook
Kriegspiel, Mate with two Bishops
Kriegspiel, Mate with Bishop and Knight

Download Kriegspiel Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Ladder Chess

Invented by Sergey Sirotkin, in the 1990s.
Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, November 2001


The difference to usual chess is that there is another board and no castling.

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[Gervie]

Game: Leapers Chess

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, October 2002.

Leapers' Chess is played upon the 10x10 field and all the pieces have leaping capability.

The Pawn steps one or leaps to the second vacant forward orthogonal or enemy-occupied forward diagonal. It freely promotes upon reaching either of the three farthest ranks.
The Tower slides orthogonal or leaps to the second diagonal.
The Bowman either preforms the classic knight-leap or captures without moving the second diagonal or orthogonal.
The Dragon leaps over adjacent cells to any second or third cell.
The ArchDeacon slides diagonal or leaps to the second orthogonal.
The Queen slides diagonal or orthogonal, or leaps over adjacent cells to any second cell.
The King steps one diagonal or orthogonal, or leaps to the second diagonal or orthogonal.

The game is won by checkmating the opponent King.

Download Leapers Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Lilliputian Monochromatic Alice Chess

Designed and implemented by Peter Aronson, February 2003

This game is a combination of Monochromatic Chess (where pieces are not allowed to change color) with V.R. Parton's Alice Chess (where pieces change board each time they move), with the array from George Deckle Sr.'s Lilliputian Chess. It is played on a stack of two 6x7 boards.

A piece always ends up on a square of the same color on which it started. When it makes a move -- either capturing or non-capturing -- to a square of the other color, after the move completes, the piece `falls` through to the other board, where the checking is reversed, thus keeping on the same color. If the square on the other board is occupied, then the move is not allowed.

The King may not move into an attacked square, then fall out of it. However, check may be blocked by a piece falling through.

Pawns promote at the back row of either board.

A longer, more detailed description of Lilliputian Monochromatic Alice Chess can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest84/lma-chess.html

Download Lilliputian Monochromatic Alice Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Limpy Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, May 2001


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

Knights cannot jump, only 'limp': they need a free adjacent square to move one step orthogonally and then one step diagonally.
Apart from this, standard chess rules apply.

Variant 2: the Knights can jump over friendly pieces, but not over enemy pieces.
Variant 3: the Knights can jump over enemy pieces, but not over friendly pieces.


For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

Download Limpy Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Little Mega-Chess

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, August 2001.

Little Mega-Chess is a large chess variant played upon a 16x16 field.

Rules of standard chess apply.
Exceptions:

No Castling. (What's the point?)
No En Passant.
Each player may make up to four Pawn moves at a turn according to the following restrictions:
Each must have occupied adjacent spaces.
They must all move or capture in the same direction.
You may move a Pawn twice in a turn, just not in successive moves, and it must have been adjacent to the last Pawn which moved.
Each player may make two Knight moves at a turn according to the following restrictions:
Both do not have to be adjacent
Both must move the same direction.
One Knight cannot be move twice.

So, to reinterate, at a turn each player may move either one piece, up to two Knights or up to four Pawns.

The goal is to checkmate the opponent's King.


PLAY HINTS:

When you have made all the desired and/or possible moves during your turn, just click the button in the top left corner which reads 'CLICK HERE TO PASS TURN'. You may have to click it several times to pass the move to the opponent.

Remember that Pawns in Little Mega-Chess can move as short Rooks and capture as short Bishops. This makes them very powerful. But they are still restricted to forward movement.

Download Little Mega-Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Loonybird & HexLoonybird

Loonybird and HexLoonybird games & art work © 1983-1999 by Christian Freeling
Loonybird Rules File © 1999 by Ed van Zon

Pawns move and capture in different ways. What if in a Chess game all pieces except the King would move and capture in different ways? The three basic pieces, Rook, Bishop and Knight, give rise to six combinations. These consist of a top-piece called the hunter which constitutes the way the piece captures and a bottom-piece called the carrier, which constitutes the way the piece moves. Of course only hunters can give check, therefore a piece is called after its hunter.
Also there are piece drops to avoid a drawish system; capture those enemy pieces and have them work for you!

As an afterthought came the concept of Dragonfly, which may be considered as 'normal Loonybird'.

The differences with orthodox Chess:


The nature of the pieces has been explained, but for the option to re-enter them. If a piece is captured, it becomes the captor's property and he may drop it, at the cost of a turn, on any empty square. Until dropped, the captured piece stays put beside the captor's side of the board. As in all systems that feature the re-entering of pieces, this is called a 'piece in hand'.
Pawns are the same as in orthodox Chess, but do not have the initial double step. They promote on moving to the far side to a piece the opponent has in hand. Pawns, if captured, are out of the game.
The King is the same as in orthodox Chess. He has a castling option with the rook-Bishop under the usual conditions, moving to b1 with the rook-Bishop having the choice between c1 and d1. Castling with a dropped piece is not allowed.
The following applies specifically to the pawns in HexLoonybird:
As in Loonybird, pawns move one cell forward, without the option of an initial double step. Different from Loonybird, pawns do not capture diagonally forward, but obliquely forward to a directly adjacent cell. Thus in the initial position, all pawns except the three backmost ones, are covered by one or two friendly pawns!
Try Loonybird on both a square board and a hexagon board...

Download Loonybird Now!(includes HexLoonybird)

 

[Gervie]

Game: Mad Elephant Chess

Designed and implemented by Peter Aronson, February 2003

In Mad Elephant Chess a player may as their move convert a Pawn into an Elephant (also known as an Alfil, which means "The Elephant" in Arabic). Elephants in turn, may upon reaching the back two rows promote to Mad Elephants, which can rampage, capturing all the pieces in a line in front of it. The object of the game is the capture, not checkmate of the King, and Pawns can taunt their opponent's Mad Elephants, causing them to trample the taunting Pawn (and even to trample either side's King!). Elephants and Mad Elephants replace the Bishops.

A longer, more detailed description of Mad Elephant Chess can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/diffmove.dir/mad-elephant.html.

Download Mad Elephant Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Maharadscha

Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


Firstly White drops a Maharadscha, that is a piece which moves like a queen or like a knight (also known as Amazon) on the board, on a field where it can not be captured. Than all rules of the normal chess game apply.

The objective of White is to checkmate Black, the objective of Black to capture the Maharadscha.


This game is not balanced, but a good trainee method to see what good development makes and to see how to defend the own pieces. I recommend, take Black and attempt to win against Zillions.

Download Maharadscha Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Magic Carpet Chess

Invented by Denis Van Straten and Karl Scherer December 2000. Implemented by Karl Scherer.


Object: Capture your opponent's King.

Each side owns one magic carpet (indicated by red colour). Any chess piece except the King can ride on the carpet to any empty place on the board.
However, if a piece on a magic carpet makes a standard chess move, then the carpet stays unmoved and can be occupied by another piece. In the starting position, the King is placed on the carpet, but he cannot use it.

If a piece riding a magic carpet is captured, the opponent can use the carpet. If the carpet is empty, any piece (even an enemy piece) can move onto it and use it for a ride.
Pawns riding a magic carpet cannot land on the first or eighth rank.

NOTE: To make a standard chess move (except castling) with a piece that is riding the carpet, you have to click the target square! The piece will leave the carpet behind. In standard chess moves the carpet is NOT carried along!

There is no En Passant.

In variant 2 the empty carpet can be moved to any square. Note that in this variant an empty enemy carpet stops you from castling.


For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

Download Magic Carpet Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Magnetic Chess

Zrf implementation by Joao Pedro Neto and Fergus Duniho ©1999


Magnetic Chess is a recent Chess variant by Joao Pedro Neto, in which pieces on the same side repel each other, and pieces from opposite sides attract each other. This is modeled after how magnets work, with opposite poles attracting and like poles repelling each other. With the exception of Kings, when any piece moves, it attracts or repels each of its closest rook-wise neighbors. Enemy pieces get drawn to adjacent squares, and friendly pieces get pushed out as far they can go. This regularly rearranges the board, provides a new way to promote Pawns, and creates new kinds of tactics. Joao Neto has also created three other variants based on the idea of pieces attracting and/or repelling each other. In Anti-Magnetic Chess, like attracts like, and opposites repel. In Gravity Chess, pieces attract each other, and in Anti-Gravity Chess, pieces repel each other. ZRF files for all four games are bundled together in one zip file.

The pieces are made from Armando Marroquin's Chess Magnetic font. The image below comes from a game in which the computer played Black and had a thinking time of only one second. It is White's turn to move. Can White keep his King safe by taking the Queen? No. It will pull the Knight down, and the Black Knight will then take the White King. So you can see that Zillions plays this game very well. You should also notice that the position here is actually impossible in regular Chess, since some Pawns have been pushed to spaces they could not occupy in regular Chess.

You should extract from the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

Download Magnetic Chess Now!