Chess Variants

[Gervie]

Game: N-Relay Chess

Invented by Mannis Charosh, 1972.
Implemented by Pierre Tourigny, August 1999.

In N-Relay Chess, pieces gain the power to move as a Knight when they are defended by a friendly Knight.
Knights cannot capture nor be captured themselves.

The file contains five variants:

N-Relay Chess The variant invented by Mannis Charosh around 1972
Transparent N-Relay Long-range piece attacks are not blocked by Knights
Double-Edged N-Relay Knights relay to enemy pieces as well as to friendly pieces
N-Relay Bump Pieces can bump Knights aside.
N-Relay Switch The author's favorite N-Relay variant. Pieces can bump and Knights can switch.
This game uses images already included with your ZoG program. Just copy the n-relay.zrf file to your Rules directory or use it from any other location.

Download N-Relay Chess Now!

An N-Relay Switch Endgame
1. Knight d5xf6 King f6xd5 This is a Knight switch. The Black King is dragged into a mating net.

1... Pawn a6-a5

2. Pawn h7-g5 Not 2. Queen c5-d4 right away because of 2... King d5xe6 Knight e6-f7.

2... King d5-e5 Now the King can bump the Knight to a different square.

3. Queen b6-c5 Check

3... King e5xe6 Knight e6-e5 This is a bump. If 3... King e5-f4 4. Queen c5-e4 is mate.

4. Knight f6-e4 Checkmate

 

[Gervie]

Game: Nana Shogi

Invented by Georg Dunkel in 1998,1999
First zrf implementation by Steve Evans ©1999
Complete checkmate rule implemented by Robert Price, July 2000


Nana-Shogi is perhaps the smallest non-trivial chess variant in existence.

The following is based on Georg Dunkel's description of the game from his web pages.
Nana Shogi is played on a 3x3 board. Each player has three cube shaped pieces, one conventional king and two pieces with four values each.
One piece has the values: Rook, Chariot, Swallow's Wings and Go-between.
The other piece has the values: Bishop, Tile General, Cat's Sword and Dog.
These pieces are taken from Shogi (Rook & Bishop), Chu Shogi (Chariot, Go-Between), Dai Shogi (Cat's Sword), Maka-Dai-Dai Shogi (Tile General) Wa Shogi (Swallow's Wings) and Tenjiku Shogi (Dog).

At the commencement of the game the board is empty. Play begins with each player in turn (starting with black) dropping their king. Players may then choose at their turn either to drop a piece or to move a piece on the board.
Pieces (other than the King obviously) may be dropped in whichever value state the player chooses.
When a piece other than a King moves on the board, either with or without capturing, that piece's value changes. Values change sequentially; Rook to Chariot to Swallow's Wings to Go-between to Rook, etc and Bishop to Tile General to Cat's Sword to Dog to Bishop, etc.
It is illegal to drop any piece on the central square and it is illegal to check or to checkmate by dropping a piece.

Under George Dunkel's rules it is also illegal to checkmate when one has one or more pieces in hand. (This last rule was not implemented in the original zrf of Steve Evans.)

Updated 7/09/00
Robert Price added the complete checkmate rule.
Steve Evans' implementation is retained as a variant.

Download Nana Shogi Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Nardeshir 3D Chess

Invented by Yeshiah Zalman, Copyright © 1999-2001,
implemented by L. Lynn Smith, September 2001.

Nardeshir 3D Chess™ Abridged Rules
'Chess from Solomon to Rashi'™

The idea of multiple chess board/levels is not new, neither are the rules. Nardeshir 3D Chess™ has only applied them in an unique combination. By, instead, extending the traditional 2D chess rules to allow for multiboard play. All traditional 2D chess rules apply to Nardeshir 3D Chess™ including rules for capturing, castling, declaring a draw, stalemate and checkmate. En passant does not apply to the Malka rule set.

A complete set of Nardeshir 3D Chess™ rules can be downloaded from: www.nardeshir.com

QUEEN [MALKA VARIANT] - can only move one square per move albeit to any adjacent place- trigonomically.
[TRADITIONAL] - follows the medeival change in which the queen may move any number of squares trigonomically.

ROOK - moves to any square along the file or the rank on which it stands. Including Trigonomically.

BISHOP - moves to any square along a diagonal on which it stands. Including Trigonomically.
NOTE: When making these moves the queen, rook or bishop cannot move over any intervening pieces.

KNIGHT - moves to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands but not on the same rank, file or diagonal. It does not pass directly over any intervening square. Including Trigonomically.

PAWN [ MALKA VARIANT] - can only move one square per move even on the first move - even trigonomically. There is no 'double first move' option for the pawn and therefore also no En Passant.
[TRADITIONAL] - follows the medeival change in which the pawn now may move two squares on it's first advance if desired. [Advancing] The pawn moves forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it or vertically on the same file, a pawn may only change levels 'towards' the opposing color not away.
[Promotion] When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position trigonomically (that is, to the opponents royal rank) it must be exchanged as part of the same move for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color. The player's choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously EXCEPT UNDER 'Nardeshir Malka'.


A limited commercial license is granted to Zillions of Games, by the copyright and trademark owner, for reproducing and/or distributing this copyrighted material, however, the licensor reserves the right to modify or cancel this license at any time without cause or notice.

The name of the game stems from Rashi's identification of 'nardeshir' with chess although many hold this in error. The fact also is that chess of Rashi's day was not ours. This is the basis for 2 rule sets.

The 'Malka Variant' follows first millenia rules which are the default rules.
The 'Traditional Variant' follows the modern european changes.
Nardeshir'[gimel]™ and the 'Triple-Board-Knight Logo' are Trademarks Copyright © 1999-2001, Yeshiah Zalman, All Rights Reserved.
Email: [email protected] HOMEPAGE: www.NARDESHIR.COM

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[Gervie]

Game: Nwap Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2000


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

All standard chess rules apply except for the Nwaps (=reverse Pawns), which move backwards.

The variants have different starting positions.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

Download Nwap Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Oblique

Oblique © 1999 by Tony Quintanilla

This 40 square Chess variant is distinguished by its board. It's the regular Chess board set at 45 degrees, hence the name. The board was designed this way to make it 40 squares, but retain a symmetrical rectangular grid.

The pieces move as they do in standard chess, but seem to move obliquely due to the orientation of the board grid. There are some exceptions:


there is no castling;
the pawn moves along the diagonals, which are now straight, and may move forward, backward, and to the sides;
the pawn captures along the orthogonals, which are now oblique;
the pawn does not have the special initial move;
the pawn does not promote.
This Chess variant was designed for the Chess Variant Pages 40 square variant contest.

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

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[Gervie]

Game: Octa-Ashtapada

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, April 2003.


The 8x8x8 playing field is a rather large battleground, and previous 3D Chess games have suffered from this fact. Octa-Ashtapada is an attempt to create a robust and enjoyable, though maybe aggravating, game for this field.

First, the introduction of several new 3D Chess pieces: Amazon, Cardinal, Herald, Marshall and Prince. The Amazon, Cardinal and Marshall have their origin in 2D Chess variant. They, along with the Herald which is unique to 3D Chess, combine the powerful slides with the Space Knight leap. The Prince, having its origin in Shogi, offers a new area of contention with its ability to become another King.

Next, the adjustment to the end-game condition. Rather than checkmating the King, the player must capture it. With the promotion of the Prince, this can create several goals for the opponent. So, promotion of the Prince will offer a great advantage. Thus, it is not necessary for the player to either avoiding or remove a threat on a King. Of course, it would be foolish to leave or place a solitary King in jeopardy.

The game will often begin with a battle between the various leaping power pieces. Do not be squeamish. Think of this part as the "Battle of the Titans". The wall of Pawns will give you some protection, as long as they are defended. Be willing to sacrifice a non-sliding leaper for a sliding leaper. This portion of the game could last about 100 turns. But a mistake by an opponent during this phase could result in an early win.

After this first phase, the player might concentrate on seperating their King and Prince, while attempting to remove the opponent's surviving Prince and promote their own.

A player having several Kings will greatly influence the opponent's strategy and overall structure of the game. With Pawns being able to promote to the Prince, the player has the option of introducing numerous possible Kings to the field, thus creating further complications for the opponent. Locating these Kings might be so that one opponent piece is unable to threaten them simultaneous.

Several power pieces offer full control of 3x3x3 and 5x5x5 areas, such as the Gargoyle and the Amazon. Utilize these to dominate portions of the playing field, controlling the flow of traffic.

Still, look forward to a long and difficult fight.

The game is won by capturing all opponent Kings.

Download Octa-Ashtapada Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Odds Chess

Created by Roger J Cooper, August 2000


Odds Chess is a compiliation of various ways of playing chess at odds (i.e. giving the more skillful player a handicap).
Included are various setups removing some starting pieces, extra moves, capped Pawn or Knight, draw odds and turn limits.

Updated 03/03/02
Fixed "22 moves" variant.

Download Odds Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Omega Chess

News flash! Two chess grandmasters battle it out in Omega Chess! Download the game score in Zillions "ZSG" format, place it in the same directory as OmegaChess.zrf (downloadable below), and re-play through the game in Zillions.

May 28, 1999 -- Game/30 minutes
White: GM Alex Sherzer, Black: GM Judit Polgar



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Invented by Daniel C. Macdonald. Implemented by David Howe.

This "10 x 10" chess variant has a twist in the corners...with four "extra" squares and a modified en-passant rule. For more information about Omega Chess, check out http://www.omegachess.com .

To play Omega Chess:

1. Run "Zillions of Games"
2. Choose "Open Game Rules..." from the File menu
3. Select "OmegaChess.zrf" in the Open dialog & click "Open"

Alternatively you can double-click on the OmegaChess.zrf file.

Download Omega Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: One Ring Chess

Developed and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, December 2001.

One Ring Chess is played upon a field of 32 linearly adjacent squares formed into a ring.


The PAWN moves without capturing one space forward. It captures by leaping forward over one square to the next. It may, as a first move, leap to the second forward square without capturing. The forward direction is denoted by the initial placement of the opponent King. If the Pawn is able to move into the area initially occupied by the opponent's royalty, whose boundaries are denoted by the crown symbols, it may freely promote to either a Knight, Bishop, Rook or Queen.
The KNIGHT may step in either direction to an adjacent square or leap in either direction over two to the third square.
The BISHOP may leap over one in either direction to the second square. It may continue this type of move as long as the touched squares are vacant.
The ROOK may slide in either direction through vacant squares, stopping on either an empty or enemy-occupied square.
The QUEEN can move as either the Bishop or Rook.
The KING may step in either direction to an adjacent square or leap over one to the second.

The game is won by checkmating the opponent King.


There have been many atttempts to create a playable form of Linear Chess, I hope that this has added a new dimension to this concept.

Download One Ring Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: One-Two Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, May 2000


Object: Checkmate or capture the opponent's Kings.

Each player moves once with his opponent's pieces, then twice with his own pieces.
You can move your opponent's king into check. You also can capture your opponent's king.

In the Two-One Variant each player moves twice with his own pieces, then once with his opponent's pieces.

This game was invented for all chess players who yearn to meddle with their opponent's chess pieces.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games to be found at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz/.

Download One-Two Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Onwards Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2000


Object: Checkmate the opponent's Kings.

This chess version was inspired by Bobby Fisher's famous motto 'Onwards, onwards!'.

In the beginning of the game the pieces can only move forward or sideways, never backwards.
On reaching the eighth rank (for Black the first rank), this direction is reversed. To reverse again, the other border has to be reached again, and so on.
Since this is true for the king as well, after reversing direction one king can attack and checkmate the other king (from 'behind').

In Variant 2 of Onwards Chess, when moving to the eights rank the pieces revert to standard chess pieces, being able to move forwards AND backwards. They never change again.

Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games to be found at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz/.

Download Onwards Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Optima

Invented and implemented by Michael Howe, December 2002.


In the early 1990s, influenced by my recent discovery of Robert Abbott's Ultima, I invented several chess variants that used differently-capturing pieces. The most interesting of these was Optima, a game in which players used 10 pieces chosen from a pool of 20, ensuring that each game was different and that relative piece values were not necessarily constant. When the program Zillions-of-Games came out, I realized that I finally had a chance to playtest Optima. In the process of learning Zillions language and implementing Optima, I revised the rules, adding new pieces to the pool and balancing the game by adding guards, a unit intermediate in power between pawns and pieces. The result, I hope, is a game that is both tactical and positional, with difficult and interesting decisions regarding piece exchanges, and virtually infinite in its combinational possibilities. But all of that, of course, is for the players to judge.

Board:
Optima is played on a checkered board 10 squares wide and 10 squares deep.

Goal:
To win, a player must checkmate or stalemate the opposing king. A threefold repetition of a given position is a draw.

Initial Position:
Each player has 10 pawns on his third rank, 10 guards on his second rank, and 10 pieces, one of which is the king, off the board.

Piece sets:
In the equal-forces game, each player has the same 10 pieces, one of which is the king.
In the unequal-forces game, each player has a king, and 18 additional pieces are selected and form a "pool" belonging to both players until the placement phase is complete.

Placement:
Equal-forces: starting with white, each player in turn places one of his pieces on his first rank until it is full. White then makes the first move of the movement phase.
Unequal-forces: All placement is to each player's first rank. White places his king. Black then places his king and selects and places one piece from the pool. Players then alternate placing two pieces from those remaining in the pool. Placement ends with white placing the last remaining piece and then making the first move of the movement phase.

Pawns:
By default, pawns move one or two squares in the four orthogonal directions, and capture one square in the four diagonal directions. A pawn that reaches the 10th rank must promote to a Wizard, which is the most powerful piece in the game and is only available by pawn promotion.
Players who wish to use other pawn rules may, by agreement, change to another of the allowed pawn definitions. To do this in Zillions, they will have to manually edit the zrf file.

Guards:
By default, a guard moves and captures one or two squares in any direction. Guards do not promote. Players who wish to use other guard rules may, by agreement, select another of the allowed guard definitions. To do this in Zillions, they will have to manually edit the zrf file.

Pieces:
The other pieces move and capture as explained in OptimaReadMe.txt included in the download.
The pieces have a wide variety of powers, some of which are negated by certain piece attributes.

Updated 12/28/02
some pieces removed, others added; added 9x9 game for beginners

Download Optima Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Pacman Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2001


Object: Capture your opponent's King.
You also win if a Pacman eats your opponent's King.

Two Pacmen wander back and forth on the board, one on the fourth rank, one on the fifth rank. They eat anything that is in their way.

A Pacman cannot be stepped upon or captured, but Rook, Bishop and Queen can slide over a Pacman.

Apart from this the standard chess rules apply.

Variant 2: The two Pacmen are 'domesticated'; The one on your half of the board will eat only enemy pieces. When your Pacman encounters one of your pieces on his march, it will stop temporarily.


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

Download Pacman Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Pass Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2000


Object: Capture or checkmate the opponent's King.

You may pass a move by clicking the 'PASS' bar. The moves can be used any time later as additional partial moves.
Blue indicators at the border of the chess board will tell you how many spare partial moves you have. You can save up to eight partial moves. (In the other three variants, you san save a maximum of one, two or three turns.)
To pass a partial move, click the lightning sign at the tool bar.

Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at my home page: http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz/.

Download Pass Chess Now!

Updated 9/23/00
Added 4 interesting variants.

 

[Gervie]

Game: Passive Aggressive Chess

Invented and implemented by Alex E.S., February 2001


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

Passive Aggressive Chess is a variant on Chess I conjured up one february morning, that is fairly unique to most variants of chess.

In this version of Chess, All original rules apply excluding En Passant, except for one crucial difference. No piece may ever capture another piece.

Playing chess with out captures creates an entirely different element of Strategy, based more on how you develope your pieces than in normal chess, since essentially, who ever has more room, has the upper hand.

Zillions has slight trouble playing this game well, I think mainly due to the fact that ZoG is based mostly on Aggression tactics, and thats hard to pull off when you can't capture anything. For the most part though, I am still surprised how well it did play this variant.

Download Passive Aggressive Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Paulowich's Chancellor Chess

Invented by David Paulowich, 1997.
Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, November 2001


In Paulowich's Chancellor Chess, all rules of the normal chess game apply, but two rooks are substituted by Chancellors and the other rooks are changed with the queens. Castling rules remain the same for the King, but now involve a Queen or a Chancellor.
Note that each player has exactly 3 pieces that can move like a Knight, 3 like a Bishop, 3 like a Rook.

Download Paulowich's Chancellor Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Penalty Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, August 2000


Object: Checkmate or capture the opponent's Kings.

If a player captures a piece, the opponent can move a piece twice, indeed he is forced to do so.
The opponent can forfeit the second partial move only if there is no legal move available anymore for the piece he has moved.

Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games to be found at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz/.

Download Penalty Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Pent-Ashtapada Chess

Developed and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, February 2003.


Pent-Ashtapada Chess is played on a 8x8x5 field. Each player has a force of 80 pieces.

ARCHBISHOP [A] slides diagonal or triagonal.
BISHOP [B.] slides diagonal.
DRAGON [D] slides orthogonal or triagonal.
FAVOURITE [F] slides orthogonal or diagonal.
GARGOYLE [G] steps one or leaps to the next orthgonal, diagonal or triagonal cell.
HIPPOGRIFF [H] leaps to the opposite corner of a 2x2x3 area.
KING [K] steps one orthogonal, diagonal or triagonal cell. Castling is permitted.
KNIGHT [N] leaps to the opposite corner of a 1x2x3 area.
PAWN [P] steps without capturing one forward orthogonal cell, captures to any one forward diagonal or triagonal cell and promotes, upon reaching the farthest rank, to any previously captured piece. In Pent-Ashtapada Chess, the Pawn is allowed to make an initial two step move, as long as both cells are vacant. Therefore, since the en passant rule applies, remember that such captures may occur both diagonally and triagonally.
QUEEN [Q] slides orthogonal, diagonal or triagonal.
ROOK [R] slides orthogonal.
SPACE KNIGHT leaps to the opposite corner of a 1x2x3, 2x2x3 or 2x3x3 area.
UNICORN slides triagonal. Upon perfoming a capture, it has the option of promoting to any previously captured piece.
WYVERN [W] leaps to the opposite corner of a 2x3x3 area.

The game is won by checkmating the opponent King.


Pent-Ashtapada Chess was developed by L. Lynn Smith from a discussion in the 3D Chess Group on Yahoo! It is intended to be a hybrid of Maack's Raumschach and Kogbetliantz' 8x8x8 game.

For more information on 3D Chess visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3-d-chess

Download Pent-Ashtapada Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Pentaplane

Pentaplane.zrf Rules File © 1999 by George Marino

Pentaplane is a fun and quite unique 3-dimensional chess variant with many new and interesting pieces, like Missile-rooks, kamakazee queens and bombs.

The object is to capture, shoot, or explode the emeny king.

Missile-firing pieces shoot in the direction they move. You may shoot to explode a bomb - but not your own.
When Bombs explode, they annihilate a 3x3x3 section. All pieces disappear, but other bombs are not ignited.

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

Download Pentaplane Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Platform Chess

Invented and implemented by Robert Price, October 2001.

The board is an 8x8 nothingness called the Void. No piece may stand on or cross the Void. Instead, pieces must stand on one of twelve 2x2 platforms that roam the Void.

In the starting position, each player has six platforms, four of which are occupied by his army.

During your turn, you may

move one of your pieces according to the rules of Chess, with the restriction that your piece may not land on or pass over Void; or
move one of your platforms (along with all pieces occupying it) to an adjacent 2x2 region of Void.

Variant:
In 8-Platform Chess, the empty platforms in the opening setup are omitted. Each player has just enough platforms to hold his army.

Please note: Platform Chess requires Zillions of Games version 1.3.1 (or higher)!

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