Chess Variants

[Gervie]

Game: Polish Chess

Invented and implemented by Chris Huntoon, January 2003.

Polish Chess incorporates the backwards capturing rule of Polish Checkers. A Pawn may capture diagonally backwards as well as forwards. This increases the tactical range of the Pawn but also means it tends to promote slower. A Pawn that has moved back to its own first rank may move ahead two squares. Backwards capturing also effects En Passant captures.

Other than this all normal Chess rules apply.

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[Gervie]

Game: Power Shift Chess

Invented and implemented by Todd Makin, February 2002.


The board for this game is really two boards. One is a standard 8x8 chess board and starts with a standard chess setup. The second board right next to the chess board is the shifter board. On the shifter board are two "shifters", one for white, and one for black.

On a player's turn he can either move a chess piece or move his shifter. If he moves the shifter to any but the none position, then one type of piece on the chess board gains extra movement ability. The extra movement ability remains till the shifter is moved again.

The first variant (the variant the game starts on) is mainly meant for one player vs the computer. You can use it to play two players but if the black player flips the board the shifter board looks funny. The second variant plays just like the first variant but the board uses a different design so that the shifter board look right if the board is flipped. If you use this variant while playing against the computer, the computer believes it is doing worst then it really is, causing it to play overly defensively.

The next two variants are linked games so if a player moves his shifter he also moves his oppenent's shifter to the same posistion.

The last variant is a random game where the players don't get to move the shifters but they move on their own. Since the randomness of the game messes up the computer's moves some what, I didn't include a version that helps the computer out.


This is my first game written for Zillions. If you wish to send me any comments you can e-mail me at [email protected]

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[Gervie]

Game: Promotions and Demotions

Invented and implemented by Joao Pedro Neto, January 2000


This chess variant, in which a piece promotes or demotes on every move, is faster that FIDE chess, and has its specific tactics even for demoted moves. The board position is very dynamic and a quiet little piece can suddenly turns into a dangerous attacking one!


Rules:

The FIDE rules apply, except in the following:
The system of Promotions/Demotions respects the following ordering: P<N=B<R<Q.
On odd turns, the moved (non king) piece is promoted.
Queens cannot be promoted, so they cannot move on odd turns.
This rule does not apply to typical FIDE promotions.
On even turns, the moved (non king) piece is demoted.
Pawns cannot be demoted, so they cannot move on even turns.
A Bishop or Knight cannot move (and then demote to a Pawn) to the last rank.
There is no en-passant.
Castling affects the Rook.
A stalemated player looses the game.
notation: I use 'move>piece' to denote the Promotion/Demotion on that move
Updated 01/06/01
Minor corrections.

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[Gervie]

Game: Promotion Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, September 2000


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

Whenever a white piece hits the eighth rank (for Black the first rank), it is allowed to promote into a Knight, a Bishop, a Rook or a Queen.

In variant 2 each piece promotes to a piece of the next higher value: a Pawn to a Knight, Knight to Bishop, Bishop to Rook, Rook to Queen, Queen stays.

In variant 3 each piece promotes as follows: a Pawn to a Queen, Queen to a Rook, Rook to Bishop, Bishop to Knight, Knight stays.

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/.

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[Gervie]

Game: Pyramid Chess

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

There have been other versions of Pyramid Chess. Some have involved special pieces and an Egyptian theme. This is not one of them.

The playing field is a standard 8x8 board, with a 6x6 board, a 4x4 board and 2x2 board stacked and centered above.
This version utilizes standard pieces, arrayed in standard format on the bottom level, with six extra Pawns located on first rank of the next level.

The Pawn moves upon each level according to standard rules. In addition, it changes level by capture moves only. The level capture move consist of changing one level diagonal(not oblique) forward. They promote upon reaching the final rank of any platform.
There is still the two-step first move and En Passant.
The Rook slides orthogonally up or down.
The Bishop slides diagonally(not oblique) up or down.
The Knight can jump one level and two squares orthogonal, or two levels then one square orthogonal.
The Queen slide diagonally(not oblique) and orthogonally up or down.
The King steps one space diagonal(not oblique) or orthogoanl up or down.
Castling is normal.
There are two ways to win: Checkmate the opponent's King or move the King to the top platform(Throne). Sound easy? Try it.

There have been other versions of Pyramid Chess. This is a product of my development. Enjoy!
Send comments to: [email protected]

Updated 09/21/02
improved and corrected a few things

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[Gervie]

Game: Quadlevel 3D Chess

Invented by Robert Koernke Sr., 1970,
implemented by Robert Koernke Jr., August 2001.

Attempting to find perfect adaption of 2D into 3D. This is double in almost every respect of 2D chess.

Quadlevel 3D chess. Horizontal planes, are exactly the same as the 3D Verticle planes. IE. The c row pawn captures diagonally in regular chess to rows b and e, and that is also true in this variant, but added 3D it also captures c row on boards above and below. Easiest to learn of the 3D variants, no wild pieces, and intuitive (chess-like) movements.

In the Total 3D variant, full 3D motion is allowed.

Updated 01/11/03
changed notation; better description

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[Gervie]

Game: Quadrangle Chess

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, March 2002


Quadrangle Chess is played upon the points of a field of interlaced quadrangles. The point at the center of the field is considered topmost and is accessible to most pieces.

The Pawn both moves and captures to a forward adjacent point of its quadrangle, up to the next quadrangle's point which is centered in its quadrangle and down to the next quadrangle's forward points which surround its point. It freely promotes upon reaching the farthest rank of points of the field.
The Knight leaps up to the next point which centers its quadrangle then to an adjacent point upon that quadrangle, or leaps to an adjacent point upon its quadrangle then down to one of the four points which surround, or steps down to one of the four points which surrounds its point.
The Bishop leaps to the opposite point upon its quadrangle, or to the identical point of an upper or lower quadrangle. Movement up or down may be repeated if the point is empty and the next point is in the same direction as the last.
The Rook moves to the adjacent points upon its quadrangle, or up to the point centered in its quadrangle, or down to any of the four points which surround its point. Movement up or down may be repeated if the point is empty and the next point is in the same direction as the last.
The Queen moves as either the Bishop or Rook.
The King steps as either the Bishop or Rook.

The game is won by checkmating the King.

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[Gervie]

Game: Quangtrung Chess (10th edition)

Invented and implemented by Vu Q. Vo, July 1992 - November 2002

Quangtrung Chess, 10th Edition, is played on a special 9x8 board with 28 pieces. Each side gets 14 pieces as follow: 1 Tuóng (general), 2 Fáo (cannons), 2 Voi (elephants),2 Ngua (horses), 2 Ghe (boats), and 5 Bô (infantry). The board is divided into two areas: the inner-board and the outer-board. The inner-board is the five central columns. The Generals and the Infantries are only allowed to move within the inner-board.

Instead of one move per turn as in previous editions, the 10th Edition has two moves, primary and secondary, per turn. Red starts the game with a secondary move. Then Blue makes two moves, then Red makes two moves, then continue as such until the game has ended. The secondary move is defined as the last move of a turn. Except the General, all pieces may only capture in the primary move. The General capture on the secondary with a pace orthogonally. On its primary, it make one pace diagonally.

In a turn, the Generals are the only pieces allowed to move twice. All other pieces may only be moved once, either during the primary or secondary move.

The object of Quangtrung Chess is to capture the opponent's General. Repetition is a draw. Stalemate is a loss.

Red, as shown on the bottom of the screen, starts the game. Don't worry about who goes first because going first has no advantage in Quangtrung Chess. Right click on a piece then click on its 'PROPERTIES' to see a complete description of how the piece is moved. Or place the mouse cursor over a piece to see its short description.


Quangtrung Chess, 10th edition, is invented by Vu Q. Vo on 2 November 2002. The game is named in honor of Emperor Quang Trung (Nguyen Hue), Vietnam's deified military hero.

Note on previous editions:
The idea for Quang Trung Chess was started in July of 1992. The first published edition of Quang Trung Chess was completed on 3 March 1999. The second edition was completed on 15 April 1999; 17 July 2000, the 3rd; 1 Dec 2000, the 4th; 3 Mar 2001, the 5th; 3 May 2001, the 6th; 27 July 2001, the 7th; 1 October 2001, the 8th; 11 November, the 9th; and 2 November 2002 is the completion date for the current 10th edition of Quangtrung Chess.
Each new edition is a major revision after a series of tests and modifications of the previous edition.

You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

Updated 11/30/02
now tenth edition of Quangtrung Chess.

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[Gervie]

Game: Quantum Chess

Invented and implemented by Stephen Tavener, July 2000


In this chess variant, all normal chess rules apply, with one very significant change.
First, a definition: A space is said to be observed if a piece of either side could capture to that space.

The change: instead of a normal move, a piece which is not observed may move to any space that is not observed.
Note: pawns may quantum tunnel to the first or last ranks, but may only promote if they move to these spaces as a normal move.

In the early stages of the game, there is little change. As the game progresses, watch out for pawns tunnelling to the 7th rank and sneaky checkmates!


You'll find more rules files for download on Stephen's web site at http://www.scat.demon.co.uk/free.html

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[Gervie]

Game: R-Chess

Invented and implemented by Marcello Netto, September 2003.

R-Chess ("R" for "Reserve") is a variation of Crazyhouse. Whenever a player captures a piece it goes to his reserve, changing color, so that it now belongs to him. The difference to Crazyhouse is that pieces, with exception to pawns, must be recruited as reinforcement before being droped. This changes game dynamics a lot, since now pieces can be returned to board, but at the cost of iniciative. Sometimes positions will be simplified, sometimes not. On board maneuver will be more valorized, but drops will still have an important role. Pawns may not be dropped on the last three ranks, and promoted Pawns turn back into Pawns when they are captured. The pawns rank was moved one row to the front in order to give pieces space for defensive maneuvers, like in Shogi. The original idea was to shuffle the initial position like in Random chess in order to avoid all kind of theory (opening or endgame), but castle rules are not yet implemented.

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[Gervie]

Game: Rack and Runes

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

Rack and Runes is a board game played with rune stones.

Each piece moves according to the pattern of its symbol. They can jump to any space upon that pattern. The yellow dot denotes the start point of the rune's move. The red dots denote the possible moves.

The Odin rune is the 'king' of the game. A player wins by either checkmating the opponent Odin rune or placing their own Odin rune upon the starting space of the opponent Odin rune.

Only the brave and pure of heart will find their place in Valhalla.

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[Gervie]

Game: Rajah

Created by Chris Huntoon.

The Rajah of the Peacock Throne and the Rajah of the Golden Throne are fighting over each other's kingdom. There are two different ways to win. First, the player's Rajah can capture his opponent's Rajah. Second, one of the player's pieces can seize (occupy) his opponent's Throne. The Thrones are located in the corner squares, where each respective Rajah begins the game.


A piece can only capture another piece of equal or lesser rank. The pieces are ranked: 1. Rajah, 2. Generals (mounted on elephants), 3. Cavaliers, and 4. Soldiers.


Updated 10/28/00
fixed image problem with Windows NT/2000.

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[Gervie]

Game: Raumschach

Raumschach © Dr. Ferdinand Maack
Implemented by Robert Price

A thorough treatment of Raumschach can be found on the Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.com/3d.dir/3d5.html).
The starting position is as shown here, and pieces move similarly to chess. There is one new piece, the Unicorn, which moves more diagonally than the Bishop.

Included as a variant is what I call Alice Raumschach. As in Alice Chess, pieces flip between two parallel universes when they move.

You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

Updated 10/06/01
corrected Black Knight movement

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[Gervie]

Game: Recognized Variants of the Month - Game Pak I

Invented by their respective game inventors.
Implemented by several authors.
Collection selected by the editors at the Chess Variants Pages, May 2002


This is a collection of Zillions of Games rules files that implement eight of the Chess Variants Pages' first nine Recognized Variants of the Month. They represent often played and well-known Chess Variants.

Three of these are already included in the standard Zillions distribution. Others are available as separate downloads. But the ones included here utilize different piece sets - all share a consistent piece set (except for Raumschach).

The chess variants included are:

Shatranj
Chinese Chess (Westernized)
Japanese Chess (Westernized)
Grand Chess
Ultima (Unique Pieces)
Glinski's Hexagonal Chess
Raumschach
Fischer Random Chess

Illustrated rules for each game are included in the download.

Download Recognized Variants of the Month - Game Pak I Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Reduced Endgame Chess

Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, November 2001


The difference to usual chess is a different setup, which makes it usefull for endgame practice and training.

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[Gervie]

Game: Relativistic Chess

Invented by Kevin Whyte and Lee Corbin.
Implemented by Robert Price, September 2001.

The rules of Chess apply, with one modification: Empty spaces that would, under the normal Chess rules, be threatened by an enemy piece, do not exist for your pieces, except for your king. This means Pawns can run across the board in double-quick time. The Pawn pictured below can step over the nonexistent intervening space to capture the threatening enemy Queen.

The implementation was done based on the limited information from the Chess Variant Pages.

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[Gervie]

Game: Renaissance Chess

Invented by Eric Greenwood, April 1980,
implemented by Edward Holzman, November 2002.


Renaissance Chess is a large Chess variant that includes a number of powerful pieces with unusual movement capabilities. The Prince, Nobleman, Duke, and Cavalier can all be considered even more powerful than the Queen (the most powerful orthodox Chess piece). The object of the game remains the same - checkmate the enemy King.

Pawns retain their double-space first move and the ability to perform 'En Passant' moves but the rules for promotion are a bit unusual and a major departure from the promotion rules for orthodox Chess. Pawns which reach the 'next-to-last' rank may, optionally, promote to a Fox. Pawns *must* promote to a previously captured piece when reaching the 'last' rank and may not move to the 'last' rank if promotion is not possible.

The Fox also has promotion possibilities, being able to, optionally, promote to a Guard when reaching the 'last' rank.

The last major departure from the rules for orthodox Chess is that castling is not permitted.

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[Gervie]

Game: Revenge of Rubik Chess

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


Revenge of Rubik Chess is played on a 3x3x3 field without the central cell. Each player has one King and eight Pawns.

Instead of moving individual pieces, players rotate planes of the field with the occupying pieces. Players may only rotate an outside plane if it contains at least one of their pieces. The inside planes may be moved by a player if there is at least one piece of either player.

Planes are rotated 90 degrees clockwise, 90 degrees counter-clockwise or 180 degrees.

To move, select the diagram which shows the plane to be rotated. Choose either Turn-CW, Turn-CCW or Turn-180 from the menu. Then click the selected diagram again to preform the move.

A player wins by surrounding an opponent King with opposing Pawns. The game is drawn if both Kings become surrounded by opposing Pawns. The game is loss with three-time repetition of position.

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[Gervie]

Game: Rigellan Sii-od

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

Rigellan Sii-od is a three-player game. It consists of five basic pieces, Twyk, Bleeng, Zum, Do-od and Sii. There are two other compound pieces, Bleeng-od and Zum-od. All move upon the triangular points of a five-space sided hexagonal board. Red plays first, Yellow second and Blue third.

The TWYK is the most represented piece within the game. It may move to any adjacent empty space, or leap over any number of directly adjacent pieces, regardless of owner, to land upon an empty space. The Twyk then captures any piece, except the Do-od, which is directly between it and another of its own Twyks. The player may capture, as a turn, any one piece which is directly between two of their Twyks. Twyks may only be captured by other Twyks. The Twyk is represented by the full circle.

The BLEENG uses its Twyks to move. A player moves the Bleeng to their own adjacent Twyk, or through directly empty spaces to their own Twyk, then the Bleeng continues on, in the any straight direction except backwards, and may stop upon any subsequent empty space or when a capture is made. The Bleeng may not capture either the Do-od or the Twyk. If the Bleeng captures the Bleeng-od or Zum-od, it becomes a Bleeng-od. The Bleeng is represented by the ring.

The ZUM moves until it either encounters the edge of the playing field or another piece. It may either stop directly before or upon capturing an opponent piece. It may not capture the Do-od or the Twyk. If the Zum captures the Bleeng-od or Zum-od, it becomes a Zum-od. The Zum is represented by the wheel.

The DO-OD may capture any opponent Bleeng or Zum, regardless of its location. Upon making the capture of a Bleeng, the Do-od becomes a Bleeng-od. Upon the capture of a Zum, the Do-od becomes a Zum-od. The BLEENG-OD behaves basicly as a Bleeng, except it may use any Twyk to preform its move and upon capturing the Zum or Zum-od it becomes a Zum-od. The ZUM-OD behaves as a Zum, except it may stop on any empty space in its path and when it captures either a Bleeng or Bleeng-od it becomes a Bleeng-od. The Do-od itself may not be captured. The Do-od, Bleeng-od and Zum-od are all recognized by the double helix pattern.

The SII moves and captures to any adjacent space. It may make multiple capture moves within a single turn. It may not capture the Twyk or the Do-od. The Sii is represented by the jewel.

The game is lost when the Sii is captured. Passing of turns are allowed. If all players pass in a row, the game is drawn.

Updated 10/27/01
slight rule change on Sii captures.

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[Gervie]

Game: Robber Chess

Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


In this game, all rules of the normal chess game apply, but the objective is to capture all enemy pieces.
Additional there is another capture of Bishops, Rooks and Queens. They can capture all enemy pieces on their lines and ends their move on the square of the last captured piece. Own pieces and the enemy King stop the capture. White has the greater chances.

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