Chess Variants

[Gervie]

Game: Trek71 Chess

Invented and implemented by K. Franklin, September 2003.

These chess variants are based on the original Star Trek tv series of the 1960's. In episode 71, a planet was populated by two different people(s). They were either black on one side / white on the other OR vica-versa.

(too much) info: Season three, #71 - 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield', planet - Cheron, opponents - Bele & Lokai, stardate 5730.2, first aired Jan 10, 1969.

Object: Normal Chess but with contrasting Graphics. All pieces on the lefthand-side are shown as black, all pieces on the righthand-side are shown as white. Regardless of their currently displayed colour status, the chesspieces never change owners.

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[Gervie]

Game: Tri-Ashtapada Chess

Developed and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, April 2002.

Tri-Ashtapada Chess is played on a 8x8x3 field. Each player has a force of 48 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.
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 Tri-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.
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.

Updated 04/13/02
rule change; graphics change

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[Gervie]

Game: Triplets Chess

Invented by Adam Sobey,
implemented by Doug Chatham, December 2001


In Triplets, each side starts with a pawn move. In the second turn, each side plays a double move consisting of a pawn move and a move of a non-king, non-pawn (a 'piece'), in either order. Each subsequent turn is a triple move (hence the name) consisting of a pawn move, a king move, and a piece move, in any order.

A player loses when checkmated or unable to complete any part of his/her move. Most games end when one player runs out of pawn moves, so keep an eye on your pawns!

For more information, see the Triplets page at The Chess Variants Pages.

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[Gervie]

Game: Trophy Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, February 2001


Object: capture your opponent's King. (2 variants)

The more enemies a piece has captured, the more additional partial moves are available for this piece. E.g. if a Pawn has captured another piece (earned one trophy), it can make two moves in the next and all following rounds.

Pieces that carry one trophy are marked by a yellow dot.
Pieces that carry two trophies or more are marked by a red dot.

Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.

In Variant 2 only the last partial move can capture. If you capture earlier, then you forfeit your additional partial moves for this round.


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

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[Gervie]

Game: Tutti Frutti Chess

Invented by Ralph Betza and Philip Cohen, 1978
Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


In Tutti Frutti Chess, all rules of the normal chess game apply, but there are additional pieces, namely Chancellors, Cardinals, and Amazons.

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[Gervie]

Game: Twin Chess

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2000


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

If possible, you have a similar second move (a 'TWIN MOVE') with another piece of the same type.
A Twin Move is a move into the same direction and going the same distance. For example, after a2-a4 you may play h2-h4 as the second partial move. You cannot play h2-h3 however. Similarly, your second move may be Rook a1-a2 plus Rook h1-h2.

In the default variant the Twin Move is always forced. Only if this second move is not possible you may 'pass' a move by clicking on an empty square.

In the second variant the Twin Move is optional. You can always pass the Twin Move by clicking an empty square.


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

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[Gervie]

Game: Two Pipe Chess

Invented (October 2000) and implemented by Doug Chatham, April 2001


Two Pipe Chess is a variant I entered in The Chess Variant Pages' 41-Square Contest, which asked for chess variants on boards with exactly 41 squares. Two Pipe Chess gets its name from its initial arrangement of pieces, which looks somewhat like two tobacco pipes.

The pieces move just as in normal chess, except:
(1) there is no castling
(2) there are no bishops and pawns cannot promote to bishops
(3) pawns promote on the fifth rank.

The ZRF file contains two other variants:
(1) Two Pipe Extinction Chess: Extinction Chess on a Two Pipe Chess board.
(2) Two Pipe Non-Prise Chess: Non-Prise Chess on a Two Pipe Chess board.

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[Gervie]

Game: Ultima Alt

Ultima Alternative piece design by David Howe

Ultima is a game included in the retail version of Zillions-of-Games. This archive uses that same game file but incorporates newly designed and unique Ultima pieces.

You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

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[Gervie]

Game: Ultra Chess

Invented by Ruggero Micheletto,
implemented Pavel Tikhomirov, May 1999,
zrf improved by Marek Ctrnact, August 2000.


Object: Checkmate the opponent's King.

Ultra Chess is a modern large chess variant of a Standard Chess game. The game rules was invented by Ruggero Micheletto for the 1999 contest of the Large Chess Variants. Full rules description can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/large.dir/contest/ultrachess.html.


Here the idea of game creation is introduced by its author.

In the past Xianqi had to move from Asia to the Aristocracy in Europe. People of that times felt the necessity to introduce King and Queen to fit the spirit of that age. What they did, was to create nowadays chess as we know it.

In another variant I was considering, I tried to reproduce Xianqi as it was, a War game, with a General (King), two powerful warrior at his side (Queens) and so on.

There is another possibility, I think also reasonable and logical, to introduce the King and Queen as our ancestors wanted. The only way to do that without removing one of the powerful warriors - and then create the nowadays 8x8 chess game - is to leave all the war pieces as they are, and to substitute the single piece general with the two pieces King and a Queen. In this way the board gets 10x10 and everything is symmetric.

For reason of space, the pawns must obviously move more forward, that's why I introduced a 3rd steps forward.

Due to the lot of space the strategy in this variation should be really great, this game should be very open and complex. The player has all the space and pieces to use his creativity.

The Soldiers are introduced, like two modern chess Queens in a 10x10 checkerboard.

Every piece can move one step in every direction (!) I introduced this rule as it is. It is necessary to increase the general power of the pieces. A mere Knight or Bishop in a 10x10 board is easily taken by the opponent team. Things are different if they can move one step in any direction.

This gives a lot of flexibility to pieces movement and equilibrate the super attack power of two Soldier on the board. Just imagine to have a Bishop on a diagonal, and just shift it on another one... a great new potential in gameplay.

The Queen moves only in any direction like her King. That nowadays chess role is taken by the two Soldiers. Her power will appear in the final, where she will follow and protect her King.

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[Gervie]

Game: Unirexal Chess

Invented by V. R. Parton, 1961
Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


Unirexal chess is a chess variant It is only one king on the board; the other player must mate within a certain number of moves or lose.

Included is a two queen variant of unirexal chess, played on a chessboard with almost the normal opening setup: only the black king is now replaced by a second black queen.

White and black should agree on a certain number of moves. When black mates white within that number of moves, he wins the game, otherwise he loses. One can use different mechanics to choose the number of moves. I have improved that 35 moves are a equal play and therefore this number is implemented.

Draws are impossible. That means the white player has lost, if he to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. Stalemate is a loss for white.


In the twenty knights variant of unirexal chess, black has twenty knights. Black must mate in 50 moves.

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[Gervie]

Game: Vortex Chess

Vortex Chess © Februari 2000 by Rob LeRoy

Vortex chess is a chess variant I wrote for Zillions after being highly caffeinated and kept awake for over 24 hours. :)

The setup and rules are basically the same as standard chess, but there is the inclusion of one new piece on both sides: The Portal, or Vortex. (It can be called both, because the game is called Vortex Chess, but the piece-name I put in for the vortex itself was "Portal", and I didn't notice it at the time due to my caffeinated state. :P)

The setup is as below, with white's vortex (the blue one) on the fourth rank on the far left, and black's (the red one) on the fifth to the far right.

The effect of the vortex is as follows: Any piece that would otherwise land on the space occupied by the vortex, its path is transplanted onto the space in that same direction from the other vortex.

For example, from the opening move, the leftmost pawn of White can move to the sixth rank on the far right, because it has an opening move of two.

The movement of the vortex piece is simple - it can move to any unoccupied square. At first I thought this might make it too easy to defend a King in check, but upon seeing Zillions' response to this tactic, I realized that the portal can only defend the King if there is only one space between the King and the attacker, as the opponent can always place their portal next to yours, in effect nullifying it.

Knights take a little getting used to in Vortex Chess, depending on how you remember how they move. A Knight can leap over a portal, but if it lands on one, it moves diagonally from the other, not orthogonally, which is what a person might think if they use the L-shape movement for ease of remembering. :)

This ZRF has two variations - the default allowing movement of the portals only once every other turn, by alternating sides. The variant allowing movement of the portals during each turn by both sides.



You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

Download Vortex Chess Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Weak!

Implemented by Uwe Wiedemann, June 2001


The game of Weak! is played with normal chess rules, but with a very special opening setup. While white has its normal array, black has a King on e8, seven Knights on the back row, 8 Pawns in the usual places, and 8 extra Pawns arranged as he pleases on his third and fourth ranks.

You start as Black placing the 8 extra pawns. Then the computer opens with a white move.


The name of the game is a play of words. There are seven nights in a week and seven black knights in the game.

This game is attributed by Pritchard to Ralph Betza, and said to be invented in 1973. However, Ralph Betza says about this game that he probably didn't help to invent Weak!.

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[Gervie]

Game: Weave & Dungeon

Invented and implemented by W. D. Troyka, December 2002.


Weave & Dungeon is a warped game. It is played on a 9x9 weave pattern set against a black background. The white spaces as a group are called the Weave. The black spaces are called the Dungeon. The Weave and the Dungeon constitute separate playing fields that interact with one another. Motion on the Weave is twisting and non-Euclidian. Motion in the Dungeon is traditional and linear.

The Weave consists of five vertical strands interwoven with five horizontal strands. Each strand is broken into two or three segments by cross-strands. The segments in turn consist of two or three spaces. A space located at the intersection of two strands is called a bridge. A space laterally adjacent to a Dungeon space is called a slope. The strands can be thought of as sine curves viewed from above. Bridges are located at the crests of each curve, and slopes connect bridges to the (hidden) troughs of the curve. An adjacent bridge and slope are continuous if located in the same strand. They are normal, i.e., perpendicular, if located in different strands. The Dungeon consists of sixteen black spaces called cells. Cells are considered adjacent if separated by a single Weave space.Ý

There are two types of motion: sliding and stepping. Sliding consists of continuous motion along a smooth surface. Pieces slide when moving within the Dungeon or along a strand. A step occurs when a piece abruptly changes altitude by moving across an edge. Pieces step when moving between a normal bridge and slope, or between the Weave and the Dungeon.

A single move can combine sliding and stepping. An important example is "stepping down from one segment to another," or "segment stepping." This occurs when a piece, starting from any space in a segment, slides to the bridge of the segment (if not already there), steps down to a normal slope, and comes to rest on any space in the new segment. A piece that steps down from one segment to another must always step as part of the move. It cannot start and stop within the same segment.

All pieces capture by replacement. With the exception of the Circle, a piece cannot move across an occupied space. Pieces can, however, move underneath other pieces when taking an underpass or an implied cell.Ý

To see how each individual piece moves, open the ReadMe file that comes with the game or right click on the piece.

Win by checkmating the opponent Star. Stalemate and repetition are a loss.

The bridge on which the Star begins the game is called its throne. A Star that steps off its throne is said to abdicate. It is imprisoned when it enters the Dungeon. In a typical game one or both Stars are forced into the Dungeon, from which they are helpless from checks delivered from the overhanging Weave. The Stars are quite mobile, however, and are often chased throughout the Dungeon before checkmate can be achieved.

Although a win is a win, Weave & Dungeon grades wins according to quality. A player that wins with his Star unmoved on its throne earns a Triumph, the highest level. A player that wins with his Star on the Weave earns an Ovation. If both Stars are in the Dungeon, the winning player earns a simple Victory.

Please send any comments or bug reports to [email protected].

Download Weave & Dungeon Now!

 

[Gervie]

Game: Wuss

Created by W. D. Troyka, February 2002.


Introducing a new chess piece -- the Wuss. The Wuss moves exactly like a Queen, except:
(1) it cannot capture, and
(2) it must move when attacked.

The attack cannot be blocked and the attacking piece cannot be captured. Win by capturing the opponent King or Wuss. If a Wuss is attacked and has no move, that player loses. White cannot open with a Knight move. Normal chess rules otherwise apply.

The Wuss is a powerful piece - for the opponent. Attacking the Wuss provides a (nearly) risk-free way of developing your forces. The opponent is helpless as long as you keep attacking the Wuss, and in the process you can bring out your pieces. The Wuss is particularly dangerous to its King. A loss will automatically follow when both the King and the Wuss are attacked on the same turn.

In Wuss II, the player has a Wuss in addition to the regular 16 pieces. In Wuss III, the Wuss replaces the King and moves like the King. In Wuss IV, the Wuss has the combined moves of the Queen and Knight.

Updated 12/21/02
Board switching implemented in Zillions v2 style (game still works in Zillions v1).

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[Gervie]

Game: Yáng Qí

Game and zrf implementation by Fergus Duniho Copyright © 2001


Yáng Qí is a westernized variant of Chinese Chess. The Horse can jump as a Knight. The Prime Minister/Elephant (xiàng) is replaced by a Sage (shèng), which moves as a Bishop. The Guards (shì) are replaced by Arrows (shi), which move as diagonal versions of the Cannon. The King moves as the King in Chess or Shogi. Chess Pawns replace Chinese Pawns. The initial setup can be seen in the diagram below.

The board shown below is designed to aid the visualization of diagonal moves, while still retaining the characteristics that distinguish a Chinese Chess board from a checkered western board. As in Chinese Chess, pieces occupy intersections rather than spaces. Sages and Arrows can move along visible diagonal lines or along roads between two parallel diagonal lines. It is painted to resembles the Chinese Chess board, though the river and fortress play no special role in the game. It comes with three sets of pieces. The set shown below is based on Big5 Chinese characters. Another set is based on simplified GB Chinese characters, and a third set (for those who get confused by Chinese characters) is based on my abstract piece set. If you're interested in a version with completely western graphics, visit the Yáng Qí page at chessvariants.com, linked to above. I submitted only this version to Zillions, because I think it is much more beautiful.

For more games by Fergus Duniho, goto http://www.duniho.com/fergus/games

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[Gervie]

Game: YiTong

Standard Chinese Chess from Zillions,
YiTong code added by Ivan A Derzhanski, August 2001.

YiTong is a variant of Chinese Chess with unequal armies.

Stephen Leary 'saw this mentioned in a Chinese game book [he] browsed through in a store. Supposedly it was very popular in Manchuria'.

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[Gervie]

Game: Z-Axial Chess

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

This is a 3D Chess variant played upon two bisecting boards. Both the horizontal and vertical 'Z' board cross at the King's file, that would be e1-e8 alphanumerically.

All standard rules of Chess apply, including castling and en passant.

Castling can be preformed to both the horizontal and vertical boards.

Pieces can only move from one board to the other from the King's file. So the Pawn on the King's file can capture to both boards.


Z-Axial Chess was developed by L. Lynn Smith from an idea which was touched upon within the 3D Chess Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3-d-chess

Updated 04/06/02
changed name (was: Z-Chess) to prevent conflict with other game

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[Gervie]

Game: Z-Chess

Developed by Zoltan Bartok in 1998.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, April 2002.

Z-Chess is played upon a field of triangonally connected points.

The Pawn moves and captures one diagonal step toward the opponent. It may perform a two step initial move if both direct points are vacant. It freely promotes upon reaching the farthest rank.
The Rook slides horizontal, or slides through vacant diagonal points then slides horizontal.
The Knight leaps two indirect points, but not to the diagonally adjacent points.
The Bishop slides diagonal.
The Queen slides diagonal or horizontal.
The King steps one diagonal or horizontal point. It may preform a castling move.
The game is won by checkmating the opponent's King.


For more information about this game visit: http://hometown.aol.com/glxz/z-chess.html.

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