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Art of Chess & Variants

Historical chess games, the European and the Japanese chess

Chess with other pieces, new original games

1 Fundamental rules of the official (European) chess and the Japanese

2 Chess with other pieces and rules, paradise chess

3 Chess with different pieces, new games

4 Chess variants with the usual board and chessmen

5 Chess with added pieces

3 Chess with other pieces

After discovering "smess" on the internet we came to a variant with three kinds of counters and a, easy board.

Smess variant on 8x8 board

Starting position as on the image.
All objects follow the arrows in movements and taking, in a straight line.
Pieces in green and blue:
- pawn + king = 1 square
- star = can choose how much fields, all in same direction, no jumping
- jumpers (omega) = choose 1 or 2 squares, can jump over any colour in a straight line
Pawns promote on the last line to stars
Goal = to take the other king or make him being alone
Taken objects are removed from the board

Counters chess

Rules:
Starting position as on image
Each player has 1 king (red middle) and 11 counters
Winning= putting the opposite king in chess or take him
Each piece can move or take as indicated by the blue figure it is standing on.
Taking is similar to traditional chess, the defeated counters are placed beside the board.
From the very moment the two players have each three counters outside the board, 2 white and 2 black counters are placed in the corner squares on the first row. This happens between the turns. If a corner square is occupied, no counter can be placed there and it stays outside the board. If neither of the two players could place a counter, they get their next chance when another counter is defeated.

The movements as indicated by the blue figures:
1, No leaps (cannot pass any other piece, black nor white):
pawn: 1 or 2 squares forward; taking = 1 square diagonal forward
king of chess: 1 square in all directions
rocket: as a pawn, only one square, counters standing on it cannot be beaten (but the king can!)
arrow: all sqares indicated by the arrow (as spear in shogi)
rook: all squares orthogonal
bishop: all squares diagonal
queen: all squares orthogonal and diagonal

2, leapers:
knight: moves in L-shape (2 squares orthogonal followed by 1 square orthogonal at right angle)
camel: as knight, but 3 + 1 (Arabian chess)
elephant: 1 or 2 diagonal squares in a right line, can leap (Indian chess)
dorje: as elephant, but orthogonal
cannon: is a hopper, it can only move when jumping over any other piece (and only one), white or black, to land on any square further on the line, orthogonal (Chinese chess)

No promotion, castling nor "en passant"

Rhomb chess, new game

Rhomb chess is invented by us and worked out. It is not really a chess variant because there is no king. The goal is to block the opponent. But the possible moves of the pieces remind chess. Knowledge of common chess is not needed, the direction of moving is indicated on the piece. This game is easy to make in cardboard, licht and easy to carry when travelling.

Rules:

All pieces are diamonds, they are placed on the board as rhombs.
Moving and beating is orthogonal, on takes the place of the beaten piece.
Pieces and starting position: see image
The red part shows the direction of moving of beating.
Double arrows can choose between one or two steps; for two steps they can jump over any other piece. The same for the three double arrow: 1, 2 or 3 fields.
A long arrow can move anywhere in that direction, but cannot jump
Long arrow with cross bar: it has to jump over one and only one other piece to land on any field behind.
All pieces can turn around one quarter in both directions (even when they are already turned); a piece arriving on the last row can choose to turn half a turn.
Pieces with only on arrow (long or short, but not the one with the cross bar) can also choose to turn 1/8 of a turn in both directions, then they stand square. In this positon, they cannot beat nor being beaten. A long arrow piece cannot pass it (but the one with the cross bar can).
One turn means one obliged move followed by one turn of the same or another piece of his own colour (not obliged).
If a piece jumps over one or two pieces of the opponent standing blocked, this pieces are deblocked by 1/8 turn iimmediatly in the direction the jumper chooses. (Still folloed by the possible turning of one of his own pieces.)
Winnar: when the opponent cannot move or beat anymore.
Promotion: when a piece with one arrow (long or short - not with the cross bar) reaches the last row, the player may choose in addition to take back one of his beaten pieces and place it anywhere on the board on any empty field in any allowed direction.

© Johan Framhout January 2015

Line chess

Rules

Counters placed on the crossings, starting position as on image.
They move and take always in a straight order on the visible lines.
Taking is done by changing place with the beaten counter and put this beside the board. Taking is not obliged.

From the moment someone got it's fifth' beaten counter, he has to choose one of his counters to return to the opponent who must place it on one of the corners down his site. This is not a turn. If those two places where not free, it is postponed to the first following opportunity.

1 = 1 move, 2 = maximum 2 moves, 4 = maximum 2 moves, 5 = maximum 5 moves (cannot jump over any counter)

3 = 1 move in the lines + jump to the 3th place (on a straight line), can jump over any counter (only as a move or taking the counter on the landing place).

Winner is the one taking the opponents 'king'. The king moves or takes as a 1-counter. (So in this game the king is regarded as a kind of counter.)

Practical: you can download the board totally free by clicking here. The click with right mouse button on the image and choose 'download'.

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