Thomas wrote on Sat, Nov 8, 2008 03:14 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
This variant I find very interesting.
Additional idea: let the pieces make a non-capturing move laterally or
backwards with demoting the piece to the next lower kind, e.g. in the
order queen -> rook -> bishop -> knight -> pawn. This is buying more time,
and also combinations may include the demotion of a piece to alter its way
of moving.
The king is maybe too vulnerable in these variants. A defended Queen on
any of the three squares in front of the King mates, and also a defended
rook directly in front of it. Three pawns can also mate.
One might add the rule that the king may also move laterally or backwards
when attacked. I think this does not lead to cycles, but if there are
Rooks and Nightriders, a cycle is possible:
white: King e2, Rook e1
black: King e5, Nightrider f7
1. Kd3+ Kd6+
2. Ke2 Ke5