Twiknight

Jens Baek Nielsen invented this game, and wrote about it in Issue 67/68 (December 1994) of ETEROSCACCO, the periodical of AISE. The rules were shaped in games with, and improved by suggestions of Torben Osted and Ian G. Richardson.

Rules

The usual rules of chess apply, with the following modifications:

• Once per game, a player may make a double move with a knight. In such a double move, the player moves the same knight twice. While doing so, he may be in check after the first half of the double move. There must be a distinct square in the middle of a double move. For instance, a player can take two enemy pieces in one double move, but when there is a white piece on c3, a white knight on b1 cannot doublemove to d5.
• The knights may not move until move 3.
• The knights always attack the enemy king with a double move, e.g., when there is a white knight on b1, and c3 is empty or occupied by a black piece, a black king on d5 is considered to be in check, even when white already has used its double knight move. As a consequence, a black king on e5 may also not move to d5 in this situation.

Sample game

More details on this variant can be found in Issue 67/68 of Eteroscacco. Here is the shortest of the sample games given there. White is Jens Baek Nielsen, black is Ian G. Richardson.

Comment

The inventor wrote about his game:

... this chess variant has a lot of active and interesting play - the twiknight influences the game all the way through.
It has good speed, and in my point of view it has an advantage to progressive variants, where series of 6-7 moves or more are so hard to calculate that it is a little random who wins the game.

Indeed, the sample games show that the knights have a formidable attack on the enemy king.