Chess with Batteries
by Roberto Lavieri
| This game was a finalist in the Chess Variant Pages 10th aniversary contest to design a 10-Chess variant. | 
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Description and General Rules
This is a game in a board 10x10, and the objective of the game is checkmate the enemy President, and the game play is nice, aesthetic, rich and deep, you have to play it to see. Majority of the pieces in this game have good movement capabilities, but its normal capturing power is limited, unless the piece is CHARGED, as we are going to explain.In the game appears a new piece, called the Battery, inspired in the HERO of Quintanilla´s Heroes Hexagonal Chess. It is an interesting piece capable of augmenting the power of friendly adjacent pieces. Batteries are TRANSPARENT as ghosts, in the sense that a piece can pass over Batteries in its path and also a Battery can pass over pieces in its path, but a non-presidential piece can´t land on a square occupied by a Battery, because a Battery can only be captured by the enemy President, and a Battery can´t capture pieces.
The pieces in this game are: President, Battery, Lady, Diag, Orthog, Agent, Equine and Soldier. The President moves and captures as the King in Chess. Batteries can move as Queens but they can´t capture. When a piece is adjacent to a friendly Battery, this piece is CHARGED and its power augments. The Diag moves as Bishop in Chess, but it can only capture with a one-step diagonal movement, but if the Diag is Charged, it can move and capture as a full Bishop. Orthog moves as Rook, but it can only capture with a one-step orthogonal movement. If the Orthog is Charged, it can move and capture as a full Rook. The Lady combines the Diag and Orthog movements. Agents and Equines can move and capture exactly as Orthogs, but if an Equine is Charged, it can also capture as a Knight in Chess. If an Agent is charged, it can move and capture with a one-step movement in all the eight directions as a King in Chess, and a charged Agent can also capture as an Overtaker, jumping over a piece and landing in the next square in the direction of movement, capturing the piece, but a Battery is not captured if the charged Agent jumps it. Soldiers move and capture as FIDE Pawns, but a charged Pawn can slide two squares vertically forward without capturing, or can slide two squares diagonally forward to capture, passing over Batteries if it is the case. When a Soldier reaches the last rank, it can promote to AGENT. There is not castling neither en-passant movement.
Board and Set Up
The Board is 10x10, with the initial set-up shown in the graphic.
Black: Soldier b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8 i8 Agent d9 g9 President e10 Battery c9 h9 Equine c10 h10 Orthog d10 g10 Lady f10 Diag e9 f9 White: Soldier b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3 i3 Agent d2 g2 President e1 Battery c2 h2 Equine c1 h1 Orthog d1 g1 Lady f1 Diag e2 f2