Hop Chess

This idea came out after placing two checkers (one of each color) on board. What could be done with those special pieces?

Setup

The same as FIDE chess.

Pieces

The same as FIDE chess plus a special piece called the trampoline (check below). [addendum] Its original name was 'hopper' but I followed a suggestion of Alfred Pfeiffer to rename it with a more proper name.

Rules

0. Same as FIDE except:
1. On each turn, each player must do both the following actions:
   1.1. Move a friendly chess piece; then
   1.2. Move his trampoline to any empty square
2. If a chess piece moves onto a trampoline (of either color),
    it must move again (it's invalid to return to the initial square).
   2.1. Kings cannot move onto a trampoline, nor castle across one.
   2.2. If the piece cannot move after the trampoline, the move 
    is invalid.
   2.3. If a queen lands on a trampoline, it continues with the same 
    type of movement that it used to get there (i.e., both orthogonal or
    both diagonal moves).
   2.4. En-passant is still possible, but not if either pawn moves twice.
3. Initially, the trampoline start off-board.
   White's first move is restricted to a piece move only.

Notes

* When moving the trampoline, the player may place it where it was. He does not have to change the place of his trampoline every turn. * Pieces may move over trampoline. * A piece may execute two hops, if it moves from one trampoline to another. * A trampoline extends the moving/capturing range of pieces, so a King may be under check via one or both trampolines. * It is not possible to capture more than one piece per move, since trampoline are always on empty squares. * A pawn may promote onto a trampoline and then the player must move the promoted piece. Example

(@ white trampoline, # black trampoline)

r . b q k b n r    Some valid moves:
p p . . p p p p     Bc8-f5-e4
. . n p . . . .     d2-d4:c5
. . p . . # . .     Nc6-d4-f5:g3
. . . @ . . . .
. . . . . . O .
O O O O O O B O
R N B Q K . N R

A game:

HOP-CHESS
=========
 1. e4         Nf6  d5
 2. d4   d3    e6   b4+  
 3. Nc3  g5    Be7  b4  
 4. B:f6 e5    e:d4 b4    
 5. Q:d4 e5    g:f6 b4    
 6. e:f6 e4    Na6  c5    
 7. f:e7 d5    c:d4 b4    
 8. e:Q+ f3    K:Q  e8+
 9. Nce2 f3    d3   b4    
10. c:d3 c1    Nd4+ e8    
11. Kd2  h3    N:b2 c4+
12. Kc2  a4    Na3+ e6
13. Kb3  c1    Re5  a5
14. Ne4  c6+   Ke8  e3+
15. N:e5 c6    a5   a4+
16. K:a3 b1    b5   b4+
17. B:b5 e1    resign

r . b . k . . .
. . . p . p . p
. . . . . . . .
p B . . N . . .
. # . . . . . .
K . . . . . . .
O . . . . O O O
R . . . @ . N R

Even though the existence of trampolines makes the opening and middle game much more attack-oriented, and also the distant endgame, it does NOT seem to be the case for most K & P endgames, even with a minor piece or two. The reason is, that the weaker side can use his trampoline to stop the stronger king from ever making a breakthrough into the enemy area, as usually happens in endgames. So there are SOME games at least that are harder to win in the trampoline version. But not many. http://sagme.blogspot.com/2005/05/hop-chess.html

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By João Pedro Neto.
Web page created: 2006-01-17. Web page last updated: 2006-01-17