Generals' Chess
I tried to incorporate a piece that moves as a "crooked bishop", but I called it a "general" instead.
Setup
Pieces
General is otherwise known as boyscout or crooked bishop. It moves in a series of diagonal steps, alternating one space at a time between the two diagonal directions that do not move it back toward its origin. Its powers of movement in any general direction resemble a double helix wrapping around a single rank or file.
The Blacksmith is a divergent piece. Without capturing, it can move 1 step orthogonally straight forwards or backwards, or move as a Rook horizontally. They can't jump. To capture, it may move 1 space in any diagonal direction.
Rules
Rules same as in orthodox chess, except:
- Pawns only ever move 1 step at a time.
- Free castling. King and rook can't have other pieces in between them.
- The game is played on a 9x9 checkered board instead of an 8x8 board.
- Each player has 3 blacksmiths beside the board when the game starts. The first move consists of placing all 3 blacksmiths on the player's second rank.
- The generals (known as boyscout in other variants) move like crooked bishops.
- Pawns and blacksmiths promote to generals, rooks or knights (option is open every promotion). This happens on the player's eighth rank.
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By Patrik Hedman.
Last revised by Fergus Duniho.
Web page created: 2014-03-16. Web page last updated: 2021-02-24