Fuel Chess

This is a draw-free chess variant based on piece attrition. The idea is that a piece has to pay for the distance it travels, just as a car uses up fuel. Eventually the fuel is out and the piece cannot move any more. A player who cannot make a move loses the game.

Setup

The standard board and setup is used. Moreover one has to keep track of the amount of fuel each piece has left. Initially each piece has n units of fuel, where n is a parameter of the game. A good value for n might be around 50.

Rules

All rules of orthodox Chess apply, except for the following differences:

There is no draw by repetition, the 50-moves-rule or insufficient material.

Each piece has a fuel supply of initially n units (game parameter, positive integer). With every move a piece makes, it uses up an amount of fuel equal to the distance of the move: moving to the orthogonally or diagonally next square costs one unit, moving a distance of two costs two units and so on. A knight's move costs two units. Castling costs 2 for the king and 2 or 3 for the rook, equal to the distance it moves. Promoting a pawn does not change its fuel amount (except for the subtraction of 1 unit for the move to the last row).

The fuel supply must never become negative. A piece out of fuel cannot move any more, but stays on the board until it may be captured eventually. If a king is out of fuel, this does not end the game, but the king cannot move away from check any more.

A piece does not give check if the distance to the opposing King exceeds the number of fuel units it has left. This means that a king out of fuel may be checked by the other king, what would be checkmate.

If the player to move cannot make a legal move, that player loses the game. This can happen by checkmate, stalemate or being out of fuel.

Last revised by Thomas .