Check out Atomic Chess, our featured variant for November, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, AMissoum.

9x9 Squares Rotating Chess

I designed this new 8x8 square rotating chess game as follows:

Consider the usual 8x8=64 squares chessboard . Instead of arranging the pieces(pawns) like those of the 8x8 squares chess, I will consider the following initial arrangement of the pieces(see diagram). Now, the piece(pawn) position is identified by the coordinates (x,y) where x=a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i, and y=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. The new chess rules are as follows:

First Approach

We simply reverse the role of pieces(pawns) move and capture as follows: The pawn moves one square diagonally, and captures horizontally or vertically one square At a time (in the usual 8x8 chess, the pawn moves one square horizontally and captures one square diagonally). At the start of the game, the pawn can optionally move two squares diagonally. The prise en passant is valid diagonally Example: 1. h3- f5 b7-c6 2. h2-f4 b7-c6 3.f4-e5 c6-d5 5. Fxd e.p The pawns are promoted(pieces or pawns) when they reach the squares a4, a5, a6, a7, a8, a9 b9, c9, d9 or e9 for white pieces, resp e1, f1, g1, h1, i1, i2, i3, i4, or i5 for black pieces The knight moves two squares diagonally and one square perpendiculary and vice versa ( in the usual 8x8 chess, he moves two squares vertically and one horizontaly and vice-versa) Example: Ni4-f5 or h8 or f3. The queen and the King move and capture like the usual ones of the 8x8 squares chess. The Rook moves diagonally one or several squares at a time(in the usual 8x8 chess he moves and captures horizontally or vertically) Example: Ri5- f8 Rf8-c5 Rc5-f2, etc.. The castlings are not necessary. The game ends with checkmating the opponent King.

Second Approach

The pawns and pieces move and capture like those of the usual 8x8 squares chess; that is; the pawn moves one square up along his file and captures diagonally. The prise en passant is valid, and at the start of the game, he can move two squares up at a time. The Knight moves two squares horizontally and one vertically and vice-versa. The Bishop moves one or several squares diagonally(like the bishop of the 8x8 squares chess).. The Rook moves one or several squares vertically or horizontally. The Queen and the King move like those of the 8x8 square chess. The pawns are promoted pieces or pawns when they reach the squares a4, a5, a6, a7, a8 , a9, b9, c9, d9, e9 for white pieces , resp e1, f1, g1, h1,i1i2, i3, i4, or i5 for black pawns..


Written by A. Missoum.
WWW page created: June 8, 1998.