Bifold Halfgi

Rules

This game is played like Halfgi, except:

All pieces, except pawns, are bifold pieces (ie. they are half-sized pieces, able to fit two per square). These bifold pieces are able to combine with other same-colored bifold pieces and move as a single normal sized piece.

If two bifold pieces of the same color occupy the same square, then they may move as a unit, as either piece. In the case where the two pieces are the same type of halfling piece, they move together as the corresponding normal piece.

two bifold halfling Bishops = Bishop
two bifold halfling Rooks = Rook
two bifold halfling Queens = Queen
two bifold Horses = Knight (a Horse or Mao is a non-leaping Knight)
bifold Royal Wazir + bifold Royal Ferz = King
bifold halfling Queen + bifold halfling Rook = a piece that can move like a Rook or halfling Bishop
bifold halfling Queen + bifold halfling Bishop = a piece that can move like a Bishop or halfling Rook

Setup

+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bW  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bF  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |  P  |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bW  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bF  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

bh = bifold halfling-
b = bifold-
H = Horse
W = Royal Wazir
F = Royal Ferz

Movement

A bifold piece (moving alone) may move into a square that contains zero or one bifold pieces (of either color). No capture occurs.

A bifold piece (moving alone) may move into a square that contains one friendly and one enemy bifold piece. In this case, the enemy bifold piece is captured.

A bifold piece (moving alone) may move into a square that contains two enemy bifold pieces. In this case, the moving player picks one of the enemy pieces to capture.

A bifold piece (moving alone) may move into a square that contains a normal sized enemy piece. In this case, the enemy piece is captured.

A normal piece (or two bifold pieces moving as one piece) may move into a square that contains one or two enemy bifold pieces. The enemy bifold piece or pieces are captured.

A normal piece (or two bifold pieces moving as one piece) may move into a square that contains one enemy normal sized piece. The enemy piece is captured.

A bifold piece that is in the same square as another bifold piece of the same color is free to move/capture with that piece as a single unit, or to move/capture by itself with its own movement capabilities.

Pieces may only move through empty squares (eg. they may not move through a square which contains a single bifold piece).

Drops

A player may drop one piece that he has captured instead of moving a piece on the board. Bifold pieces count as one piece in this situation. A bifold piece may be dropped onto a square that contains a single bifold piece.

Pawns may not be dropped on the last rank.

Pawn Promotion

Pawns promote to either a bifold halfling Bishop, Rook or Queen, or to a bifold Horse.

Object

The object of the game is to capture your opponent's King (or both Royal bifold pieces). If just a single Royal bifold piece is captured, it is not held in hand, and is considered completely removed from the game.

A royal bifold piece, when combined with a non-royal bifold piece, may not move through a square which is threatened by the opposing player. The square it lands in, however, may be a threatened square.

As the goal of the game is to capture all Royal pieces, there is no check or checkmate.

Playing on a physical board

This game can be played on a board, but several sets of small chess pieces are required. Keeping track of which royal piece is a Ferz vs. a Wazir could be a pain, so a possible modification would be to simply use two bifold Royal Wazirs instead. Two bifold Royal Wazirs combined would be a King.

Why not the pawns too?

For those who feel the pawns should also be bifold pieces, here is a variant:

Left-handed bifold pawn + Right-handed bifold pawn = pawn

A left-handed pawn is a pawn which moves exactly like a normal pawn, but may not capture diagonally right. Right-handed pawns have the opposite restriction, they may not capture on their left-hand side.

Bifold lh/rh pawns are now free to combine with other pieces, as are other pieces free to combine with them. A bifold lh/rh pawn, when combined with another non-pawn piece, does not promote. Bifold lh/rh pawns promote to either a bifold halfling Bishop, Rook or Queen, or to a bifold Horse. Bifold lh/rh pawns stranded on the last row cannot move until they are rescued by other pieces combining with them, and moved to the frontward ranks.

+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bW  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bF  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP |
| rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
|     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP | lbP |
| rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP | rbP |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bW  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
| bhR | bH  | bhB | bhQ | bF  | bhB | bH  | bhR |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

lb = left-handed bifold-
rb = right-handed bifold-
bh = bifold halfling-
b = bifold-
H = Horse
W = Royal Wazir
F = Royal Ferz

Another option would be to use weak pawns instead of left/right-handed pawns. A weak pawn cannot capture unless it is supported (ie. another friendly piece could make a capturing move into the square containing the weak pawn).

Comments

Sources for this game are:

Suggestions by Peter Aronson
Halfgi by Peter Aronson
Halfling pieces by Ralph Betza
Pieces of varying sizes by David Howe
Fusion Chessgi by Fergus Duniho

Written by David Howe.

WWW page created: 25 April 2001.