The Pit
Introduction
The Pit is a chess variant using a nonstandard board and several faery chess pieces. It is invented by myself for the 84 field contest. It contains a 10x10 chessboard missing the 16 center fields. These missing fields are named The Pit.Some pieces are improved because in their base form they are too weak. These pieces were the knight and the bishop. Both are too move restricted on the The Pit board and due the fact that the pawns got stronger due their ability to sidestep. I made the knight stronger by adding the rook move to it and made the bishop stronger by adding the knight move to it.
Setup
Diagram of the initial game board.
The big center field is called The Pit and it is forbidden to access it. Only the Sorcerer and in some degree the knightlike pieces can jump over it.
| Pawns | on second (white) and ninth (black) row |
| Rook (R) | a1 j1 (white); a10 j10 (black) |
| Cavalier (C) | b1 i1 (white); b10 i10 (black) |
| Hero (H) | c1 h1 (white); c10 h10 (black) |
| Sorcerer (S) | d1 g1 (white); d10 g10 (black) |
| Queen (Q) | e1 (white); e10 (black) |
| King (K) | f1 (white); f10 (black) |
Pieces
A listing of the pieces used. For each piece the following information is listed:- The graphic used to represent the piece
- The name of the piece with his corresponding letter.
- The movement of piece
 |
 |
Pawn | The pawn moves like the standard chess pawn but it can now step sideways too like the Chinese pawn. Capturing is still like the standard pawn. En passant is possible if the pawn is advancing 2 fiends ahead but not if the pawn is sidestepping. Note: Pawns on the third (white) and eighth (black) row can perform dual sidesteps. |
 |
 |
Rook (R) | The rook moves like the standard rook in FIDE chess. |
 |
 |
Hero (H) | The hero is nothing more than a rook and a knight in one piece. It is known as marshall too. |
 |
 |
Cavalier (C) | The cavalier moves like a bishop or like a knight. It is known as cardinal also. |
 |
 |
Sorcerer (S) | The Sorcerer moves like a king or jump to a field that is 5 fields horizontally, vertically or diagonally away from the starting field. (Something like a queen jumping 5 fields.) This is the only piece being able to cross the The Pit. |
 |
 |
Queen (Q) | The queen is the same one used in FIDE chess. |
 |
 |
King (K) | The king operates as in standard chess with the exception that castling is not allowed. |
Rules
All rules are like FIDE Chess with the following exceptions:- Castling is not possible and is in this game senseless.
- Pawns can move sideways and can perform a dual sidestep on the third (white) or eighth (black) row.
- En passanting of a dual sidestepping pawn is not allowed.
Playing Tips
It is very difficult to checkmate with a bare cavalier and king versus a king. It is easier to checkmate with a King and a Sorcerer.Equipment
You need a 10x10 chessboard and cover the 16 center fields. And you need 2 additional pawns and 2 additional figures per side representing the Sorcerers.Sample Game
There are some sample save files of several games inside the zip file containing the Zillions of Rules files.Contact
If you have some question then please mail me. (The email address can be found by clicking on this link. (Editor.))Written by Daniel Roth.