SOHO Chess

SOHO Chess is chess on a 10x10 board with with added Champions and FADs; Wizards and Cannons are also added. The variant's name comes from its designing being influenced by Shako, Omega Chess, Hannibal Chess and Opulent Chess, to varying degrees. The variant provided some inspiration for my (12x10) Wide SOHO Chess. The game also has a resemblance to TenCubed Chess, in hindsight; links about all six of these variants are in the Notes Section further below. Note that a Champion plus a K can force mate vs. lone K (on 10x10) in 39 moves maximum - Dr. H.G. Muller, citing endgame tables, which was another inspiration for this variant's design.

In this variant's Setup (see diagram further below), cannons are on the corners, as in Shako. The game includes champions and wizards, as in Omega Chess. There are FAD pieces on the back ranks fairly close to the center, sort of as in Hannibal Chess (which uses less powerful FA pieces instead - I preferred using FADs in this game, as they are similar to champions). Like in Opulent Chess, there are empty squares in the midst of the back ranks, and wizards are included, besides a number of pieces used in standard chess.

A preset page is available for play on Game Courier (with or without rules enforced) here.

Setup

Pieces

SOHO Chess uses the 6 standard piece types as in chess. Aside from that, in this game four unorthodox piece types are used:

The Champion is a triple compound piece that moves like a wazir (one square orthogonally, that is by rank or file) or like an alfil (i.e. leaps 2 squares diagonally), or like a dabbabah (i.e. leaps 2 squares orthogonally).

The FAD is a triple compound piece that moves like a ferz (one square diagonally) or like an alfil (i.e. leaps 2 squares diagonally) or like a dabbabah (i.e. leaps 2 squares orthogonally).

The Cannon moves as a rook but must hop over an intervening piece to capture.

The Wizard may leap one space diagonally, as a ferz does, or it may make an angular 1-3 leap, as a camel does.

Rules

Castling occurs on the 2nd rank between the king & either rook, with conditions as in chess. Pawns act standardly too (e.g. an initial 2-step move & en passant capture allowed), the only difference is that they still promote on the last rank, but any of the piece types in the setup may be selected, except for a king.

Threefold repetition of position or stalemate is a draw as in standard chess, and the 50 move rule is also in effect in SOHO Chess (i.e. game drawn if no captures or pawn moves have been made before 50 consecutive moves by both sides).

Notes

I'd tentatively estimate the piece vales for this 10x10 game (in the endgame at least) as: P=1; Cannon=2.75; N=3; B=3.5; FAD=Champion=Wizard=3.75; R=5.5; Q=R+B+P=10; K's fighting value=2.5 approx. Also note that all the pawns are protected in the setup.

A link about Shako

Link about Omega Chess

Link to Hannibal Chess

Link to Opulent Chess

Link about TenCubed Chess

Link about Wide SOHO Chess

Last revised by Kevin Pacey.