Levitating Kings

The idea of Levitating Kings occurred to me after having an interesting dream about levitation.  It was while trying to figure out the significance of the dream [assuming I would find some] that I saw the concept being applied to chess.

And so we start with a standard 8x8 board and set of pieces.  And the pieces all move as in standard chess... but the King, there is something special about him.  In this game he can levitate.

Setup

As in chess.

Pieces

As in chess.

Rules

As in chess, Except:

1. Winning is by capturing the enemy King.

2. Kings can move through checks. So they can Levitate through checks and they can castle through checks. They can even move into check but that is unwise as they will be captured on the opponent's turn.

3. Kings can levitate.
A King can levitate over any number of connected (adjacent to each other) friendly squares occupied by piece-pawn combinations.  Levitation can be orthagonal or diagonal.

Example, where "-" equals an empty square.

   - - - - - - - P
   - - N - P - - -
   P P P P Q P P R
   R - B - K B N -

In the above position the white King could make any of these moves:
a) normal move to d1
b) Levitate to e4
c) Levitate to g3
d) Levitate to b4
e) Levitate to h1

Levitation can be performed to get out of what would be a checkmate in standard chess.  For example:

   - - - - - - - b
   - - N - P - - -
   P P P - - q P P
   R - B Q K B N R

In the above position Black has a Queen at f2 and it is protected by a Bishop at h4.  In Levitating Kings white would be allowed to play K x Q but Black would then play B x K and win.  So White would now Levitate to square b1 and escape what would have been mate in a standard game of chess.

Notes

A King which has no friendly pawns or pieces adjacent to it, cannot levitate as long as that condition exists.