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This page is written by the game's inventor, Luis Bolaños Mures.

Alapawn

This is a variant of my own Alapo 8x8, which is in turn a variant of Alapo. The present game is clearer, easier to play and more chess-like than both of them, but preserves the race-oriented objective that distinguishes them. I also incorporate a variant which fixes White's initial advantage; the rule that achieves it was first introduced in my own High Chess.

Setup

Same as FIDE chess.

Pieces

Same as FIDE chess.

Rules

All the FIDE chess rules apply, except in the following:

1. There is no check nor checkmate. The king is not a royal piece, and its capture does not mean the end the game.

2. There is no castling.

3. Pawns have no doble initial movement, but can move one square diagonally forward, in addition to its normal move.

4. The game will be won by the first player that promotes a pawn (i.e., that pushes a pawn to his farthest row) or captures all the enemy's pawns.

5. If the same position appears for the third time on the board, with the same player to move, or fifty moves pass without a capture or a pawn advancement (a sideways move is not an advancement) the last piece moved by both sides will be removed from the board. If one side thus runs out of pawns on the board, he loses the game. If both sides thus run out of pawns on the board, the last moving player loses the game.

Notes

If you want to eliminate White's initial advantage (thus completely balancing White and Black's chances for a win) and make the game more fast-paced, please try this rule:

In the same turn, it will be legal to move one pawn two squares, without capturing, or two pawns one square, also without capturing. In the first case, the intermediate square must not be protected by any enemy piece or pawn for the second advancement to be legal. It will be legal to change the direction of movement between the first and the second pawn move. To compensate for his initial advantage, White's first pawn move MUST be a one-square push of just one pawn.

This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.

By Luis Bolaños Mures.
Web page created: 2008-05-23. Web page last updated: 2008-05-23