Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for November, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Piotr Smagacz.

Companion chess

In Companion's Chess, all the rules of traditional chess apply, including the initial positioning of the pieces. The main difference between
Companion Chess and traditional chess is the change in the rule and behavior of the Queen piece. Namely, the Queen can attach a friendly pawn
to herself by capturing it. During the game, a player can detach a pawn from the queen in two ways:

  1. During one move, a player can move the queen and then detach the pawn by placing it on a square adjacent horizontally
    or vertically to the Queen ( from above, below, to the left or to the right of the Queen ). A player may also use his move
    to detach a pawn from the queen without first moving the queen.
  2. After making the Queen's move, the player can place a pawn on the square left by the Queen during this move. In one move, a player cannot
    place a pawn on the square left by the Queen and at the same time attach a friendly pawn by capturing it. This must be done in two separate moves.

After the Queen has attached a friendly pawn to herself ( by capturing ), she cannot add another pawn until she removes the one she already has.

Pawn promotion
If the Queen, after detaching a pawn, places it in the seventh or eighth rank, that pawn is immediately promoted to Prince.
The Prince moves like a King but only captures diagonally. In other cases, pawn promotion is as in traditional chess.

Attaching a friendly Prince
The Queen can also attach a friendly Prince to herself by capturing it. Once the Prince has attached to the Queen, he is demoted to a pawn.

Pawn double step
A pawn on the second rank can take a double step, whether it is on its original square, was dropped
on the second rank, or moved up from the first rank; A pawn on the first rank cannot make a double step.

Companion Chess – another variant
In this variant of Companion Chess, the player can detach a pawn from the Queen using only the second method described above.

Companion Chess – EXTENDED VARIANT
The extended variant is a combination of Companion Chess with the "Reproduction Chess" variant.


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 Piotr Smagacz.

Last revised by Piotr Smagacz.


Web page created: 2023-10-29. Web page last updated: 2024-01-23