Fergana

Fergana Valley was the richest and most famous mountain pass on the Silk Road. Who controlled this valley controlled the trade between East and West. Lots of empires clashed against each other on this valley. 

Setup

The setup looks like this:

Pieces

Each player has a regular chess set, and an additional 26 pieces.

The additional pieces comprise:

• 8 Pawns
• 8 Knights
• 4 Rooks
• 4 Bishops
• 2 Queens

At the start of the game both Kings swap places with one of their own Queens. 

Rules

All chess rules apply, except there is no castling.

The objective of the game is to checkmate the enemy King. 

The Pawns on the third and 14th ranks can move up to three squares on the first move, and still get a double move when departing from the Pawns' starting position on the 8x8 chessboard. However, in order to prevent players from blocking the 8x8 chessboard with two rows of Pawns, they are not allowed to move Pawns from the back row unless Pawns on the same column have already advanced forward. But if the blocking line still happens, the player with the most advanced line wins the game. The Pawns from the back row are still subject to the en passant rule. 

Pawns promote when they reach the last rank on the 8x8 chessboard. 

Last revised by Florin Lupusoru.