Champagne Chess

Champagne Chess is chess on a 12x8 board with Ferfils and Dragons added. I wanted a name for this variant that suggested it was played on a wide board, but the word champaign was already taken elsewhere on the web as part of a chess tournament name, so I altered the spelling of it to be as in French (also Old French), so that the game is to be called Champagne Chess, which seemed neat to me given the word Champagne is more commonly used in reference to a famous beverage than in reference to an expanse of flat and open cultivated earth (or in reference to a battlefield).

There is a preset available for play on Game Courier here.

Setup

Pieces

Champagne Chess uses the 6 standard piece types of chess. Aside from that, this game uses two unorthodox piece types:

The figurine depicting an elephant represents what is formally known as a modern elephant or ferfil. This compound piece can move one square diagonally like a ferz, or can leap two squares diagonally like an alfil.

The figurine depicting a dragon has the combined powers of the normal chess knight and the normal chess pawn. The dragon can capture en passant, but does not promote upon reaching the eighth rank. Given that all the dragons in the setup begin on their side's first rank, none can ever make an initial double step like a chess pawn in this game.

Rules

The castling rules for Champagne Chess are as follows: A king that has never moved, and is not in check, can 'leap' once a game, along the first rank, to any unattacked empty square between it and an unmoved rook, followed by said rook 'leaping' to the king's initial square so as to complete castling in one single move. It does not matter if any squares in between are occupied or under attack.

Threefold repetition of position or stalemate is a draw as in standard chess, and the 50 move rule is also in effect in Champagne Chess (i.e. game drawn if no captures or pawn moves have been made before 50 consecutive moves by both sides). Pawns move as in chess, and can promote to any piece type included in the setup, except for a king.

Notes

I'd tentatively estimate the piece values (on the game's 12x8 board) as follows: P=1; Ferfil=2.34(or 2.25 approx.); N=3.06(or 3 approx.); B=3.75; Dragon=4.58(or 4.5 approx.); R=5.5; Q=R+B+P=10.25; Ks fighting value=2.67. Fast castling rules are used in this variant to try to facilitate king safety and development. Note that all the pawns are protected in the setup.

Last revised by Kevin Pacey.