Borderline

Borderline: A minimalistic version with a 7x7 board, no pawns, with only one king to capture, capturing pieces is omitted.

A version for a quick game - uncomplicated and yet strategically challenging!

Setup

The king starts in the center of the board. The pieces of the two opponents line up on their baseline. Rank 4 is the borderline.

Rules

• In contrast to all chess variants, the capturing of opposing pieces is excluded. Only the king can be captured.

• The king's action space is limited; it concerns ranks 3, 4 (border line) and 5. Ranks 1 and 2 resp. 6 and 7 are taboo for the king.
   
• The king can only be attacked beyond the borderline, which means that a piece cannot capture the king until the borderline has been crossed.
  
  This in fact means: White (here blue) can put the king in check on ranks 5-7, and black (here red) can do so on ranks 3-1.
   
• The player can move the king instead of one of his own pieces - namely in the limits of rank 3, 4 (borderline) and 5.
   
• If the player moves the king, it cannot be moved into own check; such a move is not legal. The king can only be moved into check by another piece, not by a move of the king.
   
• If the king is in check and it could only be 'saved' by a move into its own check - which is not possible/legal - then the player obliged to move has lost.
   
• The pieces move according to FIDE rules.

Variant:

• The condition that capturing pieces other than the king is excluded is removed.
   
• It is added that the king can defend itself against capture by capturing opposing pieces. Captured pieces go back to their base position and start anew from there - rooks, knights and bishops can choose their base position as far as possible. If none of the squares in question are free, the next free position must be chosen.
   
• This variation is intended to improve the strategic component of the game.

Notes

Play it !

Last revised by Gerd Degens.