Rank-behind-Rank Chess

By Sergey Sirotkin

Introduction

Rank-behind-Rank Chess is a variant of orthodox chess played on a board of twelve ranks by six files, with 30 pieces on a side, including two Kings per player. The goal is to capture or mate both opposing Kings.

Board and Setup

Rules

The game is conducted by rules of International Chess with the following changes:

• The setup is different (see the diagram above), with each side having two Kings, four Queens, and six Knights, Bishops, Rooks and Pawns each.
• When a player still has two Kings on the board, either of their Kings may be captured like any other piece.
• When a player has only one King remaining on the board, normal rules for mate apply.
• There is no castling, Pawn double-move or en-passant capture.
• Pawns promote on the twelfth rank.

The game is won by checkmating a player's last King.

Zillions of Games

There is an implementation of Rank-behind-Rank Chess for Zillions of games. You can download it here:

• rank-behind-rank.zip