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This page is written by the game's inventor, M Winther.

External Link: Castalia Chess

The Castalia moves like a queen, any distance in any direction, but it cannot capture. The Castalia can repulse an enemy piece ahead and attract any piece to the rear. (1) The Castalia kidnaps a piece located behind itself by dragging it to the square which the Castalia was positioned on. The kidnapped piece, which can be of any colour, is the nearest piece in the opposite direction of the move. (2) An enemy piece can be repulsed, concurrently with the kidnap move, if the Castalia stops next to it. The enemy piece is repulsed to the remotest empty square in the alignment direction. In case of a pawn, it cannot be pushed back to the first rank, that is, the second rank is the limit. A pawn that is pushed to its promotion square is promoted to a queen, as only option. Other rules are the same as in standard chess, except for the possible promotion to Castalia. The Castalia's value is 3, that is, like a knight or bishop (preliminary estimate).

Castalia was the name of a nymph who threw herself into or was transformed into a spring to evade the pursuit of Apollo. The spring was then named after her, and it was a source of inspiration for Apollo and the Muses. The Muses were sometimes called Castalides because of their association with the spring.

A Zillions program and more information is here.

External Link: http://www.two-paths.com/bg/castaliachess.htm


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By M Winther.
Web page created: 2006-10-24. Web page last updated: 2006-10-24