Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, wdtr2.

Flank Chess

Flank Chess is played on a 10x9 board.  The goal is to checkmate the king.  The unusual aspects of this game are the empty perimeter squares and new pieces, particularly the hero Achiles.

Setup

The Setup is as follows:

Pieces


Wazir Pawn
Moves 1 step orthogonally but cannot move backwards. On the 8th rank it must promote. It can promote to any piece except for the King and the Pawn.

Rook
The standard Chess Rook

Zebra
Moves as a standard Chess Knight or as a Wazir

Super Bishop
Moves as a standard Chess Bishop or as a Wazir

Queen
The standard Chess Queen

Achiles
The hero to the game. It cannot be captured except by a Wazir Pawn or the opponent's Achiles. It moves a single square in any direction like a King. Since no piece can capture it except for a Wazir Pawn or another Achiles, it is a very powerful piece.

King
The standard Chess King. The usual rules apply such as check, checkmate, and castling. When castling, the King slides two spaces toward the Rook.

Rules

The rules of orthodox Chess apply unless otherwise noted.  Since the pawns cannot make a double step, there is no en passant.

Play Flank Chess Here

Notes

Once Achiles is behind your enemy Pawns, checkmate is very easy. At that point the only thing that can stop him is the opponent's Achiles. It is a common practice to sacrifice major pieces to break up the pawn defence.



This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By wdtr2.

Last revised by H. G. Muller.


Web page created: 2018-07-07. Web page last updated: 2023-09-18