Chess with Wizards
This is a simple chess variant, the Classic type, which uses the Standard Chess set on a 10x10 board with a piece added. The piece in question is Antoine Fourrière's Wizard (called here the Magician, with some changes,) as described in his Chess on a Larger Board with not so few Pieces Dropped.Setup
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10 | |:::| |:::| w |:::| |:::| |:::|
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9 |:r:| m |:n:| b |:k:| q |:b:| n |:m:| r |
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8 | p |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:|
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7 |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |
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6 | |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::|
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5 |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |
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4 | |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::|
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3 |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |
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2 | R |:M:| N |:B:| Q |:K:| B |:N:| M |:R:|
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1 |:::| |:::| |:::| W |:::| |:::| |
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a b c d e f g h i j
The board is 10x10. The pawns are on the 3rd rank. The pieces are on the 2nd rank, in the following order from file a to file h (for white):
Rook, Magician(M), Knight, Bishop, Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Magician, Rook.
Behind the King, on the first rank, is the Warlock(W) (or the Witch.)
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Black's setup is exactly the same as White's (from the player's point of view,) with the King on the right to the Queen. This means the King and the Warlock face the opponent's Queen and vice versa.
Pieces
All standard pieces move as they do in standard chess. Including Pawns double move and en-passant.
The Magician's movement is taken from the Wizard's in "Chess on a Larger Board" by Antoine Fourrière, with some modifications. To quote :
"To the Wizard, the Kingside and the Queenside are bent against each
other. The Wizard moves as a Ferz, one square diagonally, or as a
mirror Wazir , that is, it first reaches the symmetrical square on
the same rank, which need not be empty, and then moves as a Wazir.
Thus it is usually colorbound."
All the fairy values of the Wizard (like hindering pieces and transforming pawns to Golems,) are abolished in this variant. Also, the Magician moves like a Dabbabah. (This is why I gave it a different name.)
To sum up, the Magician moves and captures like a Ferz or a Dabbabah or a Mirror Wazir. A Magician on c5 may move and capture to twelve squares: (c3), (c7), (a5), (d5), |b4|, |d4|, |b6|, |d6|, [g5], [i5], [h4], and [h6]. The squares in (round) brackets are Dabbabah moves, in |straight| brackets are Ferz moves, and in [square] brackets are Mirror Wazir moves (moving through h5, which needs not be empty.)
It is important to note that the two Magicians start on mirroring squares. (So do the Rooks, the Knights, the Bishops and the two Royals.)
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The Warlock is the combination of the Magician and the Knight.
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It's illegal to make a null-move with a Magician or a Warlock on the center files.
Rules
All rules, except what's noted otherwise, are as in Standard Chess. Castling is done like in Standard chess, but by moving the King three squares instead pf two. Normal restrictions apply. Pawns promote on the 8th rank to a Magician or a Knight; on the 9th rank to a Bishop or a Rook; on the 10th rank to a Warlock or a Queen. The Goal is to checkmate the opponent's King. Stalemate is a draw.
Notes
I don't have much to say about this variant. I simply liked the Wizard's type of movement and it sounded very natural to put it in this board and this starting setup. The 11x10 board wouldn't have worked because it will mess up with the Wizard's (Magician's) color-boundedness.
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Many positions can be constructed where two Magicians checkmate a lone King. The most fanciful of all is ( W: M i9,j9 K anywhere B: K a10 ). Black is in checkmate. I am not sure if this position or other checkmate positions can be forced.
Also positions with the Warlock (which actually sounded like a must-be-there piece,) where it checkmates a lone King with the help of the friendly King can be composed.
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The game is playable with an Omega Chess set, using Wizards for Magicians (naturally enough) and one Champion for the Warlock.
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THREE VARIANTS OF THE GAME:
--- VARIANT I
It wouldn't be fun to have a piece called the Magician without some Magick into it, so I thought of this :
First, strip from the Magician and the Warlock the ability to jump like a Dabbabah.
Second, When two Magicians are orthogonally adjacent they gain two abilities :
1. One Magician can jump over the other, capturing if it may. (That is, a move like a Dabbabah in that direction only.)
2. The two Magicians can protect each other. This means that if a piece captures one of them, the other Magician can move like a Wazir to capture this piece. However, it's a now-or-never situation. This results in the Magician changing his color permanently (unless he does another magical capture.)
3. If three Magicians are orthogonally adjacent, each pair is treated separately.
4. Points 1, 2, and 3 also apply if one of the Magicians is a Warlock.
--- VARIANT II
It is also perfectly possible to use the Omega Chess Wizard in this game. The Warlock would be an Omega-Wizard+Knight. This game, though, would be like Wildebeest chess.
--- VARIANT III
In this variant, the Dabbabah jump of the Magician is eliminated.
Also, instead of the Knight, the Magician's dual: the Sorcerer, is used. It moves like a Wazir or a mirror Ferz. It is a switcher, like the Knight.
Here, the Queen's starting position is exchanged with the Warlock's (which moves like a King or a mirror King.)
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The Wizard from 'Chess on a Larger Board' can be called the "Fourrière Wizard", to distinguish it from the "Omega Chess Wizard" (which is also color-bound!)
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And again, it might be amusing to see how this game plays with different mutators like Atomic, Suicide, Extinction, Alice, etc.
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Diagram for the pieces movement :
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10 |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| X |:::| |
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9 | |:::| XX|:::| |:::| X |:::| X |:::|
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8 |:::| XX|:::| XX|:::| X |:::| M |:::| X |
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7 | |:::| XX|:::| |:::| X |:::| X |:::|
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6 |:::| |:::| |:::| |:::| X |:::| |
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5 | |:::| |:::| |:o:| o |:o:| |:::|
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4 |:::| |:::| oo|:o:| o |:::| o |:o:| |
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3 | |:::| oo|:::|ooo|:::| w |:::| o |:::|
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2 |:::| |:::| oo|:o:| o |:::| o |:o:| |
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1 | |:::| |:::| |:o:| o |:o:| |:::|
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a b c d e f g h i j
One letter (o or X) means he can move there normally. A double letter means he can get that using the mirror Wazir move. A triple letter, means he can get their either way, (which doesn't really matter, because they're leapers.)
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By Abdul-Rahman Sibahi.
Last revised by Abdul-Rahman Sibahi.
Web page created: 2007-05-09. Web page last updated: 2024-11-27