Check out Atomic Chess, our featured variant for November, 2024.

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

Dragon Wars

"Dragon" is one of those names that shows up a lot in chess variants. Shogi has the Dragon Horse, Dragon King, and Flying Dragon; and the name Dragon is applied to the Amazon, as well as to a pawnlike piece in fairy chess problems that moves like a Knight or a Pawn. These pieces are the focus of this game.

Setup

This game is played on the standard 8x8 board of chess. (It can, in fact, be played with regular chess equipment.)

 

files=8 ranks=8 promoZone=1 promoChoice=QFHD graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG/ squareSize=50 graphicsType=png symmetry=none drake:P:N'fmWfcFifmnD:pawn:a2,b2,c2,d2,e2,f2,g2,h2,,a7,b7,c7,d7,e7,f7,g7,h7 dragon:Q:QN:queen:d1,,d8 flying dragon:F:F2:dragon:b1,g1,,b8,g8 dragon horse:H:BW:promotedbishop:c1,f1,,c8,f8 dragon king:D:RF:promotedrook:a1,h1,,a8,h8 king:K:KisO2:king:e1,,e8

Pieces

The pieces in this game may be represented on a board by regular chess pieces, changing only the names and moves.

Dragon Horse: (Bishop) Slides diagonally like a Bishop, or moves one space orthogonally. (BW)

Dragon King: (Rook) Slides orthogonally like a Rook, or moves one space diagonally. (RF)

Drake: (Pawn) Moves like either a Knight or an orthodox Pawn. Promotes as a Pawn, but only if it reaches the promotion zone with a Pawn move. (N'fmWfcFifmnD)

Dragon: (Queen) Moves like a Queen or a Knight (basically an Amazon). (QN)

Flying Dragon: (Knight) Moves two spaces diagonally. (F2)

King: As in orthodox chess, including castling.

Rules

Other than the change in move, all of the usual rules of chess apply.

Notes

This was created as the Year of the Dragon (2024) was approaching, and was created in recognition of it.

I find myself wondering if these dragons would make a good Chess With Different Armies group.

And of course there are other Dragons around, most notably the one that's also been called Chainsaw. I could have gone with everything I could find, but I opted for relative simplicity in this case.


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 Bob Greenwade.

Last revised by Bob Greenwade.


Web page created: 2023-12-23. Web page last updated: 2023-12-23

Revisions of MSdragonwars