Stone Garden Chess
It can be in Britain, Spain, or other European country's town with statues in gardens. To be ready for it, let's start. Stay calm in these situations, and chess variant form will let you stay calm. And win! Probably…
Setup
Pieces
Horse (h)
As in Shogi, moves as chess knight, but only forward (2 forward, 1 sideways), ignoring any pieces between him and his destinations. Ignores enemy horses, can deliver fast checkmate on start if opponent is stupid;)
Index (Î)
Index is Ox inverted on diagonals. By this, his moves are like four indexes: he can move 3 spaces diagonally, or 2 diagonally and then 1 orthogonally with 45° turn; he can't go farther if he meets anything on first 2 spaces. He can capture as he moves or on first 2 squares diagonally.
Raven (Ř)
It's easier to think that she's living raven, but it was statue in past. Her movement is asymmetric (orthogonal leap is oriented to enemy). She leaps 1 or 2 steps forward orthogonally or backwards diagonally, or 1 step sideways.
Raven has unique treat: she can turn 90° instead of moving, or move in direction where she hasn't 2-space leap with turning in this direction. She can turn once in 3 moves or more rarely; she cannot turn in first 5 moves from start.
If opponent's king is promoted, Raven can turn once in 2 moves instead of 3.
Ox (O)
Like Horizons. He moves 3 spaces orthogonally or 2 orthogonally and then 1 diagonally with 45° turn; he can't go farther if he meets anything on first 2 spaces. He can capture as he moves or on first 2 squares orthogonally.
Policeman (P)
He is only human here (except for king). He does 1 orthogonal step, then 1 diagonal right or left (up or down) with 45° turn, then 2 orthogonal in direction of first step, and after it, can step 1 orthogonally straight or 1 diagonally right or left (up or down) with 45° turn; there he stops. He can move (land) only on first step, but only without capturing, or on last squares normally (both moving and capturing).
He can be like Magician from Horizons, but Policeman can't go so far, and can step near himself. He has his line.
King (+)
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By Lev Grigoriev.
Last revised by Lev Grigoriev.
Web page created: 2022-09-22. Web page last updated: 2023-04-15