Champagne Chess

This page contains one or more presets for playing a game online with Game Courier, an online server for playing Chess variants by correspondence.

Champagne Chess is chess on a 12x8 board with ferfils and dragons added. Below is a link to play on Game Courier.

Setup

Rules

The figurine depicting an elephant represents what is formally known as a modern elephant or ferfil. This compound piece can move one square diagonally like a ferz, or can leap two squares diagonally like an alfil. The figurine depicting a dragon has the combined powers of the normal chess knight and the normal chess pawn. The dragon can capture en passant, but does not promote upon reaching the eighth rank. Given that all the dragons in the setup begin on their side's first rank, none can ever make an initial double step like a chess pawn in this game.

The castling rules for Champagne Chess are as follows: A king that has never moved, and is not in check, can 'leap' once a game, along the first rank, to any unattacked empty square between it and an unmoved rook, followed by said rook 'leaping' to the king's initial square so as to complete castling in one single move. It does not matter if any squares in between are occupied or under attack.

Threefold repetition of position or stalemate is a draw as in standard chess, and the 50 move rule is also in effect in Champagne Chess (i.e. game drawn if no captures or pawn moves have been made before 50 consecutive moves by both sides). Pawns move as in chess, and can promote to any piece type included in the setup, except for a king.

Last revised by Kevin Pacey.