Upchess

Inroduction

In January 1998, Mark Leff sent us the following chess variation.

The Board

The board is 11x11.

Each player has 10 warriors and 1 king.

Black:
Warriors-a11; b11; c11; d11; e11; g11; h11; i11; j11; k11; King-f11

White:
Warriors-a1; b1; c1; d1; e1; g1; h1; j1; k1; King-f1

Rules

Each piece, including the king, moves depending on the rank it is on. Each rank is labled with a piece type:

1. pawn (no initial double move)
2. knight
3. bishop
4. rook
5. queen
6. king
7. queen
8. rook
9. bishop
10. knight
11. pawn (no initial double move)

When a warrior reaches the other side of the board, he moves the other way.

After all warriors of one color are taken, the king moves as a king despite the rank he is on. If he is checkmated, the other player wins. If he is stalemated, he makes one move depending upon his rank, and goes back to the movement of a king. If even moving by the ranks label is not safe, he wins.

Additional Rules

1. You cannot put the king in check or take it until all his warriors are gone.
2. Instead of moving a piece, you may switch two rank labels. You may not switch if it affects a rank with more than one piece of the same color.