Kjempe Chess

Setup

Pieces

Kjempe

Moves like a king, or rides to the second orthogonal square without leaping, or rides like a rook in direction forwards.

Threeshop

Rides like a bishop, but max 3 squares distance.

Avian

Leaps 1, 2, or 3 squares diagonally.

Custodian

Leaps 1, 2, or 3 squares orthogonally, or leaps to the 4th orthogonal square in the forward direction.

Woodlander

Has all the moves of a knight, but can also ride like a rook in the backwards direction.

Shield

Rides along the lines of a queen, but does not capture any pieces.

Quickpawn

Moves like a normal FIDE Chess pawn, but may always ride 2 squares forward non-capturing (and may then be captured en passant by an opponent's quickpawn).

Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King

Like in standard chess.

Rules

• When castling, the king rides 2, 3, or 4 squares towards the rook, and then the rook lands besides the king on the other side. (Like in standard Chess, all the squares between the rook and the king must be empty, and the king may not castle out of check, or pass or land on a checked square. And the king or rook may not have been moved previously.)
• Quickpawns promote when reaching the 12th rank, to any piece of the game, except quickpawn or king.
• All other rules as in standard chess.

Notes

Piece values (based on the diagram's evaluation)

	quickpawn	1
	shield	1
	knight	3
	threeshop	3+
	bishop	4
	avian	4
	woodlander	4
	custodian	5+
	kjempe	5+
	rook	5+
	queen	10+

Design notes

Designed to have some commonalities with standard chess, both with regards to pieces and general feeling, for an easier learning curve.

Pawn ranks starting four squares away from each other means familiar thinking from standard chess can be reutilized here. The spacious nature of the home bases reduces the initial forking ability of the Avian piece.

The standard chess pieces are kept for familiarity, although the pawn has become a quickpawn.

All pieces are protected in the initial position.

The new medium range pieces should be able to aid in defending the large home base against the increased strength of the rider pieces on a big board. And the Shields are good for closing open diagonals. I thought being able to hold the pawn chain closed against intrusions for a while into the game was important, while still daring to advance with the pawns -- as there is much space and you can't easily protect everything at once. This way there's also more than enough time to do castling.

The used pieces are nothing special, but I've taken some time to attempt to ensure that they work together on this board and setup. I've gone for a balance between orthogonal, diagonal and knightly elements, with some almost-equal exchanges. There may be more established names for these pieces which I haven't referenced, please tell me if so.

Last revised by Martin Nilsson.