XSChess

My first game combined shogi with chess. Now one step further: A game combining chess with shogi and xiangqi. The object is to checkmate the opponent's king.

Setup

A B C D E F G H I +---+---+---+~~~+~~~+~~~+---+---+---+ 14| l | r | b [ a | k | a ] b | r | l | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 13| q | e | g [ | | ] g | e | q | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 12| | c | [ | s | ] | c | | +---+---+---+~~~+~~~+~~~+---+---+---+ 11| | | | h | n | m | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 10| p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 9| | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 8| | | | | | | | | | +###################################+ 7| | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 6| | | | | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 5| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 4| | | | M | N | H | | | | +---+---+---+~~~+~~~+~~~+---+---+---+ 3| | C | [ | S | ] | C | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 2| Q | E | G [ | | ] G | E | Q | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 1| L | R | B [ A | K | A ] B | R | L | +---+---+---+~~~+~~~+~~~+---+---+---+

Pieces

All pieces exist in one, two or all of the three games.

Note that all pieces are same colour. Only their direction tells which player a piece belongs to.

KING, moves as in chess but cannot leave the fortress (the nine squeres D1, E1, F1, D2, E2, F2, D3, E3, F3 for white and D14, E14, F14, D13, E13, F13, D12, E12, F12 for black). It is the royal piece, lose him and you lose. Kings can't promote.

ADVISOR, moves as a ferz, i.e. one squere diagonally. It may not leave the fortress and can't promote.

ELEPHANT, jumps two squeres diagonally. It is like in xiangqi but can jump in this game. The elephant can't pass the river (the border between the two middle rows) ant cannot promote.

CANNON, moves as a rook without capturing. In order to capture, cannons must jump over a piece of either colour, landing on a squere occupied by an enemy piece, capturing it. This is the same as xiangqi cannons. They do not promote.

SILVER, moves one squere diagonally or one squere orthogonally forwards. Promotes to gold.

GOLD, moves one squere orthogonally (like a wazir) or one squere diagonally forwards. Doesn't promote.

LANCE, moves as rook but only forwards. Promotes to rook.

HELMET, moves to the two forwardnost squeres a knight can reach. Promotes to knight.

MAO, moves as a knight but can't jump. It moves first one squere orthogonally and then one squere diagonally in the same direction. Promotes to knight.

KNIGHT, moves like in chess. Promotes to rook.

BISHOP, moves as in chess. Promotes to (dragon)horse/pegasus.

ROOK, moves like in orthodox chess. Promotes to dragon(king).

QUEEN, moves like in chess and does not promote.

PAWN, is a bit complicated. It moves like a regular pawn, one squere orthogonally forward and captures diagonally forward. It can also capture orthogonally forward (like the pawns in shogi and xiangqi). When it crosses the river, it becomes a r-pawn (riverpawn) that keeps it's normal move but can also move and capture one squere orthogonally sideways. On it's intial move, it may move one or two squeres orthogonally forwards without capturing, just like a normal pawn. It promotes to gold.

A B C D E F G H I 14 - - - = = = - - - 13 - - - = = = - - - 12 - - - = = = - - - 11 - c x c - - - - - 10 - x P x - - - - - 9 - - - - - - - - - 8 - - - - c x c - - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7 - m - - - P - - - 6 c x c - - - - - - 5 - P - - - - - - - 4 - - - - - - - - - 3 - - - = = = - - - 2 - - - = = = - - - 1 - - - = = = - - - (P=pawn, ~~~=river, == =fortress, x=capture and move, c=capture only, m=move only.)

PROMOTED-ONLY PIECES

DRAGONHORSE, HORSE or PEGASUS, moves like a bishop or as a king. It is non-royal. Since this is a promoted-only piece it can't promote.

DRAGONKING or just DRAGON, moves as a rook or a king. Non-royal. Since this is a promoted-only piece it cannot promote.

Rules

1. White moves first.

2. En Passant is as usual.

3. Castling can't happen.

4. Kings and advisors can't leave the fortresses. Elephants cannot cross the river.

5. Two kings cannot face each other on an open file. For example, a white king on e1 and a black king on e14, with no piece on the e-file between them, is an illegal position. If either king sits exposed on an open file, the other king may not move to occupy that file.

6. You cannot force an enemy piece to move to and from the same two spaces, indefinitely, in order to avoid capture. If you move a Rook to e5, threatening a Cannon on e6, and your opponent's only viable move is Cannon to f6, then you cannot force that Cannon to and from e6 and f6 by moving your Rook to and from e5 and f5, indefinitely.

7. Perpetual check is forbidden. You cannot check your opponent more than three times in a row with the same piece and same board positions.

8. Stalemate is draw.

9. Promotions are granted as follows... a. A starting piece moving to a square in the promotion zone (the last 5 ranks) earns a promotion. A promotion is indicated by flipping the piece over to display the symbol on its bottom side. b. An earned promotion (see above) may be deferred to a later move, as long as this move begins inside the promotion zone (the last 5 ranks). Where the move ends is of no relevance. c. Pieces arriving at a rank whereon they can move no further must promote. [e.g., a lance arriving on the 14th rank; a helmet arriving on the 13th or 14th rank.] d. Promoted pieces lose their promotion upon capture. e. Pieces 'dropped' into the promotion zone (the last 5 ranks) may not promote until making at least one move.

10. Captive drops are performed as follows... a. A captured piece may be dropped onto the board (placed on a vacant square) to subsequently be used as one's own. This is done in lieu of a regular move. b. No piece may be dropped to a square from which it is impossible to move. [e.g., a lance to the 14th rank; a helmet to the 13th or 14th rank.] c. A checkmate may not be performed by the drop of a Pawn. A King may be checked by dropping a Pawn, but only if the drop does not result in an immediate checkmate. d. Elephants may not be dropped on the opponent's half of the board. e. Advisors are removed from play upon capture.

Notes

I haven't testplayed yet. If anybody testplays this game, please email me and let me know how it was.If you have any suggestions to this game, please email me, too. My email is hafsteinnoskar@hotmail.com

ENJOY!

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 Hafsteinn Kjartansson.
Web page created: 2010-06-25. Web page last updated: 2010-06-25

Comments

XSChess. Xiangqi plus shogi plus chess. (9x14, Cells: 126)

💡📝Hafsteinn Kjartansson wrote on Sun, Jul 18, 2010 10:14 AM EDT:

Daniil, 
I'm glad you asked. Yes, pawns do promote although I forgot to mention it. Their promoted form is the gold, as in Shogi.
The idea about the XS-chess pawns is that it is the shogi pawn (straight forward, capturing as it moves, promoting to gold), the xiangqi pawn (straight forward, captures as it moves, can move and capture one sideways upon crossing the river) and the chess pawn (one squere forward, captures one diagonally, can move two squeres forward on it's intial move. Can capture En-Passant forward (as the chess pawn only can move forward)). That becomes the XS-chess pawn: Moves one squere straight forward (all variants), captures as it moves (xiangqi, shogi) or one squere diagonally forward (chess), can move and capture one squere sideways after it crosses the river (xiangqi), can move but not capture two squeres forward on it's intial move (chess), promotes to gold (shogi) and can capture En-Passant forward only (chess) as the xiangqi pawn (who can move sideways after crossing the river) can never move two squeres at once, only the chess pawn can (and only forward). As pawns can move sideways after crossing the river, they can always move, no matter what. All those 'extra effects' makes the XS-chesspawn much more powerful than normal chesspawns, normal shogipawn or even normal xiangqipawn! I still say it is worth one point but in fact it should be three or four points...

Daniil Frolov wrote on Sat, Jul 17, 2010 01:58 PM EDT:

Do pawns promote and what is thier promotion form? Is it counts thatpawn 'cannot move' on last rank (probably, not)? May pawns capture en-pasant sideways?