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This page is written by the game's inventor, Jeff Kiska.

Arena Chess

This game is played with a standard FIDE board and pieces, which all retain their usual properties. En passant and Pawns' initial two step are retained. Castling and Pawn Promotion are eliminiated.

All pieces move and begin on the board as they do in FIDE Chess, with the following exceptions:

The gameplay:

The 4x8 area in the center of the board (i.e. the area in which no pieces start) is known as the Arena. A piece that is not currently in the Arena may ONLY move if it is to enter the Arena. A piece which is currently in the Arena may ONLY move if it is to another space in the Arena and ONLY if it is to capture (no exceptions).

A player wins if:

The game is a Stalemate if:

This game cannot last past 32 turns. Each player may move each of their pieces into the Arena once (16 moves), and may make 16 additional moves within the arena (to capture each of their opponent's 16 pieces).


Written by Jeff Kiska. Web page posted by David Howe.
WWW page created: 31 Jul 2000. Last modified on: 31 Jul 2000.