Every Man a Pawn

By Peter Aronson

Introduction

          There are Chess Variants, such as Cavalry Chess or Knight's Chess, where each piece is given in addition to its own powers of movement, the moves of a Knight. In Every Man a Pawn each piece is given in addition to its own moves, the moves of a FIDE Chess Pawn, but does not gain the power to promote.

General Rules

          The rules of Every Man a Pawn are identical to those of FIDE Chess, except that the King, Queen, Rook, Bishop and Knight have some additional abilities, described below.

The Movement of Pieces

          All pieces gain the movements of an FIDE Chess Pawn in addition to their own. These are:

• The ability to move one square towards the opposing side's starting rank, without capturing.
• The ability to move two squares forward from a player's 2nd rank, without capturing, along with the risk of being captured en-passant when so doing. Note: this means anytime a piece is on its owner's 2nd rank it may move two squares forward, not just on its first move, and never from the 1st rank.
• The ability to capture pieces on diagonally forward adjacent squares.
• The ability to capture piece's using a Pawn's double move to move from the 2nd rank to the 4th rank in passing (en-passant).

Note that pieces that can move orthogonally forward more than one square (the Rook and Queen) never use the Pawn's double-move ability, and so can never be captured en-passant, even when moving two squares forward from the 2nd rank without a capture.

          The King gains two abilities: the ability to double move from the 2nd rank to the 4th rank without capturing, and the ability to capture Bishops, Knights and Pawns double-moving en-passant.

          The Queen only gains the ability to capture double-moving Bishops, Knights and Pawns en-passant.

          The Rook gains the ability to capture one square diagonally forward, and to capture double-moving Bishops, Knights and Pawns en-passant.

          The Bishop gains the ability two move forward a square without capturing (making it no longer color-bound) or forward two squares from the 2nd rank (at the risk of being captured en-passant, of course) without capturing, and the ability to capture double-moving Bishops, Knights and Pawns en-passant, and to stop a King for double-moving with the threat of en-passant capture.

          The Knight gains the ability to capture diagonally forward a square, to move one square directly forward without capturing, or two squares forward from the 2nd rank (at the risk of being captured en-passant) without capturing, and the ability to capture double-moving Bishops, Knights and Pawns en-passant, and to stop a King for double-moving with the threat of en-passant capture.

          The Pawn only gain the ability to capture en-passant (or to threaten with en-passant capture) some additional pieces: Kings, Bishops and Knights.

Notes

          One of the interesting things about this variant is which pieces benefit, and which do not. The King and Queen are virtually unchanged, but the Rook gains some additional power, making King + Rook vs King endgames much easier, the Bishop is no longer color-bound, and Knight becomes a Dragon, which is a fairly nice piece to attack with. It seems that pieces don't simply add, and that a Pawn can be worth more or less than a Pawn.

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