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My son Joshua (6 days short of his sixth birthday) is learing to play Chess. He knows the moves including castling but not e.p. and doesn't fully grasp checkmate and stalemate yet.

He knows about Chess variants in a very vague way--that it is possible to play Chess with alternate pieces/rules, but he has never played a variant.

Yesterday Josh and I were playing Chess and he got taken by the Muse (or temporary insanity) and started inventing a variant! He reinvented the Chinese Cannon and its diagonal counterpart as well as the hook move, and used these moves to strenghten the Rooks, Bishops, and the Queen. He also created an augemted Knight and some very powerful pawns.

He also made some design decisions without prompting from Daddy. He decided an unlimited hook move was too strong, so it will be limited to a single square. He also decided that strengthening the other pieces required a stonger King and came up with the idea the the King could move KNAD and could leap over check. He also suggested that stronger pieces might make a better game if placed on a larger board.

It was most fascinating to observe Josh's though processes.

The game seems playable. While I don't expect it to have the acclaim of Demian Freeling's Congo, Joshua is nearly two years younger that Demian was.

I will be creating the ZRF and webpage over the next few days.