Blender Chess
Certain "fairy pieces" combine the moves of standard pieces. So, I thought, why not have a game where those pieces could be made by combining pieces on the board during play?
Setup
Setup is the same as for standard Chess, including using a standard 8x8 board.
However, some extra pieces should be kept on hand: two spare Queens, two Chancellors, two Archbishops, and two Amazons. (If possible, the spare Queens should be visually distinct in some way from the one that starts on the board.) These will come into play during the game.
Optionally, each player may also have one each Nightrider, Raven, Unicorn, and Sorceror.
Pieces
The standard Chess pieces all move as in standard Chess.
The Archbishop combines the moves of the Bishop and Knight.
The Chancellor combines the moves of the Rook and Knight.
The Amazon combines the moves of the Bishop, Rook, and Knight (or, if you prefer, the Queen and Knight).
Optional Pieces
The Nightrider moves like a Knight, but can continue to move in a straight line.
The Raven combines the moves of the Rook and Nightrider.
The Unicorn combines the moves of the Bishop and Nightrider.
The Sorceror combines the moves of the Queen and Nightrider.
Rules
For the most part, the standard rules of chess are in play. The exceptions:
Merging
The Bishops, Knights, and Rooks are able to Merge with each other, and subsequently Separate.
To merge, one piece "captures" the other, and the two become the piece that combines their moves. For example, one possible opening move is for a Rook to Merge with the Knight next to it, becoming a Chancellor. (Later in the game, the Knight could Merge with the Rook, with the same result.)
The other possibilities for lower-tier Merges are Rook and Bishop (or Bishop and Rook) to a new Queen, and Knight and Bishop (or Bishop and Knight) to an Archbishop.
Two compound pieces cannot Merge with each other (unless it's to form an Sorceror, below). Instead, to make an Amazon, a basic piece Joins ("captures") a compound piece -- Knight to Queen, Bishop to Chancellor, or Rook to Archbishop. (The compound does not "capture" the new component.)
Optional Merges
For an expanded version, a player may merge the two Knights into a Nightrider. The Nightrider can then continue to Merge: a Bishop to a Nightrider becomes a Unicorn, while a Rook to a Knightrider becomes a Raven.
A Sorceror can then be formed in many ways: Rook to Unicorn, Bishop to Raven, or Knight to Amazon are unidirectional (smaller to larger only). Bidirectional Merges for this (where either can enter the other) are the Nightrider and Queen, or Archbishop and Chancellor.
Separating
To Separate, a Merged piece simply sends the piece to separate away, leaving the rest behind. For example, a Chancellor can Separate the Knight component to move away, leaving the Rook behind.
When the Amazon Separates, it doesn't have to release the same piece that last Merged into it; any of the three components can separate out, leaving a two-part Merge behind (but not vice versa).
The same principle holds true of the optional Nightrider-related pieces. The Sorceror can, in fact, release any single component, or split into two two-part Merged compounds, regardless of how it became an Sorceror in the first place. (That's a total of 7 options!)
Pawn Promotion
Upon reaching the far row, Pawns may promote to any piece that has been captured by the opponent. If the Pawn promotes to a compound piece, then it can subsequently Separate into its components; however, it can only promote to a compound piece if that piece was captured that way. For example, if the opponent has captured both a Bishop and a Knight individually, the player cannot get both back by Promoting to an Archbishop. Similarly, if a compound piece was captured, the Pawn cannot promote to one of its components.
The Original Queen
The reason that the original Queen is to be visually distinct from those from Merging Rooks and Bishops is that the original Queen cannot Merge (with a Knight, to become an Amazon) or Separate (into Bishop and Rook). This includes a Pawn that has taken a promotion to Queen, if the only Queen available at the time of promotion is the original.
Expansion: Blender 100
For an expanded version, the game may be played on a 10x10 chessboard, adding two more Pawns along with an "original" Archbishop next to the Queen and "original" Chancellor next to the King. These two pieces have the same restrictions as the original Queen: they cannot Merge or Separate, and are considered distinct pieces from the other two.
Notes
With this game, the balance of power between the two players can shift abruptly, both from Merges and from Promotions, and often in unexpected ways.
The Sorceror, for example, is an incredibly powerful piece, but it comes from Merging a Rook, a Bishop, and both Knights, so those are taken off the board. While it can move to a great number of spaces and cannot be attacked by anything that it can't attack back, losing it means losing all four pieces that were used to create it. Also, if it looks like a player is working to create a Sorceror, the opponent may put extra effort into preventing it.
That said, if a Pawn subsequently reaches the far row, it can Promote to that lost Sorceror, with all of the moving and Separating that it can do.
Properly speaking, the Sorcerer is more often called an Elephant, Amazonrider, or Queen of the Night. For varying reasons, none of those seemed right for this game, so I opted for Sorcerer.
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 Bob Greenwade.
Last revised by Bob Greenwade.
Web page created: 2023-06-13. Web page last updated: 2023-08-28