Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Вадря Покштя.

Gravitatur Chess

The main feature of this chess variant is Gravitatur - a fairy chess piece that, when it appears on a square of the chessboard, attracts to itself all the pieces of both players that are in its direct action zone.

Gravitatur was specially designed by me for this variant of chess.

Setup

The game uses the usual Chess setup, except that the black king is located on the d8 square.

 

Pieces

External image links detected!

You know what would look worse on your page than this big, ugly warning? Broken image links. If you're the author, please make sure that doesn't happen to this page by replacing the following external graphic images with local copies.

Array
(
    [0] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/ve9AeBpw1B0P_wuRq2nJnQ__original/img/1x2OYY3_nSHmN3HPppAGnMFrT_M=/0x0/filters:format(png)/pic8575392.png
    [1] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/aGhgIh5yOX4OSSDj2Da2Cw__medium/img/hk_6oF7_nCFjNCLdj0uxlh0eOCQ=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic8575395.png
    [2] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/my1xb7K8bcfIWxHsEWgmCw__medium/img/T3IQdJvXA7nPXMCU8OfdDY2xX1k=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic8575400.png
    [3] => https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8585973
    [4] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/WSSVYTRbR-5m22S8kh0N5g__medium/img/DypSFSa19HKuOpVjTW9gi6SnEJY=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic8585973.png
    [5] => https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8585973
    [6] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/XBeYeTdKT80XJD42etK9yg__medium/img/4W8ygxqtl7_sUYxL1uMJPYeGCN0=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic8585971.png
    [7] => https://boardgamegeek.com/image/8585973
    [8] => https://cf.geekdo-images.com/4yHFyvu4xd7cLE90hgS7Ag__medium/img/oh0EYqbrUEK2DyfqzvPKb2PHtVg=/fit-in/500x500/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic8585969.png
)

In addition to the usual chess pieces, the game uses one more additional piece - Gravitatur.

gr2


Gravitatur is active in the following directions:

gr3

All pieces of both players standing on the squares of the chessboard in the zone of Gravitatur's activity (in its visibility zone) are attracted to it closely so that upon completion of the Attraction they must be next to it on the adjacent squares.

Gravitatur does not belong to any of the players, but is used in the game in turn, starting with the player with the white pieces.

The Gravitatur's move consists of the player, in his turn to move, placing it on any free square of the chessboard. After the Gravitatur has attracted all possible pieces, it is removed from the board and the player who used the Gravitatur makes a normal move with any of his chess pieces.

For example,
The game begins and White decides to place Gravitatur on the d4 square:

Gravitatur attracts all pieces that are within its line of sight:

After which, Gravitatur is removed from the board, and now White must make a normal chess move with any of his pieces:

 

 

Rules

The game uses a standard chess set plus one more piece - the Gravitatur.

The Gravitatur is not the property of the players and is used by them in turn.

In the initial setup, the black king is located on the d8 square.

Use of Gravitatur
Before making a move, the player places Gravitatur on any free square on the chessboard.
Having attracted the pieces towards itself, Gravitatur is removed from the board and the player continues his turn, making a normal move with his chess piece.

Restrictions
Declaring a check always limits the use of Gravitatur and the player's subsequent move:
— if a player is in check, he cannot use Gravitatur during this turn.
— a player cannot place Gravitatur in such a way that after using it his king will be in check or was with the opponent's king on an adjacent square.
— a player cannot make a move with a regular chess piece if, after using Gravitatur, the opponent's king is in check. In this case, such a player's move is considered complete.

Teleportation
During the game, instead of moving the King, a player can swap it with any other piece except the Pawn. This is called Teleportation - the King is placed on a square where a friendly piece is standing, which in turn is transferred to the square that is vacated by the King.
Teleportation is impossible if the King is in check.
The King cannot teleport to a square that is under attack by enemy pieces.
Teleportation is not a substitute for castling in regular chess - it is an independent move that can be performed during the game as many times as the situation on the board requires.

Moving chess pieces
All chess pieces move according to the FIDE Rules of Chess with the following exceptions:
There are no captures in the game except for kings. The king is the only piece in the game that can capture.
Chess pieces, except for kings, are not aggressive towards each other, but can declare check and checkmate to the opponent's king.
There is no castling and en passant capture in the game.

In all other respects, Gravitatur Chess fully follows the rules of FIDE Chess.

Goal of the game
As in Standard Chess, each player's goal is to place the opponent's king "under attack" so that the opponent has no legal move. A player who achieves this goal is said to have "checkmated" the opponent's king and won the game.
All goals and objectives, as well as achieving a win or a draw, are fully consistent with the norms and laws of FIDE Chess.

To illustrate the above, let's look at a couple of positions and try to find a solution:

White to move and mate in1

Black's last move was to Teleport their king from e8 to a8, swapping places with the rook. However, this seemingly safe maneuver turns out to be fatal for them. White places Gravitatur on a4:

1. G @ a4

After which they checkmate with the queen on a6.

The full move notation is as follows: 1. G @ a4/Qa6#

***

White to move and mate in 2

 

This problem illustrates two points at once related to the use of Gravitatur.

1. G @ c8+

By using Gravitatur, White declared check, which means that playing with a regular chess piece is not available to them - Black must get rid of the check.

1. ...Kg7

Black did not have the opportunity to use Gravitatur due to the declared check.

White again puts Gravitatur on c8 so that the position does not change and delivers checkmate with h6:

Notes

Gravitatur is a chess piece with a gravitational field that changes the time and space of the chessboard. 

The possibilities for playing with this fairy chess piece are truly enormous and fantastic.

You can do unimaginable things on a chessboard with its help.

 

 


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 Вадря Покштя.

Last revised by Вадря Покштя.


Web page created: 2024-12-13. Web page last updated: 2024-12-22

Revisions of MSgravitatur-chess