Very Heavy Chess
Very Heavy Chess is a chessvariant where all compounds of standard chess pieces are used. It can be seen as an extension of Heavy Chess.
The seminal principle is to see some elemental bricks behind the FIDE chess pieces. Those are the moves of the kNight (N), Rook (R), Bishop (B) and King (K). By associating those elements several fairy pieces can be made and those are very well known by chessvariants fans. Double compounds are RN, BN, KN, KR, KB. Of course, RB is the Queen. RBK is the Amazon, one of the triple compounds.Sac Chess had been designed with a goal of "knighting" and "crowning" every FIDE pieces by pairs. Then, it has 2 RN, 2 BN, 2 KN, 2 KR, 2KB and 2 QN=Amazons, keeping a single Queen. Heavy Chess is slight variation built on a different logic, i.e. using a pair of every double compound, the Queen being one of them. The Amazon being the stronger and a triple compound, it is used alone, by King's side. Thus, in Heavy Chess there are 2 RN, 2 BN, 2 KN, 2 KR, 2KB, 2 RB (Queens) and 1 QN (Amazon).
Setup
The board has 10 x 12 squaresThere are 30 pieces per side:
White's pieces:
- 2 Marshals (a1, j1), 2 Cardinals (b1, i1), 2 Admirals (c1, h1), 2 Queens (d1, g1), 2 Missionaries (e1, f1) on 1st row,
- 1 King (f2), 1 Amazon (e2), 2 Bishops (d2, g2), 2 Knights (c2, h2), 2 Rooks (b2, i2), 2 Centaurs (a2, j2) on 2nd row,
- 10 Pawns on 3rd row.
Black's pieces mirroring with King (f9), Amazon (e9), etc.
The initial setup follows some principles that have been edicted for Sac Chess:
Maitaining the relative initial arrangement of the FIDE chess, except for one difference: the FIDE Queen is replaced by an Amazon.
Do not put more than one piece with a "Rook-content" per column
The difference with Sac Chess is that there are two Queens and one Amazon instead of two Amazons and one Queen.
Initial Setup:
Pieces
King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight move as in standard FIDE chess.
Pawns move also as in standard chess, including initial double step and en-passant capture. The only difference is for promotion which extended to the non-standard pieces (see below).
Amazon: it combines the move of Queen and Knight. Amazon is the most usual name for this piece.
Marshal: it combines the move of Rook and Knight. It is also called a Chancellor. The name Marshal, also popular among chess variants, is used by consistency with my other variants.
Cardinal: it combines the move of Bishop and Knight. It is also called an Archbishop. The name Cardinal, also popular among chess variants, is used by consistency with my other variants.
Centaur: it combines the moves of Knight and non-royal King. Centaur is the most usual name for this piece.
Admiral: it is another compound piece that moves as a Rook or a non-royal King. That means that it is a Rook that can also step one space diagonally. It corresponds to the Dragon King that is found in Shogi. It is a Sailor in Sac chess. Dragon King seemed not appropriate in the context of this variant and I wanted a more elevated name than Sailor, hence my proposal of naming this piece an Admiral.
Missionary: it is another compound piece that moves as a Bishop or a non-royal King. That means that it is a Bishop that can also step one space orthogonally. It corresponds to the Dragon Horse that is found in Shogi. It is a Missionary in Sac chess. Dragon Horse seemed not appropriate in the context of this variant, so I kept the name of Missionary.
Rules
Castling: The King may castle with either rook, with conditions as in standard chess.
Pawn Promotion: A Pawn reaching the last rank of the board is immediately replaced by any piece other than Pawn or King: Amazon, Queen, Marshal, Cardinal, Admiral, Missionary, Centaur, Rook, Bishop or Knight.
En Passant capture: Any time a Pawn takes a double step and passes through the capture square of an opposing Pawn, that Pawn may capture the Pawn as if it had only moved one square. This en passant capture must be made in the immediate move following the double step.
End Of Game: The end-of-game rules, checkmate, stalemate, etc., are identical to standard chess.
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By Jean-Louis Cazaux.
Last revised by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
Web page created: 2020-12-22. Web page last updated: 2020-12-22