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This page is written by the game's inventor, Luis Bolaños Mures.

Pioneers Chess

This is my proposal to solve the problem of draws in chess. It is a solution intended to be respectful with chess tradition while at the same time eliminate the draw as a result of a chess game.

Setup

Same as FIDE chess.

Pieces

Same as FIDE chess.

Rules

All the FIDE chess rules apply, except in the following:

a) After a move, a player can distinguish one of his pawns as his "pioneer", taking that honour from the pawn of his color which had it before. At the end of a turn, both players' pioneers can never be on symmetrical ranks, e.g. 3rd and 6th or 2th and 6th. Promoted pawns can be pioneers, too, but, as before, both player's pioneers can't be promoted pawns at the same time.

b) At the end of the game, if FIDE rules dictate a draw, the player who has the most advanced pioneer wins. A promoted pawn will always be considered the most advanced pioneer. Obviously, if only one player keeps at least one pawn on the board, the most advanced pioneer will be his.

c) If no player has at least one pawn on the board, the player who has kept his last pawn further wins. For example, if White has lost his last pawn at move 55 and Black has lost his last pawn at move 60, Black wins.

d) In the implausible case that no player has moved a pawn along the game, Black wins.

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By Luis Bolaños Mures.
Web page created: 2008-07-28. Web page last updated: 2008-07-28