Diagonal chess (well balanced)

Our diagonal chess variant was invented on April 8, 2020. The game is called well balanced because of new extended abilities of pawns to move and capture. The fortified pawns are more versatile than in traditional chess game, can better cooperate in defence and become stronger partners of other chessmen in attack.

Setup

The game is a diagonal variant of the orthodox chess played on a traditional chessboard with 2x15 chessmen. For the convenience of players the chessboard is rotated by 45º counterclockwise. N-S denotes orientation of the black diagonal of the chessboard (see Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Diagonal chess – chessboard orientation.

Pieces

Seven fortified pawns with identical abilities to move and capture are placed in two rows. Kings and Queens are located on the N-S diagonal. Kings occupy corners and are protected by four defensive lines. Knights and Bishops in opposite colours are placed on chequers between the King and each of the two Rooks, situated on white fields. The distance between a white pawn line a5-e1 and a black pawn line h4-d8 (measured by pawn’s moves) must not be shorter than in the orthodox chess, i.e. four. Satisfying this condition guarantees a possibility of developing defense lines by players. Therefore, a white pawn moves in either NW or NE direction, whereas black pawn moves in either SE or SW direction. Pawns can capture on three fields: the white in directions W, N and E, whereas the black in directions E, S, W. By contrast to the orthodox chess, pawns receive new features and become fully fledged partners of other chessmen (see Fig. 2). In this way the game is well balanced.

Fig.2. Pawns : a) black arrows point out possible moves, red arrows point out directions of attacks; b) self-assurance.

Rules

In the new diagonal chess all other general rules from classical chess take effect: initial double pawn move, capturing en passant and castling. Pawn promotion takes place exclusively on seven fields: e8, f8, g8, h8, h7, h6 and h5 of the northern quadrant for white pawns and a4, a3, a2, a1, b1, c1 and d1 of the southern quadrant for black pawns. Promotion on h8 and a1 may occur only with an opponent's piece capture.

Notes

1. Our diagonal chess variant was inspired by a chess metaphor for the militarized Kaliningrad enclave in Europe where a beautiful chessmen setting reveals two axial symmetries and also a point reflection (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Kaliningrad enclave metaphor.

At the beginning, habits characteristic for the orthodox chess may lead to overlooking obvious threats, or to an unintentional limitation of the combinatorial creativity. On the other hand, liberation from the theory and practice of openings, defenses, gambits and endgames, that are essential in classical chess, opens players to imagine unexpected possibilities. There is no way to win the game in several moves. Enjoy!

Cracow, April 25, 2020.

2. In order to satisfy player's expectation of using the standard set of chessmen, the diagonal chess main variant was modified into a new game called Standard diagonal chess. Additional 8th pawn in each color is placed in the right wing corner: on h1 for the white army and on a8 for the black army. New pawns have identical abilities to move and capture as the basic seven.

Fig.4. Standard diagonal chess initial setting.

3. A completely new game called Asymmetrical chess in which the same initial setting as the main variant of Diagonal chess (well balanced) is combined with orthodox chess rules. It was invented in January 2021 and is playable agaist computer in all good chess programs which allow unrestricted initial settings of chessmen.

Cracow, April 23, 2021.

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 Zbigniew Kokosiński.

Last revised by Zbigniew Kokosiński.

Web page created: 2020-04-20. Web page last updated: 2020-05-12

Comments

Diagonal chess (well balanced). Diagonal chess with 7 fortified pawns.

Ben Reiniger wrote on Fri, Jul 3, 2020 12:20 PM EDT:

Ah, so I was wrong about the promotion zone! Glad to have that clarified!

💡📝Zbigniew Kokosiński wrote on Wed, Jul 1, 2020 07:54 AM EDT:

Dear colleague, I hope that the present version of submission will satisfy all requirements to be published on Chess Variants Pages. I've clarified the promotion rules. The comment about inspirations has been moved to Notes section.

Best regards - ZK

Ben Reiniger wrote on Mon, Jun 29, 2020 11:06 PM EDT:

The pawn promotion zone isn't entirely clear, but I suppose it's the four squares on the mentioned diagonal e8-h5 together with (when a pawn captures diagonally due N) the diagonal f8-h6?

I'd suggest moving the "motivational" setup to the notes. Having it in the introduction, at first read I thought that was your game!

🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Fri, Jun 5, 2020 06:22 PM EDT:

This page still needs graphics uploaded for it. I have since completed the script I was working on before. I call it the File Manager, and a link to it can be found in the Edit menu and down near the bottom of page when you are logged in.

🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Tue, May 12, 2020 11:15 AM EDT:

There is currently a link in the edit menu and down below for authors to see the directory with the images they have uploaded. I am writing a new file manager that will display uploaded images, allow authors to delete them, and give them the ability to make file sizes smaller. But it still needs work.