p.boxed
- | Pawns start on the 7th rank. Move a knight to promote them.
+ | Three new pieces appear. All pieces are unique.
p.
- ...Only the initial position changes, but this makes a huge difference.
- In particular, castling would be rather pointless so it's disabled here.
- En-passant captures are impossible because all pawns already reached 7th rank.
-
-h3 About the initial position
-
-p.
- Since truly random start can allow a mate in 3 with a knight,
- the kings have at least one knight neighbor in the initial position.
- This allows to move free out of potential check from the very beginning.
+ There are only one rook, one bishop and one knight per side in this variant.
+ That explains the name. The king and queen are still there,
+ and the three remaining slots are taken by new pieces:
+
+ul
+ li.
+ The lancer 'L' is oriented and can only move in the direction it points,
+ by any number of squares as long as an enemy isn't met
+ (it can jump over friendly pieces). If an opponent' piece is found,
+ it can be captured. After moving you can reorient the lancer.
+ li.
+ The sentry 'S' moves like a bishop but doesn't capture directly.
+ It "pushes" enemy pieces instead, either on an empty square or on other
+ enemy pieces which are thus (self-)captured.
+ li.
+ The jailer 'J' moves like a rook but also doesn't capture.
+ It immobilizes enemy pieces which are vertically or horizontally adjacent.
p.
- A less constraining condition would be to require the two knights to stand on
- two squares of different colors, but it's not enough as proved by the
- following diagram.
- White can mate in 3: 1.Nc6 followed by Nb4 threatening both a2 and d3.
+ On the following diagram the white sentry can push the black lancer to
+ capture the black pawn on b4. The lancer is then immobilized
+ by the white jailer at a4.
figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:RBN1BRRQ/PPPPPPP/8/4n3/8/8/Nppppppp/brkbqr1n:
- figcaption After 1.Nc6 Nf3 2.Nb4 Ne5 (covers d3 but not a2) 3.Nxa2#
+ .diagram.diag12
+ | fen:7k/8/8/8/Jp3m2/8/3S4/K7:
+ .diagram.diag22
+ | fen:7k/8/8/8/Jm3S2/8/8/K7:
+ figcaption Left: before white move S"push"f4. Right: after this move.
-p Note: in the standard initial position, kings and knights are not neighbors.
+p To reorient a stuck lancer,
+ul
+ li Just after being pushed: play a move which 'capture your king".
+ li Later in the game: click on the lancer.
-h3 Source
+h3 Complete rules
p
- | See for example the
- a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/diffsetup.dir/upside.html") Upside down chess
- | page on chessvariants.com.
+ | The rules were invented by Jeff Kubach (2020), who described them much
+ | more precisely on the
+ a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/rules/8-piece-chess")
+ | chessvariants page
+ | . While the summary given above may suffice to start playing,
+ | you should read the complete rules to fully understand this variant.