2 Each capture results in an "explosion" through which all surrounding
3 pieces other than pawns are removed from the board.
6 When a piece P captures an opponent figure on some square S, all pieces
7 sitting on a square reachable by a king move from S are removed, including P
9 The pawns, however, remain: they have to be taken directly to disappear.
12 Suicide is forbidden. Thus a king can touch the opponent king and become
13 immune to checks, like on the following diagrams: 1.Rxf5 is impossible.
15 figure.diagram-container
17 | fen:rnb5/pp4pp/2p5/N4pK1/3P2k1/8/PP4PP/5R2 a5,b7:
19 | fen:8/p5pp/2p5/5pK1/3P2k1/8/PP4PP/5R2:
20 figcaption Left: before 1.Nxb7. Right: after capture.
24 p There are two ways to win, by decreasing strength order:
26 li Explode opponent king
27 li Checkmate opponent king
29 p Explosions have priority: a checkmate followed by a king explosion loses.
31 figure.diagram-container
33 | fen:3rkbnr/pb1pp2p/npp5/q4ppQ/P1B1P3/NP5N/1BPP1PPP/R3K2R:
35 | fen:3rkbnr/pb1pp2p/npp5/5ppQ/P1B1P3/NP5N/1BP2PPP/R6R:
36 figcaption 1.Qh5+ (left) 1...Qxd2# (right), black wins.
41 White has a big advantage in this variant. In order to balance the odds,
42 you can select "Balanced" to let white choose any pawn (any color) to
43 remove before the game starts.
44 The game then continues normally, black playing first.
47 | This was suggested (relayed?) and analyzed recently (2020) by a strong
48 | Atomic player (Gannet on Discord). See
49 a(href="https://discord.com/channels/686736099959504907/687076744095858762/762398439043498046")
51 | on Discord vchess server.
56 Many resources can be found on the web (this variation is played on lichess
57 and FICS, among others).
58 This game was played first in 1995 at the German Internet Chess Server (GICS)
59 according to Wikipedia.