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This page is written by the game's inventor, Michael Fryer.

EDGE OF THE WORLD (EOTW) CHESS

The rules of FIDE chess apply except as specifically modified by the following:

Board

12 x 12 board, the pieces are set up in the central 8 x 8 area as per FIDE chess.

Black
King g10; Queen f10; Bishop e10, h10; Knight d10, i10; Rook c10, j10; Pawn c9-j9

 

White
King g3; Queen f3; Bishop e3, h3; Knight d3, i3; Rook c3, j3; Pawn c4-j4

 

Victory

Victory occurs when your opponent's King is removed from play.

Movement

All pieces have momentum. A piece that moves, continues to move in that direction at that speed until one of three things happens. If the piece's momentum carries it off the board edge, it is removed from play. If a piece's momentum carries it into another piece, it stops. A player may use his move to stop a piece before or after a piece has move it's full momentum. If a player's move results in the capture of a piece, the piece moved does not have momentum after the capture. Pieces with momentum move in order of speed, highest to lowest. The moving player decides the order for all piece at the same speed. A player may start a piece moving or stop a piece at any time before, during, or after the pieces with momentum move. Only momentum may take a piece off the edge of the board, players may never move a piece off the board.

When two pieces come in contact, both pieces lose all momentum. Contact occurs only if the moving piece has enough momentum to move into the square of the stationary piece. If both pieces are the same color, the moving piece remains in the square just before the stationary piece. If the pieces are not the same color, the stationary piece is captured and moving piece remains in the square that the stationary piece occupied. The stationary refers to the piece who's movement is not being resolved presently, that piece may have had momentum before the contact occurred. A pawn that contacts an opponents piece while moving in the forward, non-capture, direction, acts as if it has contacted a piece of its own color.

Pawns may make a capture move to start movement, but may only be stopped by contact with another piece, a player may not use his turn to stop a pawn that is moving diagonally. Pawns do not have a 2 space opening move.

Pawn promotion occurs on the first and twelfth rows. Pawns promote to Corsairs (C,c) with King's movement and capture.

Knights are able make continuing moves. When a knight moves, it can continue to make knight moves in the same direction. Each knight move must land on an open square or enemy piece, which ends the move. Momentum will move the knight the same number of knight moves on each turn until the knight is stopped. The speed for a knight is twice the number of knight moves made.

There is no check or restriction on moving into check.

The End of the World

When there are four or fewer pieces left on the board, all pieces have an additional momentum move towards the nearest edge. The Speed is determined by the number of pieces left on the board after all other movement has been resolved. 4 pieces: Speed =1, 3:2, 2:3. This additional momentum is resolved after all other movement for that player. If a piece is equal distance from the two nearest edges, the piece move towards the nearest corner. Pieces that occupy the center four squares are not affected by this additional momentum (E6,E7,F6,F7).

Stop Notation

The notation used for stopping a piece is the same as a normal move, just use the same square for from and to. R C7:C7 This move stops the Rook at C7.

Momentum Notation

Each player is required to keep an accurate list of his pieces with momentum. The pieces should be listed in order of speed, highest to lowest. The order of pieces with the same speed has no importance.

P X0 D S

  P  = piece (K,k,Q,q,B,b,N,n,R,r,P,w,C,c) 
  X0 = board grid (A-L x 1-12)
  D  = direction (0-15)
 
       14 15 0 1 2
       13        3
       12    *   4
       11        5
       10  9 8 7 6
 
       2,10 and 14,6 are moving in the diagonals
       0,8 are moving in the files
       12,4 are moving in the ranks
       1,3,5,7,9,11,13,and 15 are the knight's moves

  S  = speed (1-11)

Speed is the number of squares moved during the momentum move. Speed for a Knight represents number of 1/2 moves. A speed of 2 would represent 1 knight move.

Written by Michael Fryer
Play tested by Chris Muller


Written by Michael Fryer. Slight editing by David Howe.
This variant is an entry in the 1999 Large Variant contest.


WWW page created: February 15, 1999. Last modified: May 8, 1999.