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Panchimera. all the king's horses - a variant that doubles the number of each FIDE piece and then adds the knight augmented pieces. (11x12, Cells: 132) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Mar 6, 2011 07:40 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
I assume that Castling is possible only with the Rooks on the same rank as the King. This variant contrasts interestingly with two of mine.

Nearlydouble Chess doubles the number of all pieces except the King, and likewise doubles the size of the board and rounds down to an 11x11 board. As both pieces and squares are rounded down and Pawns are included in the doubling I find no need for extra piece types - although I do enhance the Knights for the larger board. I didn't go for a triple-step Pawn move either - but I did go for a much-enhanced double one. Castling with the outer Rook is the same as in this game, but there is also Castling with inner Rooks, as all Rooks start on the same rank as the King. Piece density is 51.24%.

Échecs De L'Escalier has twice the symmetric pieces of the Carrera/Bird/Capablanca family, with a Queen+Knight compound substituted for the second King aside, but no increase in those variants' Pawns, and the increase in army size by a half relative to those armies is accompanied by enlarging the board only to 10x10 - not much over half as much again as the FIDE board. Pawns I judged close enough to each other to need only the standard double-step initial Pawn move. To cope with Rooks on two ranks, Castling is of the Ecumenical variety, allowing King and Rook alike to move within a 2x2 area beforehand. Piece density is 60%.


Nicholas Wolff wrote on Thu, Mar 3, 2011 01:01 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Hey Greame!

Very interesting looking variant.  The fact of having a lot of familiar pieces makes playing this game seem easier to me.  It could probably be a great 'gateway variant' for those not yet introduced to our world.  The only thing I would suggest is maybe a triple step pawn rule.  Otherwise, play could start fairly slow and pawn structures could remain unchanged for the most part.  Are you putting out a preset for it?  I'd give you a game.

-Nick

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