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Cupid Chess 3

Caution! Highly experimental!

All pieces in this game are colorbound. Do you think it can qualify as a Chess with Different Armies team? Or do you have a proposal for an improvement to make it more equal? Of course, I welcome your suggestions!

Please note: When castling queen side, King moves over three squares! (To preserve colorboundness of queen side Bottom Heart.)

Many thanks to Vitya Makov for this idea which is the same, apparently, as in Colorbound Clobberers.

Pieces

Twisted, Broken Heart

This piece was invented by Joe Joyce who calls it Bent Shaman and uses it in his Lemurian Shatranj. Twisted Broken Heart is alfil OR ferz OR alfil plus ferz OR ferz plus alfil with option of changing direction after completing the first part of its move. So, after making a ferz move, it can continue in the same direction or change direction and make an alfil move. Vice versa: It may make an alfil move then continue in the same direction or change direction and make a ferz move. Notice each 2 can come from either of two 1s in diagram below, either a ferz or an alfil space away (e.g., c5-e7 or f6-e7).


 . . . . . . . . 8  
 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 7  
 . 1 . . . 1 . . 6 
 2 . 1 . 1 . 2 . 5 
 . . . x . . . . 4  
 2 . 1 . 1 . 2 . 3 
 . 1 . . . 1 . . 2 
 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 
 a b c d e f g h 

Bottom Heart

Bottom Heart is colorbound; it slides roughly in the form of a heart and can do so in any of four directions. Can go to same directions as alfil, ferz, dababa or camel but has to slide to get from one square to the next as illustrated in diagram below. (Can not go past dababa square, or number 4). Should be somewhere in strength between rook and queen.


 . . . . . . . .
 . . 3 . 3 . . .
 . 2 . 4 . 2 . .
 3 . 1 . 1 . 3 .
 . 4 . x . 4 . .
 3 . 1 . 1 . 3 .
 . 2 . 4 . 2 . .
 . . 3 . 3 . . .

Top Heart

Top Heart moves to the same squares as the Bottom Heart but from the top center. The first illustration below shows the first direction this heart can trace, the second, the other direction (upside down). Third and fourth illustrations show how it can go sideways. Notice it can go to all the squares as a ferz-dababa but must slide along one of two routes to get to those squares. Piece should be weaker in value than a knight.

Helpfully, it's been pointed out to me in the comments to this page that the Bottom Heart is also "merely" a Boyscout restricted to two moves! :-) Which makes the diagram below, although illustrative, seem a tad silly, nonetheless...


 . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . .
 . . 1 . 1 . . .
 . 2 . X . 2 . .
 . . 3 . 3 . . .
 . . . 4 . . . .
 . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . 3 . 3 . . . . 2 . X . 2 . . . . 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


 . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . .
 . . . 2 . . . .
 . . 3 . 1 . . .
 . 4 . X . . . .
 . . 3 . 1 . . .
 . . . 2 . . . .
 . . . . . . . .


 . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . .
 . . . 2 . . . .
 . . 1 . 3 . . .
 . . . X . 4 . .
 . . 1 . 3 . . .
 . . . 2 . . . .
 . . . . . . . .

Trendy Heart

Trendy Heart is a pun on what Betza calls this piece, a FAD (for Ferz, Alfil, Dababa) which he estimates to be worth approximately the same as a bishop.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . x . x . . . . x . x . . . . x . X . x . . . . x . x . . . . x . x . x . . . . . . . . . .



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 Jeremy Gabriel Good.
Web page created: 2009-06-24. Web page last updated: 2014-02-08