Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Charles Daniel.

Insane Ninja Chess

Derived from the sub-variant: Birds and Leaping Ninjas, Insane Ninja Chess uses the same unique board and rules from this family of games. Instead of the flying bombers, this variant features a pair of the very exciting and powerful Insane Ninjas.

The main characteristics of this game are a large 10x10 board with 4 protruding squares from each side's backrank, flexible castling, logically extended en-passant rules and initial pawn move. Except for these and the two new pieces, the game is identical to orthodox chess.

There are two games contained in this title. The main variation uses board setup #1 and a pair of Leaping Ninja Guards housed in the two extra squares.
The second game uses setup #2 and houses the Insane Ninjas in the two back squares instead of at the wings. The leaping guards are replaced by regular ninja guards - the same pieces without the camel's leaping move.

The insane ninja is a modified compound consisting of the basic building blocks Ferz, Alfil, Dabbabah and Wazir.
Similarly, the ninja guard is a modified compound consisting of the Ferz and Alfil. Adding the camel's move results in the Leaping Ninja Guard.

Note that the balance between leapers (3) and sliders (2 pairs plus Queen) is dramatically different from that of orthodox chess.

Setup

Board Setup #1

Insane Ninja Chess starting position Start Position for white. (black mirrors white)

Insane Ninjas on a1,j1
Rooks on b1,i1
knights on c1,h1
bishops on d1, g1
queen on e1
king on f1
leaping ninja guards on e0,f0
pawns from a2-j2

Insane Ninja Chess Board Setup #2

In this setup, the ninja guards replace the leaping ninja guards. (There is no leaping camel move for these pieces).

Pieces

The Mad Leaping Ninja Guard’s Moves

The Leaping Ninja Guard is a color bound piece with three modes of movement and two capture modes.
Ninja Guard’s moves The Ninja Guard on d5 can capture all the pieces in the diagram. It can also jump to the squares in red, or move to any square that is 1 step away diagonally that is not occupied by a friendly piece.
It can capture the pawn on c4 by moving to that square or capture both pawns on c4 and b3 by jumping to b3.
It can capture the knight on f7 by jumping over the pawn at e6.
It can capture the rook at e4 by moving to e4 or leaping to f3.

The Insane Ninja’s Moves

The Insane Ninja possesses both dual mode movement and dual mode capture capabilities.
Insane  Ninja’s moves The Insane Ninja on d4 can capture all the pieces in the diagram. It can also move to the squares in blue or the squares in green by leaping.
It can capture the pawn on d5 by moving to that square or capture both pawns on d5 and d6 by jumping to d6.
It can capture the knight on b4 by jumping over the pawn at c4.
It can capture the rook at e4 by moving to e4 or leaping to f4. Note that it must capture the rook if it jumps to f4. (Capturing is mandatory).

Rules

The rules are as in orthodox chess except as noted below:

Optional Rule: Ninja Pawn Drops

This subvariation adds an exciting twist to the game

The ninja pawn possesses slightly different modes of movement and capture depending on which half of the board it is on.

Dropping:
The ninja pawn is not present at the start at the game and is dropped by the player into the drop zone, which are each side's 2nd rank squares. For example, the drop zone for white is from a2-j2 and for black from a9-j9.
The square must be vacant to drop the pawn. You can optionally move the pawn forward towards the center on the same move but you cannot make a capture on the same move as the drop. You can however drop a pawn to check or to checkmate the opposing king A maximum of 4 ninja pawns can be dropped by each side during a game.

Movement:
The ninja pawn can always move 1 square up or 1 square sideways to an empty square from any part of the board.

When the pawn is situated in the lower half of the board (for White, rank 0-5 and for black 11-6), it can move forward multiple vacant squares (1-3 squares) to reach the middle of the board (rank 5 for White or rank 6 for Black). This move can be done at any time regardless of how many times the pawn has moved.

Once it passes the middle, the ninja pawn can only move 1 square forward at a time, or move 1 square horizontally.

Capture:
Like the standard pawn it can capture one square diagonally up, regardless of which half of the board it is on.
When the ninja pawn is on the top half of board (White rank 6 +, Black rank 5-) , it can also capture one square horizontally.

There is no en passant. It cannot capture another pawn or ninja pawn en passant nor can any other pawn capture it this way.

Promotion: The ninja pawn promotes on the last row (rank 10 for white, rank 1 for black), to any piece. Promotion to a piece is mandatory so it would cease to be a pawn in the last row.

Notes



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 Charles Daniel.
Web page created: 2007-12-29. Web page last updated: 2007-12-29