new, innovative chess variant

I call it... oinquarkichess.

Each player has 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, and 8 pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate the other king. Checkmate happens when the king is in a position to be captured (in check) and cannot escape from capture.

Each of the 6 different kinds of pieces moves differently. Pieces cannot move through other pieces (though the knight can jump over other pieces), and can never move onto a square with one of their own pieces. However, they can be moved to take the place of an opponent's piece which is then captured. Pieces are generally moved into positions where they can capture other pieces (by landing on their square and then replacing them), defend their own pieces in case of capture, or control important squares in the game.

The king is the most important piece, but is one of the weakest. The king can only move one square in any direction - up, down, to the sides, and diagonally.

The queen is the most powerful piece. If moved she can move in any one straight direction - forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally - as far as possible as long as she does not move through any of her own pieces

The rook may move as far as it wants, but only forward, backward, and to the sides.

The bishop may move as far as it wants, but only diagonally. Each bishop starts on one color (light or dark) and must always stay on that color.

Knights move in a very different way from the other pieces – going two squares in one direction, and then one more move at a 90 degree angle, just like the shape of an “L”. Knights are also the only pieces that can move over other pieces.

Pawns are unusual because they move and capture in different ways: they move forward, but capture diagonally. Pawns can only move forward one square at a time, except for their very first move where they can move forward two squares. Pawns can only capture one square diagonally in front of them. They can never move or capture backwards. If there is another piece directly in front of a pawn he cannot move past or capture that piece.

Pawns have another special ability and that is that if a pawn reaches the other side of the board it can become any other piece (called promotion). A pawn may be promoted to any piece.

The last rule about pawns is called “en passant,” which is French basically means “in passing”. If a pawn moves out two squares on its first move, and by doing so lands to the side of an opponent’s pawn (effectively jumping past the other pawn’s ability to capture it), that other pawn has the option of capturing the first pawn as it passes by. This special move must be done immediately after the first pawn has moved past, otherwise the option to capture it is no longer available.

One other special rule is called castling. This move allows you to do two important things all in one move: get your king to safety (hopefully), and get your rook out of the corner and into the game. On a player’s turn he may move his king two squares over to one side and then move the rook from that side’s corner to right next to the king on the opposite side. In order to castle, however, it must meet the following conditions:

• it must be that king’s very first move
• it must be that rook’s very first move
• there cannot be any pieces between the king and rook to move
• the king may not be in check or pass through check

As stated before, the purpose of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king. This happens when the king is put into check and cannot get out of check. There are only three ways a king can get out of check: move out of the way (though he cannot castle!), block the check with another piece, or capture the piece threatening the king. If a king cannot escape checkmate then the game is over. Customarily the king is not captured or removed from the board, the game is simply declared over.

Occasionally games do not end with a winner, but with a draw. There are 5 reasons why a game may end in a draw:

1. The position reaches a stalemate where it is one player’s turn to move, but his king is NOT in check and yet he does not have another legal move
2. The players may simply agree to a draw and stop playing
3. There are not enough pieces on the board to force a checkmate (example: a king and a bishop vs. a king)
4. A player declares a draw if the same exact position is repeated three times (though not necessarily three times in a row)
5. Fifty consecutive moves have been played where neither player has moved a pawn or captured a piece.

Starting position:

Um... I think it's March 31, not April fools yet.

Why did I join this group ... time's definitely up.

Dude, this is serious.

(and it's April Fools' in more than half the world already)

Wow. My April Fools' joke - I mean serious thing! - was so epic that it made someone leave.

Yeah, this is just an April Fool's joke.

No! This is for real! It's not April Fools' yet, like you said!

It's April Fools in more than half the world already, like you said!

I'm in a fake relationship with someone for April Fool's.  We're gonna have a HUGE Facebook fight tonight and break up :D

Okay.

-_-

So O, can I play this new game?  You;d have to explain it a little more, but I think I understand the basics.

I'll play.

No.... just kidding.  And April Fools is still 364 days away.

Actually... 365, since 2012 is a leapyear.

350 days to go

That's because of your time zone.  And oinquarki made his post at March 31st, 5:37 (assuming he's in the same time zone as me, which he probably is)

340 days to go

We don't really need a countdown, it's just an early April Fools joke!

Well, then this is not necessary, 334 days to go.

The idea was that because of time zone issues and because in some countries it's only customary to prank people before noon, I put half my April Fool's junk up on the 31st and half on the 1st.