That is interesting, but couldn't people just give Pieces up to their friends?
Also, I am willing to test this in an unrated correspondence game if more people want to give it a try. We cold just do custom position for rnd 2 and 3 without the pieces that we lost.
Chess is known for its battle theme yet there are of course many aspects of chess that are unrealistic in comparison to a real battle. Most of these abstract mechanics are necessary to create an engaging yet simple board game, however, one aspect of chess has always bothered me: every chess match is an isolated battle with no consequences to the sacrifices made to win (or lose).
Enter War Chess! In War Chess the king and all pawns are replaced every game but any further pieces that are lost can only be returned for use in subsequent games by paying a ransom. At the end of every game, both players may ransom their lost pieces up to a value of 12 points (e.g. Q+B=12 or R+K+K=11).