They sound quite fun actually. I might give em a go with my friend tomorrow or the day after, we play quite a bit. :P
Two new variants
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so do you get 31 "points" to spend?
I hadn't decided on a point limit yet. 31 points would be good for those who want to stick to normal chess pieces, but I suppose giving more points would allow for more carnagetacular games. Also to be determined: What happens if you have points left over? Maybe pawn drops?
I just recently published a short fantasy story on the Amazon Kindle featuring a number of new chess variants that I developed:
"The Amnesiac's Quest" (available on the Amazon Kindle for 99 cents)
Here are some of the variants portrayed in the story:
Promotion Chess
Attrition Chess
Melee Chess ("Chesskers")
Diamond Chess
Parasite Chess
Most of these variants would be challenging to play unless one had multiple identical chess sets, since they use more than the standard number of each type of piece. This is because in many of these variants, each piece has the ability to change its rank to become another type of piece based on what it does in the game.
While trying to play these variants, I realized that I had to make my own chess set that would allow me to quickly transform one piece into another. The result?
Chess Cubes! (available on Etsy.com)
I've made a few sets of Chess Cubes, and they're available for sale on Etsy in two varieties: "Psychedelic", and "Coal and Marshmallows".
If you are interested in trying out the variants from the story, then my hand-crafted custom-made chess set is the perfect way to do it.
I've come up with two variants of chess that I've never heard of before. Both of them negate white's first-move advantage in some way. Hopefully they're new. If not, my apologies.
The first is Draft Chess: Each player starts with eight pawns on the board in their normal starting position. White chooses a back rank square for their king, then black does the same. Both players are given the same number of points with which they can draft pieces into their army: spend 3 points to get a bishop or knight, 5 points for a rook, 9 points for a queen. Perhaps Capablanca and Fairy chess pieces can be included too, though I haven't found a reliable source indicating their values (maybe 7 for archbishops and 9 for chancellors). There is no limit on the number of each piece available. After each piece is purchased, the player selects which back rank square to put it on. In this variant, the first-move advantage for white is negated by giving black more information when creating his army.
The second variant doesn't have a clever name yet. In this variant, black always makes the final move. White's goal is to capture the black king rather than checkmate him. If black is put in check, he has two options: The first is to make a move that escapes check, the second is to place the enemy king in check. Because black always makes the final move, he can secure a draw by capturing the enemy king after his king has been captured. Also, this ruleset makes it legal for black to move a piece that exposes his king to check so long as his move also places the enemy king in check. White's opening advantage is negated by black's endgame advantage.