Inspired by Shogi and Pal Benko's Pre-Chess, iChess is an attempt to improve Chess in four different ways:
- eliminating the irregularities in the rules, such as castling as en passant,
- reducing the importance of memorized opening and ending moves,
- reducing the percentage of drawn games,
- increasing the number of possible moves in each turn, making the game harder to solve by computers.
The game begins with the "deployment" phase. Initially, only the Pawns are on the board. The first player picks a piece other than the King and "drop" it onto the board, and then the second player does the same. The players continue in this way until all the pieces are placed. The Kings are dropped last (on the eighth move), after which the pieces may start moving.
The Pawn moves and captures one square forward like the Shogi pawn, and can promote to a Ferz, which moves one square diagonally, upon reaching the last four ranks of the board (the "promotion zone"). Promotion is optional unless the Pawn reaches the last rank. The other pieces (King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, and Knight) moves the same way as in Chess.
As in Shogi, a player may either move a piece or drop a captured piece into a vacant square in each turn. Drops are limited to the first four ranks closest to the player (the "drop zone"). As in Shogi, a Pawn may not be dropped into a file that already contains another Pawn, but unlike Shogi, the Pawn drop may deliver a checkmate.
Please contact Pangus Ho at "hzb_pangus at hotmail.com" for any comments or suggestions. |
