This is how I learned to play chess from my father and grandfather. I'm not
sure if my grandfather invented this variant, learned a local variant
from Duluth, MN or a local variant from Norway.
Game is the same as FIDE chess with the following exceptions.
- King cannot castle after being in check.
- King can castle through an attacked square (i.e. d1 or f1 for White and d8 or f8 for Black).
Needless to say the king cannot castle out of check or into check.
- Stalemating your opponent is a Win.
- En-Passant move doesn't exist but the pawn's initial two space move does.
- Pawns can only promote to pieces that have previously been captured. Thus a player can never have more
than 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops and 2 knights on the board at any time.
The 5th exception can on rare occasions lead to unusual situations. This occurs when a pawn reaches the far rank,
either by capturing or advancing, but can't be promoted because the player has all of his pieces on the board. In this
situation the pawn is stuck on the far rank until the pawn's owner loses a piece. When a piece is captured, the pawn is
IMMEDIATELY replaced by the captured piece and this piece can IMMEDIATELY be played on the owner's turn. It is even
possible for a player to have more than one pawn stuck on the far rank awaiting promotion. In this case the owner of
the pawns gets to choose which pawn to promote when a piece is finally lost.
Further details can be found at www.chessvariants.com |
