Neoorthodox Chess
introducing extended castling
introducing the Divaricator
Neoorthodox Chess
introducing extended castling
introducing
the Divaricator
The differences compared
with orthochess are the extra corner squares and the extended castling. Besides
normal castling one can choose to move the king three squares instead of two.
The rook ends up on its usual square. The corner square provides a hiding nest
for the king should the player want to invoke play on the same wing and advance
with the pawns. The extended castle rule also makes play on the wings easier to
achieve. Queenside castle becomes more attractive. The extra corner squares will
enhance the strategical possibilities.
Try placing the king on the
extra corner square, advance the g-pawn (or b-pawn), and follow up with rooks
from behind. The king will be safe and will not stand in the way of the rooks.
Neoorthodox
Chess can be played with an extra piece placed on the extra square.
(1)
The Divaricator captures by withdrawing from one or two adjacent pieces
positioned at an angle versus the movement direction. If it moves away
orthogonally it captures the diagonally adjacent pieces. If it moves away
diagonally it captures the orthogonally adjacent pieces. The Divaricator has the
value of a bishop + pawn (my estimate).
An important facet of the
Divaricator is that K + Divaricator versus K is won. It is easy to achieve mate.
Typically, one must drive the king toward the edge and place the Divaricator
orthogonally adjacent to the enemy king. Withdrawal capture derives from
Madagascan game Fanorona. Forked withdrawal capture is probably new.
(2)
The Zeppelin flies to any empty square orthogonally, ie. the rook-directions. It
captures an enemy piece by landing immediately beyond its victim. On this board
the Zeppelin's value corresponds to a bishop (preliminary estimate).
The
Zeppelin cannot force a mate together with a king. The defending party can step
into the corner. If you advance too boldly with the pawns, they can easily
become victims of the Zeppelin. The Zeppelin piece is a weaker version of the
Airplane, which was invented by
(3) The Amiral
(4)
The Adjutant slides in any direction, but
on the orthogonals it slides only on one colour. The opposite colour squares are
simply ignored. The Adjutant's value is 5, that is, the same as a rook. The
Adjutant is really an enhanced bishop that can also move orthogonally. Its main
weakness is that it cannot give mate together with the king.
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© M.
Winther 2007 May
Disregarding the situation on the
rest of the board, this illustrates how convenient the extra corner square is
when launching an attack on the wing.
The Zeppelin can move to any empty
square orthogonally. The rook and the knight can be captured.
Moving away one or two squares to
the south the Divaricator can capture both the knights. Moving away to the
southwest, the Divaricator can capture both rooks.