Charismatic Chess
The word χάρισμα was used in ancient Greek mythology to denote the ability to attract attention to oneself.
Being charismatic is the opposite of being boring or dull. So yes, in this sense we have a very dynamic and energetic chess variant.
Therefore, in order not to be boring, I will immediately move on to the description of the rules of Charismatic Chess, which were developed by me in the summer of 2023.
Charismatic Chess completely follows the rules of classical chess with the exception of the starting setup, the introduction of pieces into the game and the number of possible moves that a player can make in his turn.
Setup
Each player starts the game with only a king on the board. The starting setup in Charismatic Chess is shown below:
Each player has 15 chess pieces of his color in his reserve - 8 pawns, a queen, two rooks, two bishops and two knights.
The placement stage
Before making a move on the board, players take turns, starting with the white player, placing five random pieces from their reserve on their half of the board until this reserve is empty, that is, all the players’ pieces are on the board.
The sequence of receiving from the reserve and placing pieces is simple: first, White receives five random pieces from his reserve and places them on the board. Then the same procedure is repeated by Black and so on. It is easy to calculate that to place all of their pieces on the board, each player will need only three turns.
In the process of placing pieces on the board, it is not allowed to declare check to the opponent's king.
Pawns may not be placed on the first row.
Bishops can be placed on any square of your half of the board. Thus, two of a player's bishops can be on a square of the same color.
Getting five random pieces at the placement stage can be achieved in various ways, which can only be limited by your imagination.
Movement
Once all of both players' pieces have been placed on the board, White moves first.
Unlike ordinary chess, a player, in turn, can move from one to five of his pieces on the board (castling counts as one move). This can be either a move or a capture. The same piece can be moved only once in this turn.
Unlike Progressive Chess, a check to the opponent's king does not interrupt the series of moves, so in his turn, a player can declare check with several of his pieces at once.
The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no legal way to get it out of check. In other words, the player loses the game if, in his turn (when he can make from one to five moves with his pieces), he cannot get rid of the check to his king.
During his turn, when a player can play with one, two, three, four or five of his pieces, he is allowed to put his king in check. The main thing is that after his turn, the king of such a player no longer remains in check. Otherwise, such a player immediately loses.
Well, after such a detailed description of the rules of the game, let’s see how this idea works in practice.
Below is the very first game of Charismatic Chess. This was a test game, which, of course, is not ideal on both sides, but clearly demonstrates the main idea of this variant of chess.
The game starts with an empty board with only the kings of both players.
White is the first to take five random chess pieces from his reserve.
White gets three pawns, a bishop and a rook from the reserve.
White places these pieces on the board:
Now it's Black's turn and he gets two pawns, two knights and a rook.
Black places these pieces on the board:
Again it’s White’s turn to get five more pieces from the reserve. This time they get a pawn, knight, bishop, rook and queen.
White places these pieces on the board:
Now it's Black's turn and he gets two pawns, two bishops and a queen.
Black places these pieces on the board:
White receives his last five pieces from the reserve: four pawns and a knight.
White places these pieces on the board:
The last turn at the placement stage is for Black. From the reserve he receives four pawns and a rook.
After some thought, Black places his last five pieces on the board:
Now that all of both players' pieces are on the board, White moves first. We remember that in his turn a player can move or capture with one, two, three, four or five pieces. The main condition for mass movement of pieces is only one - each moved piece can be played only once.
I note that in this position, both White and Black have the opportunity to castle which counts as the move of one piece. However, in this case it is no longer possible to play with the king or the rook that participated in castling again in this series. White can castle to the left flank, having first vacated square d1. Black has the possibility of castling in both directions, and 0-0 for him will be achieved by moving the king to b8, and 0-0-0 to f8. Since the starting position of kings is different from standard chess, the concept of kingside and queenside for players will be different.
White is the first to move after the placement stage . We remember that on his turn, each player can make from one to five movements of his pieces on the chessboard.
1. bc, ef,b4, Rdb1, Nf4.
Black uses only four of the possible five moves allotted to him by the rules of the game.
1. ...0-0, dc, Nxf5, e5
White begins active actions in the center:
2. de, Nxd5, Bf4, Nf6, c4
Black's reaction is quite appropriate:
2. ... Bxd5, cb, Qxc4, Bxf6, Nxe5
The next wave of White's attack becomes his last in the game. Thinking that victory is closer than ever, White launches a disastrous series of five moves.
3. Bxe5+, Bxf5, Qxb6+, Rxa6, c4
Unlike Progressive Chess, where the attacked king must be protected from check on the very first move of the series, Charismatic Chess provides a unique opportunity to use all moves of the series for this. The player's king can remain in check for as long as his series of moves lasts. There is only one obligatory condition - after completing such a series of moves, the king of this player should not remain in check.
This unique feature of the game is used by Black in his third turn.
3. ... Bf3, Qe2+, Rc1+, Kc8#
What we have before us is not just an interesting chess variant, but most of all a unique one. As you can see, the rules are quite simple and understandable, but the possibilities that are provided in Charismatic Chess are so great and limitless that you are unlikely to find something similar in other chess variants.
After playing a game of Charismatic Chess, any other game will seem unusually slow and boring to you. Even fans of Progressive Chess will be impressed by the speed and complications that they will have to face in this chess variant.
Regarding the name Charismatic Chess.
The original working version of the name was X5 Chess, which quite clearly conveyed the whole meaning and concept of the game. The number FIVE, as you can see, plays a key role here: five pieces are placed at the placement stage, five moves in a row can be made in turn, it is necessary to mobilize all five senses in order to fully concentrate on what is happening (just kidding).
However, then I chose a completely different name, the reason for which was the following position from a test game that I played while creating this chess variant.
Black's move. The longer I immersed myself in the position, the more clearly the feeling grew in me that Black should win here. But how?
Conventional chess thinking refused to trust intuition and furiously called on Black to capitulate. Nevertheless, the comprehension of truth through direct contemplation bore fruit. I found checkmate for Black. "What a charismatic mate!" - I cried out in admiration and immediately realized that I had given the name to this chess variant - Charismatic Chess.
I hope you find checkmate with Black in this position. Hint - it will take exactly four moves in a series, including, of course, taking the king out of check.
I will give the answer to the puzzle a little later in the comments.
Guys, I hope you liked this chess variant and you can diversify your leisure time by playing it right now, since this only requires a regular chess set.
Thank you for taking the time to read this material.
