Double Move Double Chess
My search for the perfect Double King Chess is finally over. As I suspected, the rules of standard chess do not apply in a game against two kings. Double Chess means not only two chess boards and two sets of chess pieces, but also something else...
Inspired by Charles Gilman's Quadruple Besiege Chess setup and Fred Galvin's Double-move Chess.
Double Move Double Chess is played on two boards, put together, with two sets of pieces.
Rules of the game
Double Move Double Chess is played on a rectangular board of sixteen ranks and eight files.
The setup is as given below:
The standard rules of chess and the movement of chess pieces apply, with the exception of the following:
1. White starts with one move, and thereafter each player makes two consecutive moves per turn.
2. No check, no checkmate. To win the game of Double Move Double Chess, a player must capture two opponent's kings.
3. There is no initial double-step move. The pawn only moves one square forward. Pawns that reach the farthest rank of the board are promoted to knights, bishops, rooks, or queens.
4. There is no castling.
5. Each double move must change the position on the board. A player may not move a piece from a square then back to it, unless the first part of the double move was a capture.
A draw is possible by mutual agreement of the parties or if no pawn move or any capture has been made in 50 double moves.
Despite the fact that the initial arrangement of pawns was used by Gilman for a board that changes its geometry in space, it proved to be excellent in the conditions of an ordinary double move chess game on two boards. The pawn-free a and h files made the game more intense and dynamic, filled with tactics and strategy never seen before in double-move chess.
Usually in any multi-move variants of chess, both sides strive for immediate exchanges of strong pieces, which leads to a rapid exhaustion of the game. With this initial setup, I was able to achieve exceptional deep and meaningful play with two consecutive moves by both players.
Columns of pawns on the b and g files preserve the potential of the game in case of massive exchanges and turn the endgame into a mind-blowing and exciting confrontation between two players.
I can say that Double Move Double Chess is a game of two phases: first, a game with long-range pieces and if you manage to survive in this mess, then the transition to interesting and unusual pawn endings, where the very concept of a double move takes on completely different outlines.
Double Move Double Chess on chessvariants.com
