Flaming Phoenix Chess

According to ancient myths and legends, the Phoenix, foreseeing its death, dies in fire, after which it is reborn from the ashes.
Being a symbol of immortality, this mythological bird served as the main motive for the creation of the Flaming Phoenix Chess.

The Phoenix piece is the main character of this chess variant, and just like the mythological phoenix, when danger threatens it, it spontaneously ignites, burning when check is announced to it. In a chess game, this does not look literal, of course - when Phoenix is ​​attacked (check is declared), it is removed from the attacked square and must immediately be put into play on any other square of the board that is not under attack by enemy pieces, after which the player, the owner of the “reborn” Phoenix, must make a move with any of his pieces on the board. If the Phoenix cannot be reborn - there is no safe square for it to appear on the board or it is impossible to make a move after the Phoenix is ​​reborn, then that player loses the game.

The game has the concept of checkmate, the announcement of which means the loss of one of the players.

The player wins the game (checkmate) in the following cases:

- If his opponent cannot make a move according to the rules (analogous to stalemate in chess)
- If all enemy pieces (except two Phoenixes) are eliminated
- If two of your opponent's  Phoenixes are in a simultaneous check

In the latter case, the game ends immediately, since the opponent does not have the option of eliminating the attacking piece - when check is declared, the Phoenix must die in fire - it is removed from the attacked square and reborn on any other safe square of the board. When check is declared to two of the player's Phoenixes at the same time, it is impossible to reborn two pieces at once - the game is over.

Each player at the beginning of the game has 32 pieces: two Phoenixes, two Flails, 12 pawns, 4 Lizards, 4 Scorpions, 4 Archers and 4 Fleur-de-lis.

The initial setup of Flaming Phoenix Chess is shown below:

The movement of all the pieces, with the exception of the Phoenix, were discussed in the previous two articles - in part I and part II.

The pawn is no different from a standard chess pawn. It moves and captures fully comply with FIDE rules, including the en passant rule.
Having reached the last row, the pawn promotes into any piece except itself and Phoenix.

Now let's talk about the Phoenix and see what this unusual fairy chess piece is like.

Phoenix (P)

Phoenix is ​​the main piece in the game, representing a kind of analogue of a chess king.
 It can be declared in check.
 It can check the opponent's Phoenix.
Phoenix cannot move to a square that is under attack by opponent pieces.

Two players' Phoenixes cannot "look" at each other (be in each other's path when there are no pieces between them); moves that create such a situation are prohibited. A similar rule is used in Chinese Chess (Xiangqi) for Generals (kings).

However, despite this prohibition, the player's Phoenix can threaten the opponent's Phoenix, while remaining out of the latter's line of sight.

How this is possible we will understand by getting acquainted with how this fairy chess piece moves and captures:

- Moves any number of squares vertically as a Rook, and it may capture an enemy piece on its path

- Moves forward any number of squares diagonally as a Bishop. If during such a move the opponent's piece is not captured, the Phoenix MUST continue moving BACKWARD as a Rook.

Phoenix is ​​somewhat reminiscent of the fairy chess piece Flail, but with much greater destructive power. So, standing on square f6, Phoenix can end up on any of the 114 squares of an empty 12x12 board. All its possible moves are shown by arrows in the figure below:

Now, knowing all possible movements of the Phoenix on the board, it is not difficult to simulate a situation in which the player’s Phoenix announces check to the enemy’s Phoenix, while remaining visually inaccessible to the latter:

The black Phoenix does not see the white Phoenix on g8 - the white pawn is in the way, while the white Phoenix attacks the black one, striking him in the back:

Examples of winning

The opponent cannot make a move according to the rules

White to move and mate in one

1. l11-l12=S#

The pawn, having reached the last rank, promotes into a Scorpion, attacking the black Phoenix on b11, which obliges Black to remove this Phoenix from the board and place it on any other free and safe square. However, Black does not have a free and safe square to reborn his Phoenix - all free squares of the board are under attack by white pieces. Checkmate. Black lost.

All enemy pieces (except two Phoenixes) are eliminated

White to move and mate in one

White cannot capture the last black piece on k8 with any of his Phoenixes, since the black Lizard is protected by the black Phoenix on k7. However, there are no restrictions for the white Lizard:

1. Lj3xk8#

All black pieces are eliminated - two black Phoenixes have lost their entire army - checkmate.

Simultaneous check

White to move and mate in one

1. Ab4-e7#

From the square e7, the white Archer simultaneously gives check to the black Phoenix on a11 and k7. Black cannot reborn two Phoenixes at once in one move - after the self-immolation of one Phoenix, the player's second Phoenix should not be under attack - Black loses.

The following interpretation of simultaneous check is interesting:

White to move and mate in one

1. Ab4-i11#

We still have the same simultaneous check, although only one of the Phoenixes is visually attacked. Black is in check and must remove his Phoenix from the g11 square. Dying in fire of Phoenix g11 leads to the fact that Phoenix a11 now comes under attack. The reborn of two Phoenixes in one move is prohibited - Black lost.

From all these examples, the role of all pieces becomes clear - their task is to make it as difficult as possible for the opponent’s Phoenix to reborn on the chessboard.

Comparative value of pieces

The approximate value of each fairy chess piece, in my opinion, will look like this:

Pawn - 1
Lizard - 3
Fleur-de-lis - 5
Archer -7
Scorpion - 8
Flail - 10
Phoenix - ---

Phoenix could be assigned a final value that is obviously greater than the sum of all the material on the board, but it would be more correct not to do this, since Phoenixes are always present on the board, so their material value is mutually subtracted and does not affect the overall balance of power in any way.

The given value of the pieces is only a basic guideline, since depending on the situation on the board, these values ​​can change dramatically.

Of course, this fairy chess variant is strikingly different from many chess variants, not only in its concept of the game, but also in the peculiarity of the movement of fairy chess pieces specially developed by me for Flaming Phoenix Chess.

Achieving goals and objectives in the game, and the complications that arise in its process, make the game’s heuristics so unobvious that its combinatorial complexity can confuse any chess engine.

This chess variant was not created to challenge artificial intelligence or the human mind, but to show the beauty of the reborn Phoenix, which, according to C. G. Jung, is the “liberated soul” - a symbol of human rebirth.