Chaos's Chess

Chaos’s Chess

Welcoming the 3^rd corrupting ‘player’

General Rules –

• Set up: Regular FIDE Chess (may also be integrated into other chess variants; scroll down for “Chess Variants” section.)
• After every 5* ‘Real’ player turns (Black, White, Black, White, Black; or White, Black, White, Black, White), a  ghost-like 3^rdplayer, Brown (or Nature), may optionally choose to take an 'In-Between' turn to perform one of the following -
  1. Introduce a Brown/Nature’s piece onto a random square on the board
  2. Move an existing Brown/Nature’s piece currently on the board. 
• Nature's pieces consist of: Nature's Queen, Nature's Rook, Nature's Knight and Nature's Bishop. (Nature's pawn and Nature's King may also be utitlized; they are described in "Advanced Rules".) 
• Nature’s piece may not be introduced onto a square that threatens a ‘Real’ player’s non-pawn piece. Though, they are free to be introduced onto a square threatened by a ‘Real’ player’s piece; pawn or otherwise.
• Nature’s pieces can capture as well as be captured, just like a regular chess piece.
• Nature’s Capture - When a Brown piece captures, the captured ‘Real’ piece doesn’t go to Nature. Rather, it’s returned to its ‘Real’ owner; who then has the option to reintroduce the piece back onto the board.
• Reintroduced pieces are placed on one of the piece’s starting positions during any of the ‘Real’ player’s turn. Reintroduction counts as 1 move. 
• Nature can never perform Nature's Capture a 'Real' piece that would expose a 'Real' player to check.
• Check and Checkmate - 
  1. If Brown makes a move that would check either or both Kings, the threatened King in question is not in Nature’s check by that threatening Brown piece until 3 ‘Real’ turns from since the last ‘In-Between’ turn has passed.
  2. Likewise, Check restrictions that prevent Castling do not apply until 3 ‘Real’ turns from since the last ‘in-between’ has passed; until then, Castling may freely be performed.
  3. When one or both ‘Real’ players are Nature-Checkmated by Brown, the game ends in a Stalemate. (Both armies failed to checkmate the other, and therefore, neither of them can claim victory; even if Brown Nature-Checkmates only one of them.)
  4. Brown’s King cannot be checkmated. (Consult “Advanced rules”.)

Notes of Clarification –

• Brown is not required to take an ‘In-Between’ turn after every 5 regular turns; it is merely available to him/her then. If an ‘In-Between’ turn is not taken during that turn, it is available any other turns following that. Once an ‘In-Between’ turn is taken, Brown must wait another 5 ‘Real’ turns to have another in-between turn available to him/her.
• If the starting position of the reintroduced piece is occupied by a Brown or an enemy ‘Real’ piece, placing the reintroduced piece onto that starting square captures that Brown or enemy ‘Real’ piece.

Closing Word –

 Your role as the Black or White ‘Real’ player is the same as in FIDE chess: to capture enemy pieces and checkmate the enemy King. In Chaos’s Chess, you must also overcome any obstacles posed by the infamous Nature, who may assist or obstruct you at random; whichever he/she chooses is completely at his/her disposal!

There are further rules to gameplay (mentioned in “Advanced Rules”) that are optional. On the other hand, you should now know the basic rules to get a game started. The rest of the instructions in this article are also important, but you have the game’s bare foundation.

Rules on Chaos’s Chess courtesy – 

To assist making Chao’s Chess run more smoothly, the following are required, as similar to announcing “check”.

• Signaling – To make clear that an in-between turn will take place, it might be courteous for Brown to make a visual/audio/other sensual signal to interrupt the current “real” player’s turn and declare “in-between”. Furthermore, players might like to make it so that if a “real” player already touches his or her piece, Brown loses out on an in-between turn that turn and must wait until the next ‘real’ player’s pre-move moment. Signaling can be anything! Be as creative as desired. Some ideas for signaling include:
  • placing the hand above the chessboard
  • clapping hands
  • snapping fingers
  • tapping table
  • stomping a foot (if it could be done politely!!)
  • a verbal declaration, such as “Nature’s pause!” or “Hold your move!
    • (Note - Because of the nature of signaling, Blitz may not be the best choice for Chaos’s Chess; “Real” players in this mode of chess might move pieces too fast to securely signal for an in-between turn; even if the time doesn’t run during.) 

• Touch-Move - Many amateur players like to incorporate the “touch-move” rule in FIDE Chess, where if a player touches a piece, the piece being contacted must be moved. If this rule of chess courtesy is utilized in a game, players might also want to make it so that Brown/Nature loses out on an In-Between turn when a ‘real’ player already touched a piece.
• Timed game – The game clock should ideally be paused after signaling; time should only resume after an in-between turn is over. If game type is increment per move, the full time increment should ideally be granted both players. Regardless of how much time is incremented after however many moves, it would be nice if, after an In-Between turn, Brown increments the interrupted players time by 1 full incriment, in order to compensate for the abrupt interruption.
  • (I don’t know at the time of writing this guide if Chess clocks have features that can cater to pausing and random incremetation. Perhaps it can be simulated with an I-Phone/Android timewatch. If not, and no such clock can assist with this, then perhaps a timed game of Chaos’s Chess is not a reality at this time. )
• Time-Limit for In-Between Turns – Players might want to make it so that Brown is allowed only a number of seconds to decide on an In-Between move before the In-Between turn is nulled.  Nature’s time-limit should be consented upon by all players before game-start.

Advanced Rules – 

Any of the following advanced rules should always be understood and consented upon by both players before a game begins. Do not utilize in a game until they are!

• Brown/Nature’s King –
  1. Moves like a regular King does
  2. Cannot be check or checkmated
  3. Can be captured
  4. Nature’s Castling – If Nature’s King and Nature’s Rook are both introduced onto 1 of the following combinations of two squares, Nature’s King may move two squares towards his Castling Nature’s Rook; and Nature’s Rook will be placed on Nature’s King’s adjacent square which position is opposite from the direction of Nature Rook’s starting position. 

     Nature's King introduced on a4 or a5	Nature's Rook introduced on a1 or a8
     Nature's King introduced on d1 or e1	Nature's Rook introduced on a1 or h1
     Nature's King introduced on h4 or h5	Nature's Rook introduced on h1 or h8
     Nature's King introduced on d8 or e8	Nature's Rook introduced on a8 or h8

     • (Clarification – As in regular Castling, neither Nature’s piece must have moved prior to performing Nature’s Castling, and all squares in between the pair of Nature’s piece must be unoccupied during that ‘in-between’ turn.)

• Brown/Nature’s pawn –
  1. Moving power is different than capture power (similarly to a ‘Real’ pawn) –
     1. Moves 1 square in any orthogonal direction
     2. Captures 1 square in any diagonal direction
  2. If ever landing on a border square (a-file, h-file, 1^st rank or 8^th rank), Nature’s pawn is promoted immediately to a non-pawn Nature’s piece (including Nature’s King!).   
     • (note – If Nature’s pawn is introduced onto the a-file, h-file, 1^st rank or 8^th rank, it immediately becomes another Nature’s piece anyways; with that, Nature’s pawn never gets introduced onto a border square!)
  3. Nature’s En Passant - If Nature’s pawn is on the 4^th rank, 5^th rank, d-file or e-file, and is in orthogonal contact with an adjacent ‘Real’ pawn that moved forward two squares during a ‘Real’ turn that has occurred after the previous ‘In-Between’ turn, and that ‘Real’ pawn has not made another move before the current ‘In-Between’ turn, that Nature’s pawn may perform Nature’s capture on that adjacent ‘real’ pawn; then, it (Nature’s pawn) must move to 1 of the two perpendicular orthogonally-adjacent squares. (
     • Note – If a perpendicular orthogonally-adjacent square is occupied by another ‘real’ piece, that ‘real’ piece is also Nature-Captured. If both perpendicular squares are occupied by Brown pieces, Nature’s En Passant cannot occur.)
  4. Nature’s pawn’s two-square first move – If Nature’s pawn is introduced onto a square adjacent to a border square, and it hasn’t moved in a prior ‘In-Between’ turn, it has the option to move two squares orthogonally, rather than just1.
     • (Clarification - All subsequent moves by that same Nature's pawn thereafter are reverted back to 1 orthogonal square.)

Chess Notation – 

Standard: One writes an infinity sign before the n-move of the brown player followed by five periods.

            ∞1…..

            ∞2…..

            ∞3…..

            Etc.

Nth move follows its own place of when Brown makes that move, regardless of what number of moves the “real” players have made. (E. g. Even if Brown’s 3^rd move is made after Black and White’s 13ttth move, Brown will still notate his/her move as ∞3….. while White and Black respectively notated 13. And 13… .)

To indicate a Nature’s piece being introduced onto the board, one indicates the square and then the letter representing the piece, joined by an equal sign.

            ∞3…..a4=Q

            ∞8…..d6=p

            ∞2…..f7=B

            Etc.

A move made by a Nature’s piece would simply follow regular notation:

            ∞6…..Bb4

            ∞1…..Nf8

            ∞8…..Rc5

            ∞3…..b5a5=K****

****(In order to avoid confusion as to whether a notation means a pawn is promoted to King or a King is introduced on that square, pawn promoting to King is always required to include its previous square; such as shown in the 4^th example above: ∞3…..b5a5=K)

Chess variants – 

There are some chess games outside of FIDE Chess that Chaos’s Chess can be incorporated into, in order to create a Compound Variant. Some chess variants contain rules that are quite abstract to regular FIDE chess and may cause even further confusion if Chaos’s is also involved. Players should understand the nature (poor pun intended) of the chess variant being played in order to decide how to play Chaos’s in that variant. Some Variants involve components that are so foreign and different from FIDE chess that Chaos’s Chess is simply incompatible with it.

Here are some rules that I have loosely established for the following variants that can and do work well with Chaos’s:

• Chaos’s Chess in Anti-King Chess – 
  1. Unlike FIDE Chaos’s Chess, Nature’s Anti-King starts the game on the board rather than being introduced onto it during an in-between turn. As an Anti-King is only safe if it is in on a square that is checked by an enemy piece (which is supposed to be the opposite of a King!!), Nature’s Anti-King needs to start on a square that is being attacked, contrary to original Chaos’s Chess rules applied to any other piece. Also, an Anti-King may capture one’s own allied pieces but not enemy pieces. As such, Nature’s Anti-King may capture a companion Nature’s piece on the board but not a Black or White piece(!). ‘Anti-check’ upon an Anti-King occurs when no pieces are threatening it. Therefore, if Nature’s Anti-King is not being threatened by a ‘Real’ piece during an ‘In-Between’ turn, Nature’s Anti-King is in Nature’s “Anti-check”: Nature must resolve this by coming onto a square that is being controlled by a ‘Real’ player.
  2. If Nature’s “Anti-check against Nature’s Anti-King cannot be resolved during an in-between turn, Brown is eliminated from the game through Nature’s ‘Anti-Checkmate’. The game, however, moves forward. At this point, all Nature’s pieces will remain stationary and immobile on the board for the remainder of the game, open to capture by both armies; as well as serving involuntarily as roadblocks that may hurt or benefit either ‘Real’ player.
  3. Anti-King Chess v.1 uses Berolina pawns, rather than regular FIDE pawns. Nature’s Berolina pawns follow the rules of Nature’s pawns, with one exception: the moving and capturing powers are reversed:
     • Moves 1 square in any diagonal direction
     • Captures 1 square in any orthogonal direction

• Chaos’s Chess in Magician’s Deathmatch – 
  1. In order for Nature’s Magician to come onto the board, Nature’s Bishop must already be on the board for switch-out. In order for Nature’s Magician to be promoted to Nature’s High-Priestess or Nature’s Telepath, nature’s pawn must already be on the board, and it must move onto the 6^th rank, 3^rd rank, c-file or f-file.
     • • (Clarification – Nature’s pawn being introduced onto the 6^th rank, 3^rd rank, c-file or f-file will not promote Nature’s Magician. In order for Nature’s Magician-Promotion to occur, a Nature’s pawn must move onto those ranks or files.)
  2. Nature’s Magician, Nature’s High-Priestess and Nature’s Telepath may also come into play via Nature’s pawn-Promotion.

• Chaos’s Deserted Empire –
  1. If a Gamehost is utilized for a match, perhaps it would be nice to deploy another personnel to play Brown/Nature. This is optional.
  2. Because unclaimed Sumrings and wild Abstruse Desert (AD) pieces aren’t owned and controlled by ‘Real’ players but, rather, by the Gamehost, Brown/Nature too has control over them, in addition to his/her own Nature’s pieces: during an ‘In-Between’ turn, Brown/Nature may
     • introduce Sumrings onto squares that aren’t in the ‘Line-of-Sight’ of ‘Real’ pieces
     • introduce wild AD pieces onto a Regional-Configuration square that isn’t in the ‘Line-of-Sight’ of Sumring-Bearers and isn’t occupied by a Sumring or Sumring-Bearer.
     • move wild AD pieces across the board
       • (Clarification – Unlike the Gamehost during Gamehost Intervention, who is privileged to place as many Sumrings and place/move multiple wild AD pieces, Brown is allowed to move/place just 1 wild piece or place just 1 Sumring during an ‘In-Between’ turn, and no other Nature’s piece may move afterwards.)

There are many more variants which can potentially incorporate Chaos’s Chess than can be mentioned here. As a general rule of thumb: for those variants on a flat 2D board that keep all the game rules and objectives of FIDE chess but merely have additional or different pieces, Chaos’s Chess can almost always be incorporated into it! (Examples include Chaos’s Omega Chess, Chaos’s Bulldog with Witch and Guard, and Chaos’s 3-Player Hexagonal)

What’s more than variants, Chaos’s can always­ be incorporated into non-FIDE standard Chess games:

• Chaos’s Xiangqi
• Chaos’s Shatranj
• Chaos’s Makruk
• Chaos’s Shogi
• Chaos’s Jianggi
• Chaos’s Chaturanga