Rules for Bulldog Chess with Witch

I'm posting the rules here, so that anyone can link to this.

Note: this is one type of bulldog game. It is often played in tournaments and in challenges for the bulldog crown.

Game rules:
Board: 10 x 8 (see image below).

The pieces:
Guard (G) - Moves and captures like a king.

Witch (W) - The witch is transparent to friendly pieces, and she also makes all adjacent pieces (friend and foe) transparent to friendly pieces (but pieces are not transparent for the witch). The witch does not capture other pieces, but she can be captured. Although pieces are not transparent to the witch, she is very agile; she combines the movement of queen, knight, and can jump orthogonally and diagonally two squares. Transparency of a piece means that other pieces can move, attack, and capture right through the piece.

Board Setup:

Note the position of Black's king and queen are switched compared to classical chess. This is so the guard and witch are equal distance to each player's king and queen.

Castling:
The rules of castling are similar as in classical chess, however, with the board 10 squares wide, the king travels three squares rather than two. The rook finishes adjacent to the king. All squares between the king and the involved rook must be unoccupied, with the exception of the witch and pieces made transparent by the witch.

Misc: Pawns play the same as in classical chess. Pawns can promote to queen, rook, bishop, knight in addition to guard and witch. Promotions are unlimited (not restricted to pieces that have been captured).

Other rules of this game are identical with rules of classical chess.

What about these rules?

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/correspondence-chess-rules-for-variant-chess-proposal?page=2

I take those rules to be general - it's not specific for bulldog with witch. But I'm glad you mentioned it, because it's what most of us use.

Who can be arbiter if two players have a dispute? It seems to accepted that the person moderating a game is also arbiter, but this hasn't been stated officially anywhere.

I think we should have a list of accepted arbiters, who can be asked to assist where there is a dispute.

That's a good question. Obviously rated games deserve priority over unrated games.

I hope (but it's not confirmed) that all rated games have rules so that resolving a dispute should be easy. If there are any games where there is a problem with the rules, I hope someone will raise those issues first. We can discuss in this club. The federation has ultimate authority on rated games, but they have not committed to monitoring every game.

In the very worst cases (where rules are found to be ambiguous) it's possible a game might need to be withdrawn altogether, so it's not unfair to either player.

If you are aware of any disputes feel free to mention here, or start a new topic in the club.

Here is a diagram to illustrate the witch's movement and powers. (this is only an example to illustrate what is already in the rules):

The witch (white) can move as a queen (orange lines), jump like a knight, or jump orthogonally and diagonally two squares (orange dots). The witch is transparent to friendly pieces and makes all adjacent pieces (friend and foe) transparent to friendly pieces. This means in the diagram the white rook can capture the black queen. If it's Black's move, then the d4 pawn can capture the witch.

Also, this should not need to be said, but pieces made transparent can be captured. For example, the white rook could stop on d4, capturing the pawn.

I have made descriptions for the Witch in Dutch and English:

http://scrybqj.com/scrybqjdocuments/witch_heks_nl.pdf

http://scrybqj.com/scrybqjdocuments/witch_heks_en.pdf

Also, I will be joining an OTB alternative pieces tournament in The Netherlands and I have proposed that the Witch would join. That would give us the first OTB Witch games.

That is so awesome! I think you and me were playing chess with the witch about two years ago(graphics only). Now you might play OTB games with physical pieces. If it happens please post a picture. I would like to see what it looks like.😊

Yes I was on a Superchess tournament but two opponents wanted to try the Witch. Here glass Queens figured as Witches.

Ok, that's pretty cool - physical pieces being used for a chess variant. But so far it seems like bulldog is far from being replicated in physical form. I still haven't seen a 10x8 board, or any piece that looks like a witch (nor a guard or bulldog, etc.).

Maybe someday I'll carve some out of wood.

whoa

I've put a message in a Facebook group called "Wood Turning Basics" and hope to get from that what I can expect. But no response yet.

Do you mean you're asking for someone who can make some pieces? The more you talk about it, the more you make me want to try. Maybe I can convert some old wood "normal" chess pieces into a guard or witch. I already have some incomplete sets, and I need to do something with them.

I prefer to play on a physical board and built myself a Bulldog 10x8 chessboard for OTB with a wooden plate and a checkered car decoration foil. For the Witch and Guard I took two pieces from an Indian game. The witch can't be recognized as such on the outside, but the figures harmonize visually and I often play Bulldogchess with friends OTB. And of course it also helps me a lot as an analysis board, if I play Bulldogchess against someone online in correspondence and can check my calculations in this way.

That's awesome McGoohan. I'm working on making some wood pieces for the witch and guard. I did the white pieces so far. Now doing the black ones.

This is the black witch under construction.

Just thought I'd post this here, since it's a clarification on an unusual move. It's a position where an en-passant capture can make a double capture! It was noticed as a possible move in this game:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/bulldog-chess-with-witch-josephyossi-evert823

Several players including Martin0, Fly-Eagles-Fly, HorusTheThird, and hitthepin all agreed this is a legal move. Based on precedent it is judged as legal.

The capturing pawn makes an en passant capture as if the opponent moved a pawn a single square. But the witch (or another piece) can be on the square too, so the capturing pawn makes a double capture!
...g5
hxg6 e.p.

Vickalan,I request your help for a tournament that I have organized.the link is https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-variants/the-mega-dog-tournament

whats the point of the witch. Itt doesn't really have a function that I can see