Guard Chess – A new variant to increase dynamism in chess openings

Guard Chess – A new variant to increase dynamism in chess openings

By Cristian A. Droppelmann

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Something I always didn’t like about standard chess is the relative rigidity of the openings to the point that they are so standardized that many openings, referred to as “book moves” are even worked out for over 30 moves, such as some lines in the classical ‘Kings Indian Defense’ and the ‘Najdorf Variation’ of the Sicilian Defense (Garry Kasparov, Modern Chess part 1, p. 353). Certainly, “out of the book” moves can happen but are unlikely during the first moves of the opening (as every possibility has already been played and registered). This creates an advantage over the player who studied or memorized more openings. I am not criticizing studying chess, but at least this reduces the creativity and surprise in openings (which we have plenty of during middle and end games).

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On the other hand, we have tens if not hundreds of chess variants that rely on non-standard boards (some absurdly huge), a ridiculous number of pieces, or the presence of insanely powerful fairy chess pieces. These variants many times do not feel like chess anymore.

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The idea of this variant is to rescue a traditional chess piece that has been present in the game since its beginnings but is not part of the standard chess: The Guard. This piece is not extremely powerful (it's equivalent maybe to a knight) but could add dynamism to chess openings, and also to the whole game, maintaining at the same time the feeling that you are playing standard chess.

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The Guard (also known as “Mann”) moves and captures the same as the King - but he is not a royal piece, and has no royal powers. Although the King and Guard move the same, victory depends upon the fate of the King - and the Guard can be captured with no penalty other than the loss of the guard himself. You can read a bit more about this piece and how it has been used in other chess variants in this article: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess960-chess-variants/a-critical-analysis-of-the-guard-in-chess

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Description of the Guard Chess variant:

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This variant is quite simple. It consists in replacing two Pawns with two Guards and placing them in any position symmetrically at the beginning of the game (e.g., a2 and h2; b2 and g2; c2 and f2; d2 and e2 for the whites, and a7 and h7; b7 and g7; c7 and f7; d7 and e7 for the blacks). This means that the Guard positions can have 4 different possibilities for each player at the beginning of the game. The rule is that just before starting the game, the white players select the placing of their Guards and then, the black players place theirs in any allowed position in response to the white strategy. With this, two things happen: first, no one knows how the starting positions will be until the beginning of the game, and second, the possibility of the black responding to the white strategy (i.e., where white players place their Guards) could compensate for the slight disadvantage that the black players have because they don’t move first in the game. An example of a starting setup is observed in Figure 1 with the white Guards in c2 and f2 and the black Guards in b7 and g7.

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An additional rule is that the same as the Pawns, the Guard can advance two spaces forward (orthogonal) the first time it is moved if desired. The Guard can move one space or capture in a diagonal as the first move. Figure 2 shows all possible moves (in brown dots) of the Guard in c2 the first time the piece is in play. Figure 3 shows the Guard in c2 moved to c4. All possible moves of the piece after that are marked in brown dots.

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An optional rule if the players desire a more aggressive opening, is that the first move of two spaces for the Guard is not only orthogonal and can also be in diagonal. Figure 4 shows all possible moves (in brown dots) of the Guard in c2 the first time the piece is in play with this optional rule. Figure 5 shows the Guard in c2 moved to e4. All possible moves of the piece after that are marked in brown dots.

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I hope you enjoy this variant creating a new feeling for the “standard” chess with new surprises, complexities, and exciting games for everyone.

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Figure 4:

Figure 5: