Promotion Rules

I'm a little curious about people's thoughts on this subject. 

Sometimes I think it would make more sense if you could promote to a role that is already captured. For example, if you have had a rook taken but still have a queen on the board, you couldn't promote a second queen, it could only be the captured rook.  

Looking at real militaries; you only promote captains, lieutenants and generals when a position for them has opened up. You don't put two captains on a ship for example.

It does open the question of how one would promote if there is no captured pieces and the pawn has advanced to the end of the board. Logically I feel like the pawn would just have to wait there until a move is spent promoting.

Most OTB plays have weird setups for promoted duplicate queens n all - like turned over rooks. That's what got me thinking. 

say less

An interesting idea, but personally I would find it frustrating. If I still had a Queen and 2 rooks on the board, then only being able to promote to a knight or bishop wouldn't be such an advantage. Or, as you say, if no pieces had been taken, then the pawn would simply have to wait, although this seems a very unrealistic scenario - I don't think I've ever promoted a pawn while still having all minor and major pieces on the board.

But the broader point, is that of Chess as a realistic analogy to a battle situation. However this also requires a revision of the stalemate rule, no? In a real military situation, if the King/President/Emperor is surrounded and can't move anywhere without being killed - it's a defeat, not a truce.

Personally, I like the stalemate rule, and the 3 move repetition rule, they provide amazing complexity to the game. But not really analogous to r/l battle situations.

I appreciate your response!

I do have to disagree somewhat with the idea of of promoting knights and bishops wouldn't be much of an advantage as an overall idea. I think that's something that can be considered into strategy - "is it worth pushing that pawn when the best it'll become is a knight?" Bishops particualrly in end-games can be extremely powerful when partnered with a queen or rook.

If you're in the end-game, you're more likely to promote to a stronger piece like a rook or queen anyway cos they'll likely have been taken already. If not, you probably have a very strong position already and a promotion to a bishop will just aid in that.

I would say "no" to a revision of stalemate. They were quite common in wars throughout history, most notable ones during the first world war when a practical stalemate had taken place and both sides had dug themselves into trenches. That stalemate was only broken upon the release of tanks.

An alternative to forcing the pawn to wait is not allowing the pawn to push to the 8th rank until at least one piece is available for promotion.

Yes, fair enough. Maybe we should have a game and try out those proposed changes. And actually, having reconsidered the idea, well actually, it might be a useful tactic, if you have a pawn likely to promote, to then sac a knight or bishop, with the option to replace it through promotion.