Xodul - a chess variant

Hi!

I want to present for you the xodul game, which is a chess variant. This game is inspired on international chess, chinese chess (xiang-qi), and japanese chess (shogi).

In particular, xodul has 10 different pieces from each other: car, knight, bishop, queen, king, wizard, guard, lance, cannon and pawns. In this game, the promotion of pawns is made through a different rule: a pawn can be replaced by a piece captured by one of the players; therefore, the owner of each piece can change.

setup

-- the initial setup of this game is:

©Sílvia M.G. Rodrigues

where the bottom pieces from left to right are: the car, the knight, the bishop, the queen, the king, the wizard, the guard, the lance, and the cannon. The game is played on a board with 8x9 lines & columns.

promotion of pawns

• at any phase of the game, instead of doing a normal move, the player can promote any of its pawns by replacing it with a captured piece (along the game, that can be done the number of times the player wants, while having pawns);

• if a pawn reaches the last line it is converted into a “general”, which can move one square to the front or one square in any diagonal.

rules

>> the rules of xodul follow the rules of international chess, except in the movement of the additional pieces, the promotion of pawns, and that in xodul there is neither castle nor en passant.

objective:

– to checkmate the opponent’s king.

movements of the pieces

	the car moves along lines or columns, the desired number of squares.
	the knight moves in the form of the capital letter “L”, jumping over the pieces with its movement, if the player wants that.
	the bishop moves along diagonal directions, the desired number of squares.
	the queen moves along lines, columns or diagonals, any number of squares.
	the king moves one square in any direction.
	the wizard has two options: i) the special movement – if the king is not in check the wizard can use the teleport, i.e. it can move directly to any empty square of the board; ii) in addition, the wizard has a base action of moving exactly two squares in diagonal without jumping over pieces (that can be used for instance to capture a piece or to defend checks).
	the guard has two options: i) it can move one square up /down /left /right; ii) in addition, it can move various squares along its line /column in the direction of its king up to the maximum of intercepting a coordinate of that king.
	the lance has two types of movement: i) it can move to the front any number of squares (without making jumps over other pieces); ii) in addition, it can move one square in any diagonal.
	the cannon has a normal movement equal to the car's movement; however, when it is going to make a capture it must jump over one, and only one, other piece of any colour.
	the pawn's normal movement is to move one square to the front if that square is empty; in its first move, it has the option of moving two squares to the front; in another hand, its capture movement is to move one square in diagonal to the front.

inspirations

in xodul…

• there are some pieces equal in name and movement to the international chess [the knight, the bishop, the queen and the king];

• there are two pieces equal in name and movement to those of chinese chess /xiang-qi [the car and the cannon; note that the movement of the car is equal to the movement of the rook piece of international chess];

• there are two pieces with repeated names of chinese /xiang-qi chess and japanese chess /shogi, but with original movements [the guard and the lance, respectively];

• there is a totally original piece [the wizard];

• and finally, there are the pawns, whose normal movement is the same as they have in international chess, but whose promotion in this game is made accordingly to original rules.

--> inventor of this chess variant: Sílvia M.G. Rodrigues.

I hope you will like xodul! I can add more stuff about this game if you want... [info about xodul, pictures, 2D and 3D xodul sets, etc.]

In the description of the Guard, when it moves more squares towards the line or rank of the King, you did not mention if it can or cannot jump.

"at any phase of the game, instead of doing a normal move, the player can promote any of its pawns by replacing it with a captured piece"

---> if white captures a black Queen but still has his own Queen - how does this work? You would need an extra white Queen to perform this. In fact you would need an entire duplicate set of all pieces.

Thanks for the comments, evert. I will clarify the two aspects:

The guard cannot jump over other pieces. I didn't mention that because I assumed it as the default.

Regarding the idea of the changing of the colours of pieces, this was really a challenging aspect, for which I had to create a new model: Each piece has a neutral colour, and to each piece has attached a rubber that can be white or black meaning who is the owner of that piece. Therefore when you capture a black queen and your colour is white, you replace a white pawn by a queen that will turn into white. Here follows a picture of a xodul set with this model:

Nice mixture of Shogi, Xiangqi and Chess. Fun to play maybe one or two games. The Guard's move is interesting.

Plus. Good idea. Trying to combine all 3.

Minus. You are not using the genes of the 3.

A wizard movement is not in the gene pool of the 3.

Best to keep the name and the gene.

Car = Rook = Chariot, just call it Chariot, the original name of the gene.

Pawn = same as Western Chess.

Tell us where the genes come from.

Edit 1:

I like the Guard and the Bishop.

The Guard makes sense, like a hand holding a shield. It can be used offensively and defensively.

I like the Guard and Bishop combo, like sword and shield.

Edit 2:

I like the Guard. It is a Chinese Pawn and a defensive Rook.

I like the Lance. It is a Vizier and a forward Rook.

You can make a new gene.

The Ninja.

It moves like the Chinese Chess pawn, but invisibly.

You move it by writing the move on a piece of paper and hiding it from the opponent.

You move it by saying "pass". The position on the board is the same, but the pawn is moved in your mind and on a piece of paper.

However, that is more like cards. In chess, everything is seen on the board, so it goes against the "genetic code" of chess.

There is a genetic flaw in Shogi.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chinese-chess-came-from-india?page=3#comment-87356267

It inherited the Rook and Bishop from Western Chess. But it does not fit the symmetry of having 2 pieces of every kind except King and Vizier.

You duplicated that same genetic flaw in having 1 Rook and 1 Cannon.

Hmm.

Not bad.

In keeping with the genetics of the game.

Remove 2 Pawns where the Bishop can go.

1. That will keep the maniple formation of Chinese Chess.

2. Keep the gene of 32 pieces.

3. I like the radial symmetry. Cannon behind phalanx. Rook and Bishop free on the maniple.

4. The removal of the pawn make the Rook, Bishop, and Queen more offensive. It will have an offensive side and a defensive side. Like sword and shield.

Make the Wizard a defensive Queen. Having all the powers of the Queen but it cannot cross the border. Keeping the gene of the Elephant and the Guard in Chinese Chess.. You call it The Department of Homeland Security.

Perfection.

Edit 1:

Hmm. Offensive versus Defensive Queen. Offensive Queen has twice the power, but Defensive Queen is equal to Offensive Queen on its own turf.

Hmm.

Edit:

In summary.

1. Just remove 2 pawns where the Bishop can go.

2. Make the Wizard the Defensive Queen.

Perfect.

Edit 2:

The Offensive Queen will hold a sword. The Defensive Queen will hold a shield.

Edit 3:

Have the offensive Pawns: a, c, e to have the ability to move sideways, but not capture sideways, to fix its maniple formation.

but the e Pawn can only move sideways on the Offensive side. It can be on the offensive side or in the middle

Once a pawn enters the middle, it can move sideways on the the offensive side.

Edit 4:

You essentially have 3 maniple Pawns and 3 phalanx Pawns, with the Pawn in the middle that can be both.

7 Pawns, like the Seven Samurai. To keep the 32 pieces gene.

Edit 5.

Keep the Castling rule. But King jumps 3 steps.

Castle to your offensive side, you are safer, but they have a more flexible attack.

Castle to your defensive side, you have a more flexible defense, but you don't have as many defenders, and defenders are slower to get into position.

Stay in the middle and you may have the best of both worlds.

Edit 6:

The Bishop must trade places with the Guard. Otherwise, the Bishop has a free Pawn and a free check against the Queen.

Edit 7:

And the Guard is better with a maniple formation. Attach and retreat behind infantry.

Edit 8:

And the Guard can guard the maniple formation.

Those [bleep] social justice warriors will love that.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chess-researcher-historian-needed?page=6#comment-88600525

On the other hand, you can make twice as much money.

Normal set and promotion set.

Each sold separately. Some assembly required.

Edit 1:

Another thing. We don't need to combine 3. We can make chess a tri-athlon.

My idea.

1 game of Western Chess.

1 game of Chinese Chess.

In case of a tie, Backgammon for the tie breaker.

I call it: The Gamesters of Triskelion.

Edit 2:

Chaturanga has 2 great descendants. Western Chess and Chinese Chess.

You can't recombine the genes of the 3. That's in the movie Underworld.