Short Sliders
*** STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION ***
That's a lot of pieces for a bunch that don't move very far.
I was so used to the traditional Pawn promotion in chess that I had a hard time figuring out how some pieces (especially in Shogi and other games) could promote more than once. I managed to wrap my brain around it, though, and I immediately thought of this.
Short Sliders features pieces that are just exactly that: they're limited to sliding only a certain number of spaces. They may start with just one or two, but they graduate to six, and eventually the unlimited slides that we're used to seeing.
Setup
Each player gets four rows of twelve pieces each. To start out with the traditional 50% of squares empty, there are sixteen rows, but twelve columns.
The back row (Royal Row) is: Short Rook, Knight, Short Bishop, Magus, Guard, Lady-in-Waiting, King, Guard, Wizard, Short Bishop, Knight, Short Rook (Black is mirrored)
Second row: Dolphin, Walrus, Kirin, Kangaroo, Phoenix, Templar, Templar, Phoenix, Kangaroo, Kirin, Walrus, Dolphin
Third row: Marquis, Tiger, Priest, Elephant, Archer, Satrap, Satrap, Archer, Elephant, Priest, Tiger, Marquis
Fourth row (Pawn Row): Four Pawns, Four Berolina Pawns, Four Pawns
Pieces
The pieces are as described below.
Starting Lineup
Archer: Moves three spaces diagonally, or rifle-captures at (1,2).
Berolina Pawn: Moves forward one space diagonally, or captures one space directly forward. As an opening move, may move forward two spaces diagonally. Promotes to a captured starter under the exact same rules as a regular Pawn.
Dolphin: Moves up to three spaces orthogonally; may leap to the second or third space, but only to capture.
Elephant: Moves up to six spaces diagonally, or one space orthogonally. Promotes to Little Buffalo.
Guard: Moves one space in any direction. Promotes to Bodyguard.
Kangaroo: Leaps two spaces diagonally, or (1,2).
King: Royal piece moving one space in any direction.
Kirin: Moves one space diagonally, or leaps two spaces orthogonally.
Knight: As in standard Chess, leaps (1,2). Promotes to Gnu.
Lady in Waiting: Moves up to six spaces either diagonally or orthogonally. Promotes to Queen.
Magus: Moves one square orthogonally, or leaps (2,3). Promotes to Thaumaturge if the Wizard has been captured.
Marquis: Moves one space orthogonally, or leaps (1,2). Promotes to Minister.
Pawn: Moves forward one space directly, or captures one space forward diagonally. As an opening momve, may move directly forward two spaces. Promotes to a captured starter.
Phoenix: Moves one space orthogonally, or leaps two spaces diagonally.
Priest: Moves one space diagonally, or leaps (1,2). Promotes to High Priest.
Satrap: Moves one space diagonally normally, one space orthogonally without capturing, or two spaces orthogonally only to capture.
Short Bishop: Moves up to six spaces diagonally. Promotes to Bishop.
Short Rook: Moves up to six spaces orthogonally. Promotes to Rook.
Tiger: Moves up to six spaces orthogonally, or one space diagonally. Promotes to Unicorn.
Walrus: Moves up to three spaces diagonally; may leap to the second or third space, but only to capture.
Wizard: Moves one square diagonally, or leaps (1,3). Promotes to Thaumaturge if the Magus has been captured.
First Promotions
Bishop: As in standard Chess, moves diagonally until an obstacle is reached. Promotes to Archbishop.
Bodyguard: Moves one or two spaces diagonally or orthogonally. Also, any sliding piece that enters any adjacent space immediately stops, and can only move one space as long as it's next to the Bodyguard. (This does not affect leaping moves.)
Gnu: Leaps (1,2) or (1,3). Promotes to Buffalo.
High Priest: Moves one space or leaps two spaces diagonally, or leaps (1,2). Promotes to Abbot.
Little Buffalo: Moves up to six spaces diagonally, one orthogonally, or leaps (1,2).
Minister: Moves one space or leaps two spaces diagonally, or leaps (1,2).
Queen: As in standard Chess, moves any number of spaces diagonally or orthogonally. Promotes to Empress.
Thaumaturge: Moves to any adjacent space, or leaps (1,3) or (2,3).
Rook: As in standard Chess, moves any number of spaces orthgonally. Promotes to Chancellor.
Unicorn: Moves up to six spaces orthogonally, one diagonally, or leaps (1,2).
Second Promotions
Abbot: The Abbot moves up to six spaces diagonally, or leaps (1,2).
Archbishop: Moves any distance diagonally, or leaps (1,2).
Buffalo: Leaps (1,2), (1,3), or (2,3).
Castellan: The Castellan moves up to six spaces orthogonally, or leaps (1,2).
Chancellor: Moves any distance orthogonally, or leaps (1,2).
Empress: Moves any distance diagonally or orthogonally, or leaps (1,2).
Rules
Most rules are normal, except as otherwise stated. Victory comes through checkmate or bare king; stalemate is a draw.
Castling
Castling is pretty much normal, between the King and one of the Short Rooks. The King moves to the space where a Guard started, and the Short Rook moves to the space just inside the King (where the Wizard or Magus started).
Promotion
Pawns (including Berolina Pawns) may promote upon reaching the opponent's Pawn Row to the starting version of any piece that the opponent has captured. The promotion is optional at that point. A Pawn that holds out and reaches the opponent's Royal Row may promote to a first-promotion piece, if the piece was captured that way.
Other pieces that promote only promote to specific pieces. First promotion occurs when a piece captures an opponent piece (other than a Pawn), or upon reaching the opponent's Pawn Row. Second promotion, if any, only occurs upon capture of another promoted piece.
The Magus and Wizard are a special case: either can promote to Thaumaturge, but only if the other has been captured.
Notes
The pieces listed here as moving six spaces are extended to fit the larger size of the board; on a standard 8x8 board, their moves are (or would be) four spaces. Similarly, the Archer would only move two spaces diagonally on an 8x8 board.
For anyone following along: graphics will be added last.
This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.
By Bob Greenwade.
Last revised by Bob Greenwade.
Web page created: 2023-08-08. Web page last updated: 2023-10-22