The Consuls
The Consuls is played on a 8x8 board like orthodox chess with two King pieces instead of a King and Queen like Two Kings Chess, but with Pawn promotion rules from Platonic Chess (description below).
Setup
Pieces
Pieces in The Consuls move as they do in Orthodox Chess, except for Pawn promotion, which is described below.Rules
Promotion
A Pawn can capture as a King, Bishop, Knight, or Rook in addition to its original moves upon reaching the enemy side:
- 5th rank - moves and captures as a regular Pawn, can also capture as a King (non-royal)
- 6th rank - moves and captures as a regular Pawn, can also capture as a Bishop
- 7th rank - moves and captures as a regular Pawn, can also capture as a Knight
- 8th rank - moves and captures as a regular Pawn, can also capture as a Rook
A promoted Pawn in the 5th rank, though it can capture like a King, is non-royal and can be captured like any other piece.
When a promoted Pawn moves away from the enemy side by capturing as a King, Bishop, or Rook backward, it reverts to a regular Pawn.
Castling
Either King can castle with the Rook on its side. The final positions of the King and Rook are the same as for Kingside castling in orthodox chess.
Checkmate
The game is won when either King is checkmated.
Fork Checkmate
When the Kings are forked by an attacking piece that cannot be captured in the next move, the game is won since the two Kings cannot be moved away from check at the same time.
A fork checkmate can only be prevented by capturing the attacking piece.
Skewer Checkmate
When the Kings are skewered by an attacking piece that cannot be captured in the next move and there is no way to block the skewer attack, the game is also won since both Kings cannot be moved away from check simulateously.
A skewer checkmate can be prevented by either blocking the attacking Bishop or Rook with an intervening piece, or by capturing the attacking piece.
Notes
The ancient Roman Republic had two equally powerful heads of state called Consuls, which is the insipration for the name of this chess variant.
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By Albert Lee.
Last revised by Albert Lee.
Web page created: 2021-06-29. Web page last updated: 2022-11-24