Rhombic Chess

Rhombic Chess starting setup. Each side commands a standard set of chess pieces. Cell colors highlight pointwise movement.

Rhombic Chess is a chess variant for two players created by Tony Paletta in 1980.^[1][2] The gameboard has an overall hexagonal shape and comprises 72 rhombi in three alternating colors. Each player commands a full set of standard chess pieces.

The game was first published in Chess Spectrum Newsletter 2 by the inventor. It was included in World Game Review No. 10 edited by Michael Keller.^[3]

Game rules

The diagram shows the starting setup. As in standard chess, White moves first and checkmate wins the game. Piece moves are described using two basic types of movement:

• Edgewise—through the common side of adjoining cells. If an edgewise move is more than one step, it continues in a straight line from the side of a cell through its opposite side, the line being orthogonal to these sides.
• Pointwise—through the sharpest corner of a cell, in a straight line to the next cell. (The paths are highlighted on the board by same-colored cells.)

Piece moves

• A rook moves edgewise only.
• A bishop moves pointwise. It can also move one step edgewise.^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• The queen moves as a rook and bishop.
• The king moves one step edgewise or pointwise. There is no castling in Rhombic Chess.
• A knight moves in the pattern: one step edgewise followed by one step pointwise (or vice versa), away from its starting cell. Like a standard chess knight, it leaps any intervening men.^[2]
• A pawn moves forward one step edgewise, with the option of two steps on its first move. A pawn captures the same as it moves. There is no en passant in Rhombic Chess. A pawn promotes to any piece other than king when reaching rank i (for White) and rank c (for Black).^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Parachess

Parachess starting setup. Each army includes two sorcerers. Cell colors highlight arcwise and wavepath movements.

Circa 2000, Paletta created Parachess^{[lower-alpha 3]} using the same board geometry but introducing additional ways to move:

• An arcwise step—through the sharpest corner of a cell, to a cell not connected to the starting cell edgewise or pointwise.
• A wavepath move—a series of arcwise steps, with each step in the opposite direction of the preceding step.

These ways to move are highlighted on the board by same-colored cells.

Piece moves

• A rook moves edgewise only (as in Rhombic Chess).
• A bishop moves pointwise (as in Rhombic Chess) or along a wavepath.
• The queen moves as a rook and bishop.
• The king moves one step edgewise, pointwise, or arcwise. As in Rhombic Chess, there is no castling.
• The sorcerer moves in the pattern: one step pointwise, followed by one step edgewise or arcwise, or vice versa. It leaps any intervening men.
• A pawn moves forward one step edgewise, pointwise, or arcwise; there is no initial two-step option. A pawn captures forward one step edgewise or pointwise. There is no en passant. A pawn must reach the opponent's furthest rank in order to promote.

References

Notes

1. "A necessary perk otherwise the two bishops would be restricted to four spaces."^[1]
2. "Pawns [...] promote on the array spaces of opponent's pawns; thus they travel the same distance as in orthochess."^[1]
3. From "parallelogram" + "chess". (Paletta)

Citations

1. Pritchard (1994), p. 255
2. Pritchard (2007), p. 214
3. Keller, Michael, ed. (June 1991). "A Panorama of Chess Variants". World Game Review (Michael Keller) (10). ISSN 1041-0546.

Bibliography

• Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
• Pritchard, D. B. (2007). Beasley, John, ed. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.

External links

• Parachess by Tony Paletta, The Chess Variant Pages