Chess Variants/Alice Chess

floatright rd nd bd qd kd bd nd rd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd pl pl pl pl pl pl pl pl rl nl bl ql kl bl nl rl Starting position of Alice chess Introduction Alice chess is a variant where pieces teleport between two boards. History Alice chess was created by prolific chess variant creator V. R. Parton in 1953. The variant is inspired by the Lewis Carroll book Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and is named after the series' titular protagonist. The book involves Alice stepping through a looking-glass and entering a fantastical world, which was the inspiration for the variant's main mechanic. The variant was one of the top 20 played variants in the chess variant correspondence organisation Knights of the Square Table (NOST), and in his Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, David Pritchard recommends it as one of the best chess variants in existence. Rules floatright rd nd bd qd kd nd rd pd pd pd pd pd pd pd nl pl pl pl pl pl pl pl pl rl nl bl ql kl bl rl pd bd Position after 1.Nf3 e6 2.Ne5 Bc5 As already stated Alice chess is played with two boards, designated with the letters A and B, laid next to each other at game start. All of the pieces begin the game on board A. On each turn, a player may choose to move a piece on either board A or B. The piece all retain their typical moves, but once a piece completes its move, it goes "through the looking-glass" and is transferred to the corresponding square on the opposite board. So for example, if a white knight moved from f1 to g3 on board A, the knight would then be transferred to the g3 square on board B. There are three basic stipulations concerning each move: The move must be legal on the board where it is played. The corresponding square on the opposite board cannot be occupied by another piece, friendly or hostile. The king must not be in check at the end of the move. Captures may only be played on the same board that the piece is moving on, since the transfer happens after the piece's move is complete. When moving on one board a piece is allowed to pass over squares that are occupied by pieces on the other board. For example, in the diagram at left, after White moved Black would be allowed to play 3... Bg1, despite there being a white pawn on f2 on board A, since the move is legal on board B and g1 on square A is unoccupied. The king is not allowed to make a move on one board, if its transfer to the other board would land it in check. It is also not allowed to use the transfer to escape check - it must move out of check before the transfer. Additionally, a player may not make a capture if their piece's transfer would expose their king to check. A player is allowed to escape check by moving a piece on the other board so that its transfer blocks the check. Castling is permitted as in standard chess, with both the king and rook teleporting to the other board. En passant is allowed provided both pawns are on the same board. The looking-glass mechanic may result in a situation where the square the capturing pawn would move to is occupied by another piece. If this piece is friendly, the en passant capture cannot happen. If the piece is hostile, the capturing pawn may capture it but no en passant capture will happen and the enemy pawn will remain on the board. Sub-variants tright 8 rd qd kd rd 7 nd bd bd nd 6 pd pd pd pd 5 4 3 pl pl pl pl 2 nl bl bl nl 1 rl ql kl rl a b c d e f g h Starting position of 4 by 8 Alice chess. 4 by 8 Alice chess is a smaller version of Alice chess proposed by Parton, played on two halves of a standard 8 by 8 board. The left half of the board acts as board A and the right half as board B. In Looking-glass Alice chess, the white pieces start on board A as usual, but the black pieces start on board B. Ms. Alice chess allows a player to make a null move, which simply teleports a piece to the other board without moving it. In O'Donohue chess you are allowed to move a piece to a square occupied on the other board - in whcih case the teleport portion of the move is skipped. As its name suggests, Three-board Alice chess uses three boards instead of two. You are allowed to selected which board your piece teleports to.