In Separate Realms Chess we find
special pieces whose moves are limited to a certain realm of the full
chessboard. They can change realms by capturing.
Switching Realms Chess reverses the theme of separate Realms
Chess: The pieces are forced to make a realm change while moving, but
they can stay in their realm by capturing.
Pawns and King are the same as in FIDE Chess. The Pawns can promote
to any of the special pieces of Switching Realms Chess.
The other pieces in Switching Realms Chess have at least partly
divergent moves, i. e. at least some of the time they capture
differently than move without capturing. Slip movement means that this
piece can move to the 1st, 3rd, 5th or 7th square in the given
directions, provided that the odd squares it passes over are not
occupied by any piece. It cannot be blocked by pieces on the even
squares, it just jumps over them. In Ralph Betza's terminology, it is
a kind of bent
rider.
The Switching Realms Rook (SwRR) moves like a Panda (aka Slip Rook)
and captures like a Rook.
The uppermost Rook is demonstrating the noncapturing moves, the
lowermost the capturing moves. The green circles/'+'s indicate where
the Rook can move without capturing, the red circles/'!'s indicate
where it can capture.
The Switching Realms Gnu (SwRG) starts form the Knights'
positions. It moves like a Knight and captures like a Gnu (aka Wildebeest).
The uppermost Bishop is demonstrating the noncapturing moves, the
lowermost the capturing moves. The green circles/'+'s indicate where
the Bishop can move without capturing, the red circles/'!'s
indicate where it can capture.
The Switching Realms Chancellor (SwRC) moves like a Genscher
(combining the moves of Knight and Panda) and captures like a
Chancellor (combining the moves of Knight and Rook).
The black circles/'*'s indicate where the Chancellor can both move and
capture, the red circles/'!'s indicate where it can only capture.
Aim of the Game
Checkmate the opponents' king. The usual FIDE Chess rules apply.
Notes
The Switching Realms Rook and Bishop use a different path when moving
back to the square they came from. This path can be blocked by another
piece, beware!
The Switching Realms pieces are slightly more powerful than their
Separate Realms counterparts. This is partly compensated by the fact,
that their initial mobility is decreased.
This army was not designed for Chess with Different Armies, but
by a ballpark estimate of its strength it may apply.
The Panda (Slip Rook), Slip Bishop, and Slip Queen are mentioned in
G. P. Jelliss's A Guide to Variant
Chess.
References:
An Odd
piece -- Discussion on www.chessvariants.com.
