J-Chess

In June of 1999, Daniel Brown wrote to us:

In order to increase the randomness of the playing field I have come up with the following variant which I think is viable.

Convert to a 10x8 board and add two pieces - King and Queen Jesters. These Jesters move two squares diagonal in one direction and one in the 90 degree direction. In other words like a knight but diagonally. This allows for rapid capture of the center squares. I allow it to jump pieces like a knight but it is ranked less than a knight and only higher than a pawn. Add extra pawns to fill in the gaps in front of the Jesters. Give it a try!

Initial Setup

   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | r | n | b | j | q | k | j | b | n | r |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+  Jesters are inserted between
the King and
   | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |  King's Bishop, and between the
Queen and
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+  Queen's Bishop.
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | R | N | B | J | Q | K | J | B | N | R |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Jester's Move Example

   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | r | n | b | j | q | k | j | b | n | r |
   +---+---+---*---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | p | p | *p| p | p | p | p | p | p | p |
   +---+---*---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   | * |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---*---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   | X |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
   | R | N | B | J | Q | K | J | B | N | R |
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

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