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Light & Shadow

One Ring to bring them all
and in the Darkness bind them!

This variant presents a scenario for the eternal war between the mythical army of Light and the one of Shadows. Each land they touch and possess (well, square in this case), they influence and transform it for better or for worse. In this battlefield, things are a lot more balanced that they use to be in the fantastic worlds of Dungeons and Dragons.

Light & Shadow

  1. The FIDE rules apply, except in the following:
  2. White is the army of Light, and Black is the army of Shadows.
  3. Each square is attached with a Luminosity Value (LV). Their initial values are equal to zero.
  4. When a Light (Shadow) piece moves into a square, that square increases (decreases) its LV by 2 units, and the rookwise adjacent squares by 1 unit.
  5. The maximum absolute LV for every square is 8.
  6. When a Light (Shadow) piece moves into a negative (positive) LV square, its movements are limited.
    1. A limited Pawn cannot capture;
    2. A limited Knight cannot jump, so it behaves like the Xiang-Qi horsemen;
    3. A limited Bishop, Rook and Queen may only move/capture within the range of 8 minus the square's LV. So, one of these pieces in a square with -8 LV for White or 8 LV for Black, cannot move/capture.
    4. Kings are not limited in any way.

note: Since Kings are not limited by dark/light forces, they may be useful to enlighten/darken nearby square areas.
note: To play it, you may use an extra chess board and a set of small numbered pieces of paper to record the square's LV.

variant: Use Berolina Pawns, they are more dynamic on enemy land.
variant: Use Betza's Different Armies. The game's atmosphere is appropriate for it.

Sample Game

1. d4   
r n b q k b n r      . . . . . . . .
p p p p p p p p      . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .      . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .      . . . 1 . . . .
. . . O . . . .      . . 1 2 1 . . .
. . . . . . . .      . . . 1 . . . .
O O O . O O O O      . . . . . . . .
R N B Q K B N R      . . . . . . . .
1...    d5
r n b q k b n r      . . . . . . . .
p p p . p p p p      . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .      . . .-1 . . . .
. . . p . . . .      . .-1-1-1 . . .
. . . O . . . .      . . 1 1 1 . . .
. . . . . . . .      . . . 1 . . . .
O O O . O O O O      . . . . . . . .
R N B Q K B N R      . . . . . . . .
2. c4   c6
3. Nf3  Nf6
r n b q k b . r      . . . . . . . .
p p . . p p p p      . .-1 . .-1 . .
. . p . . n . .      .-1-2-2-1-2-1 .
. . . p . . . .      . .-1-1-1-1 . .
. . O O . . . .      . 1 3 2 1 1 . .
. . . . . N . .      . . 1 1 1 2 1 .
O O . . O O O O      . . . . . 1 . .
R N B Q K B . R      . . . . . . . .
and so on...

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