Chess in a Toroidal Board

This variant begins with the Cylindrical 8 x 14 Variant . Then, the a and h columns are glued together.

	 Black
 a b c d e f g h
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
14| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | 0
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
13| | | | | | | | |-1 The 15th line is identical
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ to the 1st, in other words,
12| | | | | | | | |-2 the 9th line is the -5th.
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
11| | | | | | | | |-3 White's pawns in the 2nd line
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ or Black's pawns in the 9th
10| | | | | | | | |-4 (or -5th) move forward.
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
 9| p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |-5 White's pawns in the 0th
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ (14th) or Black's pawns in
 8| r | n | b | q | k | b | n | r | 8 the 7th line move backwards.
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
 7| p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | 7 The a and h columns are
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ adjacent.
 6| | | | | | | | | 6
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
 5| | | | | | | | | 5
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 
 4| | | | | | | | | 4
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 
 3| | | | | | | | | 3
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 
 2| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | 2
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 
 1| R | N | B | Q | K | B | N | R | 1
 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
 a b c d e f g h
	 White

satellite=main files=8 ranks=14 graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/utrechtPNG/ promoZone=1 maxPromote=1 promoChoice= symmetry=mirror squareSize=50 graphicsType=png theme=OS whitePrefix=W blackPrefix=B borders=0 firstRank=1 useMarkers=1 holdingsType=0 Pawn::foomWifmnDfooceF::a5-h5 Pawn::boomWibmnDbooceF::a3-h3 Knight:N:ooN::b4,g4 Bishop::ooB::c4,f4 Rook::ooR::a4,h4 Queen::ooQ::d4 King::ooKisO2::e4

All other rules (castling, en-passant, promotion, etc) apply - but notice that the board has no center, so castling doesn't give any extra protection to the King.

A sample game could be:

1- e4 e11
2- c4 [attacking f7 with the Bishop and the Queen!]

Notice that a Bishop, in an empty board, controls half of the squares! Example: a Bishop initially at f1, moving along the f1-a6 diagonal, would keep going along h7-a14 (=a0), then along h1-a8, and so on.

This variant can lead to subvariants, or similar games:

Cylindrical Chess, the base subvariant, where the a and h columns are separated.
Klein Chess, if the glueing between the 11th/12th lines (or -3rd/-2nd) was done after a switching, so that a11 would glue to h12, etc.

Written by Alberto Monteiro, (email removed contact us for address) troin.com.br.

WWW page created: October 6, 1997.