A super pawn for chess variants, characteristics

[musketeerchess]

Hi all
To finish our work on the development of musketeer chess variant (take a look at www.musketeerchess.com), we also got some ideas concerning replacing part or all the pawns by another piece (a super pawn) which should have other properties that make them stronger than a classic pawn, but with features that respect as much as possible those of a classic pawn.

Which features do you think could be interesting?

[hgm]

I would not mess with Pawns too much, as this could drastically change the character of a Chess game, and this again would deter people from playing it. Pawn structure is very fundamental to the strategic thinking of Chess players, and Philidor claimed Pawns were the soul of the game for a good reason! Harmless improvements in this respect would be:

*) Allow a double-push everywhere, rather than just on 2nd rank
*) Promote already on 7th rank (possibly optional and to a sub-set of the pieces)
*) Allow Pawns to jump non-Pawns right in front of them.

[stegemma]

Hi all
To finish our work on the development of musketeer chess variant (take a look at www.musketeerchess.com), we also got some ideas concerning replacing part or all the pawns by another piece (a super pawn) which should have other properties that make them stronger than a classic pawn, but with features that respect as much as possible those of a classic pawn.

Which features do you think could be interesting?

And why not a pawn that can go back to the initial row (2nd/7th)? Of course with the rule that it goes back on the same column where it is (it could have be changed column with captures) and that the square must be empty. This would change dramatically K+P finals but even middle-game, where you can open a locked center...

[musketeerchess]

Hi
I agree with you. Pawns are the soul of chess, that's why before messing with it's rules i'd like a large consultation of all chess funs.
We must be able to keep the pawn structure asap, but sometimes the orthodox pawn structure is a problem. The party who neglects his pawn structure could sometimes escape by closing the position, that's why rules such as extra properties of the pawn when trespassing half the board should not be so problematic imho. It all depends what those extra rules are going to be.

[Ferdy]

With the added two pieces, and after playing couple of games, I like to remove the ep capture and double step pawn move. The idea is to slow down the opening phase, and that would give the players time to plan strategic placement of pieces by delaying piece contacts early.

At some point I will probably create a variant with this pawn movement modification to see how the play would go.

[musketeerchess]

Hi, i intended in the variant that will include super pawns to introduce only the super pawns. I don't know yet if i'll replace all or part of the classic pawns. This depends on the new features.

May be the less disruptive feature could be the possibility that could have a super pawn to go backwards once in entire game. He could go back 1 or 2 squares, it depends on the number of squares by which the super pawn advanced at his previous move (if he advanced by 1 square he can only go backwards 1 square, if he advanced by 2 squares he can go back 1 or 2 squares). This feature is may be the feature that alters the less the properties of the pawns and of the chain. It resolves some of the problems in closed positions where the game ends in draw because of blocked positions by the pawns. Naturally, this new feature should not be the only one

[Ferdy]

Is the super pawn intended for a new variant other than musketeer?

[Jhoravi]

I do favor a new variant to replace our aging and drawish chess. But not a variant that disorients the players at the start by introducing too many new pieces and rules. Even 960 is one disorienting example. This variant and some others try to kill chess opening memorization by randomizing it But the fact is many loves chess opening and even Opening books receive more attention that others.

Secondly, what I noticed in TCEC and elite SuperGM tournaments is that boring draw or boring game often happens when queens are exchanged in the opening. So the right solution is just to add another Piece or 2 Pieces as powerful as the queen (favorably with a property of a Knight) to keep the game alive. And please nothing more that 2 in order to ease the transition and acceptance from normal chess. Not headache.

The nearest variant I can find that is nearest to this dream is Seirawan Chess. Its original position and most rules doesn't disorient the chess players. My only complain about Seirawan is that the new pieces can enter any squares from the first rank which strengthens the castled king defense thereby discouraging quick wins. Better is to limit the entrance of the new pieces only to the "d1" and "e1" squares.

[Ferdy]

Better is to limit the entrance of the new pieces only to the "d1" and "e1" squares.

I like this idea especially the e1/e8 squares.
Even when the king cannot formally castle and by just playing f3, then Kf2 and dropping a new piece at e1 looks very interesting, I actually played a computer doing this in one of my test games.

How about creating a variant like this, the drop square is known in advance, it is e1 and e8. Only one new piece is introduced so as to ease transition as you have said, and also to not clutter the board too much. Question is what would be the movement of this piece? perhaps B+N combo or K+N combo primarily for king safety in mind.

[musketeerchess]

Hi
The super pawn is intended to make possible for each one of us to make his own variant, customize his classic chess set.

In my thoughts i didn't intend to add the super pawns replacing part or all the classic pawns with the two new pieces. I find this too much for an 8x8 board.

What i intended is a declination of musketeer chess, where some or all the pawns are replaced by a super pawn. This super pawn must not be much much stronger than a classic pawn, but it must add some features that could help reduce some of the drawbacks of classic pawns such us blocked position etc.

What name would you prefer to give to the super pawn?

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