Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Daphne Snowmoon.

Pandemonium (Surajang修羅場)

It is a chess variant that mixes Marshal and Cardinal of Embassy chess, and Crazyhouse rules. However, I adjusted the position of the piece and the size of the board so that it feels close to the FIDE chess, and some of the rules of Crazyhouse were refined.

 

Setup

R N B Q K M C B N R
P P P P P P P P P P
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - -
P P P P P P P P P P
R N B Q J M C B N R

 

車 騎 閣 奔 王 帥 猊 閣 騎 車
步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步
車 騎 閣 奔 玉 帥 猊 閣 騎 車

 

Pieces

 Rook, Bishop, and Knight have additional King's move when promoted. Marshal and Cardinal become the same as Queen when promoted. King and Queen are pieces that are not promoted.

 

Jade/King (J. Ok玉/Wang王) : Moves one square orthogonally or diagonally. White player has Jade, and Black player has King. When called without distinction between Jade and King, it is simply called King. (therefore, in notation, Jade and King are written as same K.)

 - When your King is checkmated, you are defeated.

Rook (R. Cha車) : Moves any number of squares orthogonally. Promotes to Dragon.

Dragon (D. Yong龍) : Moves like a Rook or a King. 

Bishop (B. Gak閣) : Moves any number of squares diagonally. Promotes to Horse.

Horse (H. Ma馬) : Moves like a Bishop or a King. 

Knight (N. Gi騎) : Moves one square orthogonally and then one square further diagonally. It can pass pieces. Promotes to Scepter.

Scepter (S. Gyu圭) : Moves like a Knight or a King.

Queen (Q. Bun奔) : Moves like a Rook or a Bishop.

Marshal (M. Su帥) : Moves like a Rook or a Knight. Promotes to Apricot.

Apricot (A. Haeng杏) : Moves like a Queen.

Cardinal (C. Ye猊) : Moves like a Bishop or a Knight. Promotes to Whole.

Whole (W. Jeon全) : Moves like a Queen.

Pawn (P. Bo步) : Moves one square orthogonally forward but cannot capture with this move. Captures a piece diagonally forward one square to the left or right. Promotes to Gilding.

 - Pawn on the second rank can move up to 3 squares orthogonally. Pawn on the third rank can move up to 2 squares orthogonally. 

Gilding (G. Do鍍) : Moves like a Queen.

 

Rules

 1. Castling is possible if Jade and Rook are at the starting point and there is no piece between them.

 2. When castles, the Jade moves 3 squares in the direction of the Rook, and The Rook in that direction is placed right next to the opposite side of the Jade. for example, if Jade of e1 and Rook of a1 are castle, Jade is at b1 and Rook is at c1. If Jade of e1 and Rook of j1 are castle, Jade is at h1 and Rook is at g1.

 3. However while Jade is being attacked, castling is not possible, and if at least one of the 3 spaces Jade moves is exposed to an opponent's attack, you cannot cast in that direction.

 4. Castling in the direction of Marshal are called Marshalside castling, and castling in the direction of Queen are called Queenside castling.

 (Marshalside castling : 帥向築城 , Queenside castling : 奔向築城)

 

 When an enemy Pawn moves 2 or 3 squares to evade a friendly Pawn's attack point, that friendly Pawn may capture that enemy Pawn on your next turn. this is called En passant. when capturing an enemy pawn as en passant, it only goes 1 squares as when capturing other pieces.

 

)>

 1. Pieces that reach the last(10th) rank may be promoted. but Pawn that reach the last rank must be promoted. pieces that are not promoted on the last rank may be promoted again after moving.

 2. When a promoted piece is captured, its promotion disappears.

 3. A piece that has been promoted cannot be returned to before promotion.

 4. Pieces can be promoted even when leaving the enemy camp, but PIeces who have not been promoted from the enemy camp cannot be promoted until they reach the enemy camp again.

 

 1. You can drop a piece you captured on any empty square.

 - Only one piece may be dropped on the board per turn, and this must be done instead of moving a piece on the board.

 2. The piece cannot be promoted as soon as it is dropped to the last rank. A dropped piece needs to move after it is dropped if it wants to promote.

 3. Pawns cannot be dropped on the first(1st) rank and last(10th) rank.

 4. You can check by dropping a Pawn, but you cannot checkmate by dropping a Pawn.

 5. Even if a Rook or Jade moves or drops, castling is possible as long as they are in the correct position(=starting point). Likewise, even if the Pawn is dropped or moved, it can move up to 3 squares on the second rank, 2 squares on the third rank.

 6. Dropped Pawn can capture enemy Pawn as En passant on your next turn.

 

If player A can no longer move or drop pieces, it becomes a draw as a stalemate.

 

 If the same state occurs 4 times, it is a draw. that is, if the position of the pieces, the type and number of pieces caught, and the turn are exactly the same four times, the Fourfold repetition is established and the match becomes a draw. Even if it does not appear in a row, if the same state occurs 4 times in a match, fourfold repetition is established and the match becomes a draw. but if, on a 4-fold repetition, one player has been checking on every move since the previous occurrence of that position, that player loses.

 - If a draw is made due to fourfold repetition, the match is played again by swapping White and Black.

 

 White moves first, and Black moves next. They moves alternately.

 There is no passing a turn.



This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By Daphne Snowmoon.

Last revised by Daphne Snowmoon.


Web page created: 2020-11-16. Web page last updated: 2021-07-27

Revisions of MSpandemonium