Chess 16 is a (16 by 16 square) variant of chess. The idea is to increase the difficulty of chess for computers. The pawns can move from 1 to 6 squares ahead on the first move. The objective is to create a much more challenging variation for computers which is a superset of conventional chess and contains a larger opening library. There are 256 (16 by 16) squares compared to 64 in a normal chess game. There is a larger space to play the game in. In total there are 192 (16 by 12) open square board spaces verses 32 (8 by 4) in a conventional chess game.
This doesn't try to add new pieces so that it is a more conventional variant of chess. It has 1 King to maintain conventions.
There are 32 pieces per side. These pieces are:
4 Rooks (R)
4 Bishops (B)
4 Knights (N)
3 Queens (Q)
1 King (K)
16 Pawns (P)
This is an alternative piece list with 1 less queen (1 is replaced by a bishop) and 5 bishops.
4 Rooks (R)
5 Bishops (B)
4 Knights (N)
2 Queens (Q)
1 King (K)
16 Pawns (P)
Castling is also different. These will be updated later.
A 16 by 8 board has this configuration. It features 64 spaces with a more compact structure. https://github.com/singularian/chess16/blob/master/images/chess168_Board2.png
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
a b c d e f g h I j k l m N o P
8 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
7 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
1 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
A 16 by 16 board has this configuration https://github.com/singularian/chess16/blob/master/images/chess16_Board2.png
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
a b c d e f g h I j k l m N o P
16 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
15 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
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3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
1 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
A 32 by 16 board has this configuration. Pawns can move from 1 to 14 spaces initially.
https://github.com/singularian/chess16/blob/master/images/chess16_Board2.png
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
a b c d e f g h I j k l m N o P
32 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
31 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
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2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
1 R R N N B B Q Q K Q B B N N R R
A 32 by 32 board has this configuration. Pawns can move from 1 to 13 spaces initially.
There are 32 pieces per side. These pieces are:
8 Rooks (R)
8 Bishops (B)
10 Knights (N)
5 Queens (Q)
1 King (K)
64 Pawns (P)
This is an alternative piece list with 1 less queen (1 is replaced by a bishop) and 5 bishops.
8 Rooks (R)
9 Bishops (B)
10 Knights (N)
4 Queens (Q)
1 King (K)
64 Pawns (P)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
a b c d e f g h I j k l m N o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af
32 R R R R N N N N N B B B B Q Q Q K Q Q B B B B N N N N N R R R R
31 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
30 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
2 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
1 R R R R N N N N N B B B B Q Q Q K Q Q B B B B N N N N N R R R R
This is an alternative piece 32 by 32 square chess board with 192 pieces per side in 6 chess rows. There are 384 pieces in total. Pawns can advance from 1 to 8 moves on the first move. There are 1024 squares on the board or 16 times as many as a conventional game. Castling would be more complex.
27 Rooks (R) 64 Bishops (B) 32 Knights (N) 4 Queens (Q) 1 King (K) 64 Pawns (P)
192 (Total number of player pieces)
This is the board:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
a b c d e f g h I j k l m N o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af
32 R R R R R R R R R R R R R Q Q K Q Q R R R R R R R R R R R R R R
31 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
30 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
29 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
28 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
27 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
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12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
5 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
4 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
3 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
2 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
1 R R R R R R R R R R R R R Q Q K Q Q R R R R R R R R R R R R R R