Mischia

Half the size, twice the fun

This is just chess but on a 6x6 board, about half the size (by area) of a normal 8x8 chess board, which produces a style of game akin to a close complex midgame in normal chess, hence the name Mischia[1] (Italian for Mêlée).

Mischia starting position:

     ┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐
   6 │░r░│ b │░q░│ k │░b░│ n │
     ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
   5 │ p │░p░│ p │░p░│ p │░p░│
     ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
   4 │░░░│   │░░░│   │░░░│   │
     ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
   3 │   │░░░│   │░░░│   │░░░│
     ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
   2 │░P░│ P │░P░│ P │░P░│ P │
     ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
   1 │ R │░B░│ Q │░K░│ B │░N░│
     └───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘
       A   B   C   D   E   F

The starting position and board orientation is as illustrated. All rules are as in chess except:

• There is no pawn double-step move, nor is there the en passant capture
• Pawns may only be promoted to already taken pieces, if one doesn't exist no promotion occurs
• Castling is only on the queens side, but the notation used is that of a king's side castle i.e. 0-0

[1] Mischia on Chessvariants.com

Further details

The board is positioned so that the bottom right corner is a black square. The queen is on it's own colour square, the rook is on it's own colour corner square, while the knight is on it's opposite colour corner square, and the bishops are in their usual place alongside the king and queen. This setup is designed to give the same feel as normal chess, and better balance the power of the pieces to the board size.

The pawns can only move one place forward each turn, rather than being able to move two on their first move. This also means there is no en passant capture. Additionally there is only one knight and one rook a side, and castling is only on the queen's side, as that is where the only rook is. Although the castling is only on the queen's side, it behaves like a king side castle in a normal chess game, i.e. leaves the king one space from the corner, so the notation used to indicate a castle is the normal chess king side castle notation i.e. 0-0.

Pawn promotion is allowed in the same way as normal chess, except that the only choices for the replacement piece come from the already taken pieces (Rook, Bishop, Knight, Queen) of the same colour, and if pieces are available one of them must be chosen i.e. promotion is obligatory if a promotion piece is available, and a pawn must be promoted immediately. In the case where no pieces are available, the pawn will not be promoted, and will no longer be able to be moved by the player who's pawn it is, though it can still be taken as normal by the opponent.