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This page is written by the game's inventor, Florin Lupusoru.

Secret King

This chess variant seems to have no King, but the King is hidden among the Knights. 

Setup

The game is played on a 10x10 chess board.

The initial setup looks like this:

 

Pieces

Each player has 10 Pawns, 10 Knights, 4 Rooks, 4 Bishops, and 2 Queens, or Captains. 

A Secret King is also present, hiding his identity among the Knights of each player. 

Pieces move like in the classical chess.

The Secret King will move like a Knight until his identity is revealed. 

Rules

There is no castling. The promotion of Pawns is slightly different from the classical chess. There are for promotion lines for each player, the last four lines in the enemy territory. The first promotion line is reserved for the Knights, the second for the Bishops, the third for the Rooks, and the last for the Queens, or Captains. If a Pawn reaching a promotion line does not promote straight away, it will have to move to the next promotion line in order to be eligible for promotion again. Each player has a Secret King hidden among his Knights. The Secret King behaves like a regular Knight until his identity is revealed. When captured, a Knight has to reveal its identity. If it turns out to be the Secret King, it will be replaced by a regular King. At this point, the King will move one square in any direction, like the regular chess King, and can be in check, or checkmated. A player wins by placing his Secret King next to the enemy King, or by checkmating the enemy King. If a captured Knight by another Knight turns out to be the Secret King, the capturing Knight has to reveal its identity. If the second Knight also turns out to be a Secret King, it will win the game.

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By Florin Lupusoru.

Last revised by Florin Lupusoru.


Web page created: 2023-12-03. Web page last updated: 2023-12-03

Revisions of MSsecretking