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A modest proposal about pawns[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
JT K wrote on Sat, Oct 19, 2019 04:26 AM UTC:

Today I was thinking about large board variants and their typical "two step" pawn-at-any-time option and "three step pawns" and I thought of a possible idea for pawn movement in general, for ALL board sizes, even 8x8 or smaller.  The main idea is a way of speeding up the game and giving pawns just a bit more power at the right time, while keeping some restraints.

So here it is: what's to stop us from playing with pawns that can slide straight forward as far as they want?  They still capture only one square diagonally.  My added rule is this: ANY piece or pawn can capture en passant at any square that it just moved through.

1. e5 looks too powerful for White as a first move, but what about 1. .... d4 as a response?  If e x d6 e.p. then Qxd6.  Black isn't hopeless here. 

Admitedly I haven't studied it much or played it, but let's discuss!

 


Kevin Pacey wrote on Sat, Oct 19, 2019 05:24 AM UTC:

In FIDE chess, 1.e2-e4 d7-d5 2.e4xd5 Qd8xd5 3.Nb1-c3 Qd5-d6 is a very popular way to play the Scandinavian Defence for Black these days, and so the sequence 1.e2-e5 d7-d4 2.e5xd6e.p. Qd8xd6 that you mention in your proposed variant would seem to be a whole tempo up on that popular Scandinavian Defence line for Black (although the pawns move differently here, it may not help White out much by comparison). So, at least for the sequence you gave, Black is not clearly hurting because of the different pawn rules.


JT K wrote on Sat, Oct 19, 2019 02:47 PM UTC:

Maybe 1. a5 would be a hassle for Black to deal with in 8x8, but... maybe Black can aim for the center as a response.


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