Cubic chess

This article is about the chess variant invented by V. Pribylinec. For the chess variant invented by V. R. Parton, see V. R. Parton#Cubic Chess.

Cubic Chess

A Cubic Chess game in progress
Designer(s)	Vladimír Pribylinec
Years active	Current rules since 2008
Genre(s)	Board game
Players	2
Setup time	About 1+ minute
Playing time	Casual games usually last 10 to 60 minutes
Random chance	None
Skill(s) required	Tactics, strategy

Cubic Chess is a chess variant invented by Vladimír Pribylinec beginning with an early version (named Echos) in 1977. The game substitutes cubes for the chess pieces, where the six faces of each cube display a different chess piece (pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen, and king). This provides an efficent means (rotating the cube on a square) to change a piece's type.

The game begins like standard chess, with a normal 8×8 chessboard, and cubes rotated so that uppermost faces reflect the standard chess starting position.

Game rules

Cubic Chess follows the normal rules of chess (including castling, check, checkmate, etc.), but with the following special differences:

• Non-pawn pieces that become captured, are retained by the capturer—unrotated—in an off-board "stock".
• For his move turn, a player may either:
  • make a normal chess move using one of the pieces already on the board; or
  • rotate any pawn on its square to any piece type contained in the player's "stock". (Rotating the pawn effectively promotes it on its square, and the corresponding piece in the stock is immediately removed from the game.)

The Cubic Chess pawn can move one step straight forward, or capture one step diagonally forward, like a normal chess pawn. But it has the following special differences, too:

• It may move two steps straight forward, or two steps diagonally forward, in a single move, and at any stage (on its initial move, and on any subsequent move). The two squares must be unoccupied; the pawn may not "jump" over an intervening piece.
• It does not promote when reaching the last rank.
• There is no en passant capturing in Cubic Chess.

Sample game

Note: When a pawn is rotated to display a new piece type, the new piece is written in parentheses, for example: 6...h7(N).

1. e2–e4 c7–e5 2. f2–f4 exf4 3. Nf3 e6 4. d2–d4 e6–g4 5. Bxf4 gxf3 6. Qxf3 h7(N) 7. Bc4 Qf6 8. c3 d6 9. 0-0 Nc6 10. Qg3 Nxd4 11. Be3 d6–f4 12. Rxf4 Nf5 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Bd4 Qd6 15. Rxf5 Qxg3 16. hxg3 b7(Q) 17. c3(B) Ne7 18. Re5 a7–c5 19. Bxc5 f6 20. Re1 Qc7 21. B3b4 Ra5 22. Bxe7 Bxe7 23. Rxe7+ Qxe7 24. Bxe7 g7(R) 25. Bb4 f6(B) 26. Nc3 Bd4+ 27. Kf1 Rf5+ 28. Ke1 Bxc3+ 29. Bxc3 Re7+ 30. Kd1 Rd7+ 31. Kc1 Rc7 32. a2(Q) Rfc5 33. Qa8+ Rc8 34. Qe4+ Kd8 35. Qd4+ Ke8 36. Qxh8+ Nf8 37. g3(Q) R8c6 38. Ra8+ Rc8 39. Qg6+ Kd7 40. Qhg7+ Kd8 41. Qd6+ Nd7 42. Qgxd7# 1–0

See also

• Crazyhouse
• Shogi

References

• Pritchard, D. B. (2007). "Cubic Chess [Pribylinec]". The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. pp. 162-63. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1. 
• Beasley, John (May 2005). "Cubic Developments". Variant Chess (British Chess Variants Society) 7 (48): 59. ISSN 0958-8248. 

External links

• Chess variants official website