Modified chess game

Abstract

A chess-like game having pieces and rules similar to conventional chess but which includes a new piece having powers and limitations not present in conventional chess pieces.

1 . A chess-like game comprising:
 a) playing pieces including pawns, a king, a queen, rooks, bishops and knights and opposing playing pieces including pawns, a king, a queen, rooks, bishops and knights that are similar to those in orthodox or traditional chess and have all of the powers of movement, capture, and promotion that their counterparts in traditional chess have;   b) an additional type of piece, referred to here as a wizard, which cannot capture or be captured by anything except an opposing wizard; and   c) a playing board in the form of a conventional chess board but with an additional two files or columns so that the board is ten squares wide and eight squares deep; and   d) an initial alignment of the pieces as in conventional chess except that wizards shall be placed between the rooks and knights and additional pawns shall be placed in front of the wizards.   
     
     
         2 . The game of  claim 1  wherein:
 a) the playing pieces are able to move along the piece's normal line of movement through the wizard as if the wizard were not there; and 
 b) opposing playing pieces, other than a wizard or a knight, being unable to pass through or over a wizard of another color; and 
 c) a king can pass through a wizard only when castling; and 
 d) a pawn can pass through a wizard only on the pawn's first move. 
 
     
     
         3 . The game of  claim 1  wherein the wizard is able to move one square in any direction to an unoccupied adjacent square. 
     
     
         4 . The game of  claim 1  wherein:
 a) the wizard is able to move by leaping over adjacent pieces either diagonally or orthogonally but not orthogonally and diagonally on the same turn; and 
 b) the wizard is able to make multiple leaps in a given turn and by leaping being able to move forward, backward, and sideways orthogonally on the same turn or diagonally forward and backward; and 
 c) the wizard being able to capture an opposing wizard by leaping over it and landing on the square beyond if that square is unoccupied; and 
 d) a wizard may leap over an opposing wizard but the player with the leaping wizard may decline to capture the opposing wizard. 
 
     
     
         5 . The game of  claim 1  wherein:
 a) the bishop being able to bounce off of one of its own wizards, so that the bishop comes to the square occupied by the wizard and then moves off at a right angle; and 
 b) the knight being able to bounce off of a wizard by coming to a square occupied a wizard of the same color as the knight and then making a further knight move from said square; and 
 c) the rook being able to bounce off of a wizard by coming to a square occupied by a wizard of the same color as the rook and then moving off at a right angle; and 
 d) the queen being able to bounce off of a wizard by coming to a square occupied a wizard of the same color as the queen and then moving off at a right angle; and 
 e) the wizard being able to bounce off of another wizard by moving one square to a square occupied by another wizard of the same color as the moving wizard and then moving off at a right angle one further square; and 
 f) a player being able to make only one bounce on a given turn. 
 
     
     
         6 . The game of  claim 1  wherein capture of an enemy piece, including a pawn, ends the player's turn. 
     
     
         7 . The game of as defined in  claim 1  wherein:
 a.) a player being able to castle as in conventional chess with the castling rook ending up adjacent to the castled king, but the player, if castling queen side, has the option to place the king one, two or three squares from the side edge of the board with the rook adjacent, and, if castling king side, has the option to place the king one or two squares from the side edge of the board with the rook adjacent; and 
 b.) castling may be done through a wizard of the same color, but this is the only time a king can pass through a wizard and the wizard may not move on that turn; and 
 c.) the position of the wizard may limit castling options as neither the king nor the rook may occupy the same square as the wizard; and 
 d.) a king may pass through a square to castle if a wizard of the same color occupies that square even if an opposing piece would otherwise check the king on that square as the wizard occupying the square nullifies the check. 
 
     
     
         8 . A kit for converting a traditional chess game to the chess like game of  claim 1 , the kit including the wizard and the playing board.