The pawns as shield wall: how to better emulate the medieval battle situation
Posted: 24 December 2020 02:01 AM  
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The pawn chain emulates a medieval shield wall. As the pawn is blocked by a shield, it cannot capture directly forwards. Instead, it captures diagonally forwards, which was a typical method, also in the roman army. But there is a move missing, namely a push move. In the ancient and medieval battle situation, soldiers tried to push the enemy shield wall back, to create a breach. The new push move emulates this ancient tactics.

To emulate this we could introduce this rule: a connected pawn on the fourth (or fifth rank) can push back an enemy pawn that is placed before it, provided that the square behind the enemy pawn is empty. A Pawn that is situated adjacent to a friendly pawn, diagonally or horizontally, counts as “connected”.

This push rule opens up many new tactical possibilities, especially in the endgame. Draws will occur less often. It is now more advantageous to have a blocked pawn on the fifth rank. Opening and middle game aren’t much affected; but endings become more critical thanks to the new push move. It revitalizes chess. Pushpawn Chess is a serious contender against Fide-chess.

Pushpawn Chess (Zillions)

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