Saturday, 15 March 2014

chess - Introducing: FootChess!


Imagine if your chess pieces got bored of their little war games, and decided to play something a bit different. The rules are like Chess except as follows:




  1. There is a Ball piece that starts in the center grid intersection, it is treated as being in D4,D5,E4,and E5; whichever piece first occupies any of those squares plays the Ball as if it were in the square they occupy.

  2. The Ball is played by any piece 'capturing' it. Instead of being captured, the ball immediately moves as a Neutral piece of the same variety that captured it, under the control of the capturer.

  3. If the Ball would capture a piece on this move, it is instead treated as if captured by it. This is called a Pass.

  4. Check and Checkmate are not relevant. Instead the game ends by moving the ball into the opposing goal; that being either D0, E0 or D9,E9. Pieces may not occupy these Goal Squares.


  5. All pieces may capture opposing pieces as Standard Chess, the exception being that a King may not be captured while on his home ranks, those being 1,2 for White, and 7,8 for Black.

  6. The Ball may be played by a pawn through either a capture move into its square, or by a standard move into its square. A pawn may play the Ball to a Capture square even if no Capture exists. Or a standard move sqaure even if there is a piece there. This means a pawn may always play the Ball to a square immediately or diagonally in front of itself, as well as two ranks directly in front of itself, if it is passed to while on its home rank.



That's all the rules, I think it's unambiguous, my friends and I have played at least 4 games, and no further clarifications have been necessary.


I've created a puzzle that uses these rules, based loosely on a position in one of the games with my friends. Your goal is to discover the path to victory. It is White's turn, and someone can win in five or fewer turns.


Disclaimer: Idea possibly stolen from @Alconja, sorry. It was unintentional, but I may have read it late one night and not remembered come morning. We also may have just had similar ideas... ¯_(ツ)_/¯


FootChess



Answer



Completed solution, expanded from @Techidiot, and assistance from @DennisJaheruddin and @dcfyj




White Bishop to G2, pass to Rook A8.
Rook must immediately pass;
If rook passes to White Queen, White wins
If rook passes to White Pawn, White puts the ball at B8
Rook can only safely put the ball at B8
enter image description here



Black's turn




Leaving the ball at B8, and not touching pawn A7 allows white to capture ball, promote and win Using rook to capture B8, and put ball at B7, allows white to capture ball with pawn, pass to Queen and win
Using rook A8 to capture A7, and leaving ball at B8, allows white to capture ball with Queen, pass to C8, and score next turn (black can't block)
Using rook D7 to capture A7, and leaving ball at B8, this is more complicated and continued subsequently.
Using rook to capture B8, and put ball at A8, this is more complicated and continued subsequently.



Two options for white's turn



enter image description here
In this case white capture Rook B8 with pawn A7 and promote to Queen. Black has no impactful moves in response, and the new Queen can capture the ball and pass to the other Queen to score. (Credit to user @dcfyj) enter image description here
White's response should likely be to take a rook. Either Bishop to A8, or Pawn to A7. Credit to @DennisJaheruddin for determining that Bishop to A8 is best enter image description here




Black's Turn - Credit to @DennisJaheruddin for exploring this



If the Black rook does not move, or moves to C7, White's Pawn can take it, and on White's next either the Pawn or Rook can capture the ball and pass to the Queen for a win
If rook goes to B7, it can be taken by the Bishop, and next turn the Queen passes to the Bishop for a goal, which black cannot prevent.
And if the black rook goes anywhere but A8, the Queen should capture the ball (B8), and put it at C8. This allows the Queen to score next turn which again cannot be prevented. If black chooses Rook to take Bishop A8 enter image description here



White's Move



White has Pawn to B7.

enter image description here
If black leaves the ball, or passes to it to the Queen or Pawn, White wins.
Black can only move to B8 put the ball at A8. In response white pawn takes A8 and promotes to Knight, sending ball to C7. The black rook can only take one of the Knight and the Queen, and the other scores next turn.



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