Super Chess 16x16

Rules of Super Chess 16x16

A 16-by-16 chess variant. Most orthodox-chess rules carry over; the differences are listed below.

The board

The playing grid has 16 columns by 16 rows (256 squares), four times the area of standard chess. Squares alternate light and dark in the conventional way. Files are labelled a through p; ranks are labelled 1 through 16.

Object of the game

Same as orthodox chess: checkmate the opposing King. Stalemate, threefold repetition, the 50-move rule, and resignation work the same way.

Players and colors

Players are referred to as Player 1 and Player 2 — not "white" and "black". Each player chooses their own piece colors before the match begins. Super Chess 16x16 is not locked to any one pair — pick whatever you like (red vs blue, gold vs silver, your country's flag, etc.). The default board ships with red for Player 1 and blue for Player 2, but either side can change colors at any time. The visual colors are purely cosmetic and never affect the rules.

Who starts. By default, the player who initiates the game and invites the second player is Player 1, and Player 1 makes the first move. The invited opponent becomes Player 2. Either player can override this when the match is created — if the two of you agree before the game starts, anyone can take the first move. After the first move, the two sides alternate turns in the usual way.

Tip: click any piece to see its legal moves

Several of the pieces below have unusual movement patterns. The fastest way to learn them is to click the piece on the board — the squares it can legally move to will light up. The board also accounts for any other pieces blocking the path, so the highlights are always the actual legal moves at that moment.

The four royal pieces — King, Queen, Prince, Princess

King. Moves one square in any direction. The royal piece — if checkmated, the game ends. May castle with a Rook under the standard chess conditions.

Queen. Slides any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally. The strongest piece on the board.

Prince. Moves up to four squares in any direction (orthogonal or diagonal). The Prince can jump over any piece on the board on its way to its destination. The Prince is a royal piece, but capturing it does not end the game — only the King's capture does.

Princess. Moves up to four squares in any direction (orthogonal or diagonal). The Princess cannot jump. The path to her destination must be clear; if a piece blocks her at distance 1, 2, or 3, she can move only up to the square in front of the blocker (or capture the blocker if it is an opponent's piece). The Princess is a royal piece, but capturing her does not end the game.

The new pieces — Archbishop, Super Knight, Fortress

Archbishop. The Archbishop performs a two-part compound move:

  1. It first moves three squares diagonally in any of the four diagonal directions.
  2. From the square it just landed on, it then moves one square orthogonally (above, below, left, or right). That orthogonal step decides the final landing square.

The Archbishop cannot jump. Both legs of the compound move (the three diagonal squares and the one orthogonal step) must be clear of friendly or enemy pieces. If the final landing square holds an opponent's piece, that piece is captured. Click the Archbishop on the board to see every legal landing square highlighted.

Super Knight. The Super Knight performs a two-part compound move:

  1. It first moves three squares in a straight line forward, backward, left, or right.
  2. From the square it just landed on, it then moves one square diagonally in any of the four diagonal directions (up-left, up-right, down-left, or down-right). That diagonal step decides the final landing square.

The Super Knight CAN jump over any piece on the board, just like the orthodox Knight. Intermediate squares along the 3-orthogonal path do not have to be empty. If the final landing square holds an opponent's piece, that piece is captured. Click the Super Knight on the board to see every legal landing square highlighted.

Fortress. Moves one square per turn in any direction. By itself the Fortress is slow and has limited offensive value — but it has extreme defensive value when garrisoned next to your King or any other piece you want to protect.

Any of your pieces sitting in one of the eight squares adjacent to a Fortress is protected:

The traditional pieces — Rook, Bishop, Knight

Rook. Slides any number of squares orthogonally. Castles with the King under the standard chess conditions.

Bishop. Slides any number of squares diagonally. Stays on its starting colour for the entire game.

Knight. Jumps in the orthodox L-shape (two-and-one). Can jump over other pieces.

Super Pawn

The pawn on Super Chess 16x16 is the Super Pawn:

Reprogram Every Piece — Patent Pending

The unique feature of Super Chess 16x16. Each player can reprogram every one of their own pieces — King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Super Pawn, Prince, Princess, Archbishop, Super Knight, Fortress — by selecting the piece and clicking destination squares. Each click adds a (delta-row, delta-column) vector to that piece's legal-move list. You can also flip per-piece flags so the piece slides along its vectors (like a Rook or Queen does), jumps over intervening pieces (like a Knight), or simply steps the exact offset (like a King). Right-click a vector to remove it. Read more on the Reprogram Your Pieces page.

Three game modes

When you create or accept a match, pick which reprogramming mode the game uses:

You can switch back to Default at any time from the match-create screen, so a custom roster is never locked in. The default mode is also the fallback if either player skips reprogramming.

How a turn works

  1. The side configured to move first (set when the game was created) makes the opening move.
  2. When it is your turn, click a piece to select it. The board automatically highlights every square where that piece can legally land.
  3. Click the square where you want the piece to go.
    • If the square is empty, your piece moves there.
    • If the square is occupied by an opponent's piece, you capture it — the opponent's piece is removed and yours takes its place.
    • If one of your own pieces is already on that square, you cannot land there.
  4. When you attack the opposing King, you have delivered check. The King must be protected at all costs — the defender has to either move the King out of attack, block the attacking line, or capture the attacking piece. If none of those responses is possible and the King is trapped under check, that is checkmate — you win the game.

Promotion

A Super Pawn that reaches the 16th rank promotes. By default it promotes to a Queen; the player can choose any non-King piece type from the existing roster (including a second Prince, a second Princess, or a second Programmable Piece).

Castling

You can castle on either side — kingside or queenside — just like in traditional chess. The conditions are the same:

The starting position on the 16-by-16 board is arranged so that after castling on either side, the King ends up adjacent to a Fortress. That positioning is intentional — the Fortress's protective rule then shields the surrounding pieces from non-royal capture, so castling buys the King an extra layer of defense automatically. See the Fortress section above.

En passant and draws

En passant works the same as orthodox chess. Threefold repetition, insufficient material, and stalemate all result in a draw.

The orthodox fifty-move rule is doubled to a one-hundred-move rule on this board: a player may claim a draw if no capture and no pawn move has been made in the last 100 moves by each side. The board is four times the area of orthodox chess, so the count is scaled to keep tournament-level draw claims proportionate.

Time controls

Available time controls (set per game when you create or accept a challenge):