A Final Word

Here, there are final rules and comments that are not explained before. Together with the pieces' movements, they form the total set of rules for Diplomat Chess. If you do not understand the meaning of some terms, it is advisable to have a look at the Dictionary section.

End of the Game

The game is won by checkmating or stalemating the enemy king.

When both kings are bared (i. e. they are the only remaining pieces on the board) the game is automatically declared a draw. The same happens when one position is repeated three times.

Null movements are illegal and cannot be used to relieve stalemate.

Special Movements

White moves first.

In this game I found that pawns did not take too much to get into fight, so there was no need of the initial double-step move, and, consequently, there are no en passant captures.

Also, there is no castling in Diplomat Chess. All this avoids making the game too complex.

In Diplomat Chess the bishop is not an isochromatic piece, so there is no need of having two bishops in each side. One bishop is capable of reaching any cell of the board.

Equipment

This game can be played with a standard chess set, as long as you use each queen piece for the diplomat.

If you ever have the idea of building a board, I recommend you to make the 3rd crown cells as exaggeratedly big as possible. You may find that, contrary to what they seem, they are never big enough (hehe). I also recommend that the central cell is simply cut off so that the board has a hole in its centre. Also, to make the bishop's movement through the centre more clear, you can paint the inner side of the cells a3 to g3 in seven different colours (for example, those of the rainbow) and cells h3 to n3 in the same corresponding colours; thus, the bishop enters and leaves the centre by cells whose inner sides have the same colour.

Gameplay Tips

If you play this game, which I would like to encourage you to do, you may find that the diplomat is more valuable than it may seem at first sight. It might prove to be the strongest piece of the game.

If you can place any piece in the centre so that your enemy cannot capture it (which is far more difficult than it sounds) you have almost won, since pieces in the centre have increased powers. Actually, this game is another variant on the importance of the control on central squares, which is a theme that is usually present in many chess variants.

You will not probably place your diplomat on the very centre, but use it to control the central cell from the 3rd crown.

When pieces start going to the centre and leaving the 1st crown (which they tend to do), be careful about rooks and pinned pieces.

Normally, kings will not be used to attack, but they can be used to keep diplomats at bay (since they are inmune to suborn) or to prevent pawns from promoting.

Possible Subvariants

Despite the game as it stays is the main variant that shall be judged at the contest, other subvariants are possible to play this game. For example, you can set as a rule that suborned pieces are taken off the board (the diplomat remains a powerful piece, because it has the ability to capture pieces without entering their cell, so it can capture protected pieces too).

Even better, you can decide that suborned pieces are taken off the board and later dropped on it. If you play the game with drops, the rules for dropping a piece are:
-You can only drop pieces into empty squares,
-You cannot drop a piece in the center,
-You cannot drop a piece so that it checks the enemy king, and
-Pawns cannot be dropped into promoting squares.

A Final Word

I have found some similarities with the board of this game and some circular chess variants, like the Byzantine Chess. Especially, I found that the games By Rook or By Crook by Jeff Rients and Flipworld by John Ryan were played on boards that somehow resemble the Diplomat Chess board; but the games are quite different themselves. I have never seen anything like my diplomat piece (which comes from an idea I had some time ago) anywhere.

Finally I would like to say that I've tried the game and I believe it is playable, that I thank you for the mere fact of reading these lines, and that I hope you like my game or at least try it and give me your opinion at the Forum section of this website.

 

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