user204: I'm wondering about a chess variant I thought of: it's just like chess except that a player may, in lieu of (or as) a move, remove any of his own pieces (except the King) from the board. (This is illegal if his turn would end with him in check.)

Is this a known (I mean, known previous to this posting) variant? Citation, please.
What are pros and cons of playing this way?


user279: I didn't ever heard of a similar variant before.
It's interesting: pieces that move along "lines" (Queens, Rooks and Bishops) can become very powerful, since a player can remove his own Pawns to increase the range of his pieces. Imagine a battery of two Rooks and the pair of Bishops looking towards a castled King: they could really be a powerhouse, since the attacking player can volountarly "open lines" himself.
On the other hand, all the other pieces are a little bit of crap: who cares about the "jumping ability" of the Knight when anyone can open a blocked position by sacrificing a Pawn? And the King will find himself in trouble, when defending: no more "blocking behind the enemy Pawn", since the "enemy Pawn" can easily disappear the next move.
I think that this variant would lead to open and very aggressive games: both players can sacrifice material at will in order to open lines.

204: <p>I'm wondering about a chess variant I thought of: it's just like chess except that a player may, in lieu of (or as) a move, remove any of his own pieces (except the King) from the board. (This is illegal if his turn would end with him in check.)</p>
<ul>
<li>Is this a known (I mean, known previous to this posting) variant? Citation, please.</li>
<li>What are pros and cons of playing this way?</li>
</ul>
 279: <p>I didn't ever heard of a similar variant before.</p>

<p>It's interesting: pieces that move along "lines" (Queens, Rooks and Bishops) can become very powerful, since a player can remove his own Pawns to increase the range of his pieces. Imagine a battery of two Rooks and the pair of Bishops looking towards a castled King: they could really be a powerhouse, since the attacking player can volountarly "open lines" himself.</p>

<p>On the other hand, all the other pieces are a little bit of crap: who cares about the "jumping ability" of the Knight when anyone can open a blocked position by sacrificing a Pawn? And the King will find himself in trouble, when defending: no more "blocking behind the enemy Pawn", since the "enemy Pawn" can easily disappear the next move.</p>

<p>I think that this variant would lead to open and very aggressive games: both players can sacrifice material at will in order to open lines.</p>
