Flying Bombers Grand Chess with Ninja Pawns - Fly over the enemy and destroy!

In this minimalist design, the usual Chessmen are harmoniously complimented by Flying Bombers - a pair of pieces with dual range capabilities that eliminate the enemy by flying over while the pawns are upgraded to super fast Ninja Pawns!

A triumph for the game design motif "Less is more", Flying Bombers Grand Chess features a pair of new exceptionally unique and versatile pieces. The flying bombers can double as both defensive short range fighting pieces and dangerous long range weapons.
10 Ninja pawns replace the standard pawns. They are capable of moving sideways, moving multiple squares forward, capturing diagonally like regular pawns as well as capturing sideways 1 space when in enemy territory. 5 additional Ninja Pawns can be dropped on 2nd rank and optionally pushed forward to center.
These pieces, together with the large 10X10 board are certain to enhance the strategy and tactics of the game.

Start Position for white. (black mirrors white) flying bombers on a1, j1 Rooks on b1,i1 knights on c1,h1 bishops on d1, g1 queen on e1 king on f1

The Bird’s (Flying Bomber’s) Moves

*The flying bomber's shape resembles a bat, hence the iconographic symbols used. However, the flying bomber is also referred to as the "Bird" - a common nickname given to fighter planes. The choice of name is left to the player.

The flying bomber's odd combination of long-range and short-range moves makes it a deadly weapon against an unsuspecting opponent.

Standard Move:

• The flying bomber eliminates an enemy piece by flying over it, and landing on THE empty square immediately after it on the same orthogonal line. It cannot fly over or capture a second piece or land on any square beyond the first empty square.
• The flying bomber can fly along any amount of empty squares (1-9) orthogonally, but not over any friendly pieces. This is identical to the movement of a rook.

For a successful bombing, there must be an empty square immediately after the first enemy piece on the same line.

Special Move: the Helicopter Landing

This is a special maneuver that enables the bird to fly over the adjacent square, (jumping over, if occupied by friendly piece or eliminating if occupied by enemy piece) and land like a helicopter on a square exactly 2 squares away, capturing if possible on this square. It can capture two pieces in this manner.
Essentially, it combines its standard move with that of a two space orthogonal jumper.
This peculiar short-range prowess in more detail:

• The Flying Bomber can fly over one friendly piece adjacent to it (left, right, up or down) and land on an empty square immediately after it. When it flies over an adjacent friendly piece, its range is limited to two squares.
• If an enemy piece is exactly 2 squares away orthogonally and no other piece is in-between, then the flying bomber can capture the usual way by flying over it and landing on the empty square after it. It can also capture by landing on the same square as the enemy.
• If two enemy pieces lie on the same line, the first one adjacent to the flying bomber, and the next two squares away, then it can eliminate both pieces by landing on the square of the second enemy piece. (see diagram 1) It cannot fly over the second enemy piece.
• Similarly, if there was a friendly piece in immediate vicinity of the flying bomber, and an enemy piece right after it, then the bird can fly over the friendly piece and destroy the piece right after by landing on the same square. Here too it cannot fly over beyond the enemy piece as it cannot fly over two pieces.
• The Flying Bomber needs at least one square to fly over for a bombing. e.g. it can destroy any enemy piece in its vicinity (1 square to left, right, up or down) by flying over it and landing on the empty square after it, but if a friendly piece occupies a square immediately after the enemy piece, no capture can be made. (see diag 2)
• It must capture the enemy piece it jumps over. (capturing is not optional).

The 2 square range helicopter move/capture is identical to the Dabbabah except for the double capture.
It is easier to remember the flying bomber moves as a combination of the standard move with the move of the Dabbabah - a leaping move two squares in any orthogonal direction.

diag 1 (sideways rook rep. flying bomber)	Diag. 1: The flying bomber on f4 is posing multiple threats to black's pieces. It is threatening to destroy the black bishop on f7 by moving f4-f8. Using its special 2 square helicopter capability, it is threatening the black rook on d4 by moving f4-d4 (flying over its own piece and bombing/landing on d4). It cannot land on any squares beyond d4. This same short-range prowess gives it the ability to threaten f4-h4, flying over and bombing pawn on g4 and landing/bombing rook on h4. Note that the bomber cannot move to g4 by capturing the pawn, it must eliminate both the pawn and the rook. If there was no rook on h4 then the bomber can just capture the pawn by moving f4-h4. Note that the bird IS giving check to the king because it is exactly 2 squares away, and the bird can land on f2. However the bird is not threatening the knight on f1 since it is more than 2 squares away and there is no empty square beyond it. If the king moves, the knight will not be under attack either.
diag 2 (sideways rook rep. flying bomber)	Diag 2: Here the Flying Bomber is hampered by Black’s Pieces. It is not checking the king at d7 because there is no empty square behind it (and it is not exactly 2 squares away from it). The rook on d8 is pinned, because moving it would enable the king to be captured. However, the king can simply move away and the rook on d8 is not threatened because there is no empty square beyond it. The rook on e4 is adjacent to the flying bomber and threatening it. But the Flying Bomber cannot do anything because the white pawn occupies f4 and the bomber needs an empty square after its target. If f4 was an empty square, the bomber could capture the rook, and if there was another enemy piece on f4 instead of the white pawn, then the bomber could have captured both pieces. The Flying Bomber does attack the pawn on d2. It can fly d4-d1 OR move d4-d2 to eliminate the pawn. Because it is 2 squares away, the bomber can land on the same square as its target.
diag 3 (sideways rook rep. flying bomber)	Diag 3: Here the black Flying Bomber is threatening white’s pawns at d4 and a7. However, the white bishop is defending both pawns (colored squares). To make matters worse the bishop is also attacking the bird!

For simplicity, the above diagrams showed a standard 8x8 chessboard, and not the actual 10X10 board space used by Flying Bombers Grand Chess.

Rules

The rules in Flying Bombers Grand Chess are the same as in chess except for the following modifications :

1. Castling: Unlike standard Chess, castling is flexible with the king able to travel 1, 2, 3, or 4 squares towards the rook.
   There are 7 possible castling positions, the most extreme wing castling involves the king relocating to the b or i file. The choice of castling positions will depend on whether it is immediately necessary for the king to be tucked away at the wing or for the rook to be centralized.
   The usual castling criteria apply: No piece can occupy the spaces travelled by the king and castling rook. Cannot castle out of check. King cannot pass over or land on squares attacked by enemy, but rook can.
   1. 1 space transposition - King Side Castling
      White moves King one space from f1-g1 and rook from i1-f1
      Black moves King one space from f10-g10 and rook from i10-f10
   2. 1 space transposition - Queen Side Castling
      White moves King one space from f1-e1 and rook from b1-f1
      Black moves King one space from f10-e10 and rook from b10-f10
   3. 2 space transposition - King Side Castling
      White moves King two spaces from f1-h1 and rook from i1-g1
      Black moves King two spaces from f10-h10 and rook from i10-g10
   4. 2 space transposition - Queen Side Castling
      White moves King two spaces from f1-d1 and rook from b1-e1
      Black moves King two spaces from f10-d10 and rook from b10-e10
   5. 3 space transposition - King Side Castling
      White moves King three spaces from f1-i1 and rook from i1-h1
      Black moves King three spaces from f10-i10 and rook from i10-h10
   6. 3 space transposition - Queen Side Castling
      White moves King three spaces from f1-c1 and rook from b1-d1
      Black moves King three spaces from f10-c10 and rook from b10-d10
   7. 4 space transposition - Queen Side Castling
      White moves King four spaces from f1-b1 and rook from b1-c1
      Black moves King four spaces from f10-b10 and rook from b10-c10
   Any other piece can occupy j1, j10, a10 or a1 during castling.
2. The Ninja Pawn

Movement:
The ninja pawn can always move 1 square up or 1 square sideways to an empty square regardless of where it is situated on the board.

When the pawn is situated in the lower half of the board (for White, rank 1-5 and for black 10-6), it can move forward multiple vacant squares (1-3 squares) to reach the middle of the board (rank 5 for White or rank 6 for Black). This move can be done at any time regardless of how many times the pawn has moved.
Thus White can on each turn move from e2-e3, e3-d3 and d3-d5.

From the middle exactly, (rank 5 for white, rank 6 for black), the ninja pawn can move only 1 square forward, but thereafter as soon as it enters enemy territory (the upper half of the board: White rank 6-10, and for black rank 5 - 1), the pawn can go forward either 1 OR 2 empty spaces.

Capture:
Like the standard pawn it can capture one square diagonally up, regardless of which half of the board it is on.
When the ninja pawn is on the top half of board (White rank 6 +, Black rank 5-) , it can also capture one square horizontally.

There is no en passant. It cannot capture another pawn or ninja pawn en passant nor can any other pawn capture it this way.

Promotion: The ninja pawn promotes on the last row (rank 10 for white, rank 1 for black), to any piece. Promotion to a piece is mandatory so it would cease to be a pawn in the last row.
Note that like the standard pawn, it can reach the promotion square from its start position in a minimum of 4 moves!

Dropping: 5 Ninja Pawns can be dropped (1 per turn) into an empty space on the 2nd rank by either side during the course of play. The Ninja Pawn can be optionally pushed forward (1-multiple spaces) towards the middle during the same turn.
It cannot make a capture on the same turn as the drop.

Strategical Considerations

• Endgame: During the endgame, flying bombers sometimes work better than rooks against pawns. The short range double capture/leaping powers of the Flying Bomber can poses a serious threat to pawns, so the side with more pawns needs to be cautious, and perhaps attempt to exchange off the flying bombers.
• Ability to Checkmate: The flying bomber with the aid of the king still cannot checkmate a lone king It cannot check the king at the edge of the board unless it is two squares away. There are some situations where it could mate but it cannot be forced.
• Relative Value: The value of the flying bomber relative to the rook is hard to determine, but as a general rule, the rook is a bit more powerful than the flying bomber whose action can be easily blocked.
  An approximate set of values:
  Knight=3 pawns
  Bishop=4 pawns
  Flying Bomber=5pawns.
  Rook=6pawns
  Queen=11 pawns.
  
• Knight vs Bishop: Because of the larger board, exchanging a bishop for a knight (if not using the super jump knight) is definitely losing the exchange, though there are cases where the knight is at least as powerful as the bishop.

See more info on Flying Bombers Grand Chess including earlier versions, subvariations and checkmate problems