3- Movement of the pieces
The basic movement of all main pieces common to both Chess 99 and standard chess are exactly the same. Only the movement of the pawns has been modified: they are now permitted to move forward two unoccupied squares all the way across the board.
​
-
Kings move a single square in any direction.
-
Rooks may move to any square along the file or rank on which they stand but may not play over other pieces.
-
Bishops may move to any square along a diagonal on which they stand but may not play over other pieces.
-
Knights first move one square along the file or rank on which they stand then one more square along a diagonal on which they now stand still moving away from the original square. Knights are permitted to jump over other pieces to reach their destination square.
-
Queens combine the moves of the rook and the bishop. They may not play over other pieces.
-
Paladins combine the moves of the knight and the bishop. Paladins may jump over other pieces when they move like a knight but not when they move like a bishop.
-
Pawns move forward one or two unoccupied squares and capture one square on the forward diagonal. (Note that this makes pawns the only pieces that cannot move backward and the only pieces that do not capture the way they move.)
​
The three special chess plays known as “pawn promotion”, “castling” and “capture en passant” – all of them significantly altered – will be covered in their respective sections.
​
Note: Queens and paladins are the most powerful pieces on the board and may be referred to as the “major pieces”. Conversely, knights and bishops are the weakest pieces – not counting pawns – and may be referred to as the “minor pieces”.
​