A chess board in a circle (actually a donut), with four "lanes" of squares ("lanes" like on a track and field track). There are a total of 16 squares around the circle per lane. Therefor the board is a donut of squares 4x16.

The pieces begin on 16 squares like this, each side in direct opposition:

prrp
pnnp
pbbp
pkqp

Four of your pawns are restricted to clockwise movement (the ones to your left), while the others (starting to your right) go counter-clockwise. So the pawns must be physically altered to designated the direction, which they must maintain throughout the game. There is no pawn promotion.
-- globaltourniquet, Mar 21 2008

Why stop there? There could be an infinite number of chess board configurations, including things like mazes, multiple levels, and even angled surfaces. If you really wanted to make it complicated you could use a four-dimensional board, though I imagine that would require either a lot of 2D boards, pieces with ana/kata markers on them, or a computer. [+]
-- apocalyps956, Mar 21 2008



random, halfbakery