MetaChess MetaChess was invented by Michael Holwell and his father James (known as chessteacher on cowplay) and is the first evolutionary variant on cowplay. The initial position is the same as standard chess as shown in figure 1 below but the game is very different. MetaChess Setup Figure 1 Rules The standard 'special' chess rules that are legal in MetaChess are a pawns 2-square advance and promotion. Castling and en-passant are not allowed in MetaChess. Meta Inheritance The 'Meta' chess variants on cowplay dictate that pieces of a given color on the same file inherit the movement powers of one another. However these powers do not stay with each piece for the entire game, whereby the inherited powers are only inherited while the pieces stay on the same file as one another. Another key thing to note is that a pawn's 2-square advance is also inherited by pieces on the same file. For example if white starts by moving the knight from b1 to c3 then that knight has the power to move 2 squares forward onto c5 at white's next move - inheriting the 2-square movement of the pawn on c2. The example game in Figure 2 illustrates a standard MetaChess opening. White immediately attacks by moving the pawn on h2 to h7, taking the opponents opposing pawn. The pawn is able to make this move because it has been empowered with the capabilities of the rook also on the 'h' file, on h1. Black has responded by moving his knight out onto f6. White then takes the black rook on h8 with his pawn, which is still empowered by the rook on h1. The pawn at this point is promoted to a queen. It is then that black's initial move is revealed. Anticipating the inevitable promotion, the black knight on f6 has empowered the pawn on f7 to also move like a knight, which is then used to capture the newly promoted queen. Note that in the final move the pawn on h8 has now lost the power to move like a knight as it has moved off the 'f' file where the 'once empowering' knight on f6 resides. The PGN notation for the game in Figure 2 shown below is as follows: 1. hxh7 Nf6 2. hxh8=Q fxh8 * MetaChess Opening Figure 1 Due to the advantage for white in this opening, MetaChess 2 was added to cowplay shortly after with the rook's pawns raised by one square, in order to make the game fairer for black. (See the MetaChess 2 page)