Progressive Chess - Rules

Rules

There are two main varieties of progressive chess: Italian progressive chess and Scottish progressive chess (otherwise known as Scotch chess). The two have the following rules in common:

• A check must be escaped from on the first move of a series--if this cannot be done, it is checkmate and the game is lost.
• En passant captures of pawns are allowed if the pawn in question moved two squares in one move, but no further, at some point during the last turn, but the capture must be made on the first move of a series.
• If ten consecutive turns are played with no captures and no pawn moves, then the game is declared a draw unless one of the players can force a checkmate (this is the progressive chess equivalent of the fifty-move rule in orthodox chess).
• If at any stage a player has no legal moves but is not in check, the game is a draw by progressive stalemate.

Italian and Scottish progressive chess are distinguished by rules on when a player is allowed to give check:

• Scottish progressive chess: check may be given on any move of a series, but a check ends the series--all further moves that would otherwise be allowed are forfeited. This has no effect on the other player's next series--he will receive as many moves as he would have had the other player played his full series.
• Italian progressive chess: a check may only be given on the last move of a full series (for example, on move six, a check can only be given on the sixth move)--giving a check at any other point in a series is illegal. In particular, if the only way to escape a check is to give check on the first move of the series, then the game is lost by the player in check by "progressive checkmate".

Progressive chess, like orthodox chess, is notated with algebraic notation. However, the numbering of moves is handled slightly differently. Rather than one White and one Black move being given under each move number (leading to notation in orthodox chess like 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6), each turn by each player is given its own move number (leading to notation in progressive chess like 1.e4 2.e5 Nf6 3.Bc4 Qh5 Qxf7#). In this way, the move number is equal to the number of moves in a series available to a player on that turn.