This feels like it would be too much of a hack; while the ruleset I propose here is not maximally elegant, I do feel that it’s a fairly natural solution to the problems that it solves, while this would enlarge the rules without being strictly neccesary
I worry that the pole will get in the way of the king. Many checkmates I have seen, both in orthodox and crazyhouse, were due to the king’s own pieces being unfortuitously placed on squares that the king would otherwise have been able to run away to. While most of the iconic smother-mates that I can think of were in orthodox since I play mostly orthodox, they are even more common in crazyhouse. I worry that the pole will smother the king just as often as it comes in handy to protect it
This feels like it would be too much of a hack; while the ruleset I propose here is not maximally elegant, I do feel that it’s a fairly natural solution to the problems that it solves, while this would enlarge the rules without being strictly neccesary
I worry that the pole will get in the way of the king. Many checkmates I have seen, both in orthodox and crazyhouse, were due to the king’s own pieces being unfortuitously placed on squares that the king would otherwise have been able to run away to. While most of the iconic smother-mates that I can think of were in orthodox since I play mostly orthodox, they are even more common in crazyhouse. I worry that the pole will smother the king just as often as it comes in handy to protect it