Pawns are blown up too in Nuclear Chess. The epicentre of the explosion becomes a 'dead zone' which pieces cannot move through. See http://www.chessvariants.org/difftaking.dir/deadsquare.html
PS: Cool mate in the CAPTCHA! lichess.org/1ZWnr6xO/black
PS: Cool mate in the CAPTCHA! lichess.org/1ZWnr6xO/black