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Comments by JohnAyer
Murray was aware of the Ramayana. It contains references to the ashtapada, which we know antedated the game of chaturanga, and to the chaturanga, in the sense of an army of four branches; none to the game of chaturanga. Murray does not mention the Arthashastra as far as I see. I find on line a commentary by Group Captain S. M. Hali on the military portion of this work, in which, I gather, 'chaturanga' means an army of four branches. If the Arthashastra really does mention chaturanga as a war game on an eight-by-eight-square board, I would very much like to see the text.
I have read Prof. Li's book. In fact, I own it, and have taken it off the shelf and am looking through it again. I am still not persuaded. As I have explained elsewhere, I don't think Chinese chess developed from chaturanga, I think it developed from Shatranj al-Kamil v.1. While the king (governor, general)'s and aide-de-camp's moves were restricted, because they landed in the nine-castle, the dabbabah's move was greatly increased, and the pawn's move was slightly increased, and simplified. I can't imagine how that weird rule about the pawn capturing diagonally forward would ever have been introduced after the game had been established.
I understand that there were elephants in China, too.
There are different kinds of symmetry. FIDE chess has reflective symmetry: symmetry with respect to a line, as I think of it. The crossover pattern has rotational symmetry: symmetry with respect to a point, as I think of it.
I don't recall about the names of the armies. That could be suggestive.
I live in America, and it is no matter to me whether chess originated in India, China, Bactria, Iran, or Albania. I am simply trying to make the best sense I can of fragmentary evidence.
Jason L. asks, 'But what if there are historical documents or artifacts in China that suggest that Xiangqi has been around since 2nd century B.C.? What if the similarities between the early Indian version and Xiangqi were the result of influence from the other way around?
Are there any such documents? Last fall someone argued in the English Wikipedia that Chinese chess is the earliest and original version, but the only substantial source offered was a Chinese document at http://ent.veryeast.cn/ent/26/2006-4/23/0642309574393496.htm . Can you translate this for us?
Prof. David Li stated that Xiangqi was invented about 200 B.C., but in the first section of his book, in which he described this invention, he adduced not a single source of any type.
'Just because European scholars had no access to Chinese documents but did with Indian archives, that does not mean it can be assumed that the first game was from India. It seems since China was not a part of the British empire, then its archives can be ignored and only regions of the world which are a part of Britain's sphere of influence can be deemed as inventing anything.' Britain was heavily involved in China in the nineteenth century, and quite influential, and British savants could probably have gotten access to Chinese documents. We are aware that China invented many things, including gunpowder and rockets.
'How come no Westerner or scientist has noticed the similarities between Weiqi and Xiangqi?' I don't know about Weiqi, but Gerhard Josten, of the Initiative Group Koenigstein, argued in his essay 'Chess--A Living Fossil' that the ancient Chinese pastime of Liubo was one of the ingredients that went into chaturanga.
'Also if one assumes it went from India to China, it is unlikely that pieces would become more restricted. This is a misnomer.' A misnomer is an inaccurate name. Probably 'This is a fallacy' was meant.
'So when the Chinese come forward with so called records, they are refuted by European chess historians as being inaccurate!' What records?
Joerg Knappen in Teutonic Knight's Chess has a crown princess moving as bishop, knight, or wazir.
Courier Spiel (that's the modern version) is still my favorite variant, and playing sets are commercially available, though I made my own.
Wildebeest Chess. Variant on an 10 by 11 board with extra jumping pieces. (11x10, Cells: 110) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]As far as I can see, the Diana knight is an ordinary knight, and doesn't need a different symbol. The Duke of Rutland also chose to maintain symmetry by placing a third knight on the queen's off-side. A neat solution, I think.
I, too, am interested; please send a copy to the e-mail address in my profile.
Gothic Isles Chess. Fictional historic variant, with Dragons, Wizards and Champions. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like quite a good game. The page for Fairy Tale Draughts is gone. While looking for it I discovered a table of checkers variants at BoardGameGeek (and elsewhere) that contains several men's names that I recognize from Chess Variants. The move of the dragon is also the move of the bishop in Courier Spiel, devised in the early nineteenth century.
Mr. Bernard Hempseed, current whereabouts unknown, gave some good advice on how to start on this project. http://www.chessvariants.org/crafts.dir/fairy-chess-pieces.html I was was inspired to buy a checker set and two chess sets in the same material and colors and make pieces for my favorite games. It is possible to buy a courier spiel set (old-style pieces) on-line. http://courierchess.com/ Superchess in the Netherlands has a wide variety of pieces for sale, and might be willing to mix sets. http://www.superchess.nl/indexengels.htm There is of course no reason why you have to use their pieces the way they say.
Photo's of Thai Chess Set. Photo's of Markruk set of Thailand.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Murray, writing a hundred years ago, illustrated a similar set from a German periodical, and described the design as traditional, so it appears to go back a couple of centuries, at least. While trying to find any further information on the subject I learned that before the Age of Plastic the pieces were usually made of teak, though ivory and horn were also used. If cowrie shells were not available, the craftsman might substitute disks in the same material the pieces were made of.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]If a player erroneously announces checkmate, he loses whatever time it takes to convince him of his error (if the game is actually being timed) and is subject to teasing thereafter.
Home page of The Chess Variant Pages. Homepage of The Chess Variant Pages.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The statement in the Russian Wikipedia that the alfil can capture by leaping has been removed.
Chancellor. Moves like rook or as knight.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Shatranj al-Kabir is the name of several Eastern variants of chess; you can read about them in Murray's History of Chess, Chapter XVI. I don't see any form with a rook+knight combination earlier than about 1800.
Isle of Lewis Chess Men. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Nifty idea! Now, which of us will write to Chessbaron? After that, I give up: who are those TLAs?
It seems to me that the armed footsoldiers, four of them berserkers, must be rooks. They appear to be about the same size as the other pieces, just a little shorter, as the end pieces usually are, in modern chess sets and in other connections (even the Rockettes in Radio City are arranged with the tallest in the center and the shortest at the ends). In order to make them pawns in reproduction sets they have to be scaled down. Rooks are depicted as warders, castle guards, or captains afoot in German and Scandinavian sets down into the nineteenth century.
I made a slight mistake. The set with square towers as rooks and the footsoldiers reduced by about a quarter to serve as pawns is at http://www.chessbaron.co.uk/chess-TH2003.htm . That company carries four sets based on the Lewis chessmen; the other three all have runestone pawns.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]What you and your friend choose to do is, of course, up to the two of you. I have looked up the rules of chess, which say that if an illegal move has been made, the game must go back to the position before the illegal move and resume from there. If the exact position cannot be recreated, the last known legal position must be re-established, and the game played from there. It appears to me that in an extreme case this could mean going back to the starting position.
Courier Chess. A large historic variant from Medieval Europe. (12x8, Cells: 96) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This game is documented from 1202, Grande Acedrex only from 1283, so this is earlier.
Xiangqi FAQ. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]According to Murray in his celebrated History, chess among the Malays has been heavily modified by the example of European chess. It is called Main (game) Chator (chaturanga). The markings on the ashtapada have been reduced to two lines marking the long diagonals. Actually other patterns are known, but this pattern, apparently brought from Burma, has influenced the pawn-promotion rules. The starting array has each king standing just left of the centerline, and each minister just right. The king moves one square in any direction, and on being checked for the first time (or, on other islands, only if he has not been checked) can leap to any square on the second perimeter (on yet other islands, he can never leap). The minister (or lord; the pieces have different names on Java) moves as the queen. The elephant (or minister; Dutch influence here) moves as the bishop. The horse leaps as the knight. The chariot or boat moves as the rook. The pawn moves one square forward, capturing one square diagonally forward, except on Java and Borneo, where it can make a double first move, with no capture en passant unless the capturing pawn is blocked from moving forward by another pawn. Among the Batak tribesmen there was no pawn promotion: on reaching the farthest rank the faithful little figurine spun on his heel and marched back toward his master's home-row, on reaching which he would turn again and march again toward the enemy's camp, and so indefinitely. The usual rule was that a pawn reaching a rook's home square promoted at once, usually to queen but optionally to any other piece. A pawn reaching any other square on the last rank had to retreat diagonally one, two, or three squares to the long diagonal before promoting. This could apparently all be done in one move, unless the pawn captured on reaching the last rank. The rules governing check, checkmate, stalemate, and bare king were quite varied.
Wei chi, or wei qi, is known in Japanese as I-Go, and in America usually as Go. It is a game of territorial possession, played on a grid of nineteen points by nineteen, with pieces of black or white that are placed on intersections and then never moved (though they may be captured and removed). Sic bo and pai gow are Chinese gambling games, suitable for casino play.
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think the formal rule is that the game must be returned to the point where the illegal move was played and a legal one played instead, and if that is not possible, the game must be annulled.
Home page of The Chess Variant Pages. Homepage of The Chess Variant Pages.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The Russian version does indeed say that, and without citation. We have citations going back to the original sources. Not one mentions capture by leaping. The Russian article has an empty discussion page. I'm not sure I'm up to a slugging match in Russian.
The Wikipedia article on shatranj says that the alfil leaps over one square to land on the second square diagonally. This is true. It does not say that it captures a piece on the square leaped over. It does not.
The Adjutant is a combination of a bishop (or ferz-rider) and a dabbabah-rider. It is not lamed orthogonally. The combination of bishop and lame dabbabah-rider was introduced more than fifty years ago as the Emperor, but to avoid confusion with Emperor King Chess I reduced it in rank to a Grand Duke.
Painting of Courier Game. A painting of a Courier Chess game by the famous Dutch painter Lucas van Leyden, from 1510.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The man seems to me to be dismayed, and the woman confident. The game has been analyzed. The woman is checking, and can force checkmate in about three moves.
Bird's Chess. Chess variant on 10 by 8 board from 19th century England. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Why is it that this game, Bird's Chess, has a page by that title, with 'bird' in the URL, but the comments file calls it 'The Emperor's Game'? In all other games that I have checked, the game and its comments go by the same name.
Years ago I read that Bird called his R+N the Prince, and put it beside the king, and his B+N the Princess, and put it beside the queen. He may have experimented somewhat.
Modern Shatranj. A bridge between modern chess and the historic game of Shatranj. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It occurred to me that in shrinking Shatranj al-Kamil v.1 back onto an 8x8 board it would have been cleverer to combine the dabbabahs and alfils into alibabas, and possibly upgrade the ferz to move one square in any direction.
Two Large Shatranj Variants. Missing description (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I am also an annoying pedant (though I didn't write that remark). I should not have said that the Atlanteans would not know what an elephant is; they probably would have known. I am playing Great Shatranj D at the moment, and enjoying it. I consider it Good, subject to possible upgrade later.
Courier-Spiel. 19th century variant of Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
All the King's Men
. Page describing variant chess pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Now found at http://www.mayhematics.com/v/v_gm.htm
Adjutant Chess (8x8). Introducing the Adjutant that can slide like a queen, but on the same square colour only (with zrf).[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The adjutant seem quite similar to Mr. H. R. Lambert's Emperor in Emperor Chess. I degraded the piece to Grand Duke, and then imagined an Archduke, which, I think, would be the same as this adjutant: a bishop plus a dabbabah-runner?
Game Courier. PHP script for playing Chess variants online.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]When viewing a Game Courier preset, the 'List all Comments' button doesn't work.
Chess 112. Large variant on an 8x12 board. (14x8, Cells: 112) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]'Rules are the same as those used in standard chess' becomes indeterminate when applied to castling. I can imagine castling and recastling, as laid out by Mr. Gast in his two enlargements.
Cambaluc Chinese Chess Photos. A commercially produced Chinese Chess set with Staunton pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Mr. Steinbrink has supplied a useful link, but the rook is styled as a cannon. A canon is (to simplify a bit) a priest serving in a cathedral.
Courier Chess. A large historic variant from Medieval Europe. (12x8, Cells: 96) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Splendid thought about the two-square pawn move. I wish it were mine!
I think that 'proprietary design' means simply that the proprietors have the sole right to make and sell these. Once we've bought them, we can tie them to our hats, arrange them in triangles and bowl at them with marbles, or do whatever else we like with them.
As for hating plastic pieces (I play with plastic, wood, ceramic, metal), I ask seriously: has anyone ever seen wooden checkers for sale? preferably matching chess pieces?
Cataclysm. Large board game with short-range pieces designed to be dramatic without being overly complicated or dragging on too long. (12x16, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
CHESS Eccentricities, By Major George Hope Verney. Images from the book (complete).[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is an excellent gift to us all! Thank you!
Chess Eccentricities. An old book on Chess variants from 1885.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]A year or so ago a British chess club wanted to sell a copy of this book to raise money, and Fred Wilson of Fred Wilson--Books in New York City said that he had sold several copies over the years, and he didn't believe that only fourteen copies were printed.
Cataclysm. Large board game with short-range pieces designed to be dramatic without being overly complicated or dragging on too long. (12x16, Cells: 192) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Eric, where can I find out more about Courier Chess, Mods 4 & 5?
Rules of Chess FAQ. Frequently asked chess questions.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is no rule that a king must be checked before it is checkmated. In fact, 'no check without mate' is one special condition that is sometimes used to handicap a stronger player in friendly games.
Shatranj Kamil I. Large shatranj variant with new piece: camel. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]My essay explaining my view of the relationships among various early forms of chess, with this one in a crucial position, is now on line at http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/johnayer.html
Rules of Chess FAQ. Frequently asked chess questions.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Sure you can, Michael; there are games on record with five queens on the board at once.
Isle of Lewis Chess Men. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]They also offer at http://www.chessbaron.co.uk/chess-TH2002.htm a chess set based on Isle of Lewis pieces with a tower as rook and with the berserkers reduced to about half size to serve as pawns.
I think that the piece labeled a bishop is actually a bishop, because it wears a miter, as a bishop does, and carries a pastoral staff, as a bishop does.
Turkish Great Chess II. Gollon's large historical variant. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]That's the way it was: symmetrical with respect to a point rather than a line.
Turkish Great Chess VI. Large variant adding an Archbishop and a General (Amazon). (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Are you asking for an acknowledgment that the symmetry is rotational rather than mirrored? or that there are four singleton pieces in the center rather than two?
Chess Empire is a new commercial four-player variant with extra rooks and knights and with a new piece called the spy. If I buy a set and describe the rules on this website, can the proprietors sue me out of existence, claiming that the game is their intellectual property and I have infringed on their rights? If not, will they try anyway, to make me a horrible example?
Jedi Chess. Maharajah and the Sepoys modified with a Star Wars theme. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This looks like fun... BUT: Rule 4 says, 'The goal for the Jedi is to eliminate checkmate the Sith Master.' Should I delete 'eliminate' and go with the result?
Chess. The rules of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Harry, you seem to be asking whether the capture is obligatory. It is not.
Rules of Chess FAQ. Frequently asked chess questions.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It stays where the pawn reached the promotion-rank. That is, it stays until your next turn, at least.
So what's YOUR favorite?. Yeah, we've got a list of recognized variants. But what games are YOUR personal favorites?[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]My favorite is Courier Spiel. The reason is very simple: the game is great fun to play. It does have a number of interesting symmetries.
Jetan. Martian Chess, coming from the book The Chessmen of Mars. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The appendix to _The Chessmen of Mars_ says, 'The game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and twenty orange by his opponent, and is presumed to have originally represented a battle between the Black race of the south and the Yellow race of the north. On Mars the board is usually arranged so that the Black pieces are played from the south and the Orange from the north.'
Years ago, when I corresponded briefly with John Gollon, he sent me some chapters of _Chess Variations: Then... and Now_, in which he described Chezz, which I believe was played on the same principles as Chess (the focus of the game is checkmating the king) but contained no standard chess pieces, using built-up pieces in place of each standard piece, I think. The chapters he showed me contained the greatknight, the superknight, the ultraknight, the masterknight; the greatqueen, the superqueen... and that was as far as he had written. Does anyone know any more about this?
ArchCourier Chess. This game is Courier Chess expert Eric Greenwood's modernization of Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Eric Greenwood replied to me privately, but has assented to my posting some of his remarks:
As to the Duke name, the piece in Ed Friedlander's Exotic Chess (the Make-your-own game) which has the guard-and-knight move is the Duke, which is why I selected that name. The name of the piece in Renniassance Chess (where the Duke piece comes from that's in the Piececlopedia) which corresponds to the knight-and-guard move is the Page. With pawns also starting with p, you can see why I used the Duke name for the piece. Also, and it's a matter of taste, I don't like the name Centaur--there are too many C-names for 'better' pieces already established.
Interesting point on the knights--but perhaps they can do flank duties from there? It's never been a disadvantage for me. Taking two moves to get centralized allows a more flexible deployment--and since it's not a slam-bang variant, players should be able to find the time to develop them 'properly.'
As far as the g-pawn goes (the pawn on the third rank), there we may just have a difference of style. I wanted it there for the extra protection around the king it affords. Plus, remember, this variant is based on Courier Chess among others, where a pawn is advanced even farther (actually, the rooks' pawns are also advanced to the fourth rank in Courier). I left it on the third rank to give players more choices as to deployment, as well as the king safety factor.
Thus far Eric Greenwood. I had not known of the precedent that he was following in naming the Man+horse, and all of his choices are, of course, perfectly valid. In my favorite variant, Courier Spiel, I found myself using the sage (centaur) to contest the center (with the fool backing it) while the knights do indeed do flank duty. I think this invention looks quite promising.
And very interesting it is! Still, a few thoughts bubble up. A different piece is listed in the Piececlopedia under the name 'Duke,' and the inventor is Eric Greenwood. The piece that combines Man and horse is usually known as a centaur, and I wish we could be a little more consistent. Then, I know, you would have had to find a different initial for the crowned rook, or rook-ferz, also known as a Dragon King.
The knights are at a disadvantage so far from the center, but the duke and squirrel are admirably placed and armed to do the knights' usual duty.
With the guard in front of the king, I personally wouldn't bother with a king's pawn.
Not only is the king probably safer where he is, I don't think castling makes much sense on a board so broad.
Your exposition of your logic is indeed instructive. The notes at Emperor Chess show most of the steps by which I evolved that game into something that I think should be much better; when I have gotten someone to play-test it with me (next month, I hope) I intend to offer that one, too.
Thud. Link to variant invented by Trevor Truran in association with Terry Pratchett. (15x15, Cells: 164) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There is a website devoted to this, linked to the Terry Pratchett website, at http://www.thudgame.com/ .
Pacific Chess. Variant on ten by ten board. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]With all due respect to John Gollon, I don't see why pawns should be allowed to take a first move that would cross the centerline, and I also don't see any reason for castling when the king can easily drop back into the bottom rank and let his guard protect him.
Shogi. The Japanese form of Chess, in which players get to keep and replay captured pieces. (9x9, Cells: 81) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]That the Japanese chess-king is a jade general rather than a jeweled general is supported by the wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi and this other website: http://www.crockford.com/chess/shogi.html . Murray seems to say that he depended for his information on nineteenth-century German translations of a few Japanese documents. This is rather a shock; it has been 'jeweled general' to us for so long!
For those who would rather buy than build, http://www.superchess.nl/ offers three groups of wooden expansion pieces for sale.
'If I can't track down another OC set, I'm going to consider sawing apart and gluing up some standard pieces to make variant pieces; given the low cost of basic club chess sets the only serious investment in doing that is time.' Besides, it's fun. For inspiration I recommend Mr. Bernard Hempseed's composition at http://www.chessvariants.org/crafts.dir/fairy-chess-pieces.html .
Two Large Shatranj Variants. Missing description (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Looks good, though I haven't gone over it thoroughly. The people of that western land would not know what an elephant was, so that name wouldn't be used.
Grande Acedrex. A large variant from 13th century Europe. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have read the translation linked in Eduard Navratil's comment, and it appears that there is no difference between the unicorn's (rhino's) first move and its later ones. It makes a knight's leap, and may rest at that point or continue diagonally away from its square of origin. Otherwise put, it leaps over the first square orthogonally, and from that square moves one or more squares diagonally.
As for the lion, the manuscript usually follows the medieval convention of counting a piece's square of origin in describing its move, so I think we have a leap to the second square orthogonally: what we usually call a dabbabah.
And the king and the aanca are on the wrong files. I wish some qualified editor (which I regrettably am not) would correct these various errors.
Viking Chess Set. Game board and pieces in search of rules. (Cells: 37) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It seems we must go beyond the resources of this website. You might approach www.abstractstrategy.com, the Abstract Strategy Games website; they have recovered the rules for some other obscure games. I am doing some searching of boardgames sites, but have not found it so far.
NOST: kNights Of the Square Table. kNights Of the Square Table.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I would love to see a file of NOST-algia made available somewhere. I hope there is such a thing.
Ninth Century Indian Chess. Differs from Shatranj in the setup and the Elephant's move. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have been asked for the pawn-promotion rule. My only source, al-Adli as quoted by Murray, does not mention promotion. He describes the rules he found in India by comparing them with the rules he knew in Arabia, and as he makes no mention of pawn promotion, I can only guess that it was the same as in shatranj: a pawn reaching the last rank is promoted to firzan.
Derek, you several times use the word 'intransigent' where I think you mean 'intrinsic' or 'inherent.' Please consult a dictionary and see whether you want to edit your essay. You make some interesting points, but this is all in the realm of personal taste. Games are essentially frivolous, and some people can't be bothered with a game unless it features imperfect information and is played for a stake.
Well, I seem to be still participating. I am 53 (how did that happen?).
Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern. Book that describes a variety of chess variants.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The first edition contained several errors that I hope were corrected in the second. In Chapter 2, Chaturaji, the starting positions of the green and yellow forces have been transposed. Chapter 11, Grande Acedrex, does not note that a pawn reaching the last rank in the f file is promoted to aanca (gryphon). Chapter 15, Turkish Great Chess Variation 2 (Atranj or Qatranj), omits from the starting array four knights at e3, f3, e8, and f8. In Chapter 21, Korean Chess, he failed to note that a hpo (cannon) may not capture another cannon. In Chapter 22, Japanese Chess (Shogi), the table of starting positions contains three errors: the kaku (bishops) start on b2 and h8, the hisha (rooks) start on h2 and b8, and the next-to-last pawn starts on h7, not h4. Chapter 23, Tsui Shogi, states that captured pieces are returned to play, as in Shogi. In fact they stay dead. The rules are correctly stated on this website (well, tsui shogi, or chu shogi, is off-site). In addition we have found that Chapter 1, Chaturanga, is inauthentic.
Questions and answers: Shogi. Questions and answers about Shogi (Japanese Chess).[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating] Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]There are literary references to chaturanga in India apparently of about the same age as the Persian references to chatrang, but there is no description of the rules, so chaturanga, chatrang, and shatranj must all be treated as the same game. Anything before this is conjecture (and conjecture is active). There is no physical (by which I understand 'archeological') evidence of chess in India at that time, nor for centuries afterward, and I think the same is true of Iran; the earliest definite chessmen are from Uzbekistan, and the eighth Christian century.
<p>Greg Strong's remark about the required opening leaps implying that the counsellors faced each other in one file is valid for the seventeenth-century(?) rules. The cross-wise arrangement is specified for Hindustani chess in the nineteenth century. Cross-wise arrangements were formerly quite widespread.
<p>After scrapping this page (sorry, Hans and all), we will probably want to put up others for these other historical variants.
According to Murray on page 57, al-'Adli, in the ninth Christian century, reported that in India a stalemated player won, which he contrasted with the rule with which he and his readers were familiar. According to that same account, the elephants stood in the corner squares, and had the move of the dabbabah rather than the alfil; the rooks stood on the c and f files. A player who bared his opponent's king won, even if the opponent could return the compliment on the next move--a rule that was also current in the Hejaz, although the rest of the Moslem world held that if the opponent could even the score on the next move, the game was tied.
<p> As for the crosswise arrangement of the kings, the arrangement shown in Hans Bodlaender's diagram is that given by Murray on page 80 as used in recent times in India in the varieties of chess that were apparently of native descent (distinguished from shatranj, introduced by the Persian conquerors, and European chess, introduced by the British, French, and Portuguese conquerors). In ancient times there may not have been a fixed rule. As for pawn promotion, the rule given in a work 'written about 1600 or 1700,' as Murray says, seems to me to say that a pawn reaching the ultimate rank on the a, d, e, or h file is promoted to counsellor, and a pawn reaching the ultimate rank on the b, c, f, or g file is returned to its square of origin with the rank of counsellor (ferz). This is on page 64, and the text is as vague as the date. As for stalemate, 'When a king is imprisoned without standing in check, and no other of his pieces can move, he may slay the piece of the enemy in his vicinity which imprisons him.' So the stalemated player does not win. Just before this we read: 'It is not proper to protect another piece rather than the King. The slaying of the King is yet considered proper. Imprisonment is counted as a defeat of the King. If the King is left entirely alone it is reckoned a half-victory, if he is checked 64 times in succession he is also held to be defeated.' I think we might fairly understand that as perpetual check. The game begins with each player moving his counsellor and counsellor's pawn two squares forward, 'Also another piece which goes one square distant is advanced at the same time...' apparently another pawn.
<p> On page 81 Murray describes Hindustani chess, one of the three native varieties current in the nineteenth century, when all the pieces had the moves current in Europe. In this game a pawn reaching the last rank is promoted to the master piece of that rank, except that on either central file promotion is to vizier (Q). Further, a pawn can only be promoted if the appropriate piece has already been lost; a player can never have more of any sort of piece than he started with. Murray specifies that the color restrictions of the elephant, now moving as a bishop, must be observed. This means that a pawn cannot be promoted to elephant on the c file until that player has lost his elephant that started on the f file. A pawn that cannot be promoted cannot be advanced to the eighth rank; it must remain where it is, an immobile target. Whether it can offer a threat that cannot be executed is a subtlety that seems not to be addressed. Logic suggests to me that it cannot. On page 82 Murray describes various conclusions to the game. Checkmate is a win. Stalemate is not allowed; a move that inflicts stalemate must be retracted, and another move played. Capture of all of a player's pieces (pawns are ignored) is a half-win. When both players are reduced to a king and a single companion, the game is drawn. Perpetual check is a draw. It is in this game, not the earlier ones described above, that the king has the privilege of making one knight-leap, provided he has not been checked. According to one questionable source, the king cannot capture on that leap.
Conclusion: John Gollon, sitting in the Cleveland Public Library, reading its copy of Murray's _History of Chess_ and taking handwritten notes, confused three sets of rules. Fergus, I hope you're not too disappointed. This page, with its seventy comments, should probably be scrapped.
Hierarchical Chess article. Article from Variant Chess, August 2004.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Just out of curiosity, why do we have two consecutive links (from What's New?) to this one page?
Tony Quintanilla is a new Father. Our Chess Variant Pages editor's new creation![All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Congratulations to the entire family, and please give your wife our compliments on the excellent workmanship!
The Duke of Rutland's Chess. Large variant from 18th century England. (14x10, Cells: 140) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It appears to me that the l-pawn is guarded by the crowned rook on the m-file.
How to Make Some Fairy Chess Pieces. How to alter standard plastic Chess pieces into various Fairy pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I agree that this page is excellent, and that it should be easier to find. I found and bought two plastic chess sets and a checkers set made by the same company, in the same colors (beige and a very dark red), to use the same size board, and with a utility knife and a glue gun and a couple of hours made (on each side) a sage, a fool, and two elephants (for Courier Spiel, as I interpret the pieces) and a couple of emperors and a prince (for Emperor Chess, which I have extensively modified [see the page] and now want to play). Pending my learning to post photographs to the Internet, here is what I did: I cut the heads off two bishops, just under the collar. I glued each onto a stack of three checkers, making an emperor (bishop + lame dabbabah-rider). The bottom piece I smoothed off and glued onto a stack of two checkers, making an elephant (ferz + alfil). I simply glued a pawn onto a checker to make a fool (man). I took one king and sliced the cross off the top and the base off the bottom to make a prince (squirrel). I took a knight and glued it to the severed base of the king and glued that to a checker, making a sage (centaur). I was pleased to see that the prince and sage are the same height, as I have given them complementary positions in Emperor Chess, which I have changed so much that maybe I should rename the result. I had intended to saw two files off each of two boards and slap them together to make a 12x8 board, but they turned out to be surprisingly substantial, and I haven't done it yet. I will try to get pictures to post, but meanwhile am looking forward to playing with these pieces.
Compton Medieval Chess. Large variant with three new pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Thank you for changing the name. It looks like an interesting game.
Hans Bodlaender resigns as editor-in-chief. Missing description[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Much thanks, again, to all you gracious gentlemen who do such excellent work on this delightful subject.
Tamerlane chess. A well-known historic large variant of Shatranj. (11x10, Cells: 112) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, I think most people who are good at chess would know about this game. This is one of the first variants known to the west, being described in Falkener's _Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them_, published in the nineteenth century, and again in Murray's _History of Chess_. It has been described since in many books about chess and its relatives, or more generally about board games.
Compton Medieval Chess. Large variant with three new pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I object to the name, as it is usually reserved for shatranj as played in Europe, with no fixity as to whether the kings opposed each other on the d or the e file.
Flying Chess. Some pieces can fly. (2x(8x8), Cells: 128) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]This is discouraging! Another anonymous post on the same side, and another dodge! The name produced for a couple of posts was not 'Harold Pooter'! I Google-searched on 'Harrold Pooter' and found nothing, so there is no verification.
Home page of The Chess Variant Pages. Homepage of The Chess Variant Pages.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Not the faintest, Keith. Where, exactly, are the stars located, please?
Courier-Spiel. 19th century variant of Courier Chess. (12x8, Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]On reviewing Murray and Gollon, I find that the pawn promotion rule for this game is unknown. The rule given is from another game, and its application to this one is a conjecture by Murray. Promotion determined by file is therefore as valid as any other rule agreed on by two players.
Farmer's Chess. Medieval four-sided variant; "Four Seasons Chess".[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]For future reference, this site includes a Piececlopedia at http://www.chessvariants.com/index/mainquery.php?type=Piececlopedia&orderby=LinkText&displayauthor=1&displayinventor=1&usethisheading=Piececlopedia
which describes all the principal pieces. If a piece is mentioned without comment, that's a good place to look first.
Tamerlane chess. A well-known historic large variant of Shatranj. (11x10, Cells: 112) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]It is my impression that, while the original king is on the board, the prince or adventitious king is not royal; that is, that it can be placed or left en prise, and can be captured by surprise. I don't know what anyone else may know or think about this.
I think this game was derived from Shatranj al-Kamil Type I, which has orthogonal-riders (the Rukhs), orthogonal-leapers (the Jamal), diagonal one-step movers (the Firzan), and diagonal-leapers (the Alfil). The game-designer filled out these two families by adding an orthogonal one-step mover (the Wazir, or vizir) and a diagonal-rider (the Taliah, or picket, which for some obscure reason is forbidden to take a one-square move). The horse was then made the basis for a third family by adding a one-square-farther leaper (the Jamal, or camel, the original camel being rechristened a Dabbabah, or war-machine) and a diagonal-plus-orthogonal-rider (the Zarafah, or giraffe; again, short moves are forbidden). The individualization of the pawns is a complete novelty.
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Shatranj Kamil I. Large shatranj variant with new piece: camel. (10x10, Cells: 100) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I think that Tamerlane's Chess was derived from this game. Shatranj al-Kamil Type I has an orthogonal rider, an orthogonal leaper, a diagonal one-step mover, and a diagonal leaper. Someone filled out these two sets with a diagonal-rider (the Taliah, which was for some reason forbidden a single-step move) and an orthogonal one-step mover (the Wazir). Then someone made the horse the basis for another family by adding a one-step-farther leaper (the Jamal) and a diagonal-plus-orthogonal rider (the Zarafah; again, short moves are forbidden). The individualization of the pawns was a complete novelty.
List of fairy pieces. A long list of fairy piece name and sources.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Mr. Truelove knows something about Chezz, and lists pieces that were not described in the only document where I ever saw Chezz mentioned. Where is this information available, or when will we see it?
Shatar. Mongolian chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]As for Charles Gilman's question as to the literal meaning of Berse: I have read and enjoyed the book _The Chess Artist_ by J. C. Hallman. He describes his friendship with a Mongolian woman who is a Grand Master. In one of their conversations she seems to deny that 'Bers' or 'Berse' means anything in Mongolian--except 'chess queen' of course. It is the word 'Fers' adjusted for the fact that Mongolian has no f. It somewhat resembles the words 'Merzé' (mastiff) and 'Bars' (snow-leopard), both of which have been taken as guides in carving the pieces.
Dabbabah. Historical piece leaping two squares horizontally or vertically.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Very well! The site http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/calvognosis2.html
has this to say about a conjectural parent of Chaturanga:
<p>The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843-1918) supposed that in the protochess the Rook was also a jumping figure, with a mobility limited to a third square. So the squares accessible to a Rook in h1 would be f1 and h3, and later in the game f3, d3, d1, b1, b3, b5, d5, f5, h5, h7, f7, d7 and b7. His theory makes a lot of sense (in spite of Murray's rejection after long arguments by post), because the three jumping pieces (Alfil, Knight, and Rook) represent a diagonal, hook-curved and rectilinear movement of the same range. It also expresses a perfect ranking order: The King and the Knight are the only pieces which can move to any of the 64 squares. The Firzan has half of the board, 32. The Rook half of that, 16 squares. And the Alfil, half of that, 8.
<p> End of quotation. The goddesschess page cited above suggests that this protochess traveled to Persia, where the concepts of checkmate and check were introduced. The rook was invented to make checkmate more attainable, and the board was enlarged to ten squares by ten to accommodate it. This game is known to John Gollon and his followers as Shatranj al-Kamil Type I. The orthogonal leaper (0,2) in that game is called a Jamal, or camel. It has the same move as the dabbabah in Tamerlane's Shatranj al-Kabir. We are apparently to infer that the rook was so popular that players used it at the corners of the eight-square board instead of the old 0,2 leaper, and the game in this form traveled back to India and supplanted its predecessor as swiftly and thoroughly as modern chess did medieval chess in the late fifteenth century. My thought is simply that Shatranj al-Kamil I traveled along the Silk Road through Central Asia to China, where the camel/dabbabah became the cannon/catapult, extending its leap from two squares to any number. The game was transferred to a previously existing Chinese game-board, and with a few minor adjustments became Xiangqi.
Constitutional Characters. A systematic set of names for Major and Minor pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have read and enjoyed the book _The Chess Artist_ by J. C. Hallman. He describes his friendship with a Mongolian woman who is a Grand Master. In one of their conversations she seems to deny that 'Bers' or 'Berse' means anything in Mongolian--except 'chess queen' of course. It is the word 'Fers' adjusted for the fact that Mongolian has no f. It somewhat resembles the words 'Merzé' (mastiff) and 'Bars' (snow-leopard, formerly 'ounce'), both of which have been taken as guides in carving the pieces.
Chaturanga. The first known variant of chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Kohtz's idea is that the same thing did happen a millenium earlier: that the original piece on the corners was what we now call a Dabbabah, and that it was joined and then replaced by the Rook.
Xiangqi: Chinese Chess. Links and rules for Xiangqi (Chinese Chess). (9x10, Cells: 90) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]Yes, I was speaking of the dabbaba(h). As for whether Chinese Chess ever had a leaper, I doubt anyone knows. Murray quotes a later Chinese work on chess, I suspect from the Ming dynasty, remarking on how little they knew of how chess was played in the Tang and Sung periods, except that it was obviously different.
Grande Acedrex. A large variant from 13th century Europe. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have scrutinized the late-medieval painting on this page (the enlarged image, that is)and it clearly shows the king and griffin on the central files, and crocodiles on e and h.
Xiangqi: Chinese Chess. Links and rules for Xiangqi (Chinese Chess). (9x10, Cells: 90) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]I have a conjecture about the origin of Chinese Chess. It is known that there was an earlier version, played on a board ten squares by ten, uncheckered; Murray reproduces a reconstructed arrangement by Karl Himly, with the 'king' and 'queen' arranged fore-and-aft in the nine-castle. This is a crucial (in many ways!) error. The current Chinese Chess board, eight squares by nine with a nine-castle at each end and a river across the middle, is known to be older than Chinese Chess, and to have been used for two previous games. There is therefore no basis for drawing the nine-castle on the ten-by-ten-square board for the earlier version. There is also no basis for believing that the earlier board contained a central river. Take them away, and we have the plain ten-by-ten-square board of so many variants, including Shatranj al-Kamil I. It also has the same pieces as Shatranj al-Kamil I: A king, his attendant minister, two elephants moving as alfils, two knights or horses, two rooks, and two orthogonal leapers, with a front rank of pawns. I think therefore that when Chaturanga was introduced into China in the time of the Wei-ti Emperor, and he had the two players beheaded and forbade the use of any game with a piece representing an emperor or called such, Chaturanga was indeed driven out of China. A couple of centuries later Shatranj al-Kamil Type One was introduced along another trade route from Persia. Perhaps the players were informed of the previous edict, or perhaps it was just their native prudence that persuaded them to demote one king to governor and the other to general, each with his appropriate officer. They then moved the game to a native board, abandoning the race game for which that board must have been quite inconvenient. Since the commander-in-chief and his adjutant were now inside a fortress, they were forced to stay within its walls. The elephant, huge, heavy, and one imagines heavily laden, was ruled unable to cross the river. The orthogonal leaper was changed from a camel to a catapult, or cannon, capable of destroying its victim even past a screen, but moving along the ground. The rook, or chariot, was left unchanged, and the pawn and horse were slightly modified for reasons that I don't see.
<p>The odd thing is that Murray almost worked this out himself; he remarked on the great similarity between the earlier Chinese game of chess and the Persian variants. I think it was only the spurious nine-castle on Himly's diagram that prevented him from seeing the obvious.
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No one has suggested that Xiangqi was invented in China under the Tang Dynasty.
Yes, I am also aware that the Chinese developed printing with movable type, and that the idea likely reached Europe through a Chinese trade mission. Really, we are not enemies of China, and I wish you would stop imputing improper motives to us. The fact remains that the earliest definite reference to chess in China is later than the earliest definite references in India and Iran. You say you want to do further research on this subject. We will be delighted to hear what you find.