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Modern Shatranj. A bridge between modern chess and the historic game of Shatranj. (8x8, Cells: 64) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

💡📝Joe Joyce wrote on Sat, May 4, 2013 04:23 AM UTC:

Grin, allow me a little poetic license, HG. I will point out that my shatranj variants allow promotion to effective pieces, so promotion is important in them, also, and can easily be just as decisive, if not more. Further, especially in the D versions of MS and GtS, the pawns prove to be rather useful little fighting units in their own right. At least in my experience. 

I agree with you that pawns are the heart and soul of FIDE, but that is more true the better the player. And you see far more pawn moves in the openings of shatranj than you do in the modern game, from what I remember. Grin, could be wrong, as personally, I play way too many pawn moves in the beginning. Still, from the games I played, pawns could restrict the mobility of the enemy power pieces, and lock up anything moving diagonally. Further, with pieces that move only 2 squares a turn, a pawn that moves 1 and is backed up is a strong threat. Overall, pawns may not make more moves or many more, in the shatranj variants, but the moves are more effective, because the pieces are weaker, or certainly give that feeling.