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Grande Acedrex. A large variant from 13th century Europe. (12x12, Cells: 144) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Quintucket (Luke) wrote on Mon, Feb 13, 2006 03:12 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Just found this one.

Getting used to the pieces takes awhile, but it was great fun even before I was able to recall what all the pieces do.


John Ayer wrote on Sat, Sep 17, 2005 03:44 AM UTC:
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.


Sonja Musser wrote on Sat, Sep 17, 2005 12:44 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
From fol. 82v of Alfonso X's _Book of Games_, rotating the board 90 degrees clockwise so that white is at bottom and a light-colored square is at bottom right, the opening array of grant acedrex is as follows: a-file rooks, b-file lions, c-file unicorns (rhinos), d-file giraffes, e-file crocodiles, f-file aancas, g-file kings, h-file crocs, i-file giraffes, j-file rhinos, k-file lions, l-file rooks. I believe Hans has the aanca and king reversed; it should be 'aanca on its color'.

George Duke wrote on Sun, Feb 27, 2005 09:06 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
'GHI,LargeCV': Eight piece-types. Gryphon is Arabian mythological 'bird so big it can lift elephants'. Lion is modern Trebuchet(0,3). Alfonso manuscript(1283) pre-dates Chaucer by about 100 yrs. and also widespread introduction of gunpowder into Europe from works of Arabs, who had learned it from the Chinese. Concurrently Alhazen's 'Optics' was translated into Latin and reached Europe in 1270. Gryphon starts one diagonal and can proceed Rookwise outwardly. Unicorn is Knight one move, then Bishop thereafter. Giraffe(1,4); Crocodile as Bishop; Rook; King mediaeval with initial leap option. Promotion to file piece as in Chaturanga. Chessically, Grande Acedrex precedes Timur's Great Chess(11x10), also called Tamerlane Chess(Timur the Lame). Timur's 'Giraffe' differs from G.A.'s Giraffe. In historical timeline, the three markers (gunpowder, Chaucer, and Timur's Chess) come within the century after invention of Grande Acedrex.

Charles Gilman wrote on Sat, Apr 10, 2004 07:31 AM UTC:
The link in Eduard Navratil's comment makes interesting reading. The accurate portraits (visual and written) of the quadrupeds suggests that they were very far from being seen as mythical. The idea of the Gryphon being a Roc ties in even more strongly than Gryphon with the bird sense of Rook. It is notable that at least one modern variant inventor has interpreted the move of the Rhinoceros (here called Unicorn) as described on the link (two wrongs do occasionally make a right). I am not sure that I have quite understood the Lion's move as described there.

Eduard Navratil wrote on Thu, Apr 8, 2004 10:56 AM UTC:
These quarrels about where should the king be placed seem quite unimportant to me: In translation of whole Alfonso's book by Sonja Musset Golladay (<a href='http://www.u.arizona.edu/~smusser/ljtranslation.html'>here</a> it is), quite different rules for lion and unicorn(rhino) can be found.

James Paluskievicz wrote on Sun, Dec 14, 2003 04:58 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
My apologies, you are quite right. In the cantigas, both Kings are on the G-file, but the drawing on the website has them on the F-file. I mispoke when I mentioned that the kings needed to be on the H-file.

John Ayer wrote on Wed, Dec 3, 2003 02:33 AM UTC:
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.

James Paluskievicz wrote on Mon, Dec 1, 2003 12:30 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
I have enjoyed the information on your website, however, I noticed that you placed both King on the G-file. From what I could see in the Cantigas, The Kings should go on the H-file instead. Otherwise, the information looked very good. Thank you for the information.

John Ayer wrote on Mon, Sep 8, 2003 03:54 AM UTC:
The piece on the g-file appears in the original as Aanca, rendered by both Murray and Gollon as Gryphon.

Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Mar 23, 2003 10:20 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
The promotion rule is an interesting one, and would make for variety as a minor variation to stanadrd Chess and any number of other variants (although it would not suit Shogi). I notice that each lion is limited to just a ninth of the squares - a smaller proportion than the elephants in Chaturanga! Furthermore lions of the same colour are confined to the same group of squares, like Xiang Xi elephants. Was the king's partner in this game really called 'Griffion', suggesting a trisyllabic pronunciation? The correct spellings for that creature are Griffin and Gryphon, the latter favoured by Lewis Carroll (whose characters also included a mangy-looking Lion and a dandyish Unicorn).

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