Check out Glinski's Hexagonal Chess, our featured variant for May, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Daphne Snowmoon. This game is a favorite of its inventor.

Mansindam (Pantheon Tale)

Mansindam (萬神談) / Pantheon tale

A variant that combines the Shogi 'drop' rule with strong pieces, and has no draws.

I wanted to make the simplest and most powerful variant using only moves of the chess pieces. After much deliberation, I have created this variant.

 

Setup

輝 騎 閣 禁 會 太 猊 騎 司
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步 步
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
司 騎 猊 太 易 禁 閣 騎 輝

 

 

Pieces

Every piece except Queen, Angel, and King gains the additional ability to move as a non-royal King when promoted.

 

Bo(步)/Pawn(P) : Moves one square orthogonally forward. Promotes to Guard.

 

Cho(哨)/Guard(G) : Moves one square orthogonally or diagonally.

 

Gi(騎)/Knight(N) : Moves like a standard Chess Knight, moving to the nearest squares that do not correspond to the same file, rank, or diagonal from its current position. Promotes to Centaur.

- It can pass pieces on the path as it moves.

 

Un(云)/Centaur(E) : Moves like a Knight or Guard.

 

Gak(閣)/Bishop(B) : Moves any number of squares diagonally. Promotes to Archer.

 

Pyeon(片)/Archer(H) : Moves like a Bishop or Guard.

 

Hwi(輝)/Rook(R) : Moves any number of squares orthogonally. Promotes to Tiger.

 

Sun(舜)/Tiger(T) : Moves like a Rook or Guard.

 

Ye(猊)/Cardinal(C) : Moves like a Bishop or Knight. Promotes to Rhino.

 

 Seong(聖)/Rhino(I) : Moves like a Bishop, Knight, or Guard.

 

 Sa(司)/Marshal(M) : Moves like a Rook or Knight. Promotes to Ship.

 

 Gu(龜)/Ship(S) : Moves like a Rook, Knight, or Guard.

 

Tae(太)/Queen(Q) : Moves like a Bishop or Rook. Does not promote.

 

Geum(禁)/Angel(A) : Moves like a Bishop, Rook, or Knight. Does not promote.

 

Yeok(易)=Hoe(會) : Moves one square orthogonally or diagonally. Does not promote.

- When called without distinction between Yeok and Hoe, it is simply called Wang(王)/King(K). (therefore, in notation, Yeok and Hoe are written as same 王/K.)

 

The Cardinal, Rhino, Ship, and Angel can checkmate an enemy king without help from any other pieces.

 

Rules

About King :

- The state in which your King is attacked by opponent's piece is called Check. if your King has no way to get out of the opponent's check on that turn, call it Checkmate  and you are defeated.

- At any time, the King cannot move to a square attacked by the opponent's piece.

 

About Basic Rules :

- The player with Yeok is called White, and the player with Hoe is called Black.

- White moves first and Black moves next. They move alternately until one player is defeated.

- There is no passing a turn.

- There is no castling.

- There is no 50-move rule.

 

About Promotion :

- The 7th, 8th, and 9th ranks are called the Enemy camp.

- When your piece other than Queen, Angel, and King reaches the enemy camp, that piece is promoted.

- When your piece other than Queen, Angel, and King moves in enemy camp, that piece is promoted.

- Promotion is manditory.

- On a physical board, this is typically accomplished by flipping the piece upside down, as in Shogi.

- When a promoted piece is captured by an opponent, that piece loses the promotion (i.e., it returns to its pre-promotion state). This is the only way a piece is demoted.

 

About Drops :

- Any piece you capture is called a Hand piece (held "in hand" in Shogi terminology).

- Hand pieces are placed on a Piece stand (the square plate on which you place the captured piece).

- On your turn, you may place a hand piece on any empty square instead of moving a piece on the board. (This is called a Drop.) You can only drop one piece on a turn.

- If you drop a piece in the enemy camp, it is not automatically promoted. Pieces are always dropped in their pre-promotion state. A piece dropped in enemy camp can be promoted only when it is moved after being dropped.

- You can deliver a check or checkmate to your opponent by dropping a piece.

 

About Pawn Drop :

- Unlike in Shogi, you can deliver checkmate by dropping a pawn.

- Your Pawn cannot be dropped on the same file as another of your pawns.

- Pawns cannot be dropped to the last (9th) rank.

 

 About Stalemate :

 - The player who can no longer move or drop pieces loses.

 

About Campmate :

- The player whose King reaches last rank first wins. (Of course, your King cannot move to a square that your opponent is attacking.)

 

About Prohibition of threefold repetition :

- Neither White nor Black can repeat the same situation three times. Even if it is not repeated in succession, if the same situation is repeated twice in one game, no one can repeat the situation again.

 

About Surrender :

- When you surrender, you declare surrender by placing your King on your piece stand. You can surrender only on your turn.

 

Notes

About full name of each Piece :

步 : 步兵 ⇒ 哨 : 哨兵

騎 : 騎士 ⇒ 云 : 云劒

閣 : 閣下 ⇒ 片 : 片箭

輝 : 輝之 ⇒ 舜 : 舜臣

猊 : 猊下 ⇒ 聖 : 聖下

司 : 司徒 ⇒ 龜 : 龜船

太 : 太尉

禁 : 禁軍

易 : 易王 = 會 : 會王

 

Mansindam definition for Fairy Stockfish variants.ini :

# Mansindam (Pantheon tale)
# A variant that combines drop rule and powerful pieces, and there is no draw
[mansindam]
variantTemplate = shogi
pieceToCharTable = PNBR.Q.CMA.++++...++Kpnbr.q.cma.++++...++k
maxFile = 9
maxRank = 9
pocketSize = 8
startFen = rnbakqcnm/9/ppppppppp/9/9/9/PPPPPPPPP/9/MNCQKABNR[] w - - 0 1
pieceDrops = true
capturesToHand = true
shogiPawn = p
knight = n
bishop = b
rook = r
queen = q
archbishop = c
chancellor = m
amazon = a
king = k
commoner = g
centaur = e
dragonHorse = h
bers = t
customPiece1 = i:BNW
customPiece2 = s:RNF
promotionRank = 7
doubleStep = false
castling = false
promotedPieceType = p:g n:e b:h r:t c:i m:s
dropNoDoubled = p
stalemateValue = loss
nMoveRule = 0
nFoldValue = loss
flagPiece = k
whiteFlag = *9
blackFlag = *1
immobilityIllegal = true



This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By Daphne Snowmoon.

Last revised by Daphne Snowmoon.


Web page created: 2022-10-23. Web page last updated: 2022-11-12

Revisions of MSmansindam