Chess variants
PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:44:35 UTC
Contents Articles Introduction Chess variant
Different starting position
1 1 16
Displacement chess
16
Chess960
17
Transcendental chess
29
Different forces
31
Chess handicap
31
Dunsany's chess
46
Different board
48
Minichess
48
Los Alamos chess
53
Grid chess
54
Cylinder chess
56
Circular chess
59
Alice chess
63
Hexagonal chess
70
Three-dimensional chess
77
Cubic chess
81
Flying chess
87
Dragonchess
88
Unusual rules
94
Antichess
94
Atomic chess
96
Three checks chess
99
Extinction chess
100
Crazyhouse
101
Knight relay chess
102
Andernach chess
104
Checkless chess
105
Circe chess
106
Legan chess
108
Madrasi chess
110
Monochromatic chess
111
Patrol chess
113
PlunderChess
114
Incomplete information and elements of chance
115
Kriegspiel
115
Dark chess
118
Penultima
120
Dice chess
121
Knightmare Chess
123
Multimove variants
126
Marseillais chess
126
Progressive chess
127
Avalanche chess
128
Monster chess
129
Kung-fu chess
130
Multiplayer variants
133
Bughouse chess
133
Three-handed chess
141
Four-handed chess
144
Forchess
146
Djambi
148
Bosworth
150
Enochian chess
151
Unusual pieces
153
Fairy chess piece
153
Hippogonal
164
Grasshopper
165
Grasshopper chess
166
Berolina chess
167
Maharajah and the Sepoys
168
Omega Chess
169
Stealth Chess
175
Pocket mutation chess
182
Baroque chess
184
Chess with different armies
192
Duell
197
Gess
198
Variants with bishop+knight and rook+knight compounds
200
Seirawan chess
200
Janus chess
201
Capablanca chess
202
Capablanca random chess
206
Gothic Chess
208
Embassy Chess
209
Modern chess
210
Grand chess
211
Games inspired by chess
214
Arimaa
214
Icehouse pieces
222
Martian chess
224
Historical variants
227
History of chess
227
Cox-Forbes theory
242
Liubo
243
Chaturanga
253
Sessa
257
Chaturaji
258
Shatranj
261
Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli
267
Tamerlane chess
269
Hiashatar
271
Senterej
272
Lewis chessmen
273
Xiangqi and variants
278
Xiangqi
278
Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings
298
Banqi
299
Giog
Shogi and variants
303 306
Shogi
306
Shogi strategy and tactics
320
History of shogi
324
Meijin
330
Ryu-oh
333
Computer shogi
335
Shogi variant
341
Micro shogi
344
Minishogi
346
Kyoto shogi
348
Judkins shogi
350
Whale shogi
357
Tori shogi
364
Yari shogi
370
Heian shogi
377
Sho shogi
382
Cannon shogi
389
Hasami shogi
399
Hand shogi
401
Annan shogi
407
Unashogi
408
Wa shogi
409
Chu shogi
418
Heian dai shogi
434
Akuro
441
Dai shogi
441
Tenjiku shogi
453
Dai dai shogi
478
Maka dai dai shogi
507
Ko shogi
521
Tai shogi
551
Taikyoku shogi
571
Sannin shogi
609
Yonin shogi
621
Edo-era shogi sources
624
Other national variants
625
Janggi
625
Makruk
630
Sittuyin
633
Chess variants software
636
ChessV
636
SMIRF
638
References Article Sources and Contributors
640
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
646
Article Licenses License
654
1
Introduction Chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess.[1] The difference from chess might include one or more of the following: • different board (larger or smaller, non-square board shape overall or different intra-board cell shapes such as triangles or hexagons) • addition, substitution or removal of pieces in standard chess (non-standard pieces are known as fairy pieces) • different rules for capture, move order, game objective, etc. Regional chess games, some of which are older than Western chess, such as Chaturanga, Shatranj, Xiangqi and Shogi, are typically called chess variants in the Western world. They have some similarities to chess and share a common game ancestor. The number of possible chess variants is Gliński's hexagonal chess – one of many chess variants virtually unlimited. Confining the number to published variants, D.B. Pritchard, author of The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, estimates there are well over 2000.[2] [3] In the context of chess problems, chess variants are called fantasy chess, heterodox chess or fairy chess. Some chess variants are used only in problem composition and not in actual play.
Chess-derived games These chess variants are derived from chess by changing the board, pieces or rules.
Chess with different starting positions In these variants, the starting position is different, but otherwise the board, pieces and rules are the same. In most of such variants the pawns are placed on their usual place, but position of other pieces is either randomly determined or selected by the players. The motivation for these chess variants is to nullify established opening knowledge. The downside of these variants is that the initial position has usually less harmony and balance than standard chess position.[4]
Chess variant
2
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chess960 – one of the 960 possible starting positions a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Upside-down chess starting position (White sits at bottom) • Chess960 (or Fischer Random Chess): The placement of the pieces on the first rank is randomized, and the pieces on the eighth rank mirror it. • Displacement chess: Some pieces in the initial position are exchanged but the rules remain exactly the same. Some examples of this may be that the king and queen are flipped, or the knight on the b-file is traded with the bishop on the f-file. • Pre-Chess: Proposed by Pal Benko in 1978.[5] The game starts with white and black pawns set as usual, but the initial position of other pieces is selected by the players in the following way: First, White places one of his pieces on his first rank, and then Black does the same. Players continue to alternate in this manner until all pieces have been placed. (The only restriction being, bishops must be placed on opposite-color squares.) Then the game proceeds in the usual way. Castling is permitted only if the king and a rook were placed on their usual squares. • Transcendental chess: Similar to Chess960, but the opening white and black positions do not mirror each other. • Upside-down chess: The black and white pieces are switched so that all the pawns are one step away from getting promoted.[6] The game can start, for example: 1. Nc6 Nf3 2. b8Q g1Q etc.
Chess variant
3
Chess with different forces Some chess variants use different number of pieces for White and Black. All pieces in these games are standard chess pieces, there are no fairy chess pieces. • Dunsany's chess (or Horde chess): One side has standard chess pieces, and the other side has 32 pawns. • Handicap chess (or Chess with odds): Variations to equal chances of players with different strength. • Pawns game: In the starting position White does not have a queen, but has eight additional pawns (see diagram below). The game was played by such old masters as Labourdonnais, Deschappelles and Kieseritsky.[7] • Peasant's revolt: By R.L. Frey (1947). White has a king and eight pawns (the peasants) against king, pawn and four knights by Black (the nobles).[8] • Weak!: White has usual pieces, Black has one king, seven knights and sixteen pawns. This game was played at Columbia University chess club in the 1960s.[9] a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
f
g
h
Pawns game a
b
c
d
e
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
Peasant's revolt
g
h
Chess variant
4
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Weak!
Chess with different boards
E
D
B
A
C
Raumschach starting position (inverted knights represent unicorns) In these chess variants the same pieces and rules as in chess are used, but the board is different. It can be smaller or larger, non-square overall or based upon triangle or hexagon spaces (instead of square spaces). The movement of pieces in some variants is modified to account for the unusual property of the playing board. • Active Chess: Played on a 9×8 board, an extra queen is placed with an extra pawn in front. Invented by G. Kuzmichov in 1989, his students play-tested the game, deciding the best opening array was to place the second queen on either the eighth or ninth file.[10] • Alice Chess: Played with two boards. A piece moved on one board passes "through the looking glass" onto the other board. • Circular chess: Played on a circular board consisting of four rings, each of sixteen squares.
Chess variant • Cubic Chess: A 3D variant similar to Raumschach but played on a 6×6×6 board. Each player has six pieces and 12 pawns. • Cylinder chess: Played on a cylinder board with a- and h-files "connected". Thus a player can use them as if the a-file were next to the h-file (and vice versa). • Chess Attack: Played on a six row, five columns board, Chess Attack follows standard chess rules, and can be regarded as an endgame variant. • Doublewide chess: Two or four regular chess boards are connected (for a 16×8 or 16×16 play surface) and each player plays with two complete sets of chess pieces. Because each player has two kings, the first king can be captured without ending the game.[11] • Flying chess: This is played on a board of 8×8×2, giving a total of 128 cells. Only certain pieces can move to and from the additional level. • Gravity chess: Rules are the same as in regular chess, except that all pieces are gravitationally "attracted" to the h-file (or a-file, depending on variants). This means that whenever there is free space between a piece and the h-file, the piece moves as far as it can to the h-file until the free space runs out. • Grid chess: The board is overlaid with a grid of lines. For a move to be legal, it must cross at least one of these lines. • Hexagonal chess: A family of chess variants played on a hexgrid with three colours and three bishops. • Infinite chess: Has a board shaped like the infinity symbol. It is connected at the center, and all pieces of the traditional chess are used.[12] • Lord Loss chess: Played on five different boards with two players. One person moves a piece on any board and his/her opponent can choose to move on a different or the same board. The game is featured in the book Lord Loss by Darren Shan. • Los Alamos chess (or Anti-Clerical chess): Played on a 6×6 board without bishops. This was the first chess-like game played by a computer program. • Millennium chess: Similar to Doublewide chess. Two boards are connected side by side; however, in this variant the middle files are merged, making a 15×8 board. • Millennium 3D Chess: An easy-to-learn 3D variant played on a 8×8×3 board. • Minichess: A family of chess variants played with regular chess pieces and standard rules, but on a smaller board. • Polgar Superstar Chess: Hexagonal chess variant played on a special, star-shaped board.[13] It was invented by László Polgár in 2002.[14] • Raumschach: Called "the classic 3D game" (Pritchard); played on a 5×5×5 board, including a new piece (unicorn) to move through cube vertices. • Singularity chess: Played on a board distorted in the center. Due to the distortion, some pieces can make U-turns, attack the same square multiple ways, and bishops can possibly change square colors (e.g., starting on a black square and ending on a white square).[15] • Tri-D Chess (or Star Trek chess): The 3D version of chess depicted in the television series Star Trek; rulesets created by fans.
Chess with unusual rules • Absorption Chess: A capturing piece gains the movement abilities of the piece it is capturing. Therefore if a rook captured a bishop, the rook would then be able to move like a queen as it can move like the rook and now the bishop. This rule does not apply to kings and pawns. • Absorption Chess II (or Seizer's Chess): Similar to the original Absorption Chess. A capturing piece gains the movement abilities of the piece it is capturing. This rule does apply to kings and pawns. • Accelerated Chess: Each player makes two non-capturing moves or one capturing move in each turn. • Andernach chess: A piece making a capture changes colour.
5
Chess variant
6
• Antichess (or Giveaway chess, Take Me chess, Loser's chess, Suicide chess, Must Kill, Reverse Chess): Capturing moves are mandatory and the object is to lose all pieces. There is no check – the king is captured like an ordinary piece. • Arimaa: A piece may push or pull opponents weaker piece. • Atomic chess: Any capture on a square results in an "atomic explosion" which kills (i.e. removes from the game) all pieces in any of the eight surrounding squares, except for pawns. • Benedict chess: Pieces are not allowed to be "captured". If a piece when moved could capture an opposing piece in its next move, that opposing piece changes sides.[16] • Checkers chess: Normal rules of chess are followed. However, pieces can only move forwards until they have reached the far rank.[17] • Checkless chess: Players are forbidden from giving check except to checkmate. • Chicken Chess: A combination of Benedict Chess and Suicide Chess. As in Suicide, the object is to lose all of your pieces and captures are mandatory. As in Benedict, if you threaten a piece it changes to your color. • Circe chess: Captured pieces are reborn on their starting squares. • Crazyhouse: Captured pieces change the colour and can be dropped on any unoccupied location. There are two variations of this variant, known as Loop chess and Chessgi. • Einstein chess: Pieces transform into more or less powerful pieces when they move.[18] • Extinction chess: A player must capture all of any one type of pieces his/her opponent controls to win (for example, all the knights an opponent has, or all their pawns, etc.) • Genesis Chess: The game begins with a blank board and opponents take turns placing down or moving pieces.[19] • Guard chess (or Icelandic chess): Allows captures only when a piece is completely unprotected by friendly pieces. Checkmate occurs when the piece forcing the mate is protected and therefore cannot be captured.[20] • Hierarchical chess: Pieces must be moved in the following order: pawn, knight, bishop, rook, queen, king. A player who has the corresponding piece but cannot move it loses the game.[21] • Jedi Knight chess: Knights may move three spaces diagonally or horizontally or both, depending on the rules accepted.[22] • Kamikaze chess: When capturing, the capturing piece is removed from the board also. So, a king cannot defend itself by capturing an attacker. A capture is not allowed if it would expose the king to discovered check.[23] • Knight relay chess: Pieces defended by a friendly knight can move as a knight. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Knightmate starting position • Knightmate (or Mate The Knight): A a game invented by Bruce Zimov in 1972. The goal of the game is to checkmate the opponents's knight (which is placed on e-file). The kings on b- and g-files can be captured as other
Chess variant
• • • • • • •
• •
pieces. Pawns can additionally promote to kings but not to knights.[24] Legan chess: Played as if the board would be rotated 45°, initial position and pawn movements are adjusted accordingly. Madrasi chess: A piece which is attacked by the same type of piece of the opposite colour is paralysed. Monochromatic chess: All pieces must stay on the same colour square as they initially begin. Patrol chess: Captures and checks are only possible if the capturing or checking piece is guarded by a friendly piece. PlunderChess: The capturing piece is allowed to temporarily take the moving abilities of the piece taken. Reincarnation Chess: A captured piece can turn into a zombie, then reincarnate back into the game as a normal piece if captured again. Refusal chess (or Outlaw chess, Rejection chess): When a player makes a move the opponent can refuse to accept it, forcing the first player to change to another move, which must be accepted. The only exception is when only one legal move is possible.[25] Replacement chess: Captured pieces are not removed from the board but moved by the capturer anywhere else on the board.[26] Rifle chess (or Shooting chess, Sniper chess): When one piece captures another, it remains unmoved in its original square, instead of occupying the square of the piece it has captured.[27]
• Stationary King: Both players' kings are not allowed to move. • Take-all: The first player to capture all opposing pieces wins. The king is allowed to move into check and pawns can be promoted to kings. • Three-check chess: A player wins if he checks the opponent three times.
Chess with incomplete information or elements of chance In these chess variants, luck or randomness sometimes plays a role. Still, like in poker or backgammon, good luck and bad luck even out over the long-term with clever strategy and consideration of probabilities being decisively important. • • • • • • •
• • •
ChessHeads: Played with cards that change the game rules.[28] [29] Dark chess: You see only squares of the board that are attacked by your pieces. Dice chess: The pieces a player is able to move are determined by rolling a pair of dice. Fantasy Chess: Traditional chess with a layer of wargaming added. Players fight for the square (which can be co-occupied) using dice. Can be expanded to 4 player game and piece capability can improve each game.[30] Knightmare Chess: Played with cards that change the game rules. Kriegspiel: Neither player knows where the opponent's pieces are but can deduce them with information from a referee. No Stress Chess: Marketed for teaching beginners, the piece or pieces a player is able to move are determined by drawing from a deck of cards, with each card providing the rules for how the piece may move.[31] Castling and en passant are not allowed. Play It By Trust: Devised by Yoko Ono. Both players' pieces are white, which means after a few moves, players must learn to trust each other as to whose pieces are whose. Penultima: An inductive chess variant where the players must deduce hidden rules invented by "Spectators". Schrödinger's chess: Each player's minor pieces are concealed in such a way that the opponent does not know what they are until they are revealed. When covered, pieces move in a restricted way.[32]
• Synchronous chess: Players try to outguess each other, moving simultaneously after privately recording intended moves and anticipated results. Incompatible moves, for instance to the same square with no anticipated capture, are replayed. Alternatively, two pieces moving to the same square are both captured, unless one is the king, in which case it captures the other. Play ends with capture of king.[33]
7
Chess variant
Multimove variants In these variants one or both players can move more than once per turn. The board and the pieces in these variants are the same as in standard chess. • Avalanche chess: Each move consists of a standard chess move followed by a move of one of the opponent's pawns. • Doublemove chess:[34] Similar to Marseillais chess, but with no en passant, check or checkmate; the object is to capture the king. • Kung-Fu chess: A chess variant without turns. Any player can move any of his pieces at any given moment. • Marseillais chess (or Two-move chess): After the first turn of the game by White being a single move, each player moves twice per turn. • Monster chess (or Super King): White has the king and four pawns against the entire black army but may make two successive moves per turn. • Progressive chess (or Scottish chess): The White player moves once, the Black player moves twice, the White player moves three times, etc. • Zonal chess:[35] Board has triangular wings or "zones" on either side of the main 8×8 board. Queens, bishops and rooks that start from one of the squares in either zone may change direction and keep going on the same move. A queen, for example, could zig around an obstruction and attack a piece in the opposite zone. Note that the power to change direction only applies when a piece's move starts from a zonal area. It is possible (using the queen and rook) to cross the board from one zone to another, but any piece entering a zone cannot make use of the extended move.
Multiplayer variants These variants arose out of the desire to play chess with more than just one other person. • Bosworth: A four player chess variant played on 6×6 board. It uses a special card system with the pieces for spawning. • Bughouse chess (or Double chess, Exchange chess, Siamese chess, Swap chess, Tandem chess, Matrix chess, Transfer Chess, Advanced Teamwork Chess): Two teams of two players face each other on two boards. Allies use opposite colours and give captured pieces to their partner. The two-player version of the game, played with only one board, is Crazyhouse. • Business chess: Played with two teams using normal chess playing rules but allowing up to five variations of the game. The team may discuss and play alternative moves freely. • Djambi: Can be played by four people with a 9×9 board and four sets of special pieces. The Bughouse chess, the game in progress pieces can capture or move the pieces of an adversary. Captured pieces are not removed from the board, but turned upside down. There are variants for three players or five players (Pentachiavel).
8
Chess variant
9
• Enochian chess: A four-player variant with magical symbolism, associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. • Forchess: A four-person version using the standard board and two sets of standard pieces. • Four-handed chess (or Chess 4, 4-Way chess): Can be played by four people and uses a special board and four sets of differently coloured pieces. • Fortress chess: A four-player variant played in Russia in 18th and 19th centuries. • Mad Threeparty Chess: For three players on a 10×10 board. Each player has two enemy kings to attack, and two of his own to defend. • Three player chess: Family of chess variants specially designed for three players.
Single player variants
Queen's Quadrille. All pieces are placed randomly.
Hippodrome. All pieces are placed randomly, except the knights.
Similar to card solitaires, there are a few chess variants for a single player. In difference to chess puzzles, these variants have a random starting position. Some of these variants are similar to permutation chess problems, for example the game Queen's Quadrille, which was invented by Karen Robinson in 1998.[36] All chess pieces (except pawns) are randomly placed on a 4×4 board. Then one of the queens is removed and the game is started. Pieces move as usual, however capturing is not allowed. A player can move white and black pieces in any order, without regard for color. The goal is to move the queen to one of the corners, or visit all squares on the board only once. The same idea is found in the game Hippodrome, which was invented by Andy Lewicki in 2003.[37] The initial position is obtained by placing four knights on the first row and all other pieces from a chess set (except pawns) on the remaining fields. Then one of the pieces (except knights) is removed and the game is started. The goal is to move all knights to the opposite rank.
Chess with unusual pieces Most of the pieces in these chess variants are borrowed from chess. The game goal and rules are also very similar to those in chess. However, these chess variants include one or more fairy pieces which move differently than chess pieces.
Chess variant
10
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Anti-king chess. The anti-king is shown as an inverted king. • Anti-King chess: Uses an anti-king. This piece is in check when not attacked. If the player has an anti-king in check and unable to move it to the position attacked by the opponent, the player loses (checkmate). The anti-king cannot capture opponent's pieces, but it can capture friendly pieces. The king does not attack the anti-king of the opponent. The anti-king does not check its own king. All other rules are the same as in standard chess, including check and checkmate to usual king. The game was invented by Peter Aronson in 2002.[38] • Baroque (or Ultima): Pieces on the first row move like queens, and pieces on the second row move like rooks. They are named after their unusual capturing methods. For example, Leaper, Immobilizer and Coordinator. • Berolina chess: Which uses the Berolina pawn instead of the normal pawn, all other things being equal. • Bomberman chess: Inspired by the Bomberman video game series. Played on an 10×8 board with special Bomb and Defuser pieces. The Bomb piece can be exploded on its turn in vertical and horizontal directions (similar to the movement of a rook), destroying any pieces in the blast range, and the Defuser piece can capture a bomb piece.[39] • ButterflyChess: Butterflies are the hybrids of the queen with a grasshopper, rook with RG, and bishop with BG – all with complete movement.[40] • Chess with different armies: Two sides use different sets of fairy pieces. There are several armies of approximately equal strength to choose from including the standard FIDE chess army. • Dragonchess: Uses three 8×12 boards atop one another, with new types of chess pieces. From the inventor of Dungeons & Dragons. • Duell: Dice are used instead of pieces. • Gess: Chess with variable pieces, played on a go-board. • Grasshopper chess: A a chess variant in which the pawns can promote to grasshopper, or in which grasshoppers are on the board in the opening position. • Maharajah and the Sepoys: Black has a complete army, White only one piece – Maharajah (queen+knight). • Omega chess: Played on a 10×10 board with four extra squares, one per corner. Also, two fairy chess pieces are used, the Champion and the Wizard. Both can jump other pieces like the knight. • Pocket mutation chess: Player can put a piece temporarily into the pocket, optionally mutating it into another piece. • Pole chess: Each player has an uncapturable piece known as a Pole. The Pole, which does not begin play on the board, may be moved to any empty space on the board as a legal move. Thus, the Pole can be used to block check, making it much harder to achieve mate. Mentioned in the novel Robot Adept by Piers Anthony.
Chess variant • Shako: Played on a 10×10 board. New pieces are the Cannon from Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) and an Elephant moving as Fers+Alfil of old Shatranj (ancestors of queen and bishop), so diagonally one or two squares with jumps allowed.[41] • Stealth chess: Played in the fictional Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild from the Discworld series of books; played on an 8×10 board. The fairy piece is the Assassin. • 2000 A.D.: Played on a 10×10 board; featuring pieces Empress, Capricorn, Gorgon, Chimaera, Dragon, Mimotaur, Unicorn, Fury. • Wildebeest Chess: An 11×10 variant by R. Wayne Schmittberger, featuring two camels per player, and a wildebeest (combined camel+knight). Pawns move one, two, or three squares on their first move. Bishop+knight and rook+knight compounds There are a numbers of chess variants which use bishop+knight and rook+knight compound pieces. Several different names have been given to these pieces. Rook and knight compound (R+N) is named chancellor, marshall, empress etc.[42] Bishop and knight compound piece (B+N) is called archbishop, cardinal, janus, paladin, princess, Prime Minister etc.[43] To adapt two new pieces the board is usually extended to 10×8 or 10×10 with two additional pawns added. • Capablanca chess: A chess variant by the former world chess champion, José Raúl Capablanca. Played on a 10×8 board with chancellor (R+N) and archbishop (B+N). • Capablanca random chess: By Reinhard Scharnagl (2004). A generalization of all possible variants of Capablanca chess with random starting positions following a method similar to that used in Chess960. • Embassy Chess: By Kevin Hill (2005). Played on a 10×8 board with marshall (R+N) and cardinal (B+N). The starting position is taken from Grand chess. • Gothic chess: A commercial chess variant. Played on a 10×8 board with chancellor (R+N) and archbishop (B+N). • Grand chess: nvented by Christian Freeling (1984). Played on a 10×10 board with marshall (R+N) and cardinal (B+N). • Janus chess: By Werner Schöndorf (1978). Played on 10×8 board with two januses (B+N). • Modern chess: Played on a 9×9 board, with an extra pawn and a Prime Minister (bishop + knight). It was created by Puerto Rico's Gabriel Vicente Maura in 1968. • Seirawan chess: Invented by grandmaster Yasser Seirawan in 2007. Played on standard 8×8 board with elephant (R+N) and hawk (B+N).
Chess hybrids The pieces in these chess variants are borrowed from both chess and another game. The game goal and rules are either the same or very similar to those in chess. However, these chess variants include one or more fairy pieces which move differently than chess pieces. • Chessers [44]: By Christopher Schwartz and Sander Beckers. Played on a regular chess board but with the inclusion of checkers pieces integrated into the mechanics of an otherwise standard chess game. • Proteus: By Steve Jackson Games. Played on a regular chess board using 8+8 dice with a different chess piece on each side. Each turn a player must rotate one die and move another like the corresponding piece moves. Instead of a king, the dice have a new piece, Pyramid, which cannot move, capture or be captured. Winner is determined with a scoring system based on the value of captured pieces. Queens can be captured from both the square they're occupying and the square directly behind them. • Playing cards on a chess board [45]: The card game allows to play openly on a board with rectangular sectors when the chances to win are equal for players, just as play a chess or checkers but with application of traditional rules of playing cards.
11
Chess variant
12
Games inspired by chess These chess variants are very different from chess and may be classified as abstract board games instead of chess variants (by restrictive, proper definition). • Arimaa: A game inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat by chess computer Deep Blue. This game is easy for people to understand but difficult for computers to play well. • ChessWar: Complex strategy game played with chess pieces and board.[46] • Connect Score [47]: Mixes chess with Dots and Boxes. • DracoKrak Chess: Fully customizable fantasy board game with elements of Chess, miniature wargame, role-playing game. • Martian chess: Played with Icehouse pieces. • Navia Dratp: A cross between Shogi and miniature wargaming. • Shuuro: A cross between chess and miniature wargaming.
Chess-related historic and regional games Some of these games have developed independently while others are ancestors or relatives of modern chess.[48] The popularity of these chess variants may be limited to their respective places of origin (as is largely the case for Shogi), or worldwide, as is the case for Xiangqi which is played by overseas Chinese everywhere. These games have their own institutions and traditions.
Historic chess-related games
Shatranj set, 12th century
• Chaturanga: An ancient East Indian game, presumed to be the common ancestor of chess and other national chess-related games. • Chaturaji: Four-handed version of Chaturanga, played with a die. • • • •
Shatranj: An ancient Persian game, derived from Chaturanga. Tamerlane chess: A significantly expanded variation of Shatranj. Short assize: Played in England and Paris in the second half of the 12th century. Courier chess: Played in Europe from 15th to 19th century. Probably was one step in evolving modern chess out of Shatranj.
Regional chess-related games • • • • • • • •
Banqi (or Chinese Half chess) (China) Chandraki (Tibet) Hiashatar (Mongolia) Janggi (Korea) Jungle game (or Animal chess, Children's chess, Dou Shou Qi) (China) Main Chator (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines) Makruk (Thailand) Ouk Chatrang (Cambodia)
• Rek Chess (Cambodia) • Samantsy (Madagascar) • Senterej (Ethiopia)
Chess variant • • • •
Shatar (Mongolia) Shogi (Japan) see also Shogi variants Sittuyin (Burma) Xiangqi (China)
Chess variants software Some program authors have created stand-alone applications that are capable of playing a few, many or an unlimited number of variants. • Zillions of Games: Supports an unlimited number (but not types) of chess variants. One can write one's own rule files to create and play almost all chess variants, as well as almost any abstract strategy board game. • ChessV: Supports around 50 chess variants, including such popular variants as Grand chess, Shatranj, Three Checks chess, Ultima. • SMIRF: Supports all FRC variants upon the 8×8 board and all CRC variants upon the 10×8 board. • Sunsetter [49]: Normal chess, Crazyhouse and Bughouse chess engine (opensource). • Sjeng [50]: Besides Crazyhouse and Bughouse chess, supports other chess variants. • DoubleChessBoard [51]: Supports bughouse, coin, ingols chess variants and various alternative starting positions. • Parmen site [52]: Supports Tri-D chess Standard and Tournament rulesets according to posted sample games; plus normal chess.
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. p. vii. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. D.B. Pritchard (2000). Popular Chess Variants, p. 8. "Most published ones (but none described here), are, in truth, forgettable." D.B. Pritchard (2000). Popular Chess Variants, p. 8. Pritchard (2000), p. 18 Pritchard (2007), p. 77 Upside-down chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffsetup. dir/ upside. html) by Hans Bodlaender Unbalanced games (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ columns. dir/ vc-2001-spring. html#unbalanced) by John Beasley, Variant Chess, Volume 5, Issue 37, ISSN 0958-8248. [8] Pritchard (2007), p. 76 [9] Weak! (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ weak. html) by Hans Bodlaender. [10] Pritchard (2007), p. 114 [11] "Doublewide chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ doublewide-chess. html). . [12] "Infinite chess" (http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ game/ 32793). . [13] Variant Chess, vol 8, Issue 61 (http:/ / www. mayhematics. com/ v/ vol8/ vc61. pdf) [14] Polgar Superstar Chess Patent (http:/ / polgarstarchess. blogspot. com/ search/ label/ Patent) [15] michaeljzachary.blogspot.com (http:/ / michaeljzachary. blogspot. com/ 2009/ 08/ ever-want-to-play-chess-in-curved-space. html) [16] "Benedict chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ difftaking. dir/ benedict. html). . [17] Pritchard 2007, p. 51. [18] Einstein chess (http:/ / www. janko. at/ Retros/ Glossary/ Einstein. htm) [19] "Genesis chess" (http:/ / genesischess. com/ ). . [20] "Guard chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ difftaking. dir/ guardchess. html). . [21] Pritchard (2007), p. 48. [22] Jedi Knight chess (http:/ / gotjustice. wordpress. com/ 2007/ 10/ 19/ jedi-knight-chess-variant/ ). [23] Pritchard, 2007, p. 44 [24] Knightmate (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffobjective. dir/ knightmate. html) by Hans Bodlaender. [25] Pritchard (2007), p.61. [26] "Replacement chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ difftaking. dir/ replacement. html). . [27] "Rifle chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ difftaking. dir/ rifle. html). . [28] ChessHeads (http:/ / www. chessmate. com/ ChessHeads. html) chessmate.com [29] ChessHeads (http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ boardgame/ 12932) BoardGameGeek [30] Fantasy Chess (http:/ / www. shadowhex. com) [31] "No Stress Chess" (http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ game/ 19918). . [32] "Schrödinger's chess" (http:/ / elvis. rowan. edu/ ~kilroy/ other/ ?chess). .
13
Chess variant [33] Pritchard (2007), p.100 [34] "Doublemove chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ multimove. dir/ doublemove. html). . [35] By Larry Smith. (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shape. dir/ zonal/ zonal. html) [36] Queen's Quadrille (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ solitaire. dir/ quadrille. html) [37] Hippodrome (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ solitaire. dir/ hippodrome. html) [38] Anti-King chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffobjective. dir/ anti-king-chess. html) by Peter Aronson. Two setups were suggested by the inventor initially, but only the second one (Anti-King II), which is very close to standard chess gained popularity. [39] Bomberman chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ large. dir/ contest/ bomberman. html) [40] [www.cubiccheckers.com] [41] Shako (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ shako. html) by Hans Bodlaender. [42] The Piececlopedia: The Rook-Knight Compound (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ piececlopedia. dir/ rook-knight. html) by Fergus Duniho and David Howe. [43] The Piececlopedia: Bishop-Knight Compound (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ piececlopedia. dir/ bishop-knight. html) by Fergus Duniho and David Howe. [44] http:/ / schwartztronica. wordpress. com/ 2010/ 05/ 09/ checkmate-by-checkers/ [45] http:/ / www. cardgameopen. 64g. ru/ en. htm [46] "ChessWar" (http:/ / rpr. kapsi. fi/ games/ misc/ chesswar. html). . [47] http:/ / connectcapture. blogspot. com [48] Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936-317-01-9. [49] http:/ / sunsetter. sourceforge. net [50] http:/ / sjeng. org/ indexold. html [51] http:/ / bughousechess. wz. cz/ DoubleChessBoard/ index. htm [52] http:/ / www. parmen. com
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1. • Pritchard, D. B. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Batsford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7.
External links General • • • • • •
The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org) The Chess Variants wiki (http://chessvariants.wikidot.com/) British Chess Variant Society (http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/index.htm) Variety and history of Chess in ancient world (http://history.chess.free.fr/) The Chess Family - History and Useful Information (http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Chess.htm) Variant chess database (http://wildchess.org) - contains games for atomic chess, suicide chess, losers chess and "wild" variants. • Chess Variant Applets that can play each variant (http://www.pathguy.com/chess/ChessVar.htm) • Applet that can play wild chess variants with 4 levels of difficulty (http://bremboce.cisana.com/ play-chess-online-against-computer.php)
14
Chess variant
Collections In addition to individual chess variants with popularity, collections (generally acknowledged to be of respectable quality) have been created by several inventors: • • • • • •
Zillions Chess Variants Karl Scherer (http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz/swindex3.html) Games Gallery Fergus Duniho (http://www.duniho.com/fergus/games/) Board Game Page Peter Aronson (http://home.att.net/~pbaronson/) Chess Variants João Pedro Neto (http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/cv/index.htm) Chess Variants (Zillions) M. Winther (http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/chessvar.htm) Chess Variants Jean-Louis Cazaux (http://history.chess.free.fr/cvindex.htm)
15
16
Different starting position Displacement chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Displacement chess. One of several variations. Displacement chess is a family of chess variants, in which a few pieces are transposed in the initial standard chess position. The main goal of these variants is to negate players' knowledge of standard chess openings.
Variations The following variations were tried in master or grandmaster tournaments:[1] • White's king and queen are transposed. This arrangement was tried in a correspondence tournament in 1935 with the participation of Keres, a chess grandmaster. • Queen's knight is transposed with king's bishop, so that both bishops are on the queen side and both knights are on the king's side, as shown in the diagram at right. This variant is sometimes called Mongredien chess, after Augustus Mongredien the sponsor of a tournament held in London during 1868 under the auspices of the British Chess Association, in which several strong British chess players took part, including Blackburne.[2] According to Pritchard, this is one of the most popular forms of displacement chess. • The knights and bishops are transposed. • The rooks and bishops are transposed. This array was suggested by Capablanca after his match with Lasker, but did not become popular. This variant is also called Fianchetto chess.[3] • PP Random Chess: king remains on e1(e8) one of the rooks must remain on a or h file, the bishops are placed on opposite-colored squares. Proposed in computer chess playing client Chess4Net by Pavel Perminov.
Displacement chess
17
References [1] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. [2] Lowenthal, J. The Transactions of the British Chess Association 1868 and 1869 . 1869 [3] Fianchetto chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffsetup. dir/ fianchetto. html)
External links • D-chess.com (http://www.d-chess.com/) – D-chess (Displacement Chess) • Blackburne - Potter (http://www.chesscentral.com/game-chess/fischer-random.htm) – displacement chess game (knights and bishops are transposed) with comments by Wilhelm Steinitz.
Chess960 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
One of 960 possible starting positions Chess960 (or Fischer Random Chess) is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home ranks. The random setup forces players to resort to talent and creativity rather than the possibility of obtaining an advantage through the memorization of opening moves. Randomizing the main pieces has long been known as Shuffle Chess, but Chess960 introduces new rules so that full castling options are retained in all starting positions, resulting in 960 possible (non-mirrored) positions. To maintain the character of standard chess, a player's bishops must start on opposite-color squares, and the king must start on a square between the rooks.
Chess960
18
Rules Before the game, a starting position is randomly determined and set up, subject to certain requirements. After setup, the game is played in the same way as standard chess (except that castling can occur from the different possible starting positions for king and rooks). In particular, pieces and pawns have their normal moves, and the objective is to checkmate the opposing king.
Starting position requirements White pawns are placed on the second rank as in standard chess. All remaining white pieces are placed randomly on the first rank, with the following restrictions: • the king must be placed somewhere between the rooks • the bishops must be placed on opposite-color squares Black's pieces are placed equal-and-opposite to White's pieces. (For example, if the white king is placed on f1, then the black king is placed on f8. Note that the king never starts on the a- or h-files, since this would leave no room for a rook.) The starting position can be generated before the game by computer program, or chosen by the players by a variety of methods using dice, coin, cards, etc.
Determining a starting position a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chess960 starting position generated by die rolls: • • • • • • •
3 (bishop on e1) 5 (skip) 1 (bishop on b1) 4 (queen on f1) 6 (skip) 2 (knight on c1) 1 (knight on a1)
There are many procedures for creating a starting position. A common one is that proposed by Ingo Althoefer in 1998, which requires only one six-sided die: 1. Roll the die, and place a white bishop on the black square indicated by the die, counting from the left. Thus, 1 indicates the first black square from the left (a1 in algebraic notation), 2 indicates the second black square from
Chess960
2. 3.
4. 5.
19
the left (c1), 3 indicates the third (e1), and 4 indicates the fourth (g1). Since there are no fifth or sixth positions, re-roll a 5 or 6 until another number shows. Roll the die, and place a white bishop on the white square indicated (1 indicates b1, 2 indicates d1, and so on). Re-roll a 5 or 6. Roll the die, and place the queen on the first empty position indicated (always skipping filled positions). Thus, a 1 places the queen on the first (leftmost) empty position, while a 6 places the queen on the sixth (rightmost) empty position. Roll the die, and place a knight on the empty position indicated. Re-roll a 6. Roll the die, and place a knight on the empty position indicated. Re-roll a 5 or 6.
This leaves three empty squares. Place the king on the middle empty square, and the rooks on the remaining two squares. Place all white and black pawns on their usual squares, and place Black's pieces to exactly mirror White's (so, Black should have on a8 exactly the same type of piece White has on a1, except that bishops would be on opposite-color squares). This procedure generates any of the 960 possible initial positions with equal chance. This particular procedure uses an average of 6.7 die rolls. Note that one of these initial positions (rolled by 2-3-3-2-3 or 2-3-3-4-2) is the standard chess position, at which point a standard chess game ensues. It is also possible to use this procedure to understand why there are exactly 960 possible initial positions. Each bishop can take one of four positions, the queen one of six, and the two knights can assume five or four possible positions, respectively. This leaves three open squares which the king and rooks must occupy according to setup stipulations, without choice. This means there are 4×4×6×5×4 = 1920 possible starting positions if the two knights were different in some way. However, the two knights are indistinguishable during play (if swapped, there would be no difference). So the number of distinguishable possible positions is half of 1920, or 1920/2 = 960. (Half of the 960 are left-right mirror images of the other half, however Chess960 castling rules preserve left-right asymmetry in play.)
Rules for castling a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
An initial position of kings and rooks
h
Chess960
20
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black has castled h-side (0-0) and White has castled a-side (0-0-0) Chess960 allows each player to castle once per game, moving both the king and a rook in a single move. However, a few reinterpretations of standard chess rules are needed for castling, because the standard rules presume initial locations of the rook and king that often do not apply in Chess960 games. After castling, the rook and king's final positions are exactly the same as they would be in standard chess. Thus, after a-side castling (also called sometimes c-castling), the king is on the c-file (c1 for White and c8 for Black) and the a-side rook is on the d-file (d1 for White and d8 for Black). This move is notated as 0-0-0 and is known as queenside castling in orthodox chess. After h-side castling (also called sometimes g-castling), the king is on the g-file and the h-side rook is on the f-file. This move is notated as 0-0 and is known as kingside castling in orthodox chess. It is recommended that a player state "I am about to castle" before castling, to eliminate potential misunderstanding. However, castling may only occur under the following conditions. The first two are identical to the standard chess castling rules. The third is an extension of the standard chess rule, which requires only that the squares between the king and castling rook must be vacant. 1. Unmoved: The king and the castling rook must not have moved before in the game, including castling. 2. Unattacked: No square between the king's initial and final squares (including the initial and final squares) may be under attack by any opposing piece. 3. Unimpeded: All the squares between the king's initial and final squares (including the final square), and all of the squares between the rook's initial and final squares (including the final square), must be vacant except for the king and castling rook. An equivalent way of stating this is that the smallest back rank interval containing the king, the castling rook, and their destination squares contains no pieces other than the king and castling rook. If the initial position happens to be the standard chess initial position, these castling rules have exactly the same effect as the standard chess castling rules. In some starting positions, some squares can stay filled during castling that would have to be vacant in standard chess. For example, after a-side castling (0-0-0), it's possible to have a, b, and/or e still filled, and after h-side castling (0-0), it's possible to have e and/or h filled. In some starting positions, the king or rook (but not both) do not move during castling.
Chess960
21
How to castle When castling on a physical board with a human player, it is recommended that the king be moved outside the playing surface next to his final position, the rook then be moved from its starting to ending position, and then the king be placed on his final square. This is always unambiguous, and is a simple rule to follow. Eric van Reem suggests other ways to castle: • If only the rook needs to move (jumping over the king), only the rook needs to be moved. • If only the king needs to move (jumping over the castling rook), only the king needs to be moved. • One can pick up both the king and rook (in either order), then place them on their final squares (this is called "transpositioni" castling). • One can move the king to its final square and move the rook to its final square as two separate moves in either order (this is called "double-move" castling). Obviously, if the rook is on the square the king will occupy, the player needs to move the rook first, and if the king is on the square the rook will occupy, the player needs to move the king first. In the meantime there has been an adjustment setting of the WNCA that when performing a castling move it is irrelevant in which sequence involved pieces were touched. All pieces involved in a move may be touched arbitrarily. When castling those pieces are the king and rook, and in capturing moves they are the capturing and the captured piece. Especially with players new to Chess960 it might make sense also to announce a castling to avoid misunderstandings. When a chess clock will be used, pressing the button could be taken as a sign that a castling move has been completed. When castling using a computer interface, programs should have separate a-side (0-0-0) and h-side (0-0) castling actions (e.g., as a button or menu item). Ideally, programs should also be able to detect a king or rook move that cannot be anything other than a castling move and consider that a castling move. Recommended gestures are: the king is moving to his at least two steps distant castling target square or else upon the involved rook, to avoid by this a possible confusion with normal king's moves. When using an electronic board, to castle one should remove the king, remove the castling rook, place the castling rook on its new position, and then place the king on its new position. This will create an unambiguous move for electronic boards, which often only have sensors that can detect the presence or absence of an object on each square (and cannot tell what object is on the square). Ideally, electronic boards should detect a king or rook move that can only be a castling move as well, but users should not count on this.
Gameplay a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chess960 In this start position, the a- and b-pawns are unguarded and subject to immediate attack if either side's f- or g-pawns are moved. The study of openings in Chess960 is in its infancy, but fundamental opening principles still apply, including: protect the king, control the central squares (directly or indirectly), and develop rapidly starting with the less valuable pieces. Some starting positions have unprotected pawns that may need to be dealt with quickly. It has been argued that two games should be played from each starting position, with players alternating as White and Black, since some initial positions may offer White a bigger advantage than in standard chess. For example, in some Chess960 starting positions White can attack an unprotected black pawn after the first move, whereas in standard chess it takes two turns for White to attack and there are no unprotected pawns. (See first-move advantage in chess.)
Recording games and positions Since the initial position is usually not the orthodox chess initial position, recorded games must also record the initial position. Games recorded using the Portable Game Notation (PGN) can record the initial position using Forsyth–Edwards Notation (FEN), as the value of the "FEN" tag. Castling is marked as O-O or O-O-O as in standard chess (except PGN requires letter O not number 0). Note that not all chess programs can handle castling correctly in Chess960 games (except if the initial position is the standard chess initial position). To correctly record a Chess960 game in PGN, an additional "Variant" tag must be used to identify the rules; the rule named "Fischerandom" is accepted by many chess programs as identifying Chess960, though "Chess960" should be accepted as well. Be careful to use "Variant" and not "Variation", which has a different meaning. This means that in a PGN-recorded game, one of the PGN tags (after the initial seven tags) would look like this: [Variant "Fischerandom"]. FEN is capable of expressing all possible starting positions of Chess960. However, unmodified FEN cannot express all possible positions of a Chess960 game. In a game, a rook may move into the back row on the same side of the king as the other rook, or pawn(s) may be underpromoted into rook(s) and moved into the back row. If a rook is unmoved and can still castle, yet there is more than one rook on that side, FEN notation as traditionally interpreted is ambiguous. This is because FEN records that castling is possible on that side, but not which rook is still allowed to castle. A modification of FEN, X-FEN, has been devised by Reinhard Scharnagl to remove this ambiguity. In X-FEN, the castling markings "KQkq" have their expected meanings: "Q" and "q" mean a-side castling is still legal (for White and Black respectively), and "K" and "k" mean h-side castling is still legal (for White and Black respectively). However, if there is more than one rook on the baseline on the same side of the king, and the rook that can castle is not the outermost rook on that side, then the file letter (uppercase for White) of the rook that can castle is used instead of "K", "k", "Q", or "q"; in X-FEN notation, castling potentials belong to the outermost rooks by default. The maximum length of the castling value is still four characters. X-FEN is upwardly compatible with FEN, that is, a program supporting X-FEN will automatically use the normal FEN codes for a traditional chess starting position without requiring any special programming. As a benefit all 18 pseudo FRC positions (positions with traditional placements of rooks and king) still remain uniquely encoded. The solution implemented by chess engines like Shredder and Fritz is to use the letters of the columns on which the rooks began the game. This scheme is sometimes called Shredder-FEN. For the traditional setup, Shredder-FEN would use HAha instead of KQkq.
22
Chess960
History Fischer Random Chess is a variant of Shuffle chess defined by former World Champion Bobby Fischer and introduced formally to the chess public on June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Shuffle Chess had been played for quite some time before this, as early as 1842.[1] Fischer's goal was to eliminate what he considered the complete dominance of openings preparation in chess today, and to replace it with creativity and talent. His belief about Russians fixing all international games also provided motivation. In a situation where the starting position was random it would be impossible to fix every move of the game. Since the opening book for each possible opening position would be too difficult to devote to memory (960 "book opening" systems), each player must create every move originally. From the first move, both players have to come up with original strategies and cannot use well-known thinking patterns. Fischer believed that eliminating memorized book moves would level the playing field. The first Fischer Random Chess tournament was held in Yugoslavia in the spring of 1996, and was won by Grandmaster Péter Lékó. In 2001, Lékó became the first Fischer Random Chess world champion, defeating GM Michael Adams in an eight game match played as part of the Mainz Chess Classic. There were no qualifying matches (also true of the first orthodox world chess champion titleholders), but both players were in the top five in the January 2001 world rankings for orthodox chess. Lékó was chosen because of the many novelties he has introduced to known chess theories, as well as his previous tournament win; in addition, Lékó has supposedly played Fischer Random Chess games with Fischer himself. Adams was chosen because he was the world number one in blitz (rapid) chess and is regarded as an extremely strong player in unfamiliar positions. The match was won by a narrow margin, 4½ to 3½.[2] In 2002 at Mainz, an open tournament was held which attracted 131 players. Peter Svidler won the event. Other interesting events happened in 2002. The website ChessVariants.org selected Fischer Random chess as its "Recognized Variant of the Month" for April 2002. Yugoslavian Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić published in 2002 the book Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?, popularizing this variant further. At the 2003 Mainz Chess Classic, Svidler beat Lékó in an eight game match for the World Championship title by a score of 4.5 - 3.5. The Chess960 open tournament attracted 179 players, including 50 GMs. It was won by Levon Aronian, the 2002 World Junior Champion. Svidler is the official first World New Chess Association (WNCA) world champion inaugurated on August 14, 2003 with Jens Beutel, Mayor of Mainz as the President and Hans-Walter Schmitt, Chess Classic organiser as Secretary.[3] [4] The WNCA maintains an own dedicated Chess960 rating list.[5] Aronian played Svidler for the title at the 2004 Mainz Chess Classic, losing 4.5–3.5. At the same tournament in 2004, Aronian played two Chess960 games against the Dutch computer chess program The Baron, developed by Richard Pijl. Both games ended in a draw. It was the first ever man against machine match in Chess960. Zoltán Almási won the Chess960 open tournament in 2004. In 2005, The Baron played two Chess960 games against Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler; Svidler won 1.5–0.5. The chess program Shredder, developed by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen from Düsseldorf, Germany, played two games against Zoltán Almási from Hungary; Shredder won 2–0. Almási and Svidler played an eight-game match at the 2005 Mainz Chess Classic. Once again, Svidler defended his title, winning 5–3. Levon Aronian won the Chess960 open tournament in 2005. During the Chess Classic 2005 in Mainz, initiated by Mark Vogelgesang and Eric van Reem, the first-ever Chess960 computer chess world championship was played.[6] Nineteen programs, including the powerful Shredder, played in this tournament. As a result of this tournament, Spike became the first Chess960 computer world champion. The 2006 Mainz Chess Classic saw Svidler defending his championship in a rematch against Levon Aronian. This time, Aronian won the match 5–3 to become the third ever Fischer Random Chess World Champion. Étienne Bacrot won the Chess960 open tournament, earning him a title match against Aronian in 2007. In 2006 Shredder won the
23
Chess960
24
computer championship, making it Chess960 computer matches were held, in the women, junior and senior became the first Chess960 Women World Champion Chess960 World Champion was Vlastimil Hort, and Harikrishna.
world champion. Three new Chess960 world championship categories. In the women category, Alexandra Kosteniuk by beating Elisabeth Paehtz 5.5 to 2.5. The 2006 Senior the 2006 Junior Chess960 World Champion was Pentala
In 2007 Mainz Chess Classic Aronian successfully defended his title of Chess960 World Champion over Viswanathan Anand, while Victor Bologan won the Chess960 open tournament. Rybka won the 2007 computer championship. In 2010 the US Chess Federation sponsored its first Chess960 tournament, at the Jerry Hanken Memorial US Open tournament in Irvine, California. This one-day event, directed by Damian Nash, saw a first place tie between GM Larry Kaufmann and FM Mark Duckworth.[7]
Summary table Year
World Chess960 Championship
Mainz Open
World Chess960 Women's Championship
Computer Championship
2001
Péter Lékó (4.5–3.5 vs Michael Adams)
-
-
-
2002
-
Peter Svidler
-
-
2003
Peter Svidler (4.5–3.5 vs Péter Lékó)
Levon Aronian
-
-
2004
Peter Svidler (4.5–3.5 vs Levon Aronian)
Zoltán Almási
-
-
2005
Peter Svidler (5–3 vs Zoltán Almási)
Levon Aronian
-
Spike
2006
Levon Aronian (5–3 vs Peter Svidler)
Étienne Bacrot
Alexandra Kosteniuk (5.5–2.5 vs Elisabeth Pähtz)
Shredder
2007
Levon Aronian (2–2, 1.5–0.5 vs Viswanathan Victor Bologan Anand)
-
Rybka
2008
-
2009
Hikaru Nakamura (3.5–0.5 vs Levon Aronian) Alexander Grischuk
Hikaru Nakamura Alexandra Kosteniuk (2.5–1.5 vs Kateryna Lahno) -
Rybka
Rybka
Chess960
25
Naming This chess variant has held a number of different names. It was initially known as "Fischerandom Chess" after Fischer formalized his variation of Shuffle Chess. Later name forms included "Fischer Random Chess", "FR Chess", and "FRC". Hans-Walter Schmitt, chairman of the Frankfurt Chess Tigers e.V. and an advocate of this variant, started a brainstorming process for selecting a new name, which had to meet requirements of leading grandmasters; specifically, the new name and its parts: 1. should not contain part of the name of any Grandmaster 2. should not include negatively biased or "spongy" elements (such as "random" or "freestyle") 3. should be universally understood The effort culminated in the name choice Chess960 – derived from the number of different possible starting positions.
Hans-Walter Schmitt, Frankfurt 2011
R. Scharnagl, another proponent of the variant, advocated the term "FullChess" instead. But today he uses FullChess to refer to variants which consistently embed traditional chess (e.g. Chess960, and some new variants based on the extended 10×8 piece set in Capablanca chess). He currently recommends the name Chess960 in preference to Fischer Random Chess for the variant. Bobby Fischer never publicly stated his feeling about the name 'Chess960'.
Similar chess variants Non-random setups The initial setup need not necessarily be random. The players or a tournament setting may decide on a specific position in advance, for example. Tournament Directors prefer that all boards in a single round play the same random position, as to maintain order and abbreviate the setup time for each round. Edward Northam suggests the following approach for allowing players to jointly create a position without randomizing tools: First, the back ranks are cleared of pieces, and the white bishops, knights, and queen are gathered together. Starting with Black, the players, in turn, place one of these pieces on White's back rank, where it must stay. The only restriction is that the bishops must go on opposite colored squares. There will be a vacant square of the required color for the second bishop, no matter where the previous pieces have been placed. Some variety could be introduced into this process by allowing each player to exercise a one time option of moving a piece already on the board instead of putting a new piece on the board. After all five pieces have been put on the board, the king must be placed on the middle of the three vacant back rank squares that remain. Rooks go on the other two. This approach to the opening setup has much in common with Pre-Chess, the variant in which White and Black, alternately and independently, fill in their respective back ranks. Pre-Chess could be played with the additional requirement of ending up with a legal Chess960 opening position. A chess clock could even be used during this phase as well as during normal play. Without some limitation on which pieces go on the board first, it is possible to reach impasse positions, which cannot be completed to legal Chess960 starting positions. Example: Q.RB.N.N If the players want to work with all eight pieces, they must have a prior agreement about how to correct illegal opening positions that may arise. If the bishops end up on same color squares, a simple action, such as moving the a-side bishop one square toward the h-file, might
Chess960
26
be agreeable, since there is no question of preserving randomness. Once the bishops are on opposite colored squares, if the king is not between the rooks, it should trade places with the nearest rook.
Chess480 Castling in Chess480 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chess480 castling rule. In Chess960 the king ends up on either g1 (h-side castling) or c1 (a-side castling). In Chess480, the king ends up on h1 (h-side castling) or d1 (a-side castling), while the rook ends up on g1 or e1, respectively. John Kipling Lewis's "Castling in Chess960: An appeal for simplicity"[8] proposes the same rules for the initial position as Chess960, but proposes an alternative set of castling rules. In this variation, the preconditions for castling are the same, but when castling "the king is transferred from its original square two squares towards (or over) the rook, then that rook is transferred to the square the king has just crossed (if it is not already there). If the king and rook are adjacent in a corner and the king cannot move two spaces over the rook, then the king and rook exchange squares." Note that these rules are different from the Chess960 rules, since the final position after castling will usually not be the same as the final position of a castling move in traditional chess. Lewis argues that this alternative better conforms to how the castling move was historically developed. Lewis has named this chess variation "Chess480"; this variation follows the rules of Chess960 with the exception of the castling rules which Lewis has named "Orthodoxed Castling". Note also that although the game can start with any of 960 starting positions, half of these are actually mirror positions that theoretically don't change the games' tactics. Naturally, the right to castle is lost: • if the king has already moved, or • with a rook that has already moved. And castling is prevented temporarily: • if the square on which the king stands, or the square which it must cross, or the square which it is to occupy, is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces. • if there is any piece between the king and the rook with which castling is to be effected, or on the final square the king is going to occupy. Note: There are other claims to the nomenclature 'Chess480'. Reinhard Scharnagl defines it as the white queen is always to the left of the white king. Another way of defining Chess480 is that the white king must always be located
Chess960 on a dark square. The definition could also be that the white king must always be on a light square. The point is that half the positions are mirror image reversals of the other half. It is really up to the individual to decide how to filter the 480 positions. David O'Shaughnessy argues in "Castling in Chess480: An appeal for sanity"[9] that the Chess480 rules are often not useful from a gameplay perspective. In about 66% of starting positions, players have the options of castling deeper into the wing the king started on, or castling into the center of the board (when the king starts on the b-, c-, f-, or g-files). To quote from the wiki Chess page "Castling is an important goal in the early part of a game, because it serves two valuable purposes: it moves the king into a safer position away from the center of the board, and it moves the rook to a more active position in the center of the board". An example of poor castling options is a position where the kings start on g1 and g8 respectively. There will be no possibility of "opposite-side castling" where each player's pawns are free to be used as attacking weapons (as in many Sicilian variations), as the kings scope for movement is very restricted (it can only move to the h- or e-file). These "problem positions" play well with Chess960 castling rules.
Other related chess variants There are other chess variants with rules similar to Chess960. These include: • Chess256 (or Random pawns chess): Only the pawns are randomized, on the 2nd and 3rd rank. Black's position mirrors White's. • Corner chess: Like Chess960, the placement of the pieces on the 1st and 8th row are randomized, but with the king in the right hand corner. Black's starting position is obtained by rotating White's position 180 degrees around the board's center. • Double Fischer Random Chess: Similar to Chess960, but the opening White and Black positions do not mirror each other. • Transcendental chess: Like above, but there is no castling and concept of auction (offering extra moves for the right of picking the side) is added. • Moab Random Chess: A variant of shuffle chess, using the same initial positions as Transcendental Chess and Double Fischer Random, except that the set-up phase is part of the game. Players take turns placing back-rank pieces on their side or their opponent's. Complex castling rules are replaced with the simple "evacuation" of the king to any empty first-rank square. • Shuffle chess: The parent variant of Chess960. No additional rules on the back rank shuffles, castling only possible when king and rook are on their traditional starting squares.
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
http:/ / www. xs4all. nl/ ~timkr/ chess2/ diary_7. htm Tim Krabbe's Diary 123 Peter Leko Biography (http:/ / www. bobby-fischer. net/ Peter-Leko-Biography. htm) http:/ / www. tssonnet. com/ tss2636/ stories/ 20030906005106900. htm http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ newsdetail. asp?newsid=1130 http:/ / ratings. schach-chroniken. net/ ips/ wnca/ topranking. html http:/ / www. chesstigers. de/ ccm5_index. php?lang=1 http:/ / www. alchess. com/ chess/ 10/ usopen/ ?page=STANDINGS& xsection=fischer Lewis, John K. "Castling in Chess960: An appeal for simplicity" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffsetup. dir/ castling_960. html), 2005-09-18. [9] O'Shaughnessy, David. "Castling in Chess480: An appeal for sanity" (http:/ / chess960. net/ castling-in-chess480. html), 2008-11-22.
27
Chess960
External links Descriptions and commentary • The Birth of Fischer Random Chess (http://www.chessvariants.com/diffsetup.dir/fischerh.html) • Chess960.net (http://www.chess960.net/) - Chess960 information: What, where, why and how. • Audio clip of Bobby Fischer (http://www.bobby-fischer.net/bobby_fischer_sound_12.htm) describing his Fischer Random Chess • Fischer Random Chess Description (http://www.chessvariants.org/diffsetup.dir/fischer.html) at ChessVariants.org • "Leko, the first ever kingpin of Fischer Random Chess" (http://web.archive.org/web/20080314230420/http:// www.geocities.com/MIGHTORS1/Leko/Fischerandom6.html) • Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? (http://www.chessville.com/reviews/reviews_Fischerandom.htm) book by Svetozar Gligorić • Play Stronger Chess by Examining Chess960 (http://www.castlelong.com/book/pscbyec960/welcome.shtml) - book by Gene Milener • Reinhard Scharnagl's (English/German) book Fischer-Random-Schach (FRC/Chess960) ISBN 3-8334-1322-0 (German server) • CCRL (http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/404FRC/) Computer Chess Engines FRC Ratings List
Chess960, servers tools and software • Lichess (http://lichess.org/) - Play Chess960 with a friend or an AI. No registration, no download, no flash. Integrated chat and analyse mode. Opensource website. To castle, drag and drop the king on the destination square unless there is ambiguity with a normal one-square king-move, in which case drop the king on to the rook you want to castle with. • Chess Hotel (http://www.chesshotel.com/play-random-chess.php) - Play Chess960 free in real-time, no registration required, browser-based. • www.mychess.de - Internet Chess Server (http://www.mychess.de/) - Play Chess960 free in correspondence time, registration required, browser based or with mobile device. • Free Internet Chess Server (http://www.freechess.org/) - Play Chess960 free, not browser based, with software download interface. • The Email/Correspondence Chess Club (http://frcec.chess960.info/) for Chess960 • Arena interface (http://www.playwitharena.com/) play against an engine or against other people over the Internet • Fischer random chess generator (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/fischerandom) - online tool to create a random Chess960 position. • Free web based PGN Player (http://www.playchess960.com/chess960player/pgn.html) capable of reviewing Chess and Chess960 games. (Broken? Nov 21-10) • Free web-based player (http://www.chessfordollars.com) capable of large-scale Chess960 tournaments (scaled for 50,000 players per tournament). • Scid Vs PC (http://scidvspc.sf.net) free chess program with the ability to play Chess960 against a computer opponent. • iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/app/chess960-calculator/id337551742?mt=8) Chess960 Calculator • brettspielnetz.de (http://www.brettspielnetz.de/java/chess960/index.php) Chess960 against Java Applet • ChessManiac.com (http://www.chessmaniac.com) - Play Chess960 with players from all over the world. • Meingames.de (http://www.meingames.de) - Play Chess960 against other people over the Internet. • Chess.com (http://www.chess.com?ref_id=650541) - Play free online chess, including tournamnets, Chess960, blitz, live chess, and many more.
28
Transcendental chess
29
Transcendental chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Transcendental chess. One of the possible starting positions. Transcendental chess is a chess variant invented in 1978 by Maxwell Lawrence.[1] It inspired Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess) which is similar but has fewer starting positions. In transcendental chess the beginning positions of the pieces on the back row are randomly determined, with the one restriction that the bishops be on opposite-colored squares. There are 8,294,400 such positions in total. In Chess960 there are 960 possible starting positions, but that is because the king must be located between the rooks and both sides must have the same starting position. In transcendental chess there is no such rule so the position of one side can be any of 42 x 6! / 22 = 2880. There is no castling. On the first turn a player, instead of making a move, can transpose any of two pieces on the back row. In Chess960 the back rows are mirror images, but in transcendental chess the setup of black and white is different 2879 out of every 2880 times (there being a 1-in-2880 chance that both sides will draw the same setup). This can create inequalities in the position. One way to equalize these inequalities is to play a couplet: the players play two games, one each as white and as black. To win the couplet, a player must win at least one game and draw the other. The other way to equalize the opening positions is auction transcendental chess, in which each player bids to give his or her opponent extra opening moves in order to play the side of the board he or she wants. In orthodox chess, innovations in opening play are increasingly hard to come by, with most good players having processed an extensive catalogue of opening moves—novelties tend to occur later in the game. Transcendental chess offers opening complexity and novelty immediately because every game starts in a dense and unfamiliar position.
Variations • D-chess: Similar to Transcendental Chess, but only one game is needed to be played against each opponent as the unequal starting positions are equalized with the weaker side having the option to transpose two pieces and then gets to move first.[2] • Moab Random Chess: A variant of shuffle chess similar to Transcendental Chess, invented by philosopher and game theorist Eulalio Paul Cane in Moab, Utah, in 1997. Moab Random Chess uses the same initial positions as Transcendental Chess, except that the set-up phase is part of the game. Players take turns placing pieces on their back rank or their opponent's back rank until a Transcendental Chess starting position is reached. Because the piece set-up phase is part of the overall game strategy, the "auction" concept of Transcendental Chess is not necessary. Strategic skill, not fate, is responsible for any inequalities in the initial position. In addition, Moab
Transcendental chess Random has an "evacuation" rule similar that is a simplified form of castling: The king can move to any unoccupied first-rank square just once in the game, so long as it has not moved and is not in check. The concept of "evacuation" keeps the feeling of castling from Classical Chess because the king can suddenly relocate to another region of the board. Yet, like Transcendental Chess, the "evacuation" concept avoids the complex and awkward piece placement rules of castling in Fischer Random Chess (Chess960).
References [1] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. [2] D-Chess (http:/ / www. d-chess. com)
30
31
Different forces Chess handicap a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move; Black has given odds of Pawn and move. A handicap (or "odds") in chess is a way to enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger one. There are many kinds of such handicaps, such as material odds, extra moves (i.e. the weaker player can play the first x number of moves at the beginning of the game), extra time on the chess clock, and special conditions (such as requiring the odds-giver to deliver checkmate with a specified chess piece or pawn). Various permutations of these, such as "Pawn and two moves", are also possible. Handicaps were quite popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, when chess was often played for money stakes, in order to induce weaker players to play for wagers. Today, except for time odds, handicaps are rarely seen. However, the very strong chess engine Rybka has recently played a series of odds matches against strong human players.
Purpose and types of handicaps The purpose of a handicap, or odds, is to compensate for the difference in skill between two chess players.[1] [2] [3] There are many kinds of handicaps: material odds; extra moves; time odds; special restrictions (such as pion coiffé); weighting of results (such as "draw odds" - counting a draw as a loss for the odds-giver); differential stakes; and physical restrictions, such as blindfold chess.[1] [4] Many different permutations of handicaps (for example, a material handicap plus time odds) are also possible,[5] [6] as are countervailing handicaps (for example, a player gives up a piece, but receives one of the opponent's pieces or pawns and/or extra moves, in return).[7] [8] [9] Harry Golombek gives the following list of material odds (in increasing handicap level):[10] Note that the odds-giver plays White unless otherwise indicated, and "pawn odds" normally refers to the f-pawn (i.e. the pawn initially located on the f2-square for White, and on the f7-square for Black).[11] [12] • Odds of the move: Weaker player plays White. • Two moves: Weaker player plays White and starts the game by making two moves. • Pawn and move: Weaker player plays White; a black pawn (typically that on f7) is removed from the board.
Chess handicap
32
• Pawn and two moves: Weaker player plays the first two moves, and Black's pawn on f7 is removed from the board. • Knight odds: One of the stronger player's knights is removed, usually the queen's knight on b1. • Rook odds: One of the stronger player's rooks is removed, usually the queen's rook on a1. • Rook and pawn: Stronger player's queen rook and f-pawn are removed. • Two minor pieces: The odds-giver chooses which two of White's knights and/or bishops to remove. • Rook and knight: White's queen rook and queen knight are removed. • Queen odds: The stronger player's queen is removed. • Two rooks: Both of White's rooks are removed. • Strong king: The king can move up to two squares in any direction. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White mates in two moves no matter what Black plays Larry Kaufman writes that under the chess tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries, the handicap below knight odds was: • Pawn and three moves: White plays the first three moves, and Black plays without the f7 pawn.[13] In odds games with extra moves (Pawn and two moves, Pawn and three moves), the odds-receiver cannot move beyond the fourth rank with those moves.[14] [15] Otherwise, White could win immediately with 1.e3 2.Bd3 3.Qh5+ g6 4.Qxg6+ hxg6 5.Bxg6#.[13] [14] Even with the "no moves beyond the fourth rank" proviso, Black cannot give White an unlimited number of moves. Doing so would allow White to set up the position at right, when White's dual threats of 1.Qxf7# and 1.Ned6+ cxd6 2.Nxd6# are immediately decisive.[16] I.A. Horowitz adds to the above list the following:[15] • Draw odds: The smallest of these handicaps; the stronger player plays White, and draws are counted as wins for Black. • Queen for a Rook: A handicap between Knight odds and Rook odds; the odds-giver's queen, and the odds-receiver's queen rook, are removed. • Queen for a Knight: A handicap slightly greater than Rook odds; the odds-giver's queen, and the odds-receiver's queen knight, are removed.
Chess handicap
Other forms of handicap Time handicaps are most often practiced in blitz games. The stronger player may be given one or two minutes to play the whole game, while the weaker player receives five minutes or more. Money odds are another way of compensating for a difference in strength; the stronger player puts up some multiple (three, five, ten, etc.) of the amount of money put up by the weaker player.[17] [18] In the 16th-19th centuries sometimes the pion coiffé (or capped pawn) handicap was used, usually for players of much different playing strengths. The stronger player must checkmate with a particular pawn, which is usually marked at the start of play. The pawn cannot be promoted. Giving checkmate with any other pawn or piece loses the game. Pietro Carrera proved that in the endgame king, queen and pawn versus king (pion coiffé), a win can be forced unless the pawn lies on a central file. Carrera considered pion coiffé to be about equivalent to giving odds of a queen.[19] Similarly, games have occasionally been played with a ringed piece, where a ring or band is placed around a particular piece, and the player giving odds must checkmate with that piece.[20] [21] [22] (See illustrative games.) This form of odds, and pion coiffé, are very difficult for the odds-giver, who cannot allow the odds-receiver to sacrifice for the capped or ringed piece or pawn.[23] [24] For instance, in pion coiffé, after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5, Black already threatens to sacrifice the queen for the capped pawn if it is the a, d, or g-pawn, to play 3...Qe5+ followed by such a sacrifice if it is the b or h-pawn, or to play 3...Qe4+ followed by a sacrifice if it is the c-pawn. Staunton relied on a 1617 work by Carrera in discussing pion coiffé, the ringed piece, money odds, draw odds, and the following other "eccentric and peculiar Odds":[25] • Checkmate on a particular square: This may mean either that the odds-receiver's king must be mated while on the specified square, or that the odds-giver's piece must administer mate from that square. Carrera considered the first of these roughly equivalent to knight odds, the second a bit less.[26] Assiac observed of the first, "This sounds like a formidable proposition, but it really isn't. All the better player has to do is reduce the game to a favorable ending. Thereafter, having promoted a pawn or two, he will find the rest easy."[27] • Checkmate with a pawn: The mating pawn may be any pawn, not a specified pawn, as in pion coiffé. Carrera considered this form of odds equivalent to giving odds of two pawns.[28] • Giving all the pieces for two moves each time: The odds-giver begins the game with only the king and pawns, while the odds-receiver has a full complement of pieces and pawns. In exchange for this, the odds-giver plays two moves on each turn, while the odds-receiver can only play one. Carrera wrote that while some considered this an even game, he thought that it favored the pieces, although the side with the pieces must play cautiously. The player with the pieces should try to eliminate the pawns, for instance by giving up two pawns for one, or a minor piece for two pawns.[29] • Giving the king the knight's move: The odds-receiver's king, in addition to being able to move in the usual manner, is able to move like a knight. Carrera considered this form of odds improper because it allows the odds-receiver to use his king to checkmate the enemy king from a knight's move away (for example, with the odds-receiver's king at g6 and the odds-giver's king at h8, the latter is in check and, if no legal response is possible, is checkmated).[30] Carrera considered this form of odds equivalent to giving rook and pawn odds. Because of the king's unusual power, the odds-giver requires more material than usual in order to checkmate a bare king (for example, queen and another piece, or two rooks).[30] • Giving the queen the knight's move: Similarly to the above, the odds-receiver's queen (rather than king) has the additional ability to move like a knight. This makes the queen very powerful, since she has the ability to administer mate without the assistance of any other pieces (for instance, an enhanced queen on h6 mates a king on h8, since Kg8 would still leave the king in check). Carrera considered this roughly equivalent to knight odds, although it varied depending on the players' strengths.[30] • Odds of the castled king The odds-receiver begins the game with the positions of his king and one of his rooks interchanged (e.g., king on h8 or a8, and the displaced rook on the king's square). The first way (king on h8, rook
33
Chess handicap on e8) is used unless otherwise specified before the game. Carrera thought this form of odds equivalent to the player with normally placed pieces giving a little less than two pawns, or a little less than a knight if the a8-rook and king are the ones interchanged. Staunton noted that Carrera's description and examples of these odds "are not adapted to our mode of castling" since the king and rook do not end up on the same squares they would normally occupy after castling.[31] Staunton also mentioned the following unusual forms of odds not discussed by Carrera: • Odds of the losing game: The odds-giver undertakes to force the odds-receiver to checkmate him.[32] (See Paris-Marseilles, correspondence 1878, given below.) • Additional pawns: The odds-giver permits the odds-receiver to begin the game with a specified number of extra pawns (for example, eight extra pawns).[33] Unless specially agreed, the side with the extra pawns moves first.[34] • Odds of queen rook in exchange for the opponent's queen knight, or pawn and move, or pawn and two moves.[35] • Odds of queen knight in exchange for pawn and move, or in exchange for the first two moves.[36]
History According to Harry Golombek, "Odds-giving reached its heyday in the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century."[10] Indeed, it was so prevalent in the 18th century that Philidor (1726–95) played the vast majority of his games at odds.[10] About fifteen percent of the known games of Paul Morphy (1837–84) are games in which he gave odds.[37] Howard Staunton in The Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) advised inexperienced players to accept odds offered by superior players and, upon improving to the point that they can themselves give odds to some players, to avoid playing such players on even terms, warning that doing so is apt to induce "an indolent, neglectful habit of play".[38] In 1849, Staunton published The Chess-Player's Companion, a 510-page work "chiefly directed to the exposition of openings where one party gives odds".[39] Just over 300 pages were devoted to odds games: Book I (pages 1 to 185) contained games played at various odds, and most of Book V (specifically pages 380-496) discussed various types of odds, including exotic and unusual ones.[40] The late-19th century chess opening treatise Chess Openings Ancient and Modern, by Edward Freeborough and Charles Ranken, included fourteen pages of analysis of best play in games played at odds of Pawn and move, Pawn and two moves, and either knight.[41] Macon Shibut writes that in the mid-19th century "chess was a gambling game ... . Individual matches for stakes were the focus of organized play. Matches between leading players attracted a wide following so masters often succeeded in finding sponsors to back their personal wagers."[42] However, the available sums were generally relatively meager, and travel was arduous, so the amount of money obtained in this way was not sufficient to enable professional chess players to support themselves financially."[42] Moreover, the first major chess tournament was not organized until 1851,[43] and chess tournaments remained a rarity for several decades after that.[44] With tournaments not a reliable means of making a living, odds-giving became a way for masters to entice amateurs into playing for wagers, since the odds gave the amateur a fighting chance.[1] [42] [45] The odds system even became the earliest rating system: amateurs were graded according to what handicap they needed to compete against a master, and were referred to as a "Rook player" or "Pawn and Move player" as we would today speak of players by their Elo ratings, e.g. "1200 player" and "1800 player".[46] The playing of games at odds gradually grew rarer as the nineteenth century proceeded.[10] Today, odds games, except for those at time odds, have all but disappeared.[47] Shibut posits that games played at material odds became unpopular for (1) technological, (2) political, and (3) philosophical reasons. Taking these in turn, first, the introduction of chess clocks gave rise to a new way to give odds, one that has today supplanted material odds as the preferred mode of odds-giving. Second, the Soviet Union supported chess masters and sponsored chess education, but expected chess masters "to be cultural icons, not hustlers". Third, chess began to be treated in a scientific, logical way, "with an assumption of idealized 'best play' [coming] to underpin all analysis". From this perspective, a game
34
Chess handicap beginning from a "lost" position becomes less interesting, even distasteful.[4] Writings by Wilhelm Steinitz (1836–1900), the first World Champion, and James Mason (1849–1905) are consistent with the last point.[48] [49] In an interview with Ralph Ginzburg published in the January 1962 issue of Harper's Magazine, future World Champion Bobby Fischer was quoted as saying that he could successfully give knight odds to any woman in the world:[50] [51] [52] They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat. Fischer later claimed that Ginzburg had distorted what he had said.[53] There is no doubt that Fischer would have failed at such an endeavor.[54] World Champion Emanuel Lasker had failed at such an endeavor in 1894, losing a match at knight odds to Jackson Showalter's wife; he scored two wins and five losses.[55] In 2001, London businessman Terence Chapman, a master-level player, played a match against former world champion Garry Kasparov with Kasparov giving odds of two pawns in each game (the pawns to be removed being different each time); Kasparov won the match by two games to one, with one draw.[56] The very strong chess engine Rybka has recently played a series of odds matches against strong human players. On March 6–8, 2007, Rybka gave Grandmaster (GM) Jaan Ehlvest pawn odds (removing a different pawn each time), with Rybka having White in every game. Rybka won 5.5-2.5.[57] On January 8, 2008, Rybka gave GM Joel Benjamin draw odds, with Benjamin having White in all games. Rybka won six games and drew two, thus winning the match 6-2.[58] On March 7, 2008, Rybka gave pawn and move (removing a different pawn each time) to GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, drawing the match 4-4.[59] On June 8, 2008, Rybka gave knight odds to FIDE Master John Meyer, losing 4-0.[60] [61] On July 6, 2008, Rybka gave Meyer odds of pawn and three moves, winning 3-1.[62] [63]
Rating equivalent Grandmaster Larry Kaufman wrote the following about the Elo rating equivalence of giving knight odds:[64] [T]he Elo equivalent of a given handicap degrades as you go down the scale. A knight seems to be worth around a thousand points when the "weak" player is around IM level, but it drops as you go down. For example, I'm about 2400 and I've played tons of knight odds games with students, and I would put the break-even point (for untimed but reasonably quick games) with me at around 1800, so maybe a 600 value at this level. An 1800 can probably give knight odds to a 1400, a 1400 to an 1100, an 1100 to a 900, etc. This is pretty obviously the way it must work, because the weaker the players are, the more likely the weaker one is to blunder a piece or more. When you get down to the level of the average 8 year old player, knight odds is just a slight edge, maybe 50 points or so. Kaufman has written that Kasparov could give pawn and move odds to a low grandmaster (2500 FIDE rating) and be slightly favored, and would have even chances at knight odds against a player with a FIDE rating of 2115.[65]
Illustrative games
35
Chess handicap
36
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Eckart-Tarrasch, position after 13. ... Rxd4 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Eckart-Tarrasch, position after 16.Nc3 Pawn and move This game was won by Siegbert Tarrasch, whom Assiac described as "one of the greatest experts of 'Pawn and move' theory".[27] [66] K. Eckart-Tarrasch, Nuremberg Chess Club Championship 1887-88 (remove Black's f-pawn) 1.e4 Nc6 2.f4 e5 3.Nf3 exf4 4.Bc4 Bc5 Planning the following unsound but tricky sacrifice. 5.d4 Nxd4?! 6.Nxd4 Qh4+ 7.Kf1 d5 Sacrificing another pawn for rapid development. 8.exd5 Bg4 9.Bb5+? Evidently overlooking Black's next move. Correct was 9.Qd3, with a satisfactory defense. c6! 10.dxc6 0-0-0! 11.cxb7+ Kxb7 12.Bc6+ Kb6 13.Qd3 Rxd4 Black has regained the sacrificed piece and, contrary to appearances, his king is quite safe. 14.Qb5+ Kc7 15.Qb7+ Kd6 16.Nc3 Allowing a pretty finish, but 16.Bf3 Rd1+! 17.Ke2 (17.Bxd1 Qf2#) Bxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Rxh1 also wins for Black. Qf2+! 17.Kxf2 Rd1+ (discovered check) 18.Be3 Bxe3# 0-1 Notes based on those by Fred Reinfeld.[67]
Chess handicap
37
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Zukertort-Epureanu, position after Black's 19th move a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Zukertort-Epureanu, final position; Black, ahead a queen, bishop, and knight, is defenseless. Knight odds Johannes Zukertort-Epureanu, Berlin 1872 (remove White's queen knight) 1.f4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.b3 d5 4.Bb2 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.a3 a6 7.Bd3 Bd6 8.Qe2 0-0 9.g4 Nxg4? Imprudently allowing White to attack Black's king along the g-file. 10.Qg2 Nf6 11.h4 h6 12.h5 Kh8 13.0-0-0 Ne8 14.Rdg1 Rg8 15.Bh7!! f6 (15...Kxh7 16.Qg6+!! fxg6 17.hxg6+ Kh8 18.Rxh6#) 16.Bxg8 Kxg8 17.Qg6 Kh8 18.Ng5! hxg5 19.fxg5 Ne7 20.gxf6!! Nxg6 21.hxg6+ Kg8 22.Rh8+! Kxh8 23.f7 1-0 There is no defense against mate. If 23...Qh4 (stopping the threatened 24.Rh1+), 24.fxe8(Q)+ Bf8 25.Qxf8#. Francis J. Wellmuth calls this "the finest odds-game ever played". Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld call the conclusion "the finest finish in this type of contest." Notes by Chernev and Reinfeld, Wellmuth, and Napier.[68] [69] [70] [71]
Chess handicap
38
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kashdan-Horneman, position after Black's 13th move a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kashdan-Horneman, position after 16.Ng7# Rook odds Isaac Kashdan-Buster Horneman, Manhattan Chess Club 1930 (remove White's queen rook) 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.Qg4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nh6 6.Qh3 Be7 7.Bd3 b6 8.Qg3 Nf5 9.Bxf5 exf5 10.Qxg7 Rf8 11.Nxd4 Ba6? 12.Nxf5 Nd7 13.Bg5 f6? 14.e6! fxg5 15.Qg6+!! hxg6 16.Ng7# 1-0[15] [72] [73] a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chess handicap
39 Morphy-Maurian, position after White's 9th move a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Morphy-Maurian, final position It would be a mistake to suppose that the odds-giver always wins. Even the strongest players sometimes meet with disaster: Paul Morphy-Charles Maurian, Springhill 1855 (remove White’s queen rook) 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Qh4+ 4.Kf1 b5 5.Bd5 Nc6 6.Nf3 Qh5 7.d4 Nf6 8.Bb3 Ba6 9.Qe2 Nxd4! 10.Nxd4 b4! 11.Qxa6?? Qd1+ 12.Kf2 Ng4# 0-1[74] [75] a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Apscheneek-Amateur, position after Black's 21st move a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
Chess handicap
40 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Apscheneek-Amateur, position after 25.Nh6# Queen odds Apscheneek-Amateur, Riga 1934 (remove White's queen) 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.0-0-0 Nf6 5.f3 0-0 6.e3 c6 7.g4 h6 8.Nge2 Be6 9.Ng3 Nbd7 10.h4 Nh7 11.g5 hxg5 12.hxg5 Bxg5 13.Bd3 Bh6 14.Rdg1 d5 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16.Bxf5 Qf6 17.Bxd7 d4 18.exd4 exd4 19.Ne2 Qe7 20.Nxd4 Qxd7 21.Rxh6 Rad8 22.Rxg7+! Kxg7 23.Nf5+ (double check) Kg8 24.Rg6+! fxg6 25.Nh6#[76] a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Lange-von Schierstedt, position after White's 14th move a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Lange-von Schierstedt, final position: the ringed knight mates Ringed piece Max Lange- Jenny von Schierstedt, Halle 1856 (White's queen knight is the ringed piece with which he must checkmate) 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3 g5 5.Bc4 g4 6.0-0 gxf3 7.d4 fxg2 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Qh5+ Kg7 10.Rxf4 Nh6 11.Be3 d6 12.Ne2 Qe7 13.Kxg2 Be6 14.Raf1 Bf7? Black could have won with 14...Qg5+!!, when 15.Qxg5 would checkmate Black, but violate the stipulation that the queen knight must checkmate.[77] 15.Qxh6+!! Kxh6 16.Rg4+ Kh5 17.Ng3+ Kxg4 18.Rf5 h6 19.h3+ Kh4 20.Rh5+ Bxh5 21.Nf5#[20] [21] [22]
Chess handicap
41
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Staunton-Taverner, position after White's 3rd move; White guards the capped pawn against frontal attack a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Staunton-Taverner, final position; the capped pawn gives mate Pion coiffé Howard Staunton-Taverner?, date unknown (White's pawn on g2 is the capped pawn, with which he must give checkmate)[78] 1.Nc3 e5 2.Ne4 d5 3.Ng3 Covering the pawn to make it less assailable by Black's pieces. f5 4.e3 Bd6 5.c4 h5 6.Nxh5 Qg5 7.Ng3 f4 8.exf4 Not 8.Nf3??, when 8...Bh3! would win the g-pawn and the game. exf4 9.d4 Qg6 10.Bd3 Qh6 Now Black threatens 11...Qh3! and wins. 11.Qh5+ Qxh5 12.Nxh5 Rxh5 13.Bg6+ Ke7 14.Bxh5 Nf6 15.Bf3 g5 16.c5 g4 17.cxd6+ cxd6 18.Bxg4 Bxg4 19.Bxf4 Nh5 20.Bg3 Nc6 21.h3 21.f3? Be6 22.Ne2 Rg8 23.Kf2 Bh3! 24.gxh3 Nxg3 followed by 25...Rh8 would win the capped pawn. Be6 22.Ne2 Rg8 23.Rc1 Bf5 24.Rc3 Be4 25.Re3 Nb4 26.Kd2 Nxa2 27.Ra1 Nb4 28.Rxa7 Nc6 29.Rxb7+ Ke6 30.Rh7 Rg5 31.Rxe4+ dxe4 32.Rxh5 Rxh5 33.Nf4+ Ke7 34.Nxh5 Nxd4 35.Ke3 Nc2+ 36.Kxe4 Ne1 Attacking the "game pawn". 37.Bh4+ Kd7 38.g4 Kc6 39.f4 Nc2 40.f5 d5+ 41.Kf4 d4 42.Bf2 d3 43.Be3 Nd4 44.Ke4 d2 45.Bxd2 Nb3 46.Be3 Kd6 47.Nf6 Kc6 48.h4 Na5 49.h5 Nc4 50.Bf4 Nxb2 51.h6 Na4 52.h7 Nc5+ 53.Ke3 Kb5 54.Ne4 Na6 55.h8(Q) Ka5 56.Qc3+ Kb5 57.Qb3+ Ka5 58.Nc3 Nc5 59.Bc7+ Ka6 60.Qb5+ Ka7 61.Qxc5+ Ka6 Deliberately allowing checkmate. 62.Qa5+ Kb7 63.Ke4 Kc8 64.Qa7 Kd7 65.Qb7 Ke7 66.Qc8 Kf6 67.Bd8+ Kg7 68.Qe6 Kf8 69.Qe7+ Kg8 70.Nd5 Kh8 71.g5 Kg8 72.g6 Kh8 73.Ke5 Kg8 74.Nf6+ Kh8 75.g7# Notes by Staunton, who wrote that he and his opponent played many games at these odds, of which this was "perhaps the weakest, but ... also the shortest".[79] [80]
Chess handicap
42
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Paris-Marseilles, position after 67.Kbl a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Paris-Marseilles, final position; Black, having forced White to give checkmate, wins Odds of queen in return for requiring Black to force White to checkmate Paris-Marseilles, correspondence 1878 (Remove White's queen; in response for receiving the queen, Black undertakes to force White to checkmate Black) 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 c6 3.Nf3 g6 4.e4 e6 5.e5 Bb4 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 b5 8.h4 h5 9.0-0-0 a6 10.Ng5 f5 11.g3 Nh6 12.Bd3 Nf7 13.Bxf5? gxf5 14.Nxf7 Kxf7 15.Bd2 Nd7 16.Rhe1 c5 17.dxc5 Nxc5 18.Bg5 Qg8 19.Re3 Bb7 20.Rc3 Rc8 21.Be3 Nd7 22.Bd4 Rxc3 23.bxc3 a5 24.Kd2 a4 25.Rb1 Ba6 26.Rg1 Qg4 27.Rb1 Rc8 28.Rb4 Rc4 29.Rxc4 dxc4 30.a3 f4 31.Kc1 fxg3 32.fxg3 Qxg3 33.Kb2 Qxh4 34.Kc1 Qe1+ 35.Kb2 Qd1 36.Ba7 Nxe5 37.Bc5 h4 38.Bd4 Nc6 39.Be3 e5 40.Bf2 h3 41.Bg3 e4 42.Bf4 Ke6 43.Bg3 e3 44.Bf4 e2 45.Bg3 Kd7 46.Bh2 e1(Q) 47.Bf4 Qee2 48.Bg3 Qdxc2+ 49.Ka1 Qf1+ 50.Be1 Qd2 Now White is reduced to shuffling the king back and forth while Black sets up self-mate. 51.Kb1 h2 52.Ka1 h1(Q) 53.Kb1 Qf8 54.Ka1 Qxa3+ 55.Kb1 Qad6 56.Ka1 Qf6 57.Kb1 Kc7 58.Ka1 b4 59.Kb1 b3 60.Ka1 Kb6 61.Kb1 Ka5 62.Ka1 Ne7! 63.Kb1 Nc8 64.Ka1 Bb5 65.Kb1 Qa6! 66.Ka1 Nb6 67.Kb1 Qh7+ 68.Ka1 Qxc3+! 69.Bxc3# The only legal move. 0-1 Black, having forced White to checkmate, wins.[81] [82]
Chess handicap
References [1] David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed. 1992, p. 166 ("handicap" entry). ISBN 0-19-866164-9. [2] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. [3] Assiac, The Pleasures of Chess, Dover Publications, 1960, p. 147. [4] Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, p. 124. ISBN 978-0486435749. [5] For example, in 1747 Philidor won a match against Philipp Stamma in which Philidor gave move odds and draw odds in every game. H. J. R. Murray, A History of Chess, Oxford University Press, 1913, p. 862. ISBN 0-19-827403-3. By another account, Philidor gave draw odds and 5:4 money odds. David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed. 1992), Oxford University Press, p. 303. ISBN 0-19-866164-9. According to a third account, he gave all of these: move odds, draw odds, and 5-4 money odds. Harry Golombek, Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishers, pp. 304-05. ISBN 0-517-53146-1. [6] In 1914, future World Champion Alexander Alekhine played the famous composer Sergei Prokofiev blindfold and at knight odds. Prokofiev won handily in 31 moves. Andrew Soltis, Chess to Enjoy, Stein and Day, 1978, pp. 92-93. ISBN 0-8128-6059-4. [7] Staunton gives the score of games where Kieseritzky gave odds of his queen rook in exchange for the opponent's queen knight, and Philidor gave odds of his queen rook in return for pawn and move. He also mentions odds of queen rook in exchange for pawn and two moves. Staunton, The Chess Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 409-12. Staunton also cites games where Philidor gave odds of queen knight in exchange for pawn and move, and in exchange for the first two moves. Id., pp. 435-40. [8] Irving Chernev cites a game Andreaschek-Dr. R.M., Olmütz 1901, where White gave queen odds in return for the right to make the first six moves: 1.e4 2.d4 3.Nc3 4.f4 5.Nf3 6.Bc4 d6 7.h3 Nd7 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Kf6? 10.Nd5+ Kg6 11.f5+ Kh6 12.Nf7+ Kh5 13.g4+ (13.Bg5! Ngf6 14.Nf4#) Kh4 14.Kf2 e5 15.Ne3 any 16.Ng2#. Irving Chernev, The Chess-Player's Companion, Simon and Schuster, 1973, p. 215. [9] A bizarre example of countervailing odds was Paris-Marseilles, correspondence 1878. Marseilles received queen odds, in return for which it undertook to force Paris to checkmate it. (See game at the end of this article.) [10] Harry Golombek, Golombek’s Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishers, 1977, p. 218. [11] Howard Staunton, The Chess Player's Handbook, Henry G. Bohn, 1847, p. 36. [12] James Mason, The Principles of Chess in Theory and Practice, David McKay, Fourth Edition, c. 1910, pp. 317-18. [13] 2008-06-30 comment by Kaufman (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=4658) [14] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 440. [15] I.A. Horowitz, All About Chess, Collier Books, 1971, pp. 56-57. [16] Andy Soltis, Chess to Enjoy, Stein and Day, 1978, pp. 104-05. ISBN 0-8128-6059-4. [17] Staunton discusses 2-1 money odds, for example betting two pounds on each game to the opponent's one. Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 388-89. [18] In 1963 Bobby Fischer, playing five-minute chess, gave 10-1 money odds to Stewart Reuben and 20-1 money odds to National Master Asa Hoffman. John Donaldson and Eric Tangborn, The Unknown Bobby Fischer, International Chess Enterprises, 1999, p. 71. ISBN 1-879479-85-0. [19] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 384. [20] Irving Chernev, Wonders and Curiosities of Chess, Dover Publications, 1974, p. 31. ISBN 0-486-23007-4. [21] Edward Winter, Kings, Commoners and Knaves, Russell Enterprises, 1999, pp. 114-15. ISBN 1-888690-04-6. [22] Chess Notes No. 3502 (http:/ / www. chesshistory. com/ winter/ winter03. html#3500. _Capablanca_origins) [23] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 383 (quoting Carrera). [24] "[O]bviously, the odds-receiver can go to any limit of material sacrifice in order to get rid of that one 'fatal' piece. Conversely, this means that the odds-giver must guard that particular piece no less jealously than his King--a condition liable to cramp the style and tax the ingenuity of the best player." Assiac, The Pleasures of Chess, Dover Publications, 1960, p. 153. [25] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, 1849, Henry G. Bohn, pp. 380-81. [26] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 381. [27] Assiac, The Pleasures of Chess, Dover Publications, 1960, p. 150. [28] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 387. [29] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 389. [30] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 390. [31] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 391. [32] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 395. [33] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, 1849, pp. 395-400. [34] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 398. [35] Staunton, The Chess Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 409-12. [36] Howard Staunton, The Chess Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, pp. 435-40. [37] Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, p. 121. ISBN 978-0486435749. [38] Staunton began his "MAXIMS AND ADVICE FOR AN INEXPERIENCED PLAYER" as follows:
43
Chess handicap There is nothing that will improve you so much as playing with good players ; never refuse, therefore, when any one offers you odds, to accept them : you cannot expect a proficient to feel much interest in playing with you upon even terms, and as you are sure to derive both amusement and instruction from him, it is but fair that he should name the conditions. It will soon happen that you yourself will be able to give odds to many amateurs whom you meet ; when this is the case, avoid, if possible, playing them even, or you are likely to acquire an indolent, neglectful habit of play, which it will be very difficult to throw off. When you cannot induce such players to accept odds, propose to play for a small stake ; and they will soon be glad to take all the advantages you can offer. Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Handbook, Henry G. Bohn, 1847, pp. 46-47. [39] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. v. [40] Books II and III were devoted to games not at odds, classified by opening, Book IV analyzed the games of Staunton's 1843 match against Saint Amant. The last chapter of Book V was devoted to chess problems. [41] E. Freeborough and Rev. C.E. Ranken, Chess Openings Ancient and Modern, Third Edition, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., London, 1896, pp. 271-84. The authors, after discussing general principles applicable to odds games, devoted pages 274-76 to analyzing games played at Pawn and move, pages 277-79 to Pawn and two moves games, pages 281-82 to games played at queen knight odds, and page 283 to the unusual odds of king knight. [42] Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, p. 122. ISBN 978-0486435749. [43] "Indeed, it was not until the International Tournament of 1851, held at the Crystal Palace of the London Exhibition, that tournament play entered the chess scene." Robert Byrne "Chess" (http:/ / query. nytimes. com/ gst/ fullpage. html?res=9907E1DD1338F937A25752C0A961958260), The New York Times, January 14, 1997. Accessed July 21, 2008. [44] Reuben Fine writes that for Adolf Anderssen (1818-79), winner of the 1851 tournament, "There were few tournaments (none at all from 1851 to 1857)". Reuben Fine, The World's Great Chess Games, Dover, 1983, p. 16. ISBN 0-486-24512-8. Similarly, for Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), the first World Champion, "active tournaments were few and far between ... Steinitz could hardly find one every three or four years". Id. at 31. It was only during Emanuel Lasker's 1894-1921 reign as World Champion that "the institution of the chess tournament was really developed", with "half a dozen international tournaments a year and innumerable local ones". Id. at 49. [45] "It was the pernicious practice at the time [of Philidor] for the best players to give odds to weaker ones, no doubt as an inducement for them to play for wagers." Harry Golombek, Chess: A History, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976, p. 120. [46] Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, pp. 122-23. ISBN 978-0486435749. [47] Shibut addresses the question "why has odds chess all but disappeared today?" Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, pp. 122. ISBN 978-0486435749. He notes that, "Today, the game's gambling heritage is best preserved in the arena of blitz chess and, not coincidentally, we can still find oddsgiving in blitz. However, time odds have replaced material as the preferred form of handicapping." Id. at 124. [48] Steinitz wrote:
[A] learner should seek as much as possible to play on even terms with superior players. From experience and observation we feel sure that he will learn much faster in this manner than by taking odds. The latter method of practice engenders the habit on the part of the odds-receiver of exchanging pieces without any motive other than to reduce the forces. He may also with comparative impunity commit many mistakes anyone of which would surely cost him the game if he started on even terms, and the object of the student ought to be not so much to win games as to train himself to play correctly. By taking odds a players loses the opportunity to observe the finer points of play of his adversary who on account of his inferiority in force cannot always afford to adopt the best strategy and is more apt to resort to lines of play which he knows to be unsound, relying on the inability of the weaker player to perceive the correct reply. Moreover, the openings in games at odds are quite different from those adopted in even games and, therefore, the odds-receiver is not advancing in one important branch of Chess knowledge. Wilhelm Steinitz, The Modern Chess Instructor, Part I, Edition Olms Zürich, 1990 (reprint of 1889 work), pp. xxix-xxx. ISBN 3-283-00111-1. [49] Mason wrote:
Strictly speaking, odds play is somewhat foreign to the general principles of Chess, and, therefore, less conducive to improvement of the player—giver or receiver—than serious conduct of the game on proper even terms. This would be so for the weaker party, if only because correctness of development must needs be missing, the whole theory of the opening being distorted and disturbed; and it would be so, for the stronger party, if only because of the habit of speculative and unsound combination odds play so
44
Chess handicap naturally induces—a habit which if once acquired is so difficult of rejection, and whose effects cannot fail to prove inconvenient to its subject, when confronted by a foeman entirely worthy of his steel, and calling for the full exercise of all his powers. James Mason, The Principles of Chess in Theory and Practice, David McKay, Fourth Edition, c. 1910, pp. 317-18. [50] Ralph Ginzburg, "Portrait of a Genius as a Young Chess Master", Harper's Magazine, January 1962, pp. 49-55, at 50. [51] Bobby Fischer quotes (http:/ / www. bobby-fischer. net/ bobby_fischer_quotes_96. htm) [52] I. A. Horowitz and P. L. Rothenberg, The Complete Book of Chess, Collier Books, 1972, pp. 139-40. [53] Fischer biographer Frank Brady wrote of the Ginzburg interview (not specifically addressing the part about women chessplayers) that Fischer "claimed emphatically that much in it had been twisted, distorted, and taken out of context". Frank Brady, David McKay, Profile of a Prodigy, Second Edition, 1973, p. 47. [54] Former World Champion Mikhail Tal responded, "Fischer is Fischer, but a knight is a knight!" Cathy Forbes, The Polgar Sisters: Training or Genius?, Henry Holt and Company, 1992, p. 22. ISBN 0-8050-2426-3. Ironically, in 1991 Judit Polgár, a girl aged 15 years, 4 months, and 28 days, became the (then) youngest grandmaster ever, beating Fischer’s own record, set in 1958, by just over a month. Id. at 171. [55] G. H. Diggle, Chess Characters: Reminiscences of a Badmaster, Volume II, Chess Notes, Geneva, 1987, p. 25. [56] Kasparov makes it a knight to remember - Telegraph (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ uknews/ 1317037/ Kasparov-makes-it-a-knight-to-remember. html) [57] Rybka-Ehlvest I (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=519) [58] Rybka-Benjamin match (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=2937) [59] Rybka-Dzindzichashvili match (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=3363) [60] Rybka-Meyer match conditions (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=4249) [61] Rybka-Meyer games (http:/ / chessok. com/ broadcast/ live. php?key=pgn/ 2008/ rvsmeyer/ KnightOdds. pgn& game=0) [62] Rybka-Meyer II match conditions (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=4658) [63] Rybka-Meyer II games (http:/ / chessok. com/ broadcast/ live. php?key=KnightOdds. pgn& game=0) [64] 2008-06-02 comment on Rybka Community Forum (http:/ / rybkaforum. net/ cgi-bin/ rybkaforum/ topic_show. pl?tid=4249) [65] Larry Kaufman, The Evaluation of Material Imbalances (http:/ / home. comcast. net/ ~danheisman/ Articles/ evaluation_of_material_imbalance. htm), originally published in Chess Life, March 1999. [66] Eckart-Tarrasch (http:/ / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessgame?gid=1341035) [67] Fred Reinfeld, Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess, Dover, 1960, pp. 287-88. ISBN 0-486-20644-0. [68] Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld, The Fireside Book of Chess, Simon and Schuster, 1976, p. 218. ISBN 0-671-21221-4. [69] William Ewart Napier, Paul Morphy and the Golden Age of Chess, William Ewart Napier, David McKay, 1971, pp. 112-13. [70] Francis J. Wellmuth, The Golden Treasury of Chess, Chess Review, 1943, p. 5. [71] As to the spelling of Zukertort's opponent's name and the year in which the game was played, see Edward Winter, Chess Notes 5564, 5568, and 5580 (http:/ / www. chesshistory. com/ winter/ winter46. html#5563. _Who_C. N. _5555). [72] Francis J. Wellmuth, The Golden Treasury of Chess, Chess Review, 1943, p. 250. [73] Arnold Denker and Larry Parr, The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories, Hypermodern Press, 1995, pp. 10-11. ISBN 1-886040-18-4. [74] Irving Chernev, 1000 Best Short Games of Chess, Fireside; Rei Sub edition, 1955, pp. 56-57. ISBN 978-0671538019. [75] Macon Shibut, Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, Dover Publications, 2004, p. 212. ISBN 978-0486435749. [76] Irving Chernev, 1000 Best Short Games of Chess, Fireside; Rei Sub edition, 1955, p. 433. ISBN 978-0671538019. [77] Staunton quotes Carrera: "The player who gives the odds, loses the game if he checkmate with any other Piece than the one named." Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 383. [78] Staunton wrote in 1849 that the game was played "some years ago" and referred to his opponent as the "Hon. Mr. T." Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Compansion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 384. David Levy writes, "probably Taverner". D.N.L. Levy, Howard Staunton, The Chess Player, 1975, p. 137-38. ISBN 978-0486435749. [79] Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Companion, Henry G. Bohn, 1849, p. 387 n. *. [80] D.N.L. Levy, Howard Staunton, The Chess Player, 1975, pp. 137-38. ISBN 978-0486435749. [81] Andy Soltis, Chess to Enjoy, Stein and Day, 1978, pp. 53-54. ISBN 0-8128-6059-4. [82] Irving Chernev, The Chess Companion, Simon and Schuster, 1973, pp. 216-17.
45
Chess handicap
46
Further reading • The Chess-player's Companion: Comprising a New Treatise on Odds, and a ... (http://books.google.com/ books?id=iO0IAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage) by Howard Staunton, 1849.
External links • The Romance of Chess - A Perspective on the Art of Odds-giving (http://sbchess.sinfree.net/odds-giving. html) from Sarah's Chess Journal. (dead link) • Odds chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/oddschess.html) by Roger Cooper. • Video of Fischer making the claim about giving knight odds to women (http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jdA7I9nPhSU&feature=player_embedded)
Dunsany's chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Dunsany's chess, the starting position. Dunsany's chess, also known as Dunsany's game,[1] is an asymmetric chess variant in which one side has standard chess pieces, and the other side has 32 pawns. Unlike many chess variants, this one does not feature any fairy pieces, which are pieces not found in conventional chess. This game was invented by Lord Dunsany in 1942. A similar game is called 'horde chess'.
Rules Object of the game: • The standard pieces win by capturing all 32 pawns before the pawns run out of legal moves. • The pawns win by checkmating the king. This is far easier if they first get at least one pawn promoted to queen. • The pawns can also accomplish a draw, which for them is almost as good as a win, by running out of legal moves. Piece movement is the same as in regular chess, except that only the eight pawns from the standard side (second row) have the option to move forward two spaces on their first move.
Dunsany's chess
47
Variations a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Horde chess. There exists an almost identical game called Horde chess. In difference to Dunsany's chess, the colors of pieces are exchanged, and the middle two columns of pawns are shifted forward one space.
References [1] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1.
External links • Lord Dunsany's chess java applet at www.pathguy.com (http://www.pathguy.com/chess/Dunsany.htm)
48
Different board Minichess Minichess is a family of chess variants played with regular chess pieces and standard rules, but on a smaller board.[1] The motivation for these variants is to make the game simpler and shorter than the standard chess. Martin Gardner recommended 5x5 chess variant to fill short breaks during the work. The first chess-like game implemented on a computer was a 6x6 chess variant Los Alamos chess. The low memory capacity of the early days computer required reduced board size and smaller number of pieces to make the game implementable on a computer.
Magnus Carlsen promoting 5x6 chess variant Chess Attack
3x3 and 3x4 boards Chess on a 3x3 board does not have any clearly defined starting position. However, it is a solved game: the outcome of every possible position is known. The best move for each side is known as well. The game was solved independently by Aloril in 2001 and by Kirill Kryukov in 2004. The solution by Kryukov is more complete, since it allows pawns to be placed everywhere, not only on second row as by Aloril. The longest checkmate on 3x3 board takes 16 moves. The number of legal positions is 304,545,552.[2] In 2009 Kryukov reported solving 3x4 chess.[3] On this board there are 167,303,246,916 legal positions and the longest checkmate takes 43 moves.
4x4 and 4x5 chess
Silverman 4x4 Silverman 4x5
Microchess
Minichess
49
In 1981 Silverman suggested 4x4 chess variant shown on the diagram.[4] The first player wins easily in this game (1. axb3+ Qxb3 2. cxb3+ Kxb3 (or 2...Kb4 3. bxc3 checkmate) 3. bxa3+ Kc4 4. Qa2 checkmate) , so Silverman proposed a variant: Black can select a pawn, and White must make a first move with this pawn. However, in this case Black wins even more easily (select pawn b2, 1.bxa3 (or 1.bxc3) b2+ 2. Qxb2 Qxb2 checkmate). To make the variant more playable, Silverman finally proposed to insert a row between pawns and use the board 4x5. In this variant pawns can do double-move if target square is free. Another chess variant on 4x5 board, Microchess was invented by Glimne in 1997.[4] Castling is allowed in this variant.
5x5 chess
Gardner
Baby chess
Jacobs-Meirovitz
Mallett
A 5x5 board is the smallest which can contain all kinds of chess pieces. In 1969, Martin Gardner suggested a chess variant on 5x5 board in which all chess moves, including pawn double-move, en-passant capture as well as castling can be made.[5] Later AISE (Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi) abandoned pawn double-move and castling. The game was largely played in Italy (including by correspondence) and opening theory was developed. The statistics of the finished games is the following:[4] • White won 40% of games. • Black won 28%. • 32% were draws. Gardner minichess was also played by AISE with suicide chess and progressive chess rules. In 1980 HP shipped HP-41C programmable calculator, which could play this game.[6] The calculator was able to play on quite a decent level. In 1989, Martin Gardner proposed another setup, which he called Baby chess. In difference from Gardner minichess, kings are placed into opposite corners here. Paul Jacobs and Marco Meirovitz suggested another starting position for 5x5 chess shown at the right. Jeff Mallett (main developer of Zillions of Games), suggested setup in which white has two knights against two black bishops.[7]
Minichess
50
5x6 chess
Petty chess
Speed chess
QuickChess
Elena chess
Chess Attack
There are several chess variants on 5x6 board. The earliest published one is Petty chess, which was invented by Walker Watson in 1930. Speed chess was invented by Mr. den Oude in 1988.[8] Elena chess was invented by Sergei Sirotkin in 1999. QuickChess was invented by Joseph Miccio in 1991.[9] Pawn double-move and castling are not allowed in this variant, pawns can only promote to captured pieces. The game was sold by Amerigames International and received National Parenting Publications Award in 1993. Miccio obtained an USA patent in 1993, which described 3 further chess variant on 5x6 board.[10] Besides two variants similar to Speed chess and Elena Chess (same position of white pieces, position of black pieces is symmetrical), the patent claimed one further variant, which have been named later Chess Attack. Miccio advocated these games as educational tools for chidren to learn chess rules. The smaller board and less pieces would reduce the complexity of the game and allow for more quicker games. The piece setup like in Speed chess was intended to teach short side castling and setup as in Chess Attack - long side castling. Laszlo Polgar published a book in 1994 Minichess 777+1 Positions (Quickchess teaches chess quick)[11] , completely devoted to chess on 5x6 board. Besides initial setup as in QuickChess, Polgar proposed to use any other possible setup of pieces, even asymmetrical one. The book contained problems, combinations and games for 5x6 chess. Polgar recommended to use is as a first book to teach children to play chess. Chess Attack, which has the same setup as Gardner minichess (but played on a bigger board) is sold by Norway company Yes Games AS since 2008. In this variant, pawns can make double-moves and en-passant capture is allowed. The game was endorsed by Magnus Carlsen and Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Minichess
51
6x6 chess a
b
c
d
e
f
a
b
c
d
e
f
a
b
c
d
e
f
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
a
b
Diana chess
c
d
e
f
a
b
L'Hermitte chess
c
d
e
f
Los Alamos chess
Besides Los Alamos chess, there are other chess variants played on a 6x6 board. The game Diana chess (or Ladies chess) was suggested by Hopwood in 1870. The initial position is shown above. There are no queens on the board and pawns can't promote to queens either. Pawns cannot move forward two squares on their initial move. Castling is done by switching the positions of the king and rook. The same condition as in chess apply for castling (e.g. the king should not be under check, neither rook nor king should have moved before etc.) Serge L'Hermitte suggested in 1969 a game with nearly the same setup as Diana chess, except that the positions of the black king and knight are exchanged from their positions in Diana chess. Additionally, knights cannot move within the first three moves, and the king can move to the knight position without losing the right to castle.
a
b
c
d
e
f
a
b
c
d
e
f
a
b
c
d
e
f
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
Simpler chess, without rooks
f
a
b
c
d
e
Simpler chess, without knights
f
a
b
c
d
e
f
Mallett 6x6 chess
A. Wardley proposed in 1977 a Simpler chess, a family of 6x6 chess variants, in which a pair of pieces is removed from the both sides: rooks, knights, bishop or even king and queen. Removing bishops results in Los Alamos chess; the result of removing rooks or knights is shown on the diagrams above. Jeff Mallett proposed the setup knights versus bishops also on 6x6 board. On a normal 8x8 board, bishops are considered slightly more valuable than knights (especially two bishops). However, on 6x6 boards, because of the smaller size of the board, two knights are presumably equal to two bishops.
Minichess
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. 3x3 Chess (http:/ / kirr. homeunix. org/ chess/ 3x3-chess/ ) by Kirill Kryukov. 3x4 Chess (http:/ / kirr. homeunix. org/ chess/ 3x4-chess/ ) by Kirill Kryukov. Pritchard (2007), p. 113 Martin Gardner (1991). The Unexpected Hanging and Other Mathematical Diversions (Reprint ed.). University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-2262-8256-2. [6] HP-minichess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ small. dir/ hpmini. html) by Hans Bodlaender, based on an email from Ross Crawford. [7] This game can be found in set of games shipped together with Zillions of Games. The history section says: A little experiment by Jeff Mallett. [8] Chess - Speed Game (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ small. dir/ chessspeed. html) by Hans Bodlaender [9] Polgar (1994), p.3 [10] USA patent 5257787 Chess-like game (http:/ / www. freepatentsonline. com/ 5257787. html) [11] Polgar (1994)
References • Pritchard, D. (2007). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0955516801. • Laszlo Polgar (1994). Minichess 777+1 Positions (Quickchess teaches chess quick). Laszlo Polgar. ISBN 963-4508057.
External links • • • •
Knight court (http://www.chessvariants.org/small.dir/knightcourt.html) by Jason D. Wittman Quick Chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/small.dir/quick.html) by Hans Bodlaender Mini-chess variants (http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/minichessvariants.html) 6 Ranks, remaining variants (http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MS6ranks,remaini) by Charles Gilman.
52
Los Alamos chess
53
Los Alamos chess a
b
c
d
e
f
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
Los Alamos chess Los Alamos chess (or anti-clerical chess) is a chess variant played on a 6×6 board without bishops. This was the first chess-like game played by a computer program. This program was written in Los Alamos laboratory by Paul Stein and Mark Wells for the MANIAC I computer in 1956. The reduction of the board size and the number of pieces from standard chess was due to the very limited capacity of computers at the time. The computer played three games. The first it played against itself. The second one was against a strong human player, who played without a queen. The human player won. In the third game, MANIAC I played against a novice chess player who had been taught the rules just before the game. The computer won, marking the first time that a computer had beaten a human player in a chess-like game.
Rules The starting position is shown on the right. All rules are as in chess except: • There is no pawn double-move, nor is there en passant capture; • Pawns may not promote to bishops; • There is no castling.
References • D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. • H. L. Anderson (1986). Metropolis, Monte Carlo, and the MANIAC [1] (from Los Alamos Science [2], N 14, Fall 1986), pp 104-105.
Los Alamos chess
54
External links • Los Alamos Chess [3] by Hans L. Bodlaender. • A short history of computer chess [4] by Frederic Friedel • BrainKing.com [5] - internet server to play Los Alamos chess.
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
http:/ / www. fas. org/ sgp/ othergov/ doe/ lanl/ pubs/ 00326886. pdf http:/ / library. lanl. gov/ cgi-bin/ getfile?number14. htm http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ small. dir/ losalamos. html http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ columns/ column. asp?pid=102 http:/ / BrainKing. com
Grid chess Grid chess is a chess variant invented by Walter Stead in 1953. It is played on a grid board. This is a normal 64-square board with a grid of lines further dividing the board into larger squares. For a move to be legal in grid chess, the piece moved must cross at least one of these lines. Grid chess is also used in chess problems.
Rules Various arrangements of the grid have been tried, but the original, and by far the most popular, is that shown to the right, which divides the board into 16 2×2 squares. Unless otherwise stipulated, the term grid board can be assumed to refer to this arrangement, and grid chess to chess played on this board.
A sample position.
In the position shown, white can play either a3 or a4 (see algebraic notation), but cannot move his b-pawn. Black cannot play Bd5 but can play any other bishop move — if he wants to put his bishop on d5, it will take two moves (for example, first Ba8, and then Bd5). The white king is not in check from the queen, but if the queen were to take a step back with Qe3, it would be. The white king cannot take the queen, although the white knight can. The black king, on the other hand, is in check from the rook on c8. Black cannot escape check, as he could in normal chess, with Ke7 or Kf7, as these moves do not cross a grid-line, but he can play Kd7 and also Kd8, bringing the king into the same large square as the rook.
Grid chess
Example problem It is possible to play entire games under grid chess conditions, and a number of chess problems using grid chess rules have also been composed. The one to the right won first prize in the first grid chess problem tournament. It is by H. Ternblad and was published in the Fairy Chess Review, 1954. It is a helpmate in 4 (black moves first and cooperates with white to checkmate him within 4 moves). The solution is 1.Ke2 Bc4+ 2.Kd3 (note that this brings the king into the same large square as the bishop, and so escapes the check) 2...Bxb5+ (withdrawing the bishop over a grid-line gives check again) 3.Ke4 Bc6+ 4.Kd5 (note that two kings can co-exist next to each other so long as they are in the same large square) 4...Bxb7#. This problem displays attractive correspondence between the paths Helpmate in 4. taken by the king and bishop. It is worth noting the zig-zagging path the black king must take to reach d5 — the straightfoward route Kd1-d2-d3-d4-d5 is not possible because two of the moves do not cross grid-lines, and d1-e2-e3-d4-d5 is not possible because on d4 the king is checked by white's king.
External links • Grid Chess Problems [1]
References [1] http:/ / members. tripod. com/ ~JurajLorinc/ chess/ fi_g. htm#gridc
55
Cylinder chess
56
Cylinder chess
Cylindrical chessboard
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Cylinder chess The diagram shows possible moves of the bishop on c1 and the knight on h2 on a cylindrical board. Note that the bishop can't move through the upper and lower sides of the board. Cylinder chess (or cylindrical chess) is a chess variant with an unusual board. The game is played as if the board were a cylinder, with the left side of the board joined to the right side. According to Bill Wall, in 947 in a history of chess in India and Persia, the Arabic historian Ali al-Masudi described six different variants of chess, including astrological chess, circular chess and cylinder chess.[1] Cylindrical board is also used in chess problems.
Rules and gameplay
Cylinder chess
57
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Mate in 2 Cylinder chess with the null-move. The game is played as if there is no edge on the side of the board. When a piece goes off the right edge of the board in cylinder chess, it reappears on the left edge; when a piece goes off the left edge, it reappears on the right edge.[2] It is legal to move a rook from a3 to h3, even if there is a piece on b3, since the rook can move left from a3. A bishop on c1 can go to h4, by moving from c1 to a3, and then going up and left from a3 to h4. Moves that do not change the position, like rook a3-a3 (assuming 3rd rank is empty), are usually not allowed, but sometimes they are in some problems. It is allowed to capture en passant over the board edge. For example, if white has a pawn on a5, black on h7 and black plays h7-h5, white can capture it: a5xh6. Bishops are more valuable in this variant. And, unlike in standard chess, king and rook cannot enforce checkmate against the lone king on the cylindrical board. The game is sometimes played with changed rules for castling: • Castling is not allowed. Proponents of this convention argue that the purpose of castling is nullified by all files being equivalent, as they are on the cylinder. • Additionally to normal castling, castling with the wrong rook (over the board edge) is also allowed. By such castling on the king side the king e1 moves to g1 and rook a1 moves to f1. This castling on the queen-side has the rook on h1 moving to d1, king moves to c1. Some cylinder chess problems allow moves that don't change the position (null moves).[3] At the right an example of such a problem is shown. The solution is to put black in a zugzwang by playing 1.Rh4-h4 . Now, after any move by black white has a mate. The move 1.Rg4 doesn't work because of 1....Ka5 threatening to capture the rook.
Cylinder chess
58
Horizontal cylinder chess and toroidal chess
Toroidal chessboard
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Initial position Torus chess on a standard board In horizontal cylinder chess, first and last rank are connected. In toroidal chess the board has the form of a torus. One can get a toroidal board by connecting first and last ranks of the cylindrical board. On the toroidal board, even king and queen can't checkmate the lone king.[4] See the Torus Chess link below for a toroidal variant that can be played, with an explanation of moves and strategy. The diagram on the right shows the starting position for play on a standard board, using toroidal geometry.
Cylinder chess
59
References [1] Earliest chess books and references (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20091028082822/ http:/ / www. geocities. com/ SiliconValley/ Lab/ 7378/ oldtexts. htm) by Bill Wall. [2] D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (p. 79). ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. [3] From A. W. Mongredien, Bulletin de la FFE, No. 19, 1926 (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ problems. dir/ prcylin2. html) [4] Е.Я. Гик, Шахматы и математика, Наука, Москва, 1983 (in Russian)
External links • Cylinder chess (http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/cylin.htm) by George Jelliss, Variant Chess, Volume 3, Issue 22, Winter 1996-7, pages 32–33. • Cylindrical chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/boardrules.dir/cylindrical.html) by Ron Porter and Cliff Lundberg. • BrainKing.com (http://BrainKing.com) - internet server to play Cylinder chess and many other chess variants • Torus Chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/shape.dir/torus_standard_board.html) by Karl Fischer, Torus Chess on a standard board - playable, if bloody.
Circular chess Circular chess is a chess variant played using the standard set of pieces on a circular board consisting of four rings, each of sixteen squares. This is topologically equivalent to playing on the surface of a cylinder.
History Documents in the British Library and elsewhere suggest that circular Circular chess chess was played in Persia as early as the 10th century AD, and further references are found in India, Persia, and, later, Europe. Historical rules are in sources that are little-known in the West, such as Muhammad ibn Mahmud Amuli's 'Treasury of the Sciences', so when, in 1983, Lincoln historian David Reynolds came across a reference to the game being played in the Middle Ages and set about attempting to revive interest in it, he chose to draw up a new set of rules, based around those of orthodox chess. Since that time, the older rules of circular chess have become far better known.
Historical Circular Chess Rules One set of rules for medieval circular chess is from the Persian author Amuli (1325). In this version, called shatranj al-muddawara (circular chess) or shatranj al-Rûmîya (Roman or Byzantine chess), the game uses a board with four concentric rings, each split into 16 spaces, for a total of 64 spaces. The game uses the same pieces as shatranj. The king and the counselor on the inner ring, next to each other. The next ring has the elephants, the next ring has the knights, and the last ring has the rooks. A single row of 4 pawns flanks each side of the central pieces. The king of one side "faces" the counselor of the other (a shorter
Starting position for historical circular chess.
Circular chess
60
path is between the king of one side and the counselor of the other than between the kings of the two sides). Movement is the same as shatranj, except that, if two pawns from the same side, going in opposite directions, end up being blocked by each other, the opponent may remove both pieces, which does not use the opponent's turn. As there is no back row, there is no promotion. A stalemate is a victory for the stalemating player. A bare king is a loss for the player who only has the king left unless, in the next turn, the player can also impose a bare king, at which point the game is a draw. Citadel Chess A variant of this game attested by Amuli has two "citadel" spaces in the center of the board and a different starting setup. In the citadel game, if a king reaches the citadel, a draw is forced.
Modern Circular Chess Starting position for citadal chess.
Rules The starting position is essentially obtained from that of orthodox chess by cutting the board in half and bending the two halves to join at the ends. Two lines are marked on opposite sides of the board, and each set of pieces is positioned so as to straddle this line. The king and queen start on the innermost ring, with, as is the case in square chess, the queen on a square of the same colour; the bishops start in the second ring from the centre, the knights on the third and the rooks on the outermost ring. The pawns are positioned in front of the pieces.
Starting position for modern circular chess.
The moves of the pieces are identical to those in orthodox chess; a queen or rook may, if it is not obstructed, move any distance round a ring, except that the "null move" of moving a piece all the way round the board and back to its original square is not permitted. A pawn is promoted after moving six squares from its initial position, to the square immediately before the opponent's starting line. Castling and en passant captures are not permitted. Announcing a check is not obligatory, and "snaffling" (winning the game immediately by capturing the opponent's king after he either moved into or failed to move out of check) is allowed and has on more than one occasion decided a world championship game.
Theory Most textbooks on orthodox chess assign the pieces relative values of 9 points for a queen, 5 for a rook, 3 for a bishop or knight, and 1 for a pawn; although no attempt has been made to assign specific values for circular chess, it is certain that the same values do not hold. The values of the queen and rook are considerably augmented by their greater range - with two rooks or a queen and rook unobstructed on the same ring being especially powerful - while those of the bishop and knight are diminished; for example, on an 8 x 8 board two minor pieces are held to be stronger than a rook, but on a circular board the rook is considerably stronger. The minor pieces do, however, pose a significant danger value, as their moves are more difficult to visualise on the circular board and even strong players often fail to notice a threat. One of the major differences between orthodox and circular chess in practice is in the opening. In the former, opening theory has developed over several centuries, and the use of computer analysis has resulted in top level
Circular chess
61
games frequently not deviating from known theory until the 20th move or beyond; in the latter, there is virtually no opening theory, and consequently players are "on their own" from the first move. In orthodox chess, advancing the king's or queen's pawn are generally considered the best opening moves, as doing so attacks two key central squares, opens a diagonal to enable the development of a bishop, and, in the case of the king's pawn, the queen also. On a circular board these advantages are negated, as a king's or queen's pawn only attacks one square, and its advance only opens one square for the bishop. Some players advance the central pawns first anyway, while others prefer to advance the rooks' pawns in order to open lines of attack for the more powerful pieces; it is not known which move, if any, is objectively best. The different geometry of the square and circular boards creates considerable differences in endgame theory: three of the four "basic checkmates" on a square board (those with king and rook, king and two bishops or king, bishop and knight against a lone king) rely on forcing the defending king into the corner of the board, and thus are impossible on a circular board since it doesn't have corners. The "basic mates" in circular chess are thus those with king and queen, king, rook and minor piece or king and three minor pieces against a lone king. The greater tendency towards drawn endgames often results in the defender playing on in a position which would be considered cause for resignation on a square board. In one particular endgame, however, the circular board favours the attacker: with king and pawn against king, there is no stalemate defence and thus, unless the defending king can capture the pawn before it can be either promoted or defended, this endgame is always a win. So most rules are as in orthodox chess.
The World Championship Chess championship year
Location
Winner
1996
The Tap and Spile public house, Lincoln Rob Stevens, Lincoln
1997
Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
1998
Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
1999
Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
2000
Lincoln
Herman Kok
2001
Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
2002
Bishop Edward King House, Lincoln
David Howell
2003
Bishop Edward King House, Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
2004
Lincoln
Francis Bowers, Peterborough
2005
Lincoln Cathedral
Michael Jones, Lincoln
2006
Lincoln Castle
Herman Kok
2007
The Tap & Spile public house, Lincoln
Kevin McCarthy
After experimenting with various possible layouts for the game, Reynolds decided on that pictured above, constructed a board and introduced the game to other players in Lincoln; it caught on, and in 1996 the Circular Chess Society was formed, with the aim of popularising circular chess, primarily by organising a tournament. Since it was not known to be played competitively anywhere else, its claim to the status of world championship was not contested, and thus it became. The inaugural tournament was held in the Tap and Spile public house in Lincoln in 1996; it was played as a knockout, with Lincoln player Rob Stevens beating Nottinghamshire's Mark Spink in the final. Subsequently the tournament has been held at different venues in Lincoln, usually under the Swiss system, and has been dominated by two players: Peterborough engineer Francis Bowers and Dutch businessman Herman Kok, who between them won eight of the following ten tournaments. Bowers took the title from 1997 to 1999, and remains not just the only player to have won the tournament three years in succession, but the only one to win on more than two occasions; Kok broke the sequence with victory in the 2000 tournament, before Bowers won again in
Circular chess 2001. The 2002 World Championship, staged in Bishop Edward King House in Lincoln and sponsored by the Duke William Hotel, saw the only instance to date of the participation in the tournament of a player widely known outside the world of circular chess: David Howell, then aged 11 and having recently gained national publicity by becoming the youngest player to avoid defeat (at standard chess) against a reigning world champion, with a draw in the final game of his match against Vladimir Kramnik (having lost the other three games). Howell won the tournament, scoring a maximum 5 points after beating Bowers in the final round, although he commented afterwards "This is the first time I have played in a circular chess contest and it was difficult. Circular chess is a lot harder to play than square chess. Every time you or your opponent makes a move, you have to think about what is happening on the other side of the board.". Kok finished runner-up with 4½ points. The 2003 tournament was again held in Bishop Edward King House; sponsorship for it and the four subsequent tournaments came from Lindum Group. Howell did not return to defend his title (and has not played in the tournament since); Bowers gained his fifth title with victory over Kok in the last round to complete a 5/5 score, and Lincolnshire player David Carew, with 4½, finished second. Bowers repeated the feat the following year, again finishing with a win against Kok; Nottinghamshire's Mike Clark was the runner-up, with Stevens third and Kok and Carew among a group of six players in joint fourth place. In 2005 the Society gained extra publicity for the tournament by securing the chapter house of Lincoln Cathedral as the venue, only the day after the filming of The Da Vinci Code there had been completed (the cathedral was used to film scenes which, in the book, take place in Westminster Abbey, since the abbey had refused Columbia Pictures permission to film there); much of the film set was (and is) still in place. The draw for the first round of the tournament was conducted by Councillor Steve Allnutt, the Deputy Mayor of Lincoln, and Mrs Chris Noble, the City Sheriff; the two guests accepted an invitation to try the game for themselves, with the Sheriff emerging as the winner. In contrast to previous tournaments, the 2005 championship was held over four rounds rather than five; in the first Stevens drew with Bowers, to end the latter's run of ten consecutive wins in the tournament and leave Kok the favourite to take the title again. At the halfway point there were four players with maximum points - Kok, Hertfordshire's John Beasley, and tournament newcomers David Stamp and Michael Jones, both of Lincolnshire with Bowers on 1½ after surviving a scare to "snaffle" Carew in the second round. Kok beat Beasley in the third round, while Stamp and Jones remained in contention after both winning; Bowers also won, although, since the top four players would be drawn against each other in the final round, his chances of retaining his title were remote, relying on him winning his own game and the other being drawn to force a three-way playoff. The draw for the final round pitted Kok against Jones and Bowers against Stamp - in each case an experienced player against a tournament newcomer. The former game looked to be heading in Kok's favour before he blundered in time trouble and eventually lost on time, leaving Jones on 4/4 and Stamp needing to beat Bowers to force a tiebreak; he could only draw, so Jones finished the outright champion and Stamp runner-up with 3½. Bowers, Herman Kok, his son Robbie, Beasley and Clark tied for third place with 3 points each. The 2006 World Championship was held at Lincoln Castle, and was dedicated to regular competitor Charles Vermes of Derbyshire, who had died shortly before. The first round brought no surprise results - the only two of the main contenders to be drawn together were Clark and Stevens, with Clark emerging the winner; Jones, Herman Kok and Bowers all won. Clark beat Jones in the second round, at which point there remained five players on maximum points: Clark, Kok, Bowers, Lincolnshire's Richard Kidals and Ian Lewis of Cardiff. Lewis lost his third round game to tournament founder Reynolds, but the other four leaders all won, ensuring the need for a tiebreak unless one of the last round games was drawn; Kok beat Clark and Bowers beat Kidals to give them both the maximum 4 points, so the expected tiebreak game ensued. The game was close throughout, with Bowers eventually losing on time to give Kok the title - only the second player, after Bowers himself, to claim it more than once. The 2007 World Championship was held at The Tap & Spile in Lincoln, with Kevin McCarthy lifting the title after remaining unbeaten in his first ever tournament under Circular Rules, including a win against the legendary Herman
62
Circular chess Kok, who had taught him the rules only a fortnight previously.
External links • Circular Chess Software (Windows 95 - Windows 7) [1] • Circular Chess Software (Windows 3.x) [2] • An Open Source Online Circular Chess [3]
References • The Circular Chess Society [4] • Historical roots [5]
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
http:/ / www. circularchess. com http:/ / www. ochess. com/ software. html http:/ / www. codeproject. com/ KB/ aspnet/ circular_chess. aspx http:/ / www. circularchess. co. uk/ http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ byzantine. htm
Alice chess Alice Chess is a chess variant invented in 1953 by V. R. Parton which employs two chessboards rather than one,[1] and a slight (but significant) alteration to the standard rules of chess. The game is named after the main character "Alice" in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass, where travel through the looking-glass is portrayed by the after-move transfer of chess pieces between boards A and B. Alice steps through the looking-glass; illustration by Sir John Tenniel The simple transfer rule is well known for causing disorientation and confusion in players new to the game, and often leads to surprises and amusing mistakes as pieces "disappear" and "reappear" between boards. This "nothing is as it seems" experience probably accounts for Alice Chess remaining Parton's most popular and successful invention among the numerous other chess variants he created in his lifetime.
63
Alice chess
64
A
B
Move Rules In Alice Chess, pieces move the same as they do in standard chess, but a piece transfers at the completion of its move to the opposite board. This simple change causes a dramatic impact on gameplay. At the beginning of the game, pieces start in their normal positions on board A, while board B starts empty. After each move is made on a given board, the moved piece is transferred (goes "through the looking-glass") to the corresponding square on the opposite board. (So, if a piece is moved on board A, it is transferred to board B at the completion of its move; if the piece started on board B, it ends up on board A.)
A
Alice chess
65
B Position after 1. Nf3 e6 2. Ne5 Bc5
A
B Position after 3. Nxf7 Bg1 For example, after the opening moves 1. Nf3 e6, the white knight and black pawn transfer after moving on board A to their corresponding squares on board B. If the game continued 2. Ne5 Bc5, the knight returns to board A and the bishop finishes on board B. (See diagram.) A move in Alice Chess has some stipulations: the move must be legal on the board on which it is played, and the square transferred to on the opposite board must be vacant. (As a result, capture is possible only on the board a piece sits on – pieces on board A can capture only pieces on board A; pieces on board B can capture only pieces on board
Alice chess
66
B. After a capture, the capturing piece transfers to the opposite board the same as a non-capturing move.) To demonstrate, if the above game continued 3. Nxf7, the knight transfers to board B. Then with Black to move, both 3... Kxf7 and 3... Bxf2+ are not possible. Black cannot play 3... Qd4 either, since the queen may not hop over the black pawn on d7. But the move 3... Bg1 is possible (see diagram), despite the fact a white pawn sits on f2 on board A. (The bishop move on board B is legal, and the square transferred to, g1 on board A, is vacant.) A final stipulation is that a king may not put itself into check upon transfer. (In other words, a king may not transfer to a vacant square on the opposite board, if this would result in check to the king.) Castling is largely regarded as permitted in Alice Chess. The en passant rule is normally not used, but can be.[2]
Early mates Alice Fool's Mate
A
B Alice Chess Fool's Mate Several exist, one is: 1. e4 d5 2. Be2 dxe4? 3. Bb5# (diagram). At first glance, it might seem that Black can simply interpose a piece between White's bishop and his king to block the check (for example, 3... Bd7 or 3... Nc6 or 3... c6). But any piece so interposed immediately "disappears" when it transfers to board B. And Black cannot escape check by fleeing to the opposite board via 3... Kd7, because the move is not a legal move on board A. Therefore it is checkmate. Another form of Fool's Mate: 1. e4 d6 2. Bc4 Qxd2? 3. Bb5# And another: 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nf6? 3. Qxe5#
Alice chess
67
Alice Scholar's Mate
A
B Alice Chess Scholar's Mate 1. e4 h5 2. Be2 Rh4 3. Bxh5 Rxe4+ 4. Kf1 d5 5. Qe2? (threatening 6. Qb5#) 5... Bh3# (diagram). 1. d4 e6 2. Qd6 Be7? 3. Qe5+ Kf8 4. Bh6# (Seitz–Nadvorney, 1973).
Sample game Yearout vs Jelliss, 1996
A
Alice chess
68
B Position after 11. 0-0-0 (Annotations by George Jelliss; moves returning to board A are notated "/A".) Paul Yearout vs George Jelliss, 1996 AISE Grand Prix: 1. d3 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. Qd2 Nc6 (To give a direct check to the king the checking piece must come from the other board, so it is necessary first to transfer forces to the other board.) 4. d4/A Rb8 (This way of developing rooks is common in Alice Chess.) 5. e3 g5 (This prevents the Bc1 coming to g5 or f4.) 6. f4 Rbg8/A (Guarding Pg5 on the other board.) 7. Nd5/A h6 8. Nf3 gxf4/A (Inconsistent play on my part. Ne4/A now looks better to me.) 9. Bxf4 Rg4 10. Be5/A Rh5 11. 0-0-0 [diagram] (Perhaps judging that the activated black force now being on the second board the king might be safer there. The black queen is now effectively 'pinned': 11... Q-c7/b6?? 12. Qd8#.) 11... Ne4/A 12. Bc7 Ra4/A 13. Ba6 Bg7 (The idea is 14... Rc4+ 15. c3/Nc3 Bxc3+/A.) 14. Bb5/A Rc4+ 15. Kb1/A Rf5/A 16. Ba5/A (Desperate measures now needed to save the 'pinned' queen.) 16... Rxd5 17. Qxd5/A Qxa5 (Threatening 18... Qa1#.) 18. a3 Qd2/A 19. Qxd7+ Kf8 (I put these two moves in as an 'if...then' clause, but it seems Paul may not have noticed the discovered check, so perhaps I should have kept quiet!) 20. Qxg7/A Qc3 (Stops Qh8#.) 21. Rd8/A Black resigns (1–0) (If 21... Bd7/Be6/Nf6 22. Qg8/Re8/Qh8#.)
Variations a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8×4 version of Alice Chess Minor (and not-so-minor) rule modification has sprouted a number of different variations on Alice Chess. • Alice Chess 2 (SchemingMind.com [3]): the Black army starts out on the opposite board (board B).
Alice chess • Ms. Alice Chess (John Ishkan, 1973): null or zero moves are permitted. (A move consisting of piece transfer only – from the current square a piece sits on, to the corresponding square, if vacant, on the opposite board.) • O'Donohue Chess (Michael O'Donohue, 2003): piece transfer to the opposite board isn't required, if the square normally transferred to is occupied. • Duo Chess (Jed Stone, 1981): Black starts out on board B; transfers are optional; non-pawn pieces may make zero moves (and may capture in so doing); a king is checked when an opposing piece sits on its zero square; mate must cover the king's ability to flee via a zero move. • Looking-Glass Chess (V. R. Parton, 1970): using two complete sets instead of one, and no transfers. (Thus two separate games on two boards.) A move on a given board forces a mirror-image move on the opposite board. (So, 1. Nf3 on board A forces White to play 1. Nc3 on board B.) • Parton also introduced a smaller, 8x4 version of Alice Chess. (See diagram.) • Parton observed that Alice Chess could be played using three boards instead of two. (Players then having a choice between two boards when transferring a piece.) • Alice Chess rules can really be adopted by practically any other chess variant too, by simply doubling the number of gameboards in the variant and applying the Alice piece transfer policy. (For example, Raumschach using two 5×5×5 boards.)
Notes [1] Since the rules disallow a given square to be occupied on both boards simultaneously, it is possible to play Alice Chess using one board only, placing checkers under pieces to indicate they are on board B. A similar technique can be used in computer displays or with pocket–magnetic sets, by turning pieces upside-down instead of using checkers. [2] Unlike standard chess, capturing en passant may not always be possible in Alice, for example, when the normal capture-square is already occupied by another piece. [3] http:/ / www. SchemingMind. com
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
External links • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/alice.html) Alice Chess article by Edward Jackman and Fergus Duniho • BCVS Variant Chess website (http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/alice.htm) Alice Chess article by George Jelliss • SchemingMind.com (http://www.schemingmind.com/journalarticle.aspx?article_id=9&page=1) Alice Chess article by Michael J. Farris • SchemingMind.com (http://www.schemingmind.com) Alice Chess online correspondence play • ChessVariants.org (http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/presets/alice_chess.html) Alice Chess PBM Game Courier • pathguy.com (http://www.pathguy.com/chess/AliceChs.htm) a simple Alice Chess program by Ed Friedlander
69
Hexagonal chess
70
Hexagonal chess The term hexagonal chess designates a group of chess variants played on hexagonal boards. The most popular one is Gliński's hexagonal chess which was invented in 1936 by Władysław Gliński of Poland.
Gliński's hexagonal chess Gliński's hexagonal chess is the most popular hexagonal chess variant. At one point in time, there were more than half-a-million players, and over 130,000 board sets have been sold.[1] The game was very popular in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland, Gliński's native country. The game is played on a hexagonal board having three colors (light, dark, and medium), with the middle cell (or hex) usually medium.[2] The usual set of chess pieces is increased by one bishop and one pawn. The board has 11 files, marked by letters a –l (letter j is not used), and 11 ranks (which bend 120° at file f). Ranks 1–6 each contain 11 cells, rank 7 (filled with black pawns in the initial setup) has 9 cells, rank 8 has 7, and so on. Rank 11 contains only one cell: f11. The diagrams below show how the pieces Starting position for Gliński's hexagonal chess move. As in chess, the knight can jump over other pieces. Three bishops on different colors can never meet. The queen moves as rook plus bishop. There is no castling in Gliński's hexagonal chess.
King
Knight
Hexagonal chess
71
Bishop
Rook
Queen
Pawn
Pawns move straight forward and capture orthogonally to an adjacent square (shown as red circles on the diagram above); the pawn's capturing move direction does not correspond to the bishop's move, as is the case in square chess. All pawns can make a double step from their starting hexes. If a pawn captures from its starting hex in such a way that it now occupies a starting hex of another pawn, it can still make a double move. For example, if the pawn on e4 would capture a black piece on f5, it still has the option to move to f7. , The Pawn in the middle file (hex f5 for White) cannot make a double step on initial setup as the hex is occupied (a black Pawn is placed on f7), but the double step move could be done later, as long as the hex is empty. En passant captures are also possible: for example, if the black pawn on c7 on the diagram above moves to c5, the white pawn on b5 can capture it: bxc6. Pawns promote on the last hex of a file; the hexes where white pawns promote are marked with stars. Stalemate is not a draw in this chess variant, but is still counted less than checkmate. In tournament games, the stalemated player (the one who cannot make any legal moves) earns 0.25 points and the player who delivers stalemate 0.75 points. A numeric (or international) notation exists. Every other detail is exactly as in ICCF numeric notation, except that there is no castling.
Hexagonal chess
Dateline in Glinski's hexagonal chess 1976 June: First Hexagonal Chess Congress at Bloomsbury Centre Hotel, London, which included the inauguration of the British Hexagonal Chess Federation and the first British Hexagonal Chess Championship. David Springgay took the title. December: First issue of "Hex Press" (Hexagonal Chess News) published. 1977 Hexagonal Chess was topic for many newspapers and magazines in Poland and other Eastern European countries. December: Second British Championship held at Clifton-Ford Hotel, London. Brian Rippon took the title. 1978 January: Inventor visited Poland. Successful Hexagonal Chess event staged. Wide publicity in Eastern Europe. `Wspolna Sprawa' produced and distributed over 90,000 inexpensive sets in 18 months. September: First International Team Match – Poland vs. G.V. at Central Hall, Westminster, London. Event shown on BBC and Australian TV, reported in press at home and abroad – including Japan. 1979 July: Third British Championship held at Polish Cultural Institute, London. Title taken by Simon Triggs, nearly 16 years old. August: Return International Team Match – Poland vs. G.B. in Warsaw. Sponsored by magazine "Horyzonty Technikili" (which includes a regular column on Hexagonal Chess). Whilst in Poland, Simon Triggs played the first mixed (6 square and 6 hexagonal boards) simultaneous display. Hexagonal Chess clubs formed in Poland, Czechoslovakia and USSR. 1980 August: International Congress at Polish Cultural Institute, London, which included: Inauguration of Internatienal Hexagonal Chess Federation First European Championship Team Match: Poland v G.B. Countries taking part: Austria, Great Britain, Hungary and Poland. Event covered by BBC TV and newspapers at home and abroad, including USSR ("Komsomolskaya Pravda" – 10,500,000 circulation), Austria and Hungary. Also radio in USA. First four places: 1: Marek Mackowiak (Poland), 2: Laszlo Rudolf (Hungary), 3: Jan Borawski (Poland), 4: Piers Shepperson (G.B.). 1981 September: First Hungarian Hexagonal Chess Championship in Szekszard. Title taken by Laszlo Sziraki. Fourth British Championship held at Woodford Bridge, Essex. Local and National press coverage, including picture in "The Times". Four players tied for first place. Final playoff arranged for October. October: Playoff held in association with the North London (square-board) Congress, when Simon Triggs retained his title. 1982 April: Second Hungarian Championship held in Miscolc. Laszlo Rudolf became the Hungarian Champion for 1982. June: Final agreement and arrangements completed with "Bohemia" in West Germany regarding production of a new complete Hexagonal Chess boxed game with roll-up double-sided board (hexagonal/square) and wooden pieces to be distributed in the West European market. July: An open Hexagonal Chess Tournament was held on 10th and llth July in the famous Sokolniki Park in Moscow. Players from Moscow and elsewhere in t in the USSR took part in the competition. First place and the "Moscow Trophy" were taken by F. Goncharov. Second was S. Seryubin and Third V. Goltyapin. Judging from the reports received, this tournament has considerably accelerated the development and popularity of Hex Chess in the USSR. Further tournaments, including international team matches (over-the-board and correspondence) are being organized. Open International Tournament held in Pecs, Hungary, 24 – 31 July. This tournament was organized by the President of the Hungarian Hexagonal Chess Association, Mihaly Gelencser, and sponsored by the Zsolnay
72
Hexagonal chess
73
porcelain factory in Pecs, which also donated the "Zsolnay Cup" as well as other prizes of porcelain figures. The winner of the Tournament was Laszlo Rudolf (Hungary). Second place was taken by Simon Triggs (Great Britain). September: Fifth British Championship held in London. Simon Triggs (19) of Garston, Hertfordshire, won the title of British Hexagaonal Chess Champion for the third time in succession. Press Association attended and wrote lengthy background. All the "quality newspapers" took photographs. LBC Radio and BBC Radio London broadcast interviews.
McCooey's hexagonal chess Dave McCooey and Richard Honeycutt developed another variation of hexagonal chess.[3] It is very similar to Glinski's version, but there are four differences: the starting array, the pawn's capturing moves, the Pawns on f-file cannot make a double step, and that stalemate is a draw, each player gets half a point. See the diagram on the left for the pawn's move in McCooey's variant. Note that the capturing move corresponds to the bishop's move. The white pawn on d5 can capture the black pawn on e8 en passant in case the black pawn advances to e6. The pawn on the f-file is not allowed to advance two steps, and is not defended in the opening array, which in fact allows a smothered mate when captured by a knight. But this rarely occurs in practical play. These endgame studies apply to Glinski's, McCooey's and Mathewson's games:[4]
McCooey's hexagonal chess, starting position
• King & two knights can checkmate a lone king. • King & rook beats king & knight (no fortress draws and a negligible number (0.0019%) of perpetual check draws). • King & rook beats king & bishop (no fortress draws and no perpetual check draws). • King & two bishops cannot checkmate a lone king, except for some very rare positions (0.17%). • King, knight & bishop cannot checkmate a lone king, except for some very rare position (0.5%).
Hexagonal chess
74 • King & queen does not beat king & rook: 4.3% of the positions are perpetual check draws, and 37.2% are fortress draws. • King & rook can checkmate a lone king.
The pawn's move
Shafran's hexagonal chess Invented by Soviet geologist Isaak Grigorevich Shafran in 1939 and registered in 1956. It was demonstrated at the Worldwide Chess Exhibition in Leipzig in 1960. The board is shaped like an irregular hexagon with nine files and ten ranks. There are 70 hexes in the board, as opposed to 91 in Glinski's and McCooey's versions. The files are labelled a to i; the straight lines running from 10 to 4 o'clock are numbered 1 to 10. In the diagram, the two kings start on e1 and e10; Black's rooks start on a6 and i10; White's rooks start on a1 and i5. The hex i1 does not exist. Each player calls the left-hand side of the board his queen's flank and the right-hand side his bishops' flank; note that they do not match (White's queen's flank is Black's bishops'). The pieces and pawns move and capture exactly like McCooey's. However, a pawn's Shafran's hexagonal chess, starting position first move can take him to the middle of his file. This means that the a- and i-pawns advance only one step, and the d-, e-, and f-pawns may make a triple move. If they do they are subject to be captured en passant.
Hexagonal chess
75 On the diagram of the left, the black pawn d8 has three possible moves, but none is safe; after 1.. d7 it can be captured 2. exd7; after 1... d6 it can be captured 2. exd7e.p. or 2. cxd7; after 1... d5 it can be captured en passant by either pawn. Castling is possible in Shafran's chess. The usual restrictions apply. It can be long or short in either direction. The notation consists of Q- or B- (indicating whether the queen's or the bishops' rook is used) followed by 0-0-0 (long castling: the king moves next to the rook and the rook jumps over him) or 0-0 (short castling, the opposite procedure). In the diagram, the black king on h10 has castled long queenside (1... Q-0-0-0) and the one on c8 has castled short bishopside (1... B-0-0). Castling does not really increase the king's safety or make the rook more active, but it is present in the game nonetheless, for completeness. Castling and en passant
Finally, stalemate is a draw.
Other hexagonal chess variants The first published hexagonal chess variant was the commercial game Hexagonia.[1] It was invented in 1864 by John Jaques & Son. The board had 125 cells; each side had the king, 2 cannons, 4 knights and 8 pawns. In 1998 Derick Peterson invented the Grand Hexachess. In this variant the board is placed horizontally, placing each player's pieces to opposite sides. Pawns then have two forward possible moves (forward left and forward right) and three diagonal capturing movements possible (one directly in front). Precisely this was the motivation for this design, considering the fact that usually hexagonal chess pawn is the only piece that does not increase their mobility. C'escacs 2007 is a Grand Glinski chess of 169 hexes.[5] It introduces a dragon (chancellor), two pegasi (cardinal, archbishop) and two almogavars to the Glinski's set. Pawn's moves are increased to allow forward 60° moves, and captures are the same way McCooey's chess. The scornful pawn capture additional rule counterbalances the excessive pawn mobility.
Multiplayer hexagonal chess variants Multiplayer chess variants have existed since the beginning of the game, as chaturaji was a four-player version of chaturanga. Multiplayer chess introduces a diplomacy factor, turning the game into a quite a different one from two-player chess. In 1984, Ronald Planesi invented the ImmortalStarMasters game. It is a chess or checkers variant for two to six players played on a hexagonal board.[6] . The original 1984 name of this game was Kingmaster., however, due to the U.S. Copyright Office's lack of support for title copyright protection, and asserted infringement, the name was changed. The board in this game is significantly larger than in Glinski hexagonal chess in order to accommodate six players and placed in a such a way that each side of a large hexagon may be occupied by one of six players. Pieces are arranged essentially along traditional lines (bishops and knights exchange places to account for the hexagon variation) and one extra bishop is added so all spaces on the board are covered by bishops (a ninth pawn is also added to "seal" the third bishop within the initial structure). All pieces except pawn move in the same way as in Glinski hexagonal chess. The pawn moves and captures similar to McCooey's chess, but within an individual territory a pawn can move in two forward directions and capture in three directions (one directly forward direction and two diagonally-forward directions), due
Hexagonal chess to the particular orientations of a hexagon. In the central area pawns can move and capture in any direction. Napoleonesque methods of play include two players each using three sets of pieces or three players each using two sets of pieces. The primary structural difference between ImmortalStarMasters and the listed hexagonal variants, other than the critical size of the board, is that the listed variants all allow a bishop to exit the initial structure as its first move without movement by any pawns whatsoever (concurrently meaning that a bishop is unprotected by any pawns and subject to immediate attack without the prior movement of a protecting pawn), which is an extreme violation of basic chess structure logic. A two-player version uses essentially the same rules and can use the same board, but a smaller board is available and recommended for closer adherence to "number of pieces versus available space" (powers of force) considerations to match the "difficulty of play" as related to standard square-based chess.
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Pritchard, D. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Batsford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7. Wladyslow Gliński. Rules of Hexagonal Chess. ISBN 0-904195-00-7. McCooey's Hexagonal Chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ hexagonal. dir/ hexchess2. html) by Dave McCooey. Endgame analysis for Hexagonal Chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ hexagonal. dir/ hexendgame. html) by Dave McCooey "C'escacs" (http:/ / cescacs. orgfree. com/ ). . ImmortalStarMasters (http:/ / www. immortalstarmasters. com) by Ronald D. Planesi
External links • Hexagonal chess computer software (http://www.hexagonalchess.com) • Gliński's Hexagonal Chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/hexagonal.dir/hexagonal.html) by Hans L. Bodlaender • Hexagonal Chess by I G Shafran (http://www.math.bas.bg/~iad/tyalie/shegra/shegrax.html) by Ivan A Derzhanski • Rules (http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ru_en&trurl=http://www.loktev.h1.ru/ hexachess/rules.php) Russian page translated to English via Alta Vista • Scatha (http://www.glaurungchess.com/) a free GUI and engine for Mac OS which plays Glinski's Hexagonal Chess • e2–e4 (http://lutecium.org/stp/cochonfucius/e2e4.html) a bilingual comment on having three kinds of bishops
76
Three-dimensional chess
77
Three-dimensional chess Not to be confused with chess software with a 3D rendering. Further information: Chess (disambiguation)
E
D
B
A
C
White to move and mate in 4 by Udo Marks
Three-dimensional chess (or 3D chess) is any of various chess variants played on three-dimensional boards. Three-dimensional variants have existed since the late 19th century, one of the oldest being Raumschach (German for "Space chess"), invented in 1907 by Dr. Ferdinand Maack and considered the classic 3D game.[1] Maack founded a Raumschach club in Hamburg in 1919, which remained active until World War II. Chapter 25 of Pritchard's The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants discusses games using boards with three or more dimensions and contains some 50 such variations. And chapter 11 covers variants using multiple boards normally set side by side ("such games can also be considered as examples of three-dimensional chess" — Beasley).[2]
Raumschach Raumschach starting position
Three-dimensional chess
78
E
D
B
A
C
An inverted knight is used to represent the unicorn. The pawn on Bd2 can move to squares marked "●" and capture on squares marked "x". The inventor contended that for chess to be more like modern warfare, attack should be possible not only from a two-dimensional plane but also from above (air) and below (underwater). Maack's original formulation was for an 8×8×8 board, but after experimenting with smaller boards eventually settled on 5×5×5 as best. The Raumschach 3D board can be thought of as a cube sliced into five equal spaces across each of its three major coordinal planes. This sectioning yields a 5×5×5 (125-cell) playing volume. The horizontal levels are denoted by capital letters A through E. Ranks and files of a level are denoted using algebraic notation. White starts on the A and B levels and Black starts on E and D. (So, the kings begin on squares Ac1 and Ec5.) Other obvious physical differences from chess include two additional pawns per player, and a special piece (two per player) named unicorn.
Move Rules Rooks, bishops, and knights move as they do in chess in any given plane. Rooks, for example, move through the walls of the cubes in any Raumschach board rank, file or column. Bishops move through the edges of the cubes, and knights make a (0,1,2) leaping move (the same effect as one step as a rook and one as a bishop). Unicorns move in a manner special to a 3D space (called triagonal movement) through the corners of the cubes. (Thus each unicorn can reach only 30 cubes; each player's pair, 60.) The queen combines the moves of a rook, bishop, and unicorn. The king moves the same as a queen but one step at a time. Pawns move forward as in chess, or one step directly upward (for White) or downward (for Black). Pawns capture diagonally as in chess, including one step upward (White) or downward (Black) through a front or side cube edge. Promotion occurs where pawns cannot move further, namely the rank E5 (for White's pawns) and rank A1 (Black's pawns).
Three-dimensional chess
79
There is no pawn initial two-square advance, no en passant capture, and no castling. White moves first, and the object is still to checkmate the opposing king.
Star Trek Tri-Dimensional Chess
3D chess on Star Trek
The Tri-D chessboard
Playing Parmen
Probably the most familiar 3D[3] chess variant to the general public in the middle 20th and early 21st centuries is the game of Tri-Dimensional Chess (or Tri-D Chess), which can be seen in many Star Trek TV episodes and movies, starting with the original series (TOS) and proceeding in updated forms throughout the subsequent movies and spinoff series.[4] [5] The game even assumed a fairly significant role in the TOS episode "Court Martial". (Captain Kirk is put on trial for negligence in the death of a crew member. Spock, who had programmed the Enterprise's computer to be unbeatable at the game, plays five matches with the computer and easily wins each one, proving the machine—the source of seemingly irrefutable evidence confirming Kirk's guilt—had been tampered with, thereby destroying its credibility in its account of the incident.)
Three-dimensional chess
Notes [1] Pritchard (2007), p. 229 [2] Pritchard (2007), p. 93 [3] An ongoing discussion is whether Star Trek Chess is really three-dimensional or not, as its structure is something in between 2D and 3D. But since a third coordinate is needed to describe the position of the pieces, it is known by many as "3D Chess". [4] Pritchard (2007), p. 226 [5] There is some discussion whether this game should be called "Tri-Dimensional Chess" as in the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual (Franz Joseph 1975, p. T0:03:98:3x) or "Three-Dimensional Chess" as in The Star Trek Encyclopedia (Okuda 1994, p. 342) and as on Memory Alpha.
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1 • Franz Joseph Schnaubelt (1975), Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, ISBN 0-345-34074-4 • Okuda, Denise; Okuda, Michael; & Mirek, Debbie (1997), The Star Trek Encyclopedia, Pocket Books, ISBN 0-671-53607-9 • Abstract Games (Issue 14 Summer 2003), Carpe Diem Publishing, ISSN 1492-0492
External links • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/index/mainquery.php?type=Any&category=3d& orderby=LinkText&displayauthor=1&displayinventor=1&usethisheading=Three+Dimensional) Three Dimensional (index)
Raumschach • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/3d.dir/3d5.html) Raumschach article by Bruce Balden and Hans Bodlaender • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/3d.dir/555.html) 3D Chess FAQ by David Moeser
Star Trek Tri-Dimensional Chess • Tri-D Chess Rules site of Andrew Bartmess (http://www.yestercade.net/tactical.htm) commercial site; history of Standard Rules • Star Trek 3D Chess Rules site of Charles Roth (http://www.thedance.net/~roth/TECHBLOG/chess.html) free summary of Standard Rules • 3D Chess site of Jens Meder (http://home.arcor.de/jens.meder/3dschach/indexe.html) in English; Tri-D Chess Tournament Rules, boards, and more • 3D Chess site of Michael Klein (http://www.3dschach.de/start_.asp) in English; collection of Tournament Rules games, and more • Parmen site of Doug Keenan (http://www.parmen.com) free Tri-D Chess for Windows; supports Standard and Tournament rulesets according to posted sample games • fzort.org (http://www.fzort.org/mpr/projects/vulcan/) Vulcan open source Tri-D Chess program ("inspired by Star Trek") • Three-dimensional chess (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoryalpha:three-dimensional_chess) at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki) • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/3d.dir/startrek.html) 3D Chess from Star Trek by article Hans Bodlaender
80
Cubic chess
81
Cubic chess Vernon Rylands Parton (1897–1974) was an English chess enthusiast and prolific chess variant inventor, his most renowned variant being Alice Chess.[1] Many of Parton's variants were inspired by the fictional characters and stories in the works of Lewis Carroll. Parton's formal education background, like Lewis Carroll's, was in mathematics.[2] I have distinct memories of sitting on his knee and listening to these [Lewis Carroll] stories, and not a book in sight. He had a favorite uncle, who was blind, and Vern was content to escort him around. Vern never wanted to benefit financially from his work, but asked only for a contribution to charities for the blind. — Peter Parton[2] Parton wrote a series of nine monographs published from 1961 to 1974 detailing his inventions. Parton died at age 77 on 31 December 1974. The same year, variant inventor Philip M. Cohen created the variant Parton Chess in his honor.
V. R. Parton demonstrating 3D chess to a reporter for The Birmingham Post, 1957
Cubic Chess In this 6×6×6 3D variant by Parton, boards are denoted A (bottom level) through F (top level). Each side has six pieces: king (K), queen (Q), bishop (B), unicorn (U), knight (N), and rook (R); and twelve pawns.[3]
Game rules Pieces move the same as in Raumschach, except that pawns move and capture one step forward (either orthogonally, diagonally, or triagonally), but not directly upward or downward. As in chess and Raumschach, the objective is checkmate. • White's starting position: KAa1, QAb1, BAc1, UAd1, NAe1, RAf1; pawns on Aa2–f2 and Ba1–f1 • Black's starting position: KAf6, QAe6, BAd6, UAc6, NAb6, RAa6; pawns on Aa5–f5 and Ba6–f6
Cubic Chess gameboard
Cubic chess
82
Variation Parton made a variation of Cubic Chess for the same gameboard: In Compulsion Cubic Chess, capture is compulsory, there are no checks, and the object is capture of the opposing king.
Mad Threeparty Chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Mad Threeparty Chess starts on an empty board This variant is for three[4] players on a 10×10 board. Each player has a standard set of pieces in his own color, including an extra king,[5] but no pawns.
Rules The board starts empty. Players take turns, in clockwise rotation around the board, placing one of their pieces on any vacant square. Kings are placed last, but must not be placed in check. The two kings of each player are marked differently. (For example, of a player's two kings, one might be marked with a star.) Each player attacks the marked king of the opponent to his left, and the unmarked king of the opponent to his right. It is not permitted to check the opponents' other kings. The Mad Hatter's tea party; illustration by Sir John Tenniel
The first player to checkmate a king wins the game.
Chess variants by V. R. Parton • Checkers Chess (1950s) • Decimal Four-Handed Chess (1950s) • Idle Kings' Chess (1950s)
Cubic chess • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Nightrider Chess (1950s) Scaci Partonici (1950s) Rettah Chess (1952) Decimal Rettah Chess (1952) Double Rettah Chess (1952) Tweedle Chess (or Twin Orthodox Chess) (1952) Alice Chess (1953) Kinglet Chess (or Imperial Fiddlesticks) (1953) Neutral King Chess (1953) No-Retreat Chess (1954), co-inventor J. Boyer Black & White Chess (1955) Degraded Chess (1958) Contramatic Chess (1961) Complete Contramatic Chess (1961) Damate (1961) Dunce's Chess (1961) Gryphon Chess (or Complicacious Chess) (1961)
• • • • • • • • • • • •
Jabberwocky (1961) Knightmare Chess (1961) Linear Chess (1961) Racing Kings (1961) Scacia (1961) Royal Scaci Partonici (1961) Simpleton Chess (1961) Twin Chess (1961) Unirexal Chess (1961) Chimaera Chess (1969) Mock Chess (1969) Ambi-Chess (1970)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Butters (1970) Best Decimal Butter (1970) Blot-Straight Chess (1970) Capricorn Chess (1970) Centaur Royal (1970) Cheshire Cat Chess (1970) Co-Regal Chess (1970) Cubic Chess (1970) Demigorgon Chess (1970) Dodo Chess (1970) Ecila (1970) Gorgona Chess (1970) Identific (1970) Looking-Glass Chess (1970) Mad Threeparty Chess (1970) Meddlers' Chess (1970)
• Semi-Queen Chess (1970) • Sphinx Chess (1970)
83
Cubic chess • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Timur's Cubic Chess (1970) Wyvern Chess (1970) Circean (1971) Dabbabante Chess (1971) Decimal Oriental Chess (1971) Imitante Queen Chess (1971) Synchronistic Chess (1971) Royal Fury (1972) 2000 A.D. (1972) Gorgon Chess (1973) Megasaur Chess (1973) Mimotaur Chess (1973) Rangers Chess (1973) Triscacia (1974)
Checkers variants by V. R. Parton • Good-for-Nothings • Dragon • Kinger, Simple Kinger, and Grand Kinger
Monographs by V. R. Parton (with section headings) Curiouser and Curiouser, (1961), 31 pp. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Scacetic The First Lesson in Chess Dunce's Chess in Three Grades Imperial Fiddlesticks The Queen's Relations The Dodo's Chess Rettah Simpletonry Alician The Black King's Complaint Tweedledee and Tweedledum Mock Turtle's Pseudomprphy Damification A New Pudding Podospherism Contramatic The Rules According to the March Hare Knightmares Gryphon's Fancy and Fun The Realm of Circum Morus The Caterpillar's Idea of C.C.C.
Challenge and Delight of Chessical and Decimal, (1970), 14 pp. Chesshire-Cat-Playeth Looking-Glass Chessys, (1970), 27 pp. • The Queen of Hearts' Chess
84
Cubic chess • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Capricorn Chess The Black King's Complaint The Rules According to the March Hare Identific Synchronistic Chess Jabberwocky Chess Dodo Chess The Chesshire Cat's Grin Scaci Partonici A Chess Reflection Demigorgons The Mad Tea Party Knightmares Scaci Partonici
Chessical Cubism or Chess in Space, (1971), 16 pp. • Cubic Chess • Tamerlane Variation of Cubic Chess • Sphinxian Chess • The Compulsion Sphinx Chess Variations • Ecila Chess 100 Squares for Chess + Damante, (1972), 16 pp. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Capablancan Chess Decimal Falcon-Hunter (Schulz Chess) Half-Queen's Chess Decimal Oriental CHess Decimal Imitante Q Chess Centaur Royal Damate Game Damatic Chess Decimal Duffer's Chess Wyvern Chess Dabbabante Chess Decimal Butter Decimal Obstacles Chess Chimaera Gorgona Circean Ambi-Chess Decimal Scaci Partonici
My Game for 2000 A.D. and After, (1972), 12 pp. Enduring Spirit of Dasapada, (1973), 19 pp. • Dasapada Idea for a Personal Game, (1973), 12 pp. • The Basis of Pawn Partonici • The Idea of Scaci Partonici Chessery for Duffer and Master, (1974), 23 pp.
85
Cubic chess • • • • • • • •
Chessery for Duffer and Master The Game of Rettah Chess Semi-Queen Chess The Diversion of Zerta Meddlers Chess Game The Alice Chess Game The Idea of Gryphon Chess Royal Fury
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4]
Pritchard (1994), p. 3 AG8 (2001), p. 9 Pritchard (1994), p. 77 "What are you threee doing?" asked Alice. "We're going to have a Mad Three party" explained the Mad Hatter. Alice thought he must have meant "tea party". "Can I join you please in this party?" she asked politely, and with much curiousity over this painting with jam. "No, you can't" said the March Hare rather impolitely. "If you join, then it would be a Four party instead." Chesshire-Cat-Playeth Looking-Glass Chessys, Parton (1970), p. 6
[5] "Each player has two Kings!" replied the Hatter very crossly at Alice's ignorance in this matter. "It is home-made plain cake commonsense. One of your opponents attacks one of your kings and the other attacks the other. That is quite easy to understand. If you had only a single king it would get too complicated when both of your opponents attacked the same king." He added with a glare of annoyance at Alice's obvious doubt about that point. "If they had only one teapot they would have to halve it, and what use is half a teapot? You seem as stupid as the Dormouse!" Chesshire-Cat-Playeth Looking-Glass Chessys, Parton (1970), p. 7
References • Pritchard, D. B. (1994), The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, Games & Puzzles Publications, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1 • Peter Parton, "Reflections on Vernon Rylands Parton", Abstract Games (Issue 8 Winter 2001), Carpe Diem Publishing, ISSN 1492-0492
External links • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/parton/parton.html) Vernon Rylands Parton (1897–1974) • BrainKing.com (http://brainking.com/en/GameRules?tp=125) play Racing Kings online
86
Flying chess
Flying chess Flying chess is a chess variant, based around a three dimensional board. It was invented by Dr David Eltis (a noted historian of the Military Revolution) in 1984.
Rules The board used for Flying chess is 8 * 8 * 2, giving a 128 cell board. There can either be markers on 'flying' pieces or a second board can be used for the upper level. All pieces start the game as per a standard chess game. Most commonly, two, adjacent chess boards are used, one representing the Top tier, and the other, the bottom tier.
Moves Kings, Queens, and Pawns may not go to the higher level. They move as in standard chess, but can also capture an enemy piece that is flying on the square directly above them. Rooks are among the three pieces that can 'fly'. They can move on, to, and from the higher level. A rook can make a normal move on any of the two levels: note that the squares it passes over must be empty on the level he moves in. Additionally, a rook can go up when moving on the ground level by making a normal move and then moving diagonally up in the direction the rook moves. They also can go up directly one level. The only way a rook can go down from the upper to the lower level is to directly move one square down. Bishops are also among the three pieces that can 'fly'. A bishop can make a standard move on any of the two levels. It can make a normal move on the higher level and then descend diagonally in the direction of movement, or go up from a ground square to the upper level square directly above it, or go down from an upper level square to the ground square immediately below it. Knights are the third type of 'flying' piece. A knight can either make a normal move in any level, or a knight can move in the upper level combined with a direct descend.
Taking All pieces take in the same way as they move. Additionally, each piece can headbutt; when he is in a square on the lower level and a piece of the opponent is in the same square in the upper level, he can take that piece without moving.
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, p. 226, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
External links • Flying chess [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ 3d. dir/ flying. html
87
Dragonchess
88
Dragonchess Dragonchess is a three-dimensional fantasy chess variant created by Gary Gygax, co-creator of the famed role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.[1] Dragonchess was first presented in 1985 in issue No. 100 of Dragon Magazine. The Dragonchess gameboard consists of three vertically-stacked 12×8 levels. The upper level (blue and white) represents the air, the middle level (green and amber) represents the land, and the lower level (red and brown) is the subterranean world (Gygax 1985:34). The Dragonchess game pieces (42 per player) are an ensemble of characters and monsters inspired or derived from fantasy settings in Dungeons & Dragons. Intricate inter- and intra-level game piece capabilities are defined. As in chess, the game is won by delivering checkmate to the enemy king.
Gary Gygax
The Dragonchess 3D gameboard
Dragonchess
89
Upper board The Sylph (S) On level 3: • can move one step diagonally forward, or capture one step straight forward;[2] • can capture on the square directly below on level 2. On level 2: can move to the square directly above on level 3, or to one of the player's six Sylph starting squares.
The Griffon (G) Upper board starting position
On level 3: • can move and capture by jumping[3] in the following pattern: two steps diagonally followed by one step orthogonally outward;[4] • can move and capture one step triagonally to level 2.[5] On level 2: • can move and capture one step diagonally; • can move and capture one step triagonally to level 3.[6]
Dragonchess
90
The Dragon (R) Bound to level 3: • can move and capture any number of unobstructed steps diagonally, or one step orthogonally;[7] • can capture remotely (without leaving level 3) on the square directly below on level 2, or on any square orthogonally adjacent to that square.
Middle board The Warrior (W) Bound to level 2: • can move one step straight forward, or capture one step diagonally foward;[8] • promotes to Hero when reaching the 8th rank.
The Oliphant (O) Bound to level 2: can move and capture any number of unobstructed steps orthogonally.[9] Middle board starting position
The Unicorn (U) Bound to level 2: can move and capture the same as a chess knight.
The Hero (H) On level 2: • can move and capture one or two unblockable steps diagonally; • can move and capture one step triagonally to levels 1 or 3.[6] [5] On levels 1 and 3: can move and capture one step triagonally to the same square on level 2 the Hero previously left.
Dragonchess
The Thief (T) Bound to level 2: can move and capture any number of unobstructed steps diagonally.[10]
The Cleric (C) On level 2: • can move and capture one step in any direction;[11] • can move and capture to the square directly above or directly below on an adjacent level. On levels 1 and 3: the same powers as when on level 2.
The Mage (M) On level 2: • can move and capture any number of unobstructed steps diagonally or orthogonally;[12] • can move and capture to the square directly below on level 1 or directly above on level 3. On levels 1 and 3: • can move one step orthogonally;[13] • can move and capture one or two steps directly above or directly below to one of the other levels.[14]
The King (K) On level 2: • can move and capture one step in any direction;[11] • can move and capture to the square directly below on level 1 or directly above on level 3; On levels 1 and 3: can move to (only) the same square on level 2 the King previously left.[13]
The Paladin (P) On level 2: • can move and capture as a chess king+knight; • can move to levels 1 or 3 using an (unblockable) knight-like move: one level up or down followed by two steps orthogonally. On levels 1 and 3: • can move and capture one step in any direction;[11] • can move to the other levels using an (unblockable) knight-like move: one level up or down followed by two steps orthogonally, or two levels up or down followed by one step orthogonally.
91
Dragonchess
92
Lower board The Dwarf (D) On level 1: • can move one step straight forward or sideways, or capture one step diagonally foward; • can capture on the square directly above on level 2. On level 2: • can move one step straight forward or sideways, or capture one step diagonally foward; • can move to the square directly below on level 1. Lower board starting position
The Basilisk (B) Bound to level 1: • can move one step diagonally forward or straight backward, or capture one step straight forward; • always freezes (immobilizes) an enemy piece on the square directly above on level 2.
The Elemental (E) On level 1: • can move and capture one or two steps orthogonally;[14] • can move one step diagonally; • can capture in the following pattern: one step orthogonally followed by the square directly above on level 2.[14] On level 2: • can move and capture in the following pattern: the square directly below on level 1 followed by one step orthogonally.
Dragonchess
Notation Recording moves is done the same as in algebraic notation for chess, extended to a 12×8 board, with the addition of a numeric prefix (1, 2, or 3) in front of each square coordinate to idenfity the level.[15] (So for example, Black's king starts on 2g8.)
Sample game 1. Rx3a7 Rx3a2 2. Rx2a8 ...
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Pritchard (1994), p. 95 The same as a Berolina pawn (without promotion or an initial two-step option). The move or capture is unblockable. Or (the same result): one step orthogonally followed by two steps diagonally outward. The same as a Zebra fairy chess piece, or an elephant in janggi. That is, to a square diagonally below. That is, to a square diagonally above. The same as a chess king+bishop, or a dragon horse in shogi. The same as a chess pawn (without an initial two-step option).
[9] The same as a chess rook. [10] The same as a chess bishop. [11] The same as a chess king. [12] The same as a chess queen. [13] Gygax does not mention whether for moves only, or for moves and captures. [14] Gygax does not mention whether the move is unblockable or not. [15] Gygax initially describes levels beginning with "1" for upper board in the first page of his article (Gygax 1985:34), but consistently uses "3" for upper board and "1" for lower board in the subsequent six pages (Gygax 1985:35–40) for all examples, move definitions, and sample moves.
References • Gygax, Gary (August 1985). "Dragonchess". Dragon Magazine No. 100 (TSR, Inc.) X (3): 34–40. ISSN 0279-6848. • Pritchard, D. B. (1994), The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, Games & Puzzles Publications, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1
External links • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/3d.dir/dragonchess.html) Dragonchess article by Edward Jackman • The Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/3d.dir/dragonchess2.html) more on Dragonchess • Strategy Game Server (http://3moves.net/) Dragonchess online play • sourceforge.net (http://dragonchess.sourceforge.net/index.html) Dragonchess software for local and network play • Pathguy.com (http://www.pathguy.com/chess/DragonCh.htm) a simple Dragonchess program by Ed Friedlander
93
94
Unusual rules Antichess Antichess, also called losing chess, loser's chess, zero chess, giveaway chess, suicide chess, take-me chess or reverse chess is a chess variant in which the objective of the participants is to get all of their pieces captured. The most widely played variation, as described in the book Popular Chess Variants by D.B. Pritchard, is described below.
Rules The rules of the game are the same as those of chess except for the following additional rules: • Capturing is compulsory. • When more than one capture is available, the player may exercise choice. • The king has no special prerogative and accordingly: • It may be captured like any other piece. • There is no check or checkmate. • There is no castling. • Pawns may also promote to King. • In the case of stalemate, there are different rules: • It is a win for the stalemated player (international rules). • It is a draw. • It is a win for the player with the fewer number of pieces, and if both have the same number it is a draw. The type of the piece makes no difference (FICS rules). A player wins by losing all his pieces, or being stalemated (as detailed.) Apart from move repetition, mutual accord and the fifty-move rule, the game is also drawn when a win is impossible, such as if a dark-squared bishop and a light-squared bishop are the only pieces remaining. In another little-played version, forcing the opponent to checkmate the king is another option to win. P.H. Törngren Tidskrift för Schack 1929 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
Antichess
95 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Suicide chess, white to play and win. Solution goes: 1.h3! a5 2.h4 a4 3.h5 a3 4.h6 a2 5.h7 a1R! 6.h8B!! Ranywhere (Black is in zugzwang) 7. Ba1 Rxa1 1-0 Because of the forced capture rule, antichess games often involve long sequences of forced captures by one player. This means that a minor mistake can ruin the game. Losing openings include 1.d4, 1.e4, 1.d3, 1.Nc3, 1.Nf3, 1.f4, 1.h4, 1.b4, 1.h3.[1] Some of these openings took months of computer time to solve, but the wins against 1.d3, 1.d4, and 1.e4 consist of a single series of forced captures and can be played from memory by most experienced players.
Kamikaze chess variation Kamikaze chess is similar to Antichess, but with one main difference, players must lose their king last. As with Antichess, players must take at every opportunity and make a choice if more than one piece can be taken. Players must not move into check until they only have the King left. If an opponent's move puts them in check, they must get out of it, as per standard chess. If they only have the king left, they can just make a move which still leaves them in check, their opponent must take the king and then the player who has lost the king is the winner. If they are checkmated before all the other pieces are gone, they lose. Pawns may only be promoted to a Queen.
References [1] http:/ / brainrook. com/ archives/ 14-ANTI-CHESS. html
External links • • • • •
KPanta (http://freecode.com/projects/kpanta/) at Freecode – AntiChess Game for Linux Play Antichess online (http://grandgames.net/en/) Nilatac's Suicide Opening Book (http://catalin.francu.com/nilatac/book.php) The complete review of suicide chess by Fabrice Liardet (http://www.pion.ch/Losing/index.html) An interesting look on suicide chess by Vladica Andrejić (http://www.matf.bg.ac.rs/~andrew/suicide)
• Web site of Stan Goldovski, pioneer of suicide chess (http://www.matf.bg.ac.rs/~andrew/suicide/StanGold/ Index.htm) • Suicide and Losers Chess database (http://www.wildchess.org/) • SuicideChess (http://suicidechess.ca/) • Play Antichess online (http://online.gambiter.com/) (Suicide and Losers variants)
Atomic chess
Atomic chess Atomic chess is a chess variant. While the other rules of chess apply fully, all captures result in an atomic explosion. This means that the surrounding pieces — not including pawns — will be taken off the board as well.
The rules The rules of atomic chess are the same as standard chess with the following differences:
Capturing In standard chess, the captured piece is removed from the board and the capturing piece takes its place. In atomic chess, both pieces are removed from the board (i.e. "killed"). Furthermore, this atomic explosion extends to all eight surrounding squares. Any pieces caught in the surrounding squares are also captured with the exception of pawns. Pawns are captured only when they are involved in the actual capture event in the central square. In en passant, ground zero of the explosion is the square on the sixth rank upon which the capturing pawn lands. The game frequently ends with one king being caught in the explosion of a surrounding piece. Moves that result in the explosion of your own king are illegal. There is also a variant without check, in which checkmate will only mean a capture of the king in the next move, and not a win by itself.
Check As in normal chess check still fully applies. However if a player's king is in check he has nevertheless the ability to win by exploding his opponents king. Also as the king cannot take another piece, it is possible to move the kings next to each other. In this case check does not apply. In a further variant of atomic chess, check is not enforced at all. This means that any move, even one leaving the king to be captured in the next move, is possible and can be forced by zugzwang. Some chess servers, such as the Internet Chess Club, use slightly different rules which completely ignore check, meaning that victory can only be attained via the explosion of an enemy king. This requires more awareness from the players with regards to direct threats against their kings.
Stalemate If the check rule is enforced then a stalemate is possible in similar way to that of standard chess. If the check rule is not enforced, and for example if a player's only legal move is to move into check then he or she must do so. Without check, a stalemate can only occur in extremely rare situations.
Death match If both kings die simultaneously in an atomic explosion, the game continues until all the pieces of one player are removed from the board. If all the remaining pieces are removed in the last explosion (i.e. the board is empty), then it's a draw. This is not possible on most online servers, as it is an illegal move to explode your own king in any circumstances - even if the other king would be exploded as well.
In game tactics The first-move advantage enjoyed by White is much greater in this game than in standard chess. Hence, this game is imbalanced against Black. Some players consider atomic chess to be a forced win for white, but so far all attempts to refute the game have been unsuccessful, and high-rated players tend to disagree. The transition from opening to mid-game and from mid-game to end-game is as ambiguous and subjective as in standard chess. However, below are ideas and theory about the game that most players will agree with or change emphasis.
96
Atomic chess
97
Opening Because White has the initiative, Black is often preoccupied initially to fending off attempts to kill its king via atomic explosions directed at the pawns adjacent at d7, e7 and f7. These attacks usually involve the knights, which are fastest to develop, but the queen and bishops are also dangerous. A strong White opening will dictate Black's moves for the start of the game and Black has a small number of choices at each move compared with standard chess. Ignoring an attack set and making benign moves will cause a loss of the game far earlier than in standard chess, if the opponent is familiar with the opening. A weak white opening can result in black taking the initiative and forcing white's moves. In atomic chess a sacrifice of knights, bishops and sometimes even queens are acceptable. It is extremely common to make sacrifices of material, which would seem to a chess player to be nonsensical in order to gain a positional advantage in the opening. By far the most common sacrifice in atomic chess openings is to advance either knight from the third rank to the fifth, knowing it can be taken by a pawn.
Mid-game Generally speaking once a player's knowledge of opening theory is expended in the direction a game has gone, or when neither player has an opportunity to attack their opponent for several moves the game can be said to have moved into the mid-game. This can occur with both players having all their material, or when all but a few pawns are left. The moves a player makes in his mid-game will be dictated by the position he is left with after the opening. For example if he is "a piece up" (i.e. has a material advantage) a strategy is to play purely defensive moves and try to make all subsequent exchange of material equal or better, and then use that advantage at the end. Depending on the style of play of a player in his mid-games he may wish to risk material or losing by attacking or may play defensively, digging in until the end game comes where he may feel more confident. Or he may try to continue making move sets to gain material advantage or threaten the opponent's king. The survival of the queens in non-defensive positions tend to lead to shorter games, making the queen more powerful than almost all defensive alignments of the other pieces. Though there are some openings where one side can successfully exchange the queen (for example, by taking the pawn on b7, getting a rook, knight, bishop and a pawn for it). Losing the queen without having a trap or very accurate play is a huge disadvantage. An endgame position in Atomic chess. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black has connected kings and became immune to check. However, white can win by forcing the black king to be adjacent to the black pawn, then capturing the pawn. 1.Kc4 Kd4 2.Kb5+ Kc5 3.Ka6+ Kb5 4.Ka7+ Ka6 5.Qxa5 Note that black is forced to retain the connection, or the queen will chase the king and mate him.
Atomic chess
Endgame Endgame theory is now as detailed as opening theory and it is possible to say whether a forced win or draw is possible. A notable and amusing feature of atomic chess which can first attract chess players to the game is that kings can be in adjacent squares. This is not a rare occurrence and a player can in some positions force a draw with it, though there are many ways to disconnect or win by blowing up a piece next to the opponents king. For example a win is always possible if one side is up a queen or rook and a second piece, or just a queen and there are still blocked pawns on the board. Creative use of Zugzwang is a common tactic to force a win.
New theory and game culture New opening theory is still being developed and played by different players on different servers, trying to catch each other out. As more games are played and more players play across different servers using what they believe is a new opening line or an unusual defensive line which an opponent has not seen. Strong attacking ideas come for white and then are refuted again, so that there is no known line that will result in a win for white. A player who knows many variations will often be able to gain significant advantage when playing with white.
Variants and other games called atomic chess Another variant of this game is that the pawns will be killed by an explosion, but will not set off one, which drastically decreases the potency of pawn killers. Yet another variant has surfaced, particularly in online play, such as through ItsYourTurn.com [1]. In this variant, each side secretly identifies one of their pieces as the "bomb". Capture of any piece, including the bomb, will not set off a detonation. The bomb can only be detonated willfully by the player when his turn comes, and setting off the bomb counts as a turn. The explosion kills the bomb and all pieces surrounding it. Killing the opponent's bomb in this fashion does not initiate a chain reaction. Since it is impossible to determine for sure whether or not your opponent's bomb is still active (unless he has detonated it), bluff is part of a good strategy in this variant. Blowing up the opponent's king in this fashion results in a win, killing your own king in a loss and killing both kings in a draw. Setting off the bomb is a valid move when in check only if the explosion removes the check status and does not cause your king to be in check again by the removal of the destroyed pieces. All other standard chess rules apply.
References [1] http:/ / www. itsyourturn. com
98
Three checks chess
99
Three checks chess Three-check chess is a variation of chess, in which a player wins if he checks his opponent three times. Anatoly Karpov is said to excel in this chess variant (Pritchard 2007:83). This chess variant is much more tactical than standard chess, sacrifices are very common, there are a lot of traps in the opening. Two checks is already a big advantage and may be worth more than one piece. The game rarely reaches endgame – usually it is decided before queens are traded.
Example game a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
A game of three-check chess in progress. Position after 4....Qh4. 1.e4 e6 2. d4?? This typical opening in standard chess immediately loses in three-check chess. 2....Bb4+ First check. 3.c3 Bxc3+! Second check. 4.Nxc3 Qh4! (see diagram). 0-1. White resigned here, there is no way to prevent a third check by Qxf2+ or Qxe4+.
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
Extinction chess
Extinction chess Extinction chess is a variant of western Chess where the objective of the game has changed. Instead of the winning condition of the game being the checkmate of the opponent's king, the object of the game is to capture all of a particular kind of piece the opponent has. In other words, the objective is to achieve any of the following: • • • • • •
Capture the opponent's king Capture the opponent's queen Capture both of the opponent's knights Capture both of the opponent's bishops Capture both of the opponent's rooks Capture all of the opponent's pawns. If your opponent promotes their last pawn, you will also win the game.
Since the king is not a special piece in this game, it is legal to castle when in check, or to castle through check. Promotion to king is also allowed. This game was invented by R. Wayne Schmittberger.
External links • Extinction Chess [1] • Extinction Chess on Game Courier [2] - Play Extinction Chess against others online • ItsYourTurn.com [1] - Extinction chess tournaments online
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ winning. dir/ extinction. html [2] http:/ / play. chessvariants. org/ pbm/ presets/ extinction_chess. html
100
Crazyhouse
101
Crazyhouse Crazyhouse is a chess variant similar to bughouse chess, but with only two players. It effectively incorporates a rule in shogi (Japanese chess), in which a player can introduce a captured piece back to the board as his own.
Rule differences from normal chess • A captured piece reverses colour and goes to the capturing player's 'reserve', or 'pocket'. At any time, instead of making a move with a piece on a board, a player can 'drop' a piece, in his reserve, onto an empty square on the board. • Promoted but captured pawns are dropped as pawns.[1]
1. N@e7+ Kh8 2. Bxg7#
• Pawns must not be dropped on the first or eighth ranks.[1] • Drops which cause immediate checkmate are allowed. Unlike in shogi, this includes pawn drops.[1] • A check that would cause checkmate, in regular chess, can be answered if the defender can make a legal drop which blocks the check.[2]
Notation When recording games, an extension of the usual algebraic notation for chess is used, so that drops can be specified. Drops first give the piece type, followed by an @ symbol, then the target square. For example, "P@d5" means "pawn is dropped on d5 from reserve".[2]
Strategy Crazyhouse, which has been analysed much less than regular chess, requires different strategies. Pawns and knights increase in relative importance in crazyhouse, while rooks, queens, and bishops decrease in relative importance. If a king is put in check by any of the latter three pieces, from two or more squares away, dropping a pawn next to the king becomes defensively useful. A knight, on the other hand, cannot be blocked by anything and its offensive value is more manifest. That piece can be used effectively to maintain a strategic influence over a region. After an early exchange of queens, it is usually unwise to reintroduce the queen too soon, particularly if she can be harassed by dropped minor pieces. Careful preparation is needed, in order to reintroduce the queen to maximum effect. Pawns could be dropped deep in the enemy position where, for example, they can fork pieces or give an uncomfortable check.
Crazyhouse
102
Variations Minor variations of the rules are possible, such as: • Loop Chess - promoted pawns keep their rank when captured.[3] • Chessgi, Neo Chess - promoted pawns keep their rank when captured; pawns may be dropped on the first rank.[4]
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. chessclub. com/ help/ crazyhouse http:/ / www. freechess. org/ Help/ HelpFiles/ crazyhouse. html http:/ / brainking. com/ game/ GameRules?tp=6 http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ other. dir/ chessgi. html
External links • Crazyhouse (http://www.chessvariants.org/other.dir/crazyhouse.html) by Fergus Duniho • Database of Crazyhouse games (http://wildchess.org/index.php?variant=Crazyhouse)
Knight relay chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Knight relay chess The diagram shows possible moves of white pawn on e6. White knight on d4 "relays" knight power to this pawn. Knight relay chess (also called N-relay chess) is a chess variant invented by Mannis Charosh in 1972. In this game knights "relay" their power to friendly pieces.
Knight relay chess
Rules Any piece defended by a friendly knight can move as a knight. Knights can't be captured and they can't capture enemy pieces. Pawns can't move to the first and the last rank by a relayed knight move. If the pawn moved to the second rank by a knighted move, it can move two steps again on one of the next moves. In this game there is no en passant capture. Pawns can promote to knights and promoted knights also have relay power. The diagram on the right shows possible moves of the pawn e6. It can move on e7 and capture on d7 and f7 as a usual pawn. However since it is defended by a friendly knight on d4, it can move like a knight to c7, c5, f4, g5 and g7. It can't move on last rank to f8 with a knight move and the black king is not under check. White knight on b7 doesn't check black king as well and can't capture black pawn on a5. White queen can't capture black knight on c3. White can deliver checkmate in this position by moving Qd6. In this case black king can't escape on c8 or e8. These fields become attacked by the queen on d6, because the queen gets knight power by the knight on b7.
References • D.B. Pritchard (2000). Popular Chess Variants. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7.
External links • N-Relay Chess [1] by Alessandro Castelli. • BrainKing.com [2] - allows to play knight relay chess online.
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffmove. dir/ nrelay. html [2] http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=71
103
Andernach chess
104
Andernach chess Michel Caillaud Comm. Andernach TT, 1993 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Shortest proof game in 3.0 (Andernach chess). Andernach chess is a chess variant in which a piece making a capture (except kings) changes colour.[1] For instance, if a white bishop on a2 were to capture a black knight on g8, the end result would be a black bishop on g8. Non-capturing moves are played as in orthodox chess. If a pawn captures on 8th rank, it is promoted first and then changes color. The game was named after the German town of Andernach, which is the site of annual meetings of fairy chess enthusiasts. It was during the 1993 meeting there that Andernach chess was introduced with a chess problem composing tournament for Andernach problems. It has since become a popular variant in problem composition, though it has not yet become popular as a game-playing variant.
Example problem At the right an example Andernach chess problem is shown. The task is to find a proof game, which would last 3 moves and lead to the shown position. The solution is: 1.Nf3 Nc6 2.Ne5 Nxe5 (=wN) (Black knight turns to white knight after capture on e5. White can now move this knight.) 3.Nxd7 (=bN) (This time white knight turns into black knight.) Nb8. This leads to the position shown on the diagram.
Variations Predecessor of Andernach chess was Tibetan chess, in which a black unit (called lama) changes colour when it captures a white piece of a different type. As in Andernach chess, the king is not affected by capture. For example, if black pawn on d7 captures white queen on c6, it becomes white pawn and can be moved by white on the next move. This game has nothing to do with Chandraki, a chess variant played in Tibet.[2] A variant on Andernach chess is anti-Andernach, in which pieces except kings change colour after non-captures, but stay the same colour after a capture. There is also super-Andernach in which all pieces except kings change colour after every move, whether a capture or not. Super-Andernach was introduced by John Rice in The Problemist Supplement in March 2006.
Andernach chess
References [1] Andernach Chess (http:/ / www. janko. at/ Retros/ Glossary/ Andernach. htm) by Joost de Heer and Otto Janko [2] Chandraki, the Tibetan Chess (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ chandraki. htm) by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
External links • A selection of Andernach problems (http://members.tripod.com/~JurajLorinc/chess/fi_a.htm#ander)
Checkless chess Checkless Chess (or prohibition chess) is a chess variant where neither player is allowed to give a check, with the exception of checkmate. All other rules are as in regular chess. This change has a profound impact on the way the game is played. In regular chess, the king needs to be kept safe, since attacks on it need to be parried, and checks can be used to gain time or chase the king to an unsafe position. In checkless chess however, the king is immune from most attacks, as long as checkmates are avoided. In order to achieve checkmate the king must be encircled without checks. Another impact of this rule is that the king, immune from attack, is now itself a powerful force. The king can defend pieces by placing itself so that capturing the piece would place the king in check. The king can advance into the enemy position, creating havoc in the enemy camp as they need to avoid squares where they would put the king under check. Such a plan may be risky however, since getting the king trapped in the enemy camp may subject it to an untimely checkmate.
References • Entry on "Checkless chess" in Hooper, David; Whyld, Ken (1984). Oxford Companion to Chess. ISBN 0-19-217540-8.
External links • Checkless chess [1] by Hans Bodlaender.
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ usualeq. dir/ checklss. html
105
Circe chess
106
Circe chess Circe chess (or just circe) is a chess variant in which captured pieces are reborn on their starting positions as soon as they are captured, based on the following rules: 1. Pawns return to the start position on the same file they are captured on. 2. Rooks, knights and bishops return to the starting square which is the same color as the square they are captured on. For instance, a white pawn captured on b4 is reborn on b2; a black knight captured on f6 is reborn on b8; a black rook captured on the same square is reborn on h8. Castling with a reborn rook is permitted. If the square that the rebirth should take place on is occupied, either by a friendly or enemy piece, the captured unit is not reborn—it is instead removed from the board and takes no further part in the game (like a capture in orthodox chess). The rules of circe chess were first detailed by P. Monréal and J.-P. Boyer in an article in Problème, 1968. These are the most usual rules employed in circe - there are numerous other forms of the game in which the rules of rebirth may vary. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black to move. White is threatening a mate with 2.Re1# but Black can defend with 1...Ba1! When notating a circe game in algebraic notation, it is conventional to place details of where a captured piece has been reborn in brackets following the move. For example, if in the diagram to the right, white were to take black's knight, this would be notated Rxe8(Ng8). The position to the right demonstrates a couple of unusual effects which can occur in circe. It is black to move. White is threatening checkmate with 1.Re1#. Black would not be able to defend with 1...Kxe1 after this move, because the rook is instantly reborn on a1 from where it gives check (black's bishop does defend a1, and the black king is free to move to e2 or capture at d2, but this is of no consequence as after Kxe1 it will be white's move.). It might appear that there is nothing black can do to prevent this threat, but in fact he has 1...Ba1! - if now 2.Re1+, Kxe1 is possible because the rook is not reborn because its rebirth square is occupied. Circe is rarely played as a variant game (when it is, it is usually combined with progressive chess), but very often employed in composed fairy chess problems.
Circe chess
Circe variants There are many variants of circe, especially in chess problems. Instead of being reborn on their starting positions the pieces may be reborn on other locations: • Anticirce: the capturing piece is reborn on its initial square. The captured piece disappears from the board. The rebirth square must be empty or the capture is illegal. There are two types: Type Cheylan: captures on the rebirth square are illegal (i.e. a white rook can't capture on a1). Type Calvet: captures on the rebirth square are legal. • Assassin circe: The rebirth occurs, even if the rebirth square is occupied. The occupying piece is removed from the board. When a piece is captured on its rebirth square, the capturing piece disappears. • Chamaeleon circe: a captured piece (other than a pawn) is reborn as a different piece: knight becomes bishop, bishop becomes rook, rook becomes queen and queen becomes knight. The reborn piece is placed according to the circe rule for the new piece. • Circe Parrain: a captured piece is reborn on the square displaced from the capture square by a vector equal to that of the move following the capture. If the following move is castling, then the sum of the king-move and rook-move vectors is used (for a king-side castle, rebirth can occur only if the piece is a pawn captured en passant). • Circe Rex inclusive: as circe but also the kings may be captured. A mate requires that the initial square of the king is occupied. • Clone circe: a captured piece is reborn on its initial square but reappears as the piece by which it is captured (not a king). • CouCou circe: as circe but the rebirth square is that of the capturing piece. Pawns captured by a piece are reborn on the promotion rank, and promote. The promotion is chosen by the capturing side. • CousCous circe: as CouCou circe, but for captures resulting in promotion, the promotion type is chosen by the side whose pawn promotes. • Diagram circe: a captured piece is reborn on the position it had on the diagram. • Equipollents circe: As Circe Parrain, but the rebirth occurs immediately on a vector equal to the capturing move. • Kamikaze circe: the captured piece is reborn on its initial square. The capturing piece disappears. • Martian circe: pieces move in the ordinary manner but capture only from their initial position (if it is unoccupied). Captured pieces disappear from the board. • Mirror circe: a captured piece is reborn on a square where a piece of the opposite color would be reborn in ordinary circe. • Platzwechsel circe (PWC): a captured piece is reborn on the square where the capturer was placed before the capture. Platzwechsel means "position exchange" in German. • Strict circe: as ordinary circe but the rebirth square must be free for the capture to be legal. • Symmetrical circe: as circe but the rebirth square is the capture square mirrored across the center of the board. • Volcanic circe: as circe, but if the rebirth square is occupied, the captured piece is 'hidden' under that piece. When that piece moves, the hidden piece is revealed. E.g. white king on f1, white bishop on a6, black king on b6: Black captures Kb6xa6(+wBf1(hidden)) Kf1-e1 (+wBf1).
107
Circe chess
108
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, pp. 55–56, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
External links • Circe Problems [1] • Circe Chess [2] at Retro Corner
References [1] http:/ / members. tripod. com/ ~JurajLorinc/ chess/ fi_c. htm#circe [2] http:/ / www. janko. at/ Retros/ Glossary/ Circe. htm
Legan chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Legan chess Legan chess is a chess variant invented by L. Legan in 1913. It differs from standard chess by starting position as well as by pawn movements.
Rules The initial starting position is shown at the right. The game can be also played with the board rotated by 45° clock-wise to make pawn movements easier to understand. There are no castling and no en passant moves. Otherwise, the rules of chess apply.
Pawn movement
Legan chess
109
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Pawn movements in Legan chess Pawns moves one space diagonally forward: white from right to left, black left to right. They capture orthogonally in direction of movements (see the example in the diagram at right). The white pawn on f3 can move to e4 and capture on e3 and f4. Black pawn on b6 can move to c5 and capture on b5 and c6.
Pawn promotion a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Pawn promotion in Legan chess Pawns promote on squares occupied in initial position by opponent's king, bishops, knights, and rooks. For example, white pawns promote on squares a5-a8-d8 (marked with white circles); black pawns on e1-h1-h4 (marked with black circles). Note that the pawns that start on d1, h5, a4 and e8 cannot promote without moving toward the center of the board via capturing.
Legan chess
110
References • D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (p. 172). ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
External links • BrainKing.com [1] - internet server to play Legan chess and many other chess variants.
References [1] http:/ / brainking. com
Madrasi chess Madrasi chess is a chess variant invented in 1979 by Abdul Jabbar Karwatkar which uses the conventional rules of chess with the addition that when a piece is attacked by a piece of the same type but opposite colour (for example, a black queen attacking a white queen) it is paralysed and becomes unable to move, capture or give check. Most of the time, two like pieces attack each other mutually, meaning they are both paralysed (en passant pawn captures are an exception to this, since the attack is not mutual. (The status of an en passant capture is open to debate, according to Pritchard.) This paralysis rule is not usually extended to the kings, meaning that as in orthodox chess, the two kings cannot move to adjacent squares; when it is extended to kings, the variant is called Madrasi rex inclusive (sometimes shortened to Madrasi RI). Although it is possible to play complete games of both Madrasi chess and Madrasi RI, they have mainly been used as a condition in chess problems. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The position to the right demonstrates some of the peculiarities of Madrasi. The black king is not in check from the rook on c5 (see algebraic chess notation), because it (the rook) is attacked by the black rook on g5, meaning it is paralysed. In its turn, the c5 rook attacks the g5 rook, paralysing it. Likewise, the white rook on g2, also attacked by the g5 rook, is paralysed. The black rook on h4, however, is not paralysed, and is free to move. The knights on d8 and f7 also attack each other, as do the pawns on c2 and d3, so these pieces are also paralysed. Note that the bishop on d1 is not paralysed by knight on f2 attacking it - units have to be of a similar type (both knights, both bishops and so on) for paralysis to happen. There are two ways in which a paralysis may be released. The first is for a non-paralysed pieces to make a capture. In the example, white cannot play cxd3 because his pawn is paralysed, but he can play Nxd3, thus unparalysing his
Madrasi chess
111
c2 pawn. The second way to unparalyse a piece is to cut off the line of attack from the paralysing unit by interposing a third piece. For example, 1.Be5 in the diagram cuts the line of attack from the g5 rook to the c5 rook and so unparalyses it. As a result, the white rook on c5 is now giving check. The only way for black to escape the check in this instance is to re-paralyse the checking rook, which can be done by 1...Rc4. White then has the reply 2.bxc4 which is checkmate: black has no safe squares for his king, he cannot capture the checking unit, he cannot interpose a piece between the checking unit and the king, and he cannot paralyse the checking unit (note that ...Rxe5 paralysing the c5 rook is not possible, because the g5 rook is paralysed by its counterpart on g2). Isardam ("Madrasi" spelled backwards) is a variant of Madrasi in which only moves that do not lead to a Madrasi paralysis are legal.
External links • Madrasi Problems [1]
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (2nd ed.), John Beasley, pp. 44–45, ISBN 0-95551-680-3 • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), "Madrasi", The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280049-3
References [1] http:/ / members. tripod. com/ ~JurajLorinc/ chess/ fi_m. htm#madra
Monochromatic chess Raymond Smullyan a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Monochromatic chess: What color is pawn g3? Monochromatic chess is a chess variant created by Raymond Smullyan, in which the initial board position and all rules are the same as in regular chess, except that pieces which begin on a black square must always stay on a black square and pieces which begin on a white square must always stay on a white square. This would mean that knights
Monochromatic chess can never move, but The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants says that knights make a double jump. It has been suggested that a knight be replaced with a (3,1)-leaper. If knights are allowed to move (or are captured, clearing the way), castling may become possible, but only on the kingside. Under the rules, pawns can only move by capturing or by advancing two squares for their first move. A stalemate occurs if a player's king is not in check but the player nevertheless has no legal moves under the rules of the game. Similarly, a checkmate occurs if the king is placed in check and the king has no legal moves under the rules of the game. This means that certain board positions in regular chess which would not result in the end of the game can be checkmates or stalemates in monochromatic chess. For example, each player has one bishop for which it is possible to obtain checkmate with just this bishop and a king, while it is impossible with the other bishop along with the king, since only one bishop is capable of threatening the king of the opposing side. Because the two kings must occupy squares of different colours, they are allowed to be located next to each other. This variant is used mostly in chess problems. Smullyan's example asks: What color is pawn g3 - white or black? Answer is black – with white pawns on d2 and f2, the white king can move from e1 only with castling and then g1-h2-g3-... so the pawn on g3 cannot be white.
Bichromatic chess In bichromatic chess, the opposite restrictions apply. A piece on a white square must move to a black square and vice versa. Hence pawns cannot capture (or advance two squares) and bishops cannot move. Also castling and en passant are impossible, and queens behave like rooks.
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
External links • http://www.janko.at/Retros/Glossary/Monochromatic.htm
112
Patrol chess
113
Patrol chess Patrol chess is a chess variant in which captures can be made and checks given only if the capturing or checking piece is guarded (or patrolled) by a friendly unit. Non-capturing moves are played as normal. The variant was invented by Frederik Hendrik von Meyenfeldt who published a chess problem using the rules in The Problemist (the magazine of the British Chess Problem Society) in 1975. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The diagram position shows some of the peculiarities of patrol chess. The white king cannot take the black knight because it is not guarded by a friendly piece. Similarly, the black rook is not giving check, and neither is the white knight on f7. If white were to play Nbd8 (see algebraic notation), however, this would be check, as the knights would patrol one another. Black could reply Ke4, with checkmate: the king patrols the rook on e3 giving check and guarding b3 and d3, the rook on a2 is patrolled by the knight on b4 and so controls the squares b2, c2 and d2, Kd4 is not possible because the black king, patrolled by the e3 rook, controls that square, and Kxb4 is not possible because the white king is not patrolled and so cannot capture. Patrol chess has often been used as a condition in chess problems. It is also possible to play complete games under patrol chess rules.
External links • Patrol Chess Problems [1]
References [1] http:/ / members. tripod. com/ ~JurajLorinc/ chess/ fi_p. htm#patro
PlunderChess
PlunderChess PlunderChess is a chess variant in which the capturing piece is allowed to temporarily take the moving abilities of the piece taken.
Rules The so-called plundering occurs when a chess piece captures an opposing chess piece and "plunders" or "acquires" additional moving capabilities directly from the piece it just captured. Plundering is optional and may be declined by the player making the capture. When plundering is elected, the capturing piece "couples" or "attaches" to itself a vest that corresponds to the moving capabilities it is acquiring from the captured piece. The plundered vest must give added moving capabilities to the piece that wears it or it will not be allowed to plunder. This means that a queen can never wear a rook vest because a queen can already make the moves of a rook and a rook vest provides no additional benefit to the queen. The added moving capability provided by a plundered vest may be used one time only on any future move: i.e., the plundered vest may be used on its very next move or carried around and used later in the game. After a vest is used to move a chess piece on the board, it must be returned to the stand out of play. No more than one plundered vest is allowed on any one piece at a time. If a chess piece with a plundered vest makes another capture, it may upgrade to a stronger vest. If a player captures a piece with a vest, that player may take the vest it wears or a vest that represents the captured piece. The pawn with the vest can use it to reach the last rank. In this case the pawn gets immediately promoted. However, the pieces with pawn vest can't promote. The pawn can also move to the first rank by a vest move. But it has double-move capability only when moving from 2nd to 4th rank. A piece with a vest can give a check (or eventually checkmate) to the opponent's king using vest-move power.
External links • PlunderChess [1] - official website. • PlunderChess: Pictures and a review [2] by Hans L. Bodlaender.
References [1] http:/ / plunderchess. com [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. photo/ plunderchess/ plunderchess. html
114
115
Incomplete information and elements of chance Kriegspiel a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kriegspiel, the game in progress. Position as seen by White player. Kriegspiel (German for war game) is a chess variant invented by Henry Michael Temple in 1899[1] and based upon the original Kriegsspiel developed by Georg von Rassewitz in 1812. In this game each player can see their own pieces, but not those of their opponent. For this reason, it is necessary to have a third person (or computer) act as a referee, with full information about the progress of the game. When it is a player's turn he will attempt a move, which the referee will declare to be 'legal' or 'illegal'. If the move is illegal, the player tries again; if it is legal, that move stands. Each player is given information about checks and captures. They may also ask the referee if there are any legal captures with a pawn. Since the position of the opponent's pieces is unknown, Kriegspiel is not a game with perfect information. Chess Kriegspiel derives from a war game which was used in 19th century Germany to train military officers.
Rules There are several different rule sets for Kriegspiel. The most widespread rules are those used on the Internet Chess Club, where Kriegspiel is called Wild 16. The rules are as follows.[2] The game is played with three boards, one for each player and one for the umpire (and spectators). Each opponent knows the exact position only of his own pieces and doesn't know where the opponent's pieces are (but can keep track of how many there are). Only the umpire knows the exact current position of the game. The game proceeds in the following way. The umpire announces: • White (or black) to move. • Pawn tries, when it is possible for one's pawn to capture an opponent's pawn or piece. The umpire also indicates the square on which the capture is possible to the player who can make the capture. This gives extra information, but saves both players the bother of beginning every turn by trying all possible pawn captures. This is possible at
Kriegspiel
116
no risk because pawns don't move the same way they capture. Hence, if no capture is possible, then the move is illegal and there is no penalty for attempting illegal moves. A pawn try is not announced if the pawn is pinned, i.e., completing the capture would expose the king to check. En-passant pawn tries are announced, of course, but not the fact that they are en-passant captures. • Pawn gone, when a pawn is captured. • Piece gone, when a piece is captured. • No, when the attempted move is illegal, given the opponent's position. For example: moving the king into check; moving a queen, rook, bishop, or pawn through squares occupied by the opponent's pieces; advancing a pawn into a square occupied by the opponent's pieces. • Hell no (or Impossible), when the attempted move is always illegal regardless of the opponent's position. For example, moving a bishop a knight's move. • Check on the vertical. • Check on the horizontal. • Check on the long diagonal (the longer of the two diagonals, from the king's point of view). • Check on the short diagonal. • Check by a knight. • Checkmate, stalemate, draw by repetition, draw by insufficient force, 50-move draw. Pawn promotions are not announced.
Kriegspiel problems Jacques Rotenberg The Problemist 1976 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Kriegspiel, mate in 8. Black has a bishop somewhere on dark squares, not exactly known where. Kriegspiel is sometimes used in chess problems. In these, usual variations introduced by different black moves are replaced by variations introduced by different announcements. An example of a Kriegspiel problem is shown at the right. White must checkmate Black in 8 moves, no matter where the black bishop initially is (it is somewhere on dark squares) and no matter what black plays. (Note that in a real game, black would not see white's moves, but for a problem in which white is to force a win, one must assume the worst-case scenario in which black guesses correctly on each move.) For example, 1. Ra1?? is a draw by stalemate if the black bishop was initially on a1. 1. Nf2 Bxf2 2. Kxf2 (or Rxf2) is stalemate as well. So, white should not move either the knight or the bishop, because either might capture the black bishop by accident. For the same reason, the
Kriegspiel white rook should move only to light squares -- but only half of the light squares are reachable without visiting a dark square along the way. The solution is the following. White tries to play 1. Rg2. • If this move is not possible (umpire says No), then the black bishop must be on b2, d2 or f2. In this case white can instead play 1. N(x)f2# (checkmate). • If the move is possible, it is made and then black moves the bishop. White still doesn't know where the bishop is. White continues with 2. Rg8. • If not possible, then black bishop is on g3, g5 or g7. White plays 2. Be5. If black now plays 2...Bxe5, 3.Nf2#. Otherwise (any move by black) 3. Nf2+ Bxf2 4. Rxh2#. • If possible, white continues 3. Rh8. (This is safe -- the black bishop can't be on h8 to be captured, because it wasn't on g7 on the previous turn.) 4. Rh5 5. Rb5 (if not possible, 5. Rh3 and 6.Be5). 6. Rb1 7. Nf2+ Bxf2 8. Kxf2#.
Rule variations Frankenstein suggested in 1903 a variation of the game where one player sees the board and another plays Kriegspiel. To make the game fair, the first player has to play with fewer pieces. Frankenstein proposed two variants: • Pickle pot - the player who sees the board plays only with queen and bishop (as well as with king and 8 pawns in usual starting position). • One-eye - same as above, but only with two rooks and bishop. In both versions, it should be announced, which bishop remains (on c or f-file). The Semi-kriegspiel, suggested by David Silverman in 1971 is similar to variations above. In this game the sighted side has only king and queen, which he/she can place on any legal square before the beginning of the game. In Modern kriegspiel by Bruce Trone (1986), after each move the player calls 7 squares, which must be opened by umpire. Otherwise the rules are as in usual kriegspiel. Combining Crazyhouse with Kriegspiel yields Crazyhouse Kriegspiel[3] (or CrazyKrieg for short).
References [1] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. [2] Kriegspiel tournament rules of the computer Olympiad (http:/ / www. cs. unimaas. nl/ olympiad2006/ rules. html#Kriegspiel) [3] Crazyhouse Kriegspiel (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ incinf. dir/ crazyhousekriegspiel. html)
External links • Kriegspiel (http://www.chessvariants.com/incinf.dir/kriegspiel.html) by Hans L. Bodlaender. • SchemingMind.com (http://www.schemingmind.com) Internet server to play Kriegspiel. • Berkeley Kriegspiel Home (http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jawolfe/kriegspiel/), Kriegspiel in Artificial intelligence research. • Bologna Kriegspiel Home (http://www.cs.unibo.it/~cianca/wwwpages/chesssite/kriegspiel/kriegspiel.html) A page on Kriegspiel research • U. Maryland Kriegspiel Home (http://chess.cs.umd.edu/kriegspiel/) A page on Kriegspiel research • Freeware Windows Kriegspiel game (called SearchAndDestroyChess) (http://richelbilderbeek.nl/ GameSearchAndDestroyChess.htm).
117
Dark chess
118
Dark chess Dark chess is a chess variant with incomplete information, similar to Kriegspiel. It was invented by Jens Bæk Nielsen and Torben Osted in 1989. A player does not see the entire board, only their own pieces (including pawns), and squares where these pieces could move. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
A game of Dark chess in progress; squares indicated by "×" can not be seen by the white player.
Rules The goal of this chess variant is not to checkmate the king, but to capture it. A player isn't told if their king is in check. Failing to move out of check, or moving into check, are both legal, and can obviously result in a capture and loss of the game. En passant capture is allowed, even if you do not see that it is possible. Unlike standard chess, castling is allowed even out of check, into check and through the positions attacked by opponent pieces. This chess variant is best played on one of the online chess servers. For playing over-the-board, three chess sets and a referee are needed, just as in Kriegspiel. There are some minor differences in the rules on different servers: • • • •
BrainKing [1]: pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent. ItsYourTurn [1]: the opponent knows that a pawn was promoted, but does not know where. SchemingMind [2]: you do not see what is in front of your pawns, but know if the position is occupied or not. AjaxPlay.Com [3]: En passant capture is not allowed; pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent.
Dark chess
Variations SchemingMind also provides some more variations of dark chess: • Dark chess (checkmate) - you are notified that your king is in check and you can't move your king into check. The goal in this variation is the same as in standard chess - to checkmate the king. • Dark crazyhouse - combination of crazyhouse and dark chess. • Dark suicide - combination of suicide and dark chess. • Sun Tzu chess - combination of Double Fischer Random Chess (like Chess960, but with different positions for white and black), crazyhouse and dark chess. You can drop pieces you have in any possible square on the board (like crazyhouse). This chess variant was invented in 2005 by John Kipling Lewis. • Lao Tzu chess - like Sun Tzu, but you can only drop pieces on square you can see. Also invented in 2005 by John Kipling Lewis. • Generally, because basic Dark chess rules are universal with respect to its “parent” classical variant, any other 2-player chess variant like Omega Chess, Seirawan chess or others may be played “in dark”, for example - Dark Omega Chess.[4]
Gameplay Dark chess has a strong strategic flavor. Planning and strategy, as well as some psychological reasoning, are very important; tactics and move searching are not. In this chess variant a king should be carefully protected from very dangerous checks by invisible pieces. For a queen the most dangerous pieces are knights, which can attack it without becoming visible.
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. brainking. com http:/ / www. schemingmind. com http:/ / ajaxplay. com Dark Omega Chess at GamesByEmail.com (http:/ / gamesbyemail. com/ Games/ OmegaChess)
External links • • • •
Dark Chess Strategy guide (http://docs.google.com/View?docid=df72cxcs_20gj8jfvdm) Darkness chess (http://www.chessvariants.com/incinf.dir/darkness.html) by Jens Bæk Nielsen Online turn-based dark chess (http://www.itsyourturn.com/t_helptopic2020.html#helpitem1504) Dark Chess (http://www.zillions-of-games.com/cgi-bin/zilligames/submissions.cgi/62549?do=show;id=201) implementation for Zillions of games. • Freeware Windows Dark Chess game called SearchAndDestroyChess (http://www.richelbilderbeek.nl/ GameSearchAndDestroyChess.htm). • KIKAItachi chess (http://kikaitachi.org/chess) supports playing Dark chess variant among others. • www.darkchess.com (http://www.darkchess.com) Dark Chess Helper application
119
Penultima
Penultima Penultima is a game of inductive logic, played on a chess board. It was invented by Michael Greene and Adam Chalcraft in Cambridge in 1994. The game is derived from the chess variant Ultima (otherwise known as Baroque chess), and played with a standard chess board and pieces, each piece having different movement and capture rules from standard chess. In a manner similar to the game Mao (also popular in Cambridge at that time), the rules for each piece vary from game to game, and are initially kept secret from the players. Penultima is similar in style to Eleusis, Zendo and Mao. The name of the game is a pun on "penultimate", and "Ultima" (the name of the chess variant).
Rules Several Spectators create secret rules which govern how the pieces move and two Players attempt to discover these rules. The game is traditionally played with chess pieces but may be played any sufficiently distinct components, such as coins or Icehouse pieces. Before the game starts, the Spectators decide between themselves which pieces they will write rules for. The secret rule for a piece may for example control the way that piece moves, captures, or is captured, and may cause it to affect other pieces on the board. A piece may be given an invoke command which causes it to affect other pieces on the board without moving. When he or she has written the secret rule for a piece, the Spectator also gives it a new name for the duration of the game. These names (and the existence of any invoke commands) are announced to the players at the start of the game. On his or her turn, a Player attempts to move or invoke one of their pieces, and the Spectator for that piece declares whether the action is legal or illegal. If it is legal, that Player's turn ends and play passes to the other Player. If it is illegal, the piece is returned to its position at the start of the turn. In the original game, play then passes to the other Player; in other variants the original Player continues making attempts until he or she succeeds in making a legal move or invoke. As in standard chess, the winning player is the one who forces his or her opponent's king (or equivalent piece) into checkmate. At the end of the game, the Spectators reveal their rules.
External links • “Penultima” [1] by Michael Fryers, from Variant Chess, Volume 3, Issue 28, Summer 1998, pages 164-166
References [1] http:/ / www. bcvs. ukf. net/ eureka. htm#penul
120
Dice chess
121
Dice chess Dice chess can refer to a number of chess variants in which dice are used to alter gameplay; specifically that the moves available to each player are determined by rolling a pair of ordinary six-sided dice. There are many different variations of this form of dice chess.[1] One of them is described here.
Rules The players alternate rolling the dice and, if possible, moving. On each of the dice, the one represents a pawn, two a knight, three a bishop, four a rook, five a queen, and six a king. The player may move either of the pieces indicated on the two dice. For example, a player rolling a one and a two may move either a pawn or a knight. A player who rolls doubles (the same number on both dice) may play any legal move. Otherwise, standard chess rules apply, with these exceptions: • a player who has no legal move with either of the pieces indicated by the dice loses that turn (passed turn); • if castling is otherwise legal, a player may castle upon rolling a four, six, or doubles; • an en passant capture of a pawn is possible only if the player rolls a one, or doubles, immediately once the opportunity for the en passant capture arises; • a player who is in check can only play a legal response to that check (capturing the checking piece, moving the king, or interposing a piece); • a player who is in check but does not make a roll allowing a legal response to the check loses that turn, but does not automatically lose the game; • except in the unlikely event that the game ends in a draw pursuant to the standard rules of chess, the game ends when one player either checkmates the opponent or captures the opponent's king. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Black is checkmated
Sample game Here is a sample game of dice chess. White rolls doubles, allowing her to play any move, and selects 1.e4. Black rolls a two and a three; no bishop move being possible, he plays 1...Nc6. White rolls a three and a four, and plays 2.Bc4. Black rolls a four and a five; since no queen move is possible, he must play the only legal rook move, 2...Rb8. White rolls a three and a six, and plays 3.Bxf7+. Black rolls a two and a four; since no knight or rook move is a legal response to the check, he must pass. (Only a six, or doubles, would have allowed him to move.) White rolls a two
Dice chess
122
and a four, and chooses 4.Nh3. (A three or five would have enabled an immediate win with 4.Bxe8, 4.Qf3# or 4.Qh5#). Black rolls a one and a three; again, this does not allow a legal response to the check, so he must pass. White rolls a two and a four, and plays 5.Ng5#. (See final position at right.)
Variants on these rules There is no standard set of rules for Dice Chess, and so games called 'Dice Chess' may have different rules to the ones given here. For example, in the version of 'dice chess' given on the BrainKing site:[2] • The players roll only one die. • Pawns may move from the seventh to the eighth rank on any roll, but may promote only to the piece shown on the die (a one allows a pawn to promote to any piece). • There is no check or checkmate. Rather, the goal is to actually capture the king. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Dice chess on 10x10 board. BrainKing also provides a variant on 10x10 board with three kings on each side.[3] To win you need to capture all enemy kings. All other rules are the same as for 8x8 version. The intention of adding two more kings is to reduce the elements of chance in the game. Another form of dice chess is "Vegas Fun Chess", whose rules are described here [4]. That site also indicates that "Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants contains descriptions of seven versions of what he calls 'Dice Chess'." John Gollon, in his book Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern, notes three ways in which dice may be used in connection with a game of chess. The most common is similar to that described in the preceding sections. A second way to use dice is to have each player roll one die on each turn, with the number rolled indicating the number of moves to be played. The maximum number of moves that can be played is usually four, so a roll of a four, five, or six allows the player to make four moves. A third form of the game uses two dice of contrasting colors, with one determining the piece that can move, and the other the number of moves that the piece makes.[1]
Dice chess
123
History Anne Sunnucks writes that there is evidence from the literature of the period that dice were used to play chess in Europe between the 11th and 14th centuries, and even earlier in Burma and India. The dice were thrown before each turn to determine the piece to be moved; the same numbering system as set forth above was used (1=pawn, 2=knight, etc.).[5] In the Burmese form of the game, three dice were thrown and each player made three moves at a time.[6] Vladimir Pribylinec writes that the cubes in the Cubic chess are moving as in orthochess by a symbol uppermost it is described in both editions of Pritchard´ Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, first time published in 1977-th. In the variant Protheus cubes are turned on the adjacent squares.
Footnotes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
John Gollon, Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1974, pp. 231-32. ISBN 0-8048-1122-9. BrainKing Dice Chess rules (http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=95) BrainKing Dice Chess 10x10 rules (http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=127& fwa=ShowGame!g=4962555$i=1) http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ dice. dir/ vegasfunchess. html Anne Sunnucks, The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martin's Press, 1970, pp. 97-98. Sunnucks does not make clear if only one die or both dice were thrown, and, if the latter, whether the player could choose which of the specified pieces to move. [6] Sunnucks, p. 98.
Knightmare Chess Knightmare Chess is a fantasy chess variant published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1996. It is a translation of a French game Tempête sur l'échiquier (Storm on the Chessboard), designed by Pierre Cléquin and Bruno Faidutti.
Overview Knightmare Chess is played with cards that change the default rules of chess. The cards might change how a piece moves, move opponent's pieces, create special squares on the board or otherwise alter the game. For example, a card called Demotion says: Replace one of your opponent's pieces (except a King or Queen) with one of his captured Pawns. Play this card on your turn, instead of making a regular move.
Knightmare Chess 2 cover art.
There are two sets of cards sold separately, each consisting of 80 cards. The sets are known as Knightmare Chess 1 [1] and Knightmare Chess 2 [2] but there's nothing at all to stop one from just shuffling both decks into one 160 card deck. SJG also sells blank cards, to be customized as the player wishes, in packs of 20.[3] The graphics in the English version of the Knightmare Chess cards are dark fantasy style, nightmarish (hence the pun Knightmare) color paintings by Brazilian artist Rogerio Vilela. The French original version had a cartoonish tone, unlike the English version, and the cards in the French original version are also different from the English version. Another innovation of the American version is to include rules for "dueling deck" play, where each player has his own customized deck, possibly built from multiple copies of
Knightmare Chess
124
the set if desired. In SJG's version, each card is marked with a point cost. The total chaotic power of one's personal deck can be measured in the sum of the points of all cards in the deck. For a balanced game each player uses the same point total, or a stronger player can use a lower point total as a handicap. Cards which are too powerful to appear more than once per side are marked with an asterisk, indicating that a player can only put one copy of that specific card in his deck.
The card called Demotion.
Critical reaction Peter Sarrett of The Game Report called the game "outstanding", remarking that it "result[s] [in] an unpredictable game which removes the tedium of standard chess while preserving plenty of scope for strategic play," and praising the "gorgeous" paintings by Rogerio Vilela. Sarrett's only complaints concerned the printing of the cards themselves, as he found the wording occasionally confusing and the text "rather small, which makes it difficult for players with poorer eyesight to play the game".[4] Ken Tidwell of The Game Cabinet praised the game for including "elements from both the strategic/predictable side of gaming and the wild/disorderly side" and found the artwork "striking" and "succeed[ing] in creating an air of comic horror". He concluded, "If I had to find a fault with the game it is that there is no attempt to reconcile the strategic game with the chaotic game and the contrast is a bit jarring. Even so, at the end of the day it is a good game and one well worth checking out."[5] Conversely, Steve Darlington of RPGnet, while finding the artwork "absolutely gorgeous" and that "in terms of sheer presentation ... [Knightmare Chess] is streets ahead of anything I've seen in years", felt that while the game itself "might make for an interesting game or two, it's not something you'll be playing an awful lot." He said "the dark design only conflicts with the abstract nature of the game, and ends up being more humorous than dramatic" and that it "ultimately doesn't hold your attention for too long".[6]
Footnotes [1] [2] [3] [4]
ISBN 1-55634-332-9 ISBN 1-55634-348-5 "Knightmare Chess!" (http:/ / www. sjgames. com/ knightmare/ ). . Retrieved 2007-03-31. Knightmare Chess Review (http:/ / www. gamereport. com/ tgr14/ knightmarechess. html) Peter Sarrett, The Game Report, Issue 4.2, Winter 1996 [5] Knightmare Chess Review (http:/ / www. gamecabinet. com/ reviews/ KnightmareChess. html) Ken Tidwell, The Game Cabinet [6] Knightmare Chess Review (http:/ / www. rpg. net/ news+ reviews/ reviews/ rev_1358. html) Steve Darlington, RPGnet, February 13, 1999
Knightmare Chess
External links • • • •
Designer's website (http://www.faidutti.com/index.php?Module=mesjeux&id=338) English publisher's website (http://www.sjgames.com/knightmare/) Knightmare Chess Resource Page (http://members.tripod.com/knightmarechess/) Knightmare Chess (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/227) and Knightmare Chess 2 (http://www. boardgamegeek.com/game/1677) at BoardGameGeek
125
126
Multimove variants Marseillais chess Marseillais chess is a chess variant in which each player moves twice per turn. The rules of the game were first published in Marseillais local newspaper Le Soleil in 1925. This chess variant became quite popular in the late 1930s with such chess grandmasters as Alexander Alekhine, Richard Réti, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, André Chéron playing it.[1]
Rules A player can either move one piece twice or move two different pieces on his turn. Castling is considered as a single move. When a player gives a check on the first move, he loses the right for the second move on this turn. If a player is in check, he must move out of check on the first move of the turn. It is not allowed to move the king into the check on the first move of the turn and then move out of the check on the second one. En passant capture is allowed even if the opponent moved the corresponding pawn on the first move of the previous turn. However, en-passant capture must be made on the first move of the turn. When two pawns can be captured en passant after opponents move, both of them can be captured. To avoid too much advantage for white, usually a balanced version of the game is played. In the balanced version, white makes only one move on the first turn. The moves are made in the following order: white, black, black, white, white, black, black, etc. This rule was introduced in 1963 by Robert Bruce and since then gained a wide acceptance.
References [1] Marseillais chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ multimove. dir/ marseill. html) by Hans L. Bodlaender and Antoine Fourrière
Progressive chess
Progressive chess Progressive chess is a chess variant in which players, rather than just making one move per turn, play progressively longer series of moves. The game starts with white making one move, then black makes two consecutive moves, white replies with three, black makes four and so on. Progressive chess can be combined with other variants; for example, when circe is played as a game, it is usually progressively. Progressive chess is considered particularly apt for playing correspondence chess using mail or some other slow medium, because of the relatively small number of moves in a typical game.
Rules There are two main varieties of progressive chess: Italian progressive chess and Scottish progressive chess (otherwise known as Scotch chess). The two have the following rules in common: • A check must be escaped from on the first move of a series--if this cannot be done, it is checkmate and the game is lost. • En passant captures of pawns are allowed if the pawn in question moved two squares in one move, but no further, at some point during the last turn, but the capture must be made on the first move of a series. • If ten consecutive turns are played with no captures and no pawn moves, then the game is declared a draw unless one of the players can force a checkmate (this is the progressive chess equivalent of the fifty-move rule in orthodox chess). • If at any stage a player has no legal moves but is not in check, the game is a draw by progressive stalemate. Italian and Scottish progressive chess are distinguished by rules on when a player is allowed to give check: • Scottish progressive chess: check may be given on any move of a series, but a check ends the series--all further moves that would otherwise be allowed are forfeited. This has no effect on the other player's next series--he will receive as many moves as he would have had the other player played his full series. • Italian progressive chess: a check may only be given on the last move of a full series (for example, on move six, a check can only be given on the sixth move)--giving a check at any other point in a series is illegal. In particular, if the only way to escape a check is to give check on the first move of the series, then the game is lost by the player in check by "progressive checkmate". Progressive chess, like orthodox chess, is notated with algebraic notation. However, the numbering of moves is handled slightly differently. Rather than one white and one black move being given under each move number (leading to notation in orthodox chess like 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6), each turn by each player is given its own move number (leading to notation in progressive chess like 1.e4 2.e5 Nf6 3.Bc4 Qh5 Qxf7#). In this way, the move number is equal to the number of moves in a series available to a player on that turn.
Other variations There is another form of progressive chess, English progressive chess, which makes quite a significant change to the rules: within each turn, no piece may be moved twice until every other piece which has a legal move has moved once; no piece may move three times until every other piece which can have moved twice; and so on. These restrictions do not carry over from one turn to the next--so the opening 1.e4 2.e6 f6 3.e5 Nf3 Bc4 is legal (white's e-pawn may move again because its moves are on different turns), but the sequence 1.e4 2.e6 f6 3.e5 Ba6 Bxb7 is not (the bishop has made two moves, but there are many other white pieces which have not moved on that turn). There is no en passant capture under English rules, and rules on checks follow the Scottish rules. Progressive Take-All uses the same rules as Progressive chess, but involves capturing all pieces of your opponent's instead of checkmate. Pawns can also be promoted to Kings.
127
Progressive chess In Logical progressive chess (by Paul Byway, Variant Chess 18, automne 1995) there's no castling or pawn two advance (hence no en-passant capture) since these rules were added to speed up the game, which is not relevant in progressive form.
External links • Progressive Chess [1] by Timo Honkela
References [1] http:/ / www. cis. hut. fi/ ~tho/ chess. html
Avalanche chess Avalanche chess is a chess variant designed by Ralph Betza in 1977. After moving one of your own pieces, you must move one of your opponent's pawns forward one space.
Rules Rules are as normal chess except for the following. After you move one of your own pieces, you must move one of your opponent's pawns one space forward toward you. You cannot use your opponent's pawn to capture and you cannot move your opponent's pawn two spaces forward. If none of opponent's pawns can be moved, then that part of the turn is skipped. If you must move your opponent's pawn to promotion, then your opponent chooses to what piece it promotes. If moving an opponent's pawn gives check to you, then your opponent wins the game immediately.
Further reading • Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. Avalanche chess, p. 13-15. • Pritchard, D. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Bastford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7. Ch. 12 Avalanche chess, p. 78-82.
External links • Avalanche chess | ChessVariants [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ mvopponent. dir/ avalanche. html
128
Monster chess
129
Monster chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Monster chess. White can move twice per turn. Monster chess - or Super King chess - is a chess variant in which the White has only a king and four pawns to fight against all the pieces of the Black side. All the rules of chess apply, except that White makes two successive moves per turn. The white king can move into check on the first move of the turn. The goal is to capture the opponent's king. Monster chess is also played with White starting with all eight pawns, or with only two. Queening a white pawn generally allows White to declare a checkmate on one of the next moves. Also, with only the two kings on the board, White can easily force a Monster chess checkmate. Sometimes White's moves can be executed with humour. For example, both hands can be used to move two pawns simultaneously, or a black piece one square away from the white king can simply be removed from the board.
Rules • • • •
White must execute two moves in his/her turn. He can do this by moving a piece twice or two pieces once. The white king may move into check and then out of check, provided that White can execute two moves. If a king is in check, it must be placed out of check. Otherwise, standard chess rules apply.
External links • Monster chess [1] by David Regis • Variants of Monster chess [2], and a description of a strategy for Black.
Monster chess
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ monster. html [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ muenster. html
Kung-fu chess Kung-Fu Chess is a chess variant without turns. It is a real-time strategy game. Any player can move any of his pieces at any given moment. After a piece was moved it must "rest" a while before it is allowed to move again. If two pieces of opposite color (for example, the white queen and the black queen) try to capture each other exactly simultaneously, they will trade places. Hence reflexes and timing are key. Victory is achieved when the enemy king is captured. This game was created by Shizmoo Games.
Awards Kung-fu Chess was Game of the Year 2003 from Arcade Pod [1] and Game of the Month February 2002 from Game Spot [2]. It could be played online at Shizmoo.com [3], with up to 80 players online during busy hours.
Game Styles There are several game styles of Kung-Fu Chess, all based on the same principle of a real-time gameplay, i.e. both players playing simultaneously and can move several pieces in the same time. Standard - The standard Kung-Fu Chess is one-on-one match, with average speed of the pieces' movements ("speed") and the time they are delayed until they can be moved again ("delay"). These two parameters are always set to 1.0 in an official standard match. Match is over when one of the players gets to capture his opponent's king. Fast Four Way - Competes the Standard style for "the most popular Kung-Fu Chess game style", probably with success. Fast Four Way (a.k.a. "F4W", "FFW") is a match between four players on a four-way board similar to the Four-Handed chess board, when the goal is again the eliminate your opponents' kings, as it goes by the principle of "last man standing". The major difference in this game style in addition to being 4 players match, is that the speed of both pieces movement and delay is ten times quicker than the Standard game style (set to 0.1), and therefore F4W games are characterized with more action and speed rather than strategy in the Standard style. Standard and Fast Four Way are the two only official styles that were available at Shizmoo for the nonsubscribers players (free users). By official, it means a player is being rated by playing this game style, and can have a different rank at Standard than at Fast Four Way. Although the official game styles have their constant settings for Speed and Delay, these parameters can be changed in friendly matches. This option created another popular style entitled "Fast 2 Ways" - for players who loved the extreme speed of the F4W but did not want to play with 3 opponents. Nevertheless this game style had never become official, nor as popular as the Standard and the F4W were. Crazyhouse - Crazyhouse is an official game style available only for subscribed players at Shizmoo. The principle is the same as the original chess variant, captured pieces can be used in the board again by the player who captures them, but alongside the real-time feature of the Kung-Fu Chess of course. The speed is average, but a bit quicker than the Standard style, however the captured pieces move slower than the original pieces in the match. Bughouse - A Crazyhouse for four players playing simultaneously, Bughouse is the second subscribers-only game style, as there are two matches of one-on-one being played the same time, and each captured piece is moved to the hands of the teammate of the capturing player, in the neighbor board. It is a pairs match and the first player to eliminate his opponent's king wins for himself and his partner.
130
Kung-fu chess Subscribed members could build new game styles, set new rules and principles, and not only change the speed parameters of the official forms, and thus other chess vaiants were created in a Kung-Fu Chess style, but only these four official game style mentioned above were rated.
Rankings Kung-Fu Chess assigns each player a numerical rating based on the player's win/loss record, using the same system as ICC, the Internet Chess Club. Additionally, each rating range corresponds to a Kung-Fu belt color as follows: • • • • • • • •
Green Belt: 20 games or fewer played Purple Belt: 800-999 White Belt: 1000-1199 Yellow Belt: 1200-1399 Orange Belt: 1400-1599 Red Belt: 1600-1799 Brown Belt: 1800-1999 Black Belt: 2000+
Additional rankings such as black O and black X are awarded for 2200 rating and 2400 respectively.
The Apparent End of Shizmoo On December 16, 2008 the Shizmoo website [3] was no longer accessible. Shizmoo gathered many Kung-Fu Chess fans from all over the world, and many talent players that mastered the new tactics and strategies of the unique game that did not exist in the original Chess game, and brought it to new levels of excitement. As for now it seems that Shizmoo was shut down for good. These sorrowful tidings caused many disappointed fascinated fans to look for clues about the fate of Shizmoo, and a few attempts to revive the community of the Kung-Fu Chess players and create a new home were made.
Tempest - Real Time Chess In June 2009 a new project of reviving Shizmoo's Kung Fu Chess was published, and looked more serious attempt than anything made so far. The new project called "Tempest" looks promising, and already gathered and still is gathering former fans, hopefully to become their new home and a worthy successor for Shizmoo. Tempest is still under constant development. Its current state is already playable. Unlike Shizmoo, Tempest uses a software that needs to be downloaded in order to play. A download is available for free from the official site.
Ninja Chess In 2010 a game similar to Kung Fu Chess dubbed "Ninja Chess" has been developed for iPhone and iPad. It is published on the App Store by Nordlysa Entertainment. This project brings the concept of Real-Time Chess to touch interfaces and includes the ability to play Head-to-Head (each player facing his own board). This was absent in Kung Fu Chess which offered only online play. However this project does not supports the many variants developed by Shizmoo.
131
Kung-fu chess
External links • • • • • • • • • •
Official site (currently unavailable) [4] Devilant's Strategy guide [5] Newgen's Strategy guide [6] GameSpy article [7] GameDev.net article [8] Post-Shizmoo meeting place [9] Tempest [10] Ninja Chess [11] Rules definition [12] Notation FENr [13]
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. arcadepod. com http:/ / www. gamespot. com http:/ / www. shizmoo. com http:/ / www. kungfuchess. com/
[5] http:/ / www. tubo-world. de/ en/ devilantguide/ [6] http:/ / kfc. kunuk. dk/ newgenstrategy/ [7] http:/ / archive. gamespy. com/ articles/ january02/ igfchess/ bio. shtm [8] http:/ / www. gamedev. net/ columns/ interviews/ shizmoo2004. asp [9] http:/ / www. zenchess. com/ forum [10] http:/ / www. tempestchess. com/ [11] http:/ / www. nordlysa. com/ ninjaches/ [12] http:/ / kfc. kunuk. dk/ rules. htm [13] http:/ / kfc. kunuk. dk/ notation. htm
132
133
Multiplayer variants Bughouse chess Bughouse chess
Players
4
Setup time
1 minute
Playing time
Usually 5 to 10 minutes
Random chance None Skill(s) required Chess strategy, Blitz chess
Bughouse chess (also called Exchange chess, Siamese chess, Tandem chess, Transfer chess, or simply Bughouse or Bug) is a popular chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two.[1] Normal chess rules apply, except that captured pieces on one board are passed on to the players of the other board, who then have the option of putting these pieces on their board. The game is usually played at a fast time control; this, together with the passing and dropping of pieces, can make the game look chaotic and random to the casual onlooker; hence the name bughouse, which is slang for mental hospital. The game is traditionally played as a diversion from regular chess both over the board and online. Yearly, several dedicated bughouse tournaments are organised on a national and an international level.
Rules
Bughouse chess
134
Team 1, Board A
Team 1, Board B Bughouse setup and start position Bughouse is a chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two. Each team member faces one opponent of the other team. Partners sit next to each other and one player has black, while the other has white. Each player plays the opponent as in a standard chess game, with the exception of the rules specified below.[2]
Captured pieces A player capturing a piece immediately passes that piece to the partner. The partner keeps these pieces in reserve and may, instead of playing a regular move, place one of these pieces on the board (as in shogi and crazyhouse). Pieces in reserve or on deck may be placed on any vacant square, including squares where the piece delivers check or checkmate. However pawns may not be dropped on the first and last rank. Dropped pawns may promote, but all promoted pawns convert back to pawns when captured. In play over the board, a promoted pawn can be put on its side to indicate promotion.[3] A pawn placed on the second rank may move two squares on its first move. Each player must keep the reserve or stock pieces on the table in front of the board, always visible to all players of the game.
Clock and completion of a move Bughouse chess is usually played with chess clocks to prevent players from waiting indefinitely for a piece. Clocks are placed on the outside so that each player can see both clocks. At the start of the game, the players with the black pieces start the clocks simultaneously. Bughouse is usually played using clock move, which allows touching of pieces. A move is completed only when the clock is pressed. Touch move is practiced to a lesser extent.[4] When used, it applies to pieces in reserve as well; they are considered dropped after contact has been made with an empty
Bughouse chess square. Bughouse can be played without a clock, but then there is usually a rule preventing a player waiting for pieces (stalling or sitting) indefinitely. One rule states that players may not delay their move beyond the time that it takes for their partner to make three moves.[5]
End of the game The match ends when either of the games on the two boards ends. A game is won when one player gets checkmated, resigns, forfeits on time or when an illegal move is made in which the offending side is caught. The match can be drawn by agreement or when two players run out of time or are checkmated simultaneously. Depending on (local) rules threefold repetition applies, in which case the reserve of pieces is not taken into account.[6] Alternatively, when one board finishes, play can continue on the other board. In this case, pieces in reserve can still be dropped, but no new pieces are coming in. The outcome of the match is then decided by adding the score of the two boards.[5]
Communication Partners are normally allowed to talk to each other during the game. They can for instance ask for a specific piece, for more trades, ask to hold a piece, suggest moves or ask their partner to stall. Shouts like "Knight mates!" or "Give me pieces!" are common, and can lead to seemingly absurd sacrificial captures on the other board. Partners are not allowed to physically act on the other board.[7]
Variations Bughouse comes in many variants, especially in the way drops are handled. Examples include:[8] • Pieces cannot be dropped with check and/or checkmate. This variation is common in Europe and is sometimes referred to as tandem chess.[9] [10] • Pieces can only be placed on the player's half of the board. • Pieces may only be placed on the third, fourth, fifth and sixth rank (the four middle ranks). • Play continues until both games are complete. • Kings are not subject to check; the game ends when one player's king is captured, even though there might have been an escape. • Kings can be captured and the game continues until one team has all kings on the board. • Pawns cannot be dropped on seventh (and sometimes sixth) rank. • Pawns never promote, when they reach the eighth rank they remain pawns. This was a common variation in Australia in the 1980s which saves having to find extra pieces. • Pawns may be dropped on the first rank. • Promoted pawns carry their promotion over after a capture. It is possible to play the game with just two players (one per team) by having each player move on two boards. Analogous to simultaneous chess, this way of playing the game is referred to as simultaneous bughouse. It can also be played with just one clock by playing the boards in a specific order (WhiteA, WhiteB, BlackB, BlackA) and pressing the clock after each move. This variation is suitable for play by mail.[11] Bughouse can be played with three or more boards. The game is played in exactly the same way as normal bughouse with boards placed with alternating colours and two players and one clock per board. On capturing a piece however, the player has to decide which player of the team will get that piece. In three board bughouse chess the middle player is the key since he gets material from two boards, but has to decide how to divide the captured pieces.[12] The middle board also commonly becomes very cramped due to having twice the number of pieces available.
135
Bughouse chess
Strategy Material In chess a minor material advantage is important as when material gets exchanged, the relative advantage becomes larger. Because new pieces come in, there is no endgame play in bughouse and material is therefore less important. It is common to sacrifice pieces in bughouse while attacking, defending or hunting down a certain piece which the partner requires.[12] A scoring system to evaluate material is to add up the piece values of the material on the board. In chess, when a pawn equals one unit, a bishop or knight is worth three, a rook five and a queen nine. These values are a consequence of the difference in mobility of the pieces. In bughouse piece values differ because pieces in reserve essentially have the same mobility as they can be dropped on any vacant square.[13] The pawn relatively gains importance in bughouse chess, its very limited mobility does not handicap reserve pawns. They can for instance be dropped to block non-contact checks. Pawns can be dropped onto the seventh rank, one step away from promotion, which again adds to their importance. Long range pieces like the queen or the rook lose relative value, due to the constantly changing pawn structure. They are also more likely to be cornered in.[14] A valuation system often applied to bughouse is pawn=1, bishop=knight=rook=2 and queen=4.[15]
Coordination Captured pieces are passed on and thus what happens on one board influences what happens on the other board. It is therefore natural for team members to communicate during game play. A common request of an attacking player would be "trades are good", while players in trouble would ask their partner to hold trades with "trades are bad". Equally a player can request a piece e.g. "knight wins a queen" or ask to hold a piece e.g. "rook mates me".[16] Another common situation in the interplay between the two boards is a player not moving, also called sitting or stalling. This can happen in anticipation of a certain piece or at the request of the partner. Suppose a player is under heavy attack, and an additional pawn would mate him. When the partner cannot prevent giving up a pawn on the next move, sitting is the only strategy. It would of course be perfectly logical for the attacker to sit as well, waiting for a pawn to come. The situation, where diagonal opponents sit at the same time is known as a "sitzkrieg" (literally "sitting war" in German, and a pun on "blitzkrieg"). The difference in time between the diagonal opponents will eventually force one party to move. This diagonal time advantage is more important than the difference on the clock between opponents on the same board.[17] Apart from this active communication, a good bughouse player tries to coordinate silently by keeping an eye on the other board and adapting moves accordingly. This can mean as little as glancing at the other board before trading queens, or as much as playing an opening adapted to the other board.[18]
Attack and defense Attacking the king can mean checking the opponent but also controlling vital squares around the king. It is an essential part of bughouse gameplay. From a player's perspective, attacking the king has important advantages as opposed to defending or attempting to win material:[19] • Because of the possibility of dropping pieces, attacks in bughouse can quickly lead to checkmate. • The attacking player has the initiative, he is the one who controls the board, while the opponent is left to react. This has also important consequences for the other board. • It is easier to attack than to defend. A defending mistake can have bigger consequences than an attacking mistake. Thus, the defender needs to be more precise, which in turn can lead to a time advantage for the attacker. It is common to sacrifice material to build up, or sustain an attack. Characteristic for attacks is the so-called "piece storm", where a player drops piece after piece with check. Contact checks or knight checks, which force the king to
136
Bughouse chess move as opposed to dropping pieces, are especially important. They can be used to drive the king into the open, away from its defenders, while they prevent the opponent from putting new material on the board.[20] Partner communication is essential in a good defense. When one partner is under attack, the other partner should be aware of which pieces hurt most. Sitting strategies might be necessary, and it is therefore important to play the defense fast. Accepting a sacrifice can be lethal. On the other hand, it results in the attacker having a piece less to play with, with the defender's partner having a piece more. Sacrifices therefore give the partner of the defender an opportunity to take initiative.[21]
Opening There are significantly fewer bughouse openings than there are chess openings. Many chess openings create weaknesses which can be easily exploited in bughouse. It is for instance not recommended to move pawns other than the d and e pawn.[22] Bughouse openings are generally geared towards dominating vital squares and fast development. Captured pieces become available after the first few moves and it is important to develop at this stage as there is often not enough time to do so later. Development also helps to defend against early piece drop attacks.[23]
Notation and sample game The algebraic chess notation for chess can be used to record moves in bughouse games. Different notations for piece drops are possible.[24] The internet chess servers FICS and Internet Chess Club use the at-sign @, as in N@f1 (knight drop at f1), Q@e6+ (queen drop with check at e6) or P@h7 (pawn drop at h7). Because of the fast pace at which the game is played, bughouse games are rarely recorded in games played over the board. With the arrival of online chess it has become possible to systematically record games.[25] Example bughouse game. The format in which this is done is the bughouse portable game notation (BPGN), an extension of the Portable Game Notation for chess.[26] Software, such as BPGN viewer can be used to replay and analyse bughouse games.[27] Below is an example bughouse game in the BPGN format. [Event "rated bughouse match"] [Site "chess server X"] [Date "2004.04.12"] [WhiteA "WA"][WhiteAElo "1970"] [BlackA "BA"][BlackAElo "2368"] [WhiteB "WB"][WhiteBElo "1962"] [BlackB "BB"][BlackBElo "2008"] [TimeControl "180+0"] [Result "0-1"] 1A. e4 {180} 1a. Nc6 {180} 1B. d4 {179} 2A. Nc3 {179} 1b. Nf6 {178} 2a. Nf6 {178} 2B. d5 {178} 3A. d4 {177} 2b. e6 {177} 3a. d5 {177} 3B. dxe6 {176} 4A. e5 {176} 3b. dxe6 {176} 4B. Qxd8+ {175} 4a. Ne4 {175} 4b. Kxd8 {175} 5B. Bg5 {174} 5A. Nxe4 {174} 5a. dxe4 {173} 5b. Be7 {173} 6A. Nh3 {173} 6B. Nc3 {172} 6a. Bxh3 {171} 6b. N@d4 {171} 7A. gxh3 {171} 7a. Nxd4 {170} 7B. O-O-O {169} 8A. P@e6 {168} 7b. Nbc6 {168} 8B. Bxf6 {166}
137
Bughouse chess 8a. N@f3+ {165} 9A. Qxf3 {165} 8b. Bxf6 {164} 9a. Nxf3+ {164} 10A. Ke2 {164} 9B. e3 {164} 10a. Q@d2+ {164} 11A. Bxd2 {164} 11a. Qxd2+ {164} {WA checkmated} 0-1
Where to play Over the board Little is known on the history of bughouse, but it seems to have developed in the early 1960s.[28] It is now quite popular as a diversion of regular chess in local chess clubs throughout Europe and the US.[28] [29] Grandmasters such as Levon Aronian, Joel Benjamin, Yasser Seirawan, Andy Soltis, John Nunn, Jon Speelman, Sergey Karjakin, Michael Adams, Emil Sutovsky and Michael Rohde have been known to play the game.[28] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] With the absence of an International Federation, competitive over the board bughouse is very much in its infancy. There is also no world championship. A few countries do organize bughouse tournaments within the national chess federation. Examples include: • The yearly international chess festival Czech Open in July features the Czech republic bughouse championship.[35] • Yearly, USCF organizes bughouse tournaments as part of the National Junior High (K-9) Championship and the National High School (K-12) Championship.[36] [37] Other tournaments are organized privately: • One of the largest international bughouse tournaments is the yearly tournament in Berlin.[38] Going into its sixth edition, it is popular among top players from FICS. Grandmaster Levon Aronian took part in the 2005 edition of the tournament and took the second place with his teammate Vasiliy Shakov.[39] • Since 2000 there has been an annual bughouse tournament in Geneva, attracting the best European players.[28] [40]
Online Bughouse can be played online at chess servers such as FICS and ICC since 1995.[41] FICS is currently the most active server for bughouse, attracting the world's best players like Levon Aronian.[42] The game is played online in the same way as over the board, but some aspects are unique to online bughouse. In games over the board, communication is heard by all players, while in online bughouse it is usually done via private messages between two partners. This makes communication a more powerful weapon. It is also easier to coordinate as the second board is more visible on the screen than over the board.[43] The time aspect is altered due to existence of premove and lag. The latter can influence the diagonal time difference significantly, and it is good sportsmanship to restart the game when this difference gets too large.[44] ICS compatible interfaces particularly suitable for bughouse include Thief and BabasChess. They have the ability to display both boards at the same time and store played or observed games, they also have partner communication buttons and a lag indicator. Special Xboard compatible engines have been written that support bughouse, examples are Sunsetter, Sjeng and TJchess.[45] [46] [47] Although much faster than humans, they lack in positional understanding and especially in coordination and communication, an essential skill in this team game.[48]
138
Bughouse chess
Controversy Bughouse chess is controversial among scholastic chess teachers. The majority view is that it does not have a positive effect on novice chess players.[49] In the words of Susan Polgar: "If your children want to play bughouse for fun, it is OK. But just remember that it is not chess and it has no positive value for chess. In fact, I absolutely recommend no bughouse during a tournament."[50] One argument supporting this view is that bughouse distorts the typical pattern recognition used in chess.[51] Another argument is that bughouse neglects positional values due to its highly tactical game play.[52] On the other hand, there is no evidence that bughouse would hurt experienced chess players. In the words of Levon Aronian: "Bughouse is good for players who know chess well already. ... I started to play bug when I was already at master level, [you] see, and I think bughouse is good for the imagination, to develop new ideas."[52]
Notes [1] Other less common names for bughouse include Team chess, Hungarian chess, Swedish chess, New England Double Bughouse, Pass-On chess, Tandem Put-back, Double Speed, Double chess, Double Five, Simultaneous chess, Double Bug or Double Bughouse (von Zimmerman (2006), front; Manson and Hoover (1992), p. 186 and Bughouse on Chessvariants (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ multiplayer. dir/ tandem. html)). See Bughouse in other languages (http:/ / www. bughouse. be/ bughouse translations. htm). Accessed July 29, 2007. [2] It should be noted though that bughouse has many variations and that there is no international standard. The rules below are in accordance with the US chess federation (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2006/ 2006bughouse. pdf), the rules as applied on the chess servers Free Internet Chess Server and Internet Chess Club and the Berlin bughouse tournament (http:/ / bughouse. info). In the case rules contradict, alternatives are listed. Accessed July 29, 2007. [3] von Zimmerman (2006), p. 15 [4] See for example the rules of the Geneva bughouse tournament (http:/ / pion. ch/ Bug/ ruleseng. html). Accessed July 29, 2007. [5] Bughouse on ChessVariants.org (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ multiplayer. dir/ tandem. html). Accessed July 29, 2007. [6] For instance, the threefold repetition applies on FICS but not on Internet Chess Club. [7] See Article nr. 12, US chess federation Bughouse rules (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2006/ 2006bughouse. pdf). Accessed August 27, 2007. [8] Comments on tandem chess rules from chessvariants.com (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ listcomments. php?itemid=TandemChess). Accessed July 29, 2007. [9] See for example the bughouse rules from the Geneva gathering page (http:/ / www. pion. ch/ Bug/ rules. html) and the official bughouse rules in the Netherlands (http:/ / www. schaakmeester-p. nl/ spelregels. htm#doorgeefschaak). Accessed July 29, 2007. [10] Tandem chess rules from chessvariants.com (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ multiplayer. dir/ tandem. html). Accessed July 29, 2007. [11] von Zimmerman (2006), p.108 [12] Manson and Hoover (1992), p. 34–37 [13] von Zimmerman (2006), p. 17. [14] Manson and Hoover (1992), p. 32–33 [15] von Zimmerman (2006), p. 17. The bughouse playing program Sunsetter (http:/ / sunsetter. sourceforge. net/ ) uses the values pawn=100, bishop=195, knight=192, rook=200 and queen=390, while the engine Sjeng (http:/ / www. sjeng. org/ indexold. html) uses pawn=100, bishop=230, knight=210, rook=250 and queen=450. Accessed July 29, 2007. [16] von Zimmerman (2006), p. 243–244 [17] Manson and Hoover (1992), p. 75–89 [18] See Chris Ferrante (2000) (http:/ / personal. atl. bellsouth. net/ f/ e/ ferrantc/ chess/ bughouse. html), reproduced in von Zimmerman (2006), p.79–94 [19] von Zimmerman (2006), p.109 [20] von Zimmerman (2006), p.20 [21] von Zimmerman (2006), p.113 [22] von Zimmerman (2006), p.21–24 [23] von Zimmerman (2006), p.68 [24] Manson and Hoover (1992) use an "x" (as used in captures) in front to indicate a piece drop, as in xNf1. Penn and Dizon (1998) use the "I" (for insert) in front as in INf1. Von Zimmerman (2006) uses the @-notation. [25] Two large bughouse databases are Jamesbaud's database (http:/ / www. bughouse-db. org) and Lieven's database (http:/ / www. bughouse. be/ database. html).Accessed July 31, 2007. [26] Specification of the BPGN format from bughouse.be (http:/ / www. bughouse. be/ BPGN_Standard. txt). Accessed July 29, 2007. Archived (http:/ / web. archive. org/ 20070927030540/ http:/ / www. bughouse. be/ BPGN_Standard. txt) September 27, 2007 at the Wayback Machine [27] BPGN viewer can be obtained from bughouse.net (http:/ / www. bughouse. net/ ). Accessed July 29, 2007. [28] Pritchard (2007), p. 327
139
Bughouse chess [29] von Zimmerman (2006), p.162–173 [30] John Nunn playing bughouse at the 2004 World Chess Solving Championship; Chessbase news, 22 September 2004 (http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ newsdetail. asp?newsid=1919). Accessed July 29, 2007. [31] Sergey Karjakin playing bughouse at the 2005 Young Stars tournament; Chessbase news 31, May 2005 (http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ newsdetail. asp?newsid=2423). Accessed July 29, 2007. [32] Bughouse Newsletter, Vol I 1992 edited by Jeremy Graham [33] The Independent (London), 12 July 1999 (http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_qn4158/ is_19990712/ ai_n14255436). Accessed July 29, 2007. Archived (http:/ / web. archive. org/ 20080308153016/ http:/ / findarticles. com/ p/ articles/ mi_qn4158/ is_19990712/ ai_n14255436) March 8, 2008 at the Wayback Machine [34] Emil Sutovsky playing bughouse at the 8th Montreal International (http:/ / chesspro. ru/ _events/ 2007/ monreal13. html) Accessed July 31, 2007. [35] Chess festival Czech Open (http:/ / www. czechopen. net/ ). Accessed July 29, 2007. [36] The official announcements for the 2006 (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2006/ jhs/ ) and 2007 (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2007/ jhs/ ) editions. Accessed July 29, 2007. [37] The official announcements for the 2006 (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2006/ hs/ ) and 2007 (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ tournaments/ 2007/ hs/ ) editions. Accessed July 29, 2007. [38] Official website of the Berlin bughouse tournament (http:/ / www. bughouse. info). Accessed July 29, 2007. [39] Report of the 2005 edition (http:/ / www. berlinerschachverband. de/ archiv/ chronik/ 2005/ tandem/ ), Berliner Schachverband. Accessed July 29, 2007. [40] Official site of the bughouse tournament in Geneva (http:/ / www. pion. ch/ Bug/ gath. html). Accessed July 29, 2007. [41] von Zimmerman (2006), p.239 [42] von Zimmerman (2006), p.5–9, 16, 25, 95 and 240 [43] von Zimmerman (2006), p.240 [44] Anders Ebenfelt's Bughouse page (http:/ / reocities. com/ Paris/ metro/ 1324/ ). Accessed August 29. [45] Homepage of Sunsetter (http:/ / sunsetter. sourceforge. net/ ). Accessed July 29, 2007. [46] Homepage of Sjeng (http:/ / www. sjeng. org/ indexold. html). Accessed July 29, 2007. [47] Homepage of TJchess (http:/ / www. tonyjh. com/ chess/ ). Accessed July 29, 2007. [48] Georg von Zimmerman (2000), Figuren recycling, Computerschach und Spiele 5/00 p44–46 (in German). [49] A guide to scholastic chess (http:/ / www. uschess. org/ scholastic/ sc-guide2. html), United States Chess Federation. Accessed October 3, 2007. Archived (http:/ / web. archive. org/ 20071011044350/ http:/ / www. uschess. org/ scholastic/ sc-guide2. html) October 11, 2007 at the Wayback Machine [50] Scholastic Chess: Polgar Girls' World Open and Boys' Chess Challenge (http:/ / main. uschess. org/ content/ view/ 7794/ 302/ ), USCF Chess Live Magazine. Accessed October 3, 2007. [51] Snyder, Robert M. (2004). Winning Chess Tournaments for Juniors. Random House Puzzles & Games. ISBN 978-0812936353., p. 10. [52] von Zimmerman (2006), p. 27
References • Manson Jr., John F.; Hoover, Todd (1992), Siamese Chess. How To Play...How to Win!, Farnsworth Enterprises, ASIN B0006PFGZS • Penn, David A.; Dizon, Rommel (1998), Comprehensive Bughouse Chess (http://www.bughousechess.net/), Graham Cracker Studios, ISBN 0-966-98060-3 • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. (second edition), John Beasley, ISBN 0-95551-680-3 • von Zimmerman, Georg, ed. (2006), Bughouse Chess (http://www.bughouse-book.com/), Books on Demand GmbH, ISBN 3-833-46811-4
140
Bughouse chess
141
External links • Bughouse Chess (http://www.bughouse.net) • Explanation of BugHouse Chess by FM Gulamali and NM Stewart (http://www.onlinechesslessons.net/2011/ 06/11/what-is-bughouse-chess/) • Bughouse on the ChessVariants pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/multiplayer.dir/tandem.html) • Errant Fischer's Bughouse Page (http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/f/e/ferrantc/chess/index.html) • The Bug Board - Forum and software (http://www.thebugboard.net/) • bughouse-db.org - FICS bughouse database (http://www.bughouse-db.org/) • bughousedb.com - Another bughouse database (http://www.bughousedb.com/) • bughouse.be - Database and links (http://www.bughouse.be/) • Bughouse live on XBOX (http://www.xblaratings.com/component/content/article/2358-team-chess)
Three-handed chess Three player chess is a family of chess variants specially designed to be played by three people.[1] There are many variations of three-handed chess. They usually use some non-standard board, for example, hexagonal or three-sided board connected in the middle in a special way. Three-player chess (and other games) variants are the hardest to design fairly, because the imbalance created when two gang up on one is usually too great for the player to withstand. Some versions avoid this problem by deciding victory such that the third player loses as well as the checkmated player, leaving the player who delivers checkmate first to be the victor.
Chessboard for three-handed chess
Hexagonal board Many three-player chess variants use a hexagonal board. Pieces move usually as in one of versions of hexagonal chess: • ThreeChess: Three-player chess online played on hexagonal board with classical chess rules, adapted for three players. It is available multiplayer and free to play online at www.ThreeChess.com [2]. • Chesh [3] by Gianluca Moro. • Chexs [4] by Stephen P. Kennedy. • Echexs [5] by Jean-Louis Cazaux. • HEXChess [6]: commercial chess variant by HEXchess Inc. • Three-way chess was invented by Richard Harshman.[7] It is played by three players on a six-sided board with hexagonal cells.[8]
Three-handed chess
Three-sided board Often a special three-sided board is used (like shown in the picture above): • Self's variant [9]: by Hency J. Self (1894). • Three player chess [10]: by Robert Zubrin (1972). The patent for this game describes a variant in which whoever is first to checkmate one of the other two players gains control of that player's forces. If more than one player's pieces contribute to a checkmate, this applies to whoever makes the final move that causes a checkmate.[11] • Triple chess [12]: chess board is extended with 8x3 rectangles on 3 sides. This game is invented by Philip Marinelli in 1722. • Triochess [13] (1975). • Waider's game [14]: by Waider (1837).
Other boards Besides hexagonal and three-sided boards some other board forms were tried: • 3-color chess [15]: uses a special three-dimensional board or can be used with three-colored boards. • 3 Man Chess [16]: uses round board. • Orwell chess [17]: cylindrical board is used, similar to cylinder chess. • Megachess [18]: uses a triangular board.
Strategy The introduction of a third player drastically changes the style of play, even if standard pieces are used. Many chess openings are useless due to the extended board and third player. The introduction of the 'extra' move by the third player can introduce situations of deadlock, for example if a white piece is undefended and simultaneously attacked by both black and red pieces. Black cannot take the white piece, since red would then capture the black piece next turn. Thus the black and red pieces are both simultaneously attacking the white piece and defending it from attack by the other player. In similar situations, a piece can move quite safely into a square where it is attacked by both opponents, since neither opponent would take the piece and risk capture by the third player. Each player must think twice as far ahead — anticipating the moves of both opponents, with the added complexity that the next player may move to attack either of his opponents. In games where the third player loses as well as the checkmated one, players must concentrate not only on their own attack and defense, but also on preventing the two opponents from checkmating each other. A player can take advantage of one opponents position to checkmate the other, but must be careful that the third player does not checkmate first. White could checkmate red, only to have his piece captured by a black piece, which checkmates red. In this situation, white would lose since black delivers the final checkmating move. This strategy also applies to games which give the checkmating player command of the checkmated opponent's pieces- a player who allows the second player to checkmate the third would surely go on to lose due to the increased power of his remaining opponent, now armed with the third player's pieces.
142
Three-handed chess
References [1] Pritchard, D. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Bastford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7. [2] http:/ / www. ThreeChess. com [3] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. geocities. com/ Athens/ Olympus/ 5867/ chesh. html& date=2009-10-25+ 06:08:39 [4] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ hexagonal. dir/ chexs. html [5] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ hexagonal. dir/ echexs. html [6] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ hexagonal. dir/ hexreview. html [7] Nikos Sidiropoulos and Rasmus Bro (2009). "In memory of Richard Harshman". Journal of Chemometrics 23: 315. doi:10.1002/cem.1247. [8] http:/ / www. threewaychess. org/ [9] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ historic. dir/ self. html [10] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ multiplayer. dir/ 3pl2. html [11] US3,652,091 (http:/ / www. google. com/ patents?vid=3652091) – Three-player chess board – Robert Zubrin [12] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ historic. dir/ marinelli. html [13] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. photo/ triochess. html [14] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ historic. dir/ waider. html [15] http:/ / www. 3schach. de/ german/ device. html [16] http:/ / www. 3manchess. com/ page6. html [17] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ contest84/ orwellchess. html [18] http:/ / boardgamegeek. com/ boardgame/ 4572/ megachess
External links • Chess for three (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910529-1,00.html).
143
Four-handed chess
144
Four-handed chess Four-handed chess
A common four-way chess board Genre(s)
Chess variant
Players
4
Random chance
None
Skill(s) required
Strategy, Logic
Four-handed chess (also known as Chess 4 and 4-way chess) is a chess variant, which is typically played with four people. It is played on a special board, which is made of standard 8x8 board with an additional 3 rows of 8 cells extending from each side. Four sets of different colored pieces are needed to play this game. Four way chess follows the same basic rules as regular two way chess. There are many different rule variations of this game. Most variants, however, share the same board and similar piece setup.
Team The most common form of play is two vs. two in which allied pieces cannot eliminate each other, but help the others in defense and offense. The allied players sit across from each other and help checkmate the people to the left and right of them. The game is over when both opposing kings are checkmated. If only one can be checkmated, the game is a draw.
Singles Singles is substantially harder than team play. In this method, each player can attack any of the other three players and vice versa. Once a player is checkmated, the checkmated player can either remove their pieces from the board, or the person that checkmated can use the remaining pieces during his/her turn. Play continues until only one player is left.
Game rules • Players can only move their chess pieces on their turn. • If a player is placed in check, that player must wait until their designated turn before that player can respond to the threat. • Pawns move forward only, unless attacking in a diagonal forward manner. • In the event a pawn reaches the King's row to the left, right or directly across, that pawn shall receive all the privileges of a pawn reaching King's row during a traditional chess game (i.e. bringing back a queen (most commonly), a rook, a bishop, or a knight).
Four-handed chess
External links • • • •
Four-player Chess [1] at BoardGameGeek Four Handed Chess I [2], II [3] and III [4] from chessvariants.org Four-handed Chess [5] by Capt. George Hope Verney Free online version (Chesapeake Four-handed Chess) [6]
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ game/ 2173 http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ multiplayer. dir/ 4players. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ multiplayer. dir/ fourhanded2. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ multiplayer. dir/ fourhanded3. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ books. dir/ 4handed/ index. html http:/ / www. pathguy. com/ chess/ Chesapea. htm
145
Forchess
146
Forchess Forchess Players
4
Age range
any
Setup time
2 minutes
Playing time
30-90 minutes
Random chance None Skill(s) required Chess strategy
Forchess is a four-person chess variant developed by an American engineer named T. K. Rogers. It uses one standard chess board and two sets of standard pieces.
History and motivation Forchess was developed around the year 1975. Its inventor T. K. Rogers wanted to create a pure strategy game with the social dynamic of card games like Bridge. Rogers believed in the educational merits of chess and felt that making the game a more popular social activity would benefit society. Rogers wanted the game to use only standard pieces and a standard board so that everything necessary to play would be readily available. He also did not want to severely limit the number of pieces each player had. In 1992, Rogers published the instruction set as a 64-page booklet Forchess: The Ultimate Social Game, designed to fit in a shirt pocket. The booklet also contained strategies for playing the game and a new technique invented by Rogers for analyzing both chess and Forchess games. He called it influence indicator. In 1996, Rogers posted a free instruction set on the then newly-founded Intuitor website. He simultaneously began distributing thousands of free instruction brochures to schools and colleges.
Overview of the game Initial Forchess Board Layout a
b
c
d e f
g
h
8 K R N P P B R K 8 7 R Q B P P N Q R 7 6 B N
P P
B N 6
5 P P P P P P P P 5 4 P P P P P P P P 4 3 N B
P P
N B 3
2 R Q N P P B Q R 2 1 K R B P P N R K 1 a
b
c
d e f
g
h
The game is played by four people in teams of two. At the outset, each player controls an entire quadrant of the board with a full set of chess pieces (minus one pawn). Partners occupy quadrants diagonally across from each other.
Forchess The diagram at right shows the initial layout of the Forchess board (K=King, Q=Queen, R=Rook, B=Bishop, N=Knight, and P=Pawn). Note that only 4 squares are initially unoccupied. All the pieces move and capture in the same manner as conventional chess, except the pawn, which moves diagonally and captures laterally. A pawn may not move two squares at a time, and there is no en passant capture. There are no checkmates and no stalemates: kings are captured like all other pieces. When a player is in check and has no legal moves to escape check, he may make a "token move" every turn until his king is actually captured. When a player loses his king, his remaining pieces subsequently become the captor's. The game ends when one team has lost both kings or chooses to concede. Partners typically coordinate their moves as part of a single strategy. Thus, communication of that strategy becomes a requirement of the game. Clandestine forms of communication such as code words, furtive gestures, or secret notes are not allowed. All strategizing between partners must be done openly in front of their opponents. This rule lends Forchess much of its social character.
Cutthroat Forchess Forchess has a variant called Cutthroat, in which there are no partners and only one player wins by defeating all three opponents. Successful strategy in Cutthroat Forchess can differ greatly from "regular" Forchess, as fluid alliances may spark a game of psychological manipulation. In this respect, Cutthroat shares strategy elements with the board game Risk.
External links • The official Forchess homepage [1] • Forchess discussion forum [2]
References [1] http:/ / www. intuitor. com/ forchess/ [2] http:/ / games. groups. yahoo. com/ group/ forchessonline/
147
Djambi
148
Djambi Djambi (also described as "Machiavelli's chessboard") is a board game and a chess variant for four players, invented by Jean Anesto in 1975.
Rules Material The game is played on a 9×9 board whose central square (called "the maze") is marked with a different color or a sign. Each player has 9 pieces: • • • •
1 Chief 1 Assassin 1 Reporter 1 Troublemaker (also called Provocateur, or Diplomat) • 1 Necromobile • 4 Militants.
Objective The objective of the game is to capture the chiefs of the other players before they capture yours. Although informal alliances can be temporarily agreed upon, there is no team: each player plays against the other players.
Board of Djambi, with the pieces in their start position. Each piece is identified by the first letter of its name as well as a symbol.
Start position The pieces are placed in each corner of the board as shown in the picture above.
Movements Each player, at his/her turn, moves one of his/her pieces, and can possibly capture a piece in this way. The militants move of one or two squares in the eight directions; the other pieces can move through any number of squares in the eight directions. A piece cannot jump above another piece.
Captures The pieces are "killed" as soon as they are captured, but their "corpses" stay on the board (the pieces are turned upside down to show that they are "dead"). The militant kills by occupying the square of a piece (capture by replacement). He places the corpse on an unoccupied square of his choice, except on the central square (the "maze"). A militant cannot kill a chief in power (see below). • the chief kills and places the corpse in the same way as the militant. • the assassin kills in the same way as the militant, but places the corpse in the square he comes from.
Djambi • the reporter kills by occupying one of the four squares next to the square of the piece he wants to kill (he cannot kill diagonally). The corpse stays in his square. The reporter can only kill at the end of his move. The troublemaker and the necromobile cannot kill the other pieces but can move them. • the troublemaker can move another living piece by occupying its square (of course, he can only move the pieces of the other players). The piece is placed on any unoccupied square (except the maze if this piece is not a chief). • the necromobile acts like a troublemaker but only with the dead pieces (whatever the origin of the dead piece is). The corpses cannot be placed in the maze.
Death and surrounding of a chief When a player kills the chief of another player, he/she takes control of the living pieces of this one. At his/her turn, he/she will have the choice between using one of his/her own pieces, or using one of the captured pieces. When a player has no necromobile and his chief is surrounded by corpses, he is eliminated (except if he is in power, in the maze). His/her pieces now belong to the chief in power. If there is no chief in power, then the pieces cannot be moved or killed, until the moment when a chief takes the power, and captures them in that way (he keeps control on these pieces even if he leaves the maze).
The maze The central square of the board is called the maze. Each piece can go through this square, but the chief is the only piece that can stop on it. A chief who is in the maze is a chief "in power". He plays one time after each player. For instance, if there are four players, he plays three times in a turn (if there are two players, he plays twice consecutively). When he leaves the maze, he loses this power. A chief in power takes control of the pieces of the surrounded chiefs, and keeps them after losing the power. A chief in power cannot be killed by a militant. The surrounding has no effect on him. When an assassin, a troublemaker or a necromobile goes in the maze to kill or move a chief, the assailant must make an additional move immediately, in order to leave the maze.
Alliances and betrayals There can be informal agreements or alliances between the players, but there is no rule to prevent any betrayal.
End of the game The game ends when a player has captured the chiefs of all of the other players.
Variants Three-player variant The pieces of the missing fourth player are "hostages". These pieces can be killed or moved by the pieces of the players. When the chief is captured, the normal rules to take control of them apply. The hostage chief can be placed in the maze, but it has no influence on the game.
149
Djambi
Five-player variant There is a five-player variant of djambi, called pentachiavel.
External links • Board and pieces to download [1] • Links and comments [2]
References [1] http:/ / jeuxsoc. free. fr/ d/ djamb. htm [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ link2. dir/ djambi. html
Bosworth Bosworth is a four-handed chess variant manufactured by Out of the Box Publishing company since 1998. It is played on 6x6 board and uses 4 sets of standard chess pieces. Instead of traditional chess pieces, the "kingdoms" are represented by pictures of the pieces on large colored tokens, (each player has his own color: red, yellow, green, or blue), accompanied by a humorous picture of a Dork Tower character.[1]
Rules The game can be played by two to four players,[2] pieces act like their normal chess counterparts (i.e. rooks move vertically and horizontally), with minor exceptions.[1] Due to the multi-player nature of the game, there is no checkmate and kings can be captured. The goal of the game is to be the last player who still has a king. Bosworth has certain rules for game set-up and placing new pieces on the board. The game board has 36 squares, in a 6x6 pattern, but the four corner squares are marked by trees, which designate the squares as impassable, and the remaining four squares between the trees on each side are marked by tents and are the "camps" of the pieces. At the start of the game each player takes his tokens, puts four pawns in his spawn camp, and shuffles the remaining tokens face down into a deck. From there the player draws four tokens from the top of the deck, and chooses from these tokens to replace empty spots in his/her spawn camp. The player must then draw enough pieces from the deck to get four in his/her hand.
150
Bosworth
References [1] Lidberg, Paul Arden (1998-07-31). "Pyramid Pick: Bosworth". Pyramid (online) (Steve Jackson Games). [2] "Bosworth official rules" (http:/ / www. otb-games. com/ bosworth/ rules. html). .
External links • Bosworth overview (http://www.otb-games.com/bosworth/) by the publisher • Bosworth (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/645) at BoardGameGeek • RPGnet: Review of Bosworth (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11858.phtml) by Tom Vasel
Enochian chess Enochian chess is a four-player chess variant, similar to Chaturaji, associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The name comes from the Enochian system of magic of Dr. John Dee (magus and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I), which was later adapted by Victorian members of the Golden Dawn into "a complete system of training and initiation." Enochian Chess was created by William Wynn Westcott, one of the three founders of the Golden Dawn, but the rules of the game were probably never completed by him. The game was finished by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, who put its rules into final form.[1] The game was four-handed because each set of pieces corresponded to one of the four classical elements and their several watchtowers, and the game was used for divination as well as competition. The four sets of pieces were variously colored, and identified with Egyptian deities or "god-forms". The main identifications of the pieces were: • • • • •
Osiris, represented by the king; Isis, the queen; Horus, the knight; Aroueris, the bishop; and Nephthys, the rook or castle.[2]
The chess board itself was also varicolored, and divided into four sub-boards in which each of one of the four elemental colors predominated.[3] The rules of the game were partially derived from shatranj and other historical forms of chess; the queen is played like a fers, with a two square diagonal leaping move.[4] The four players would form pairs of two, with each player having a partner. MacGregor Mathers, who finalised the game's rules, was known to play with an invisible partner he claimed was as spirit. Joseph Hone, biographer of William Butler Yeats, claimed, "Mathers would shade his eyes with his hands and gaze at the empty chair at the opposite corner of the board before moving his partner's piece."[5] The game, while complex, was in actual use; Georgie Yeats, wife of poet William Butler Yeats, relates actually playing the game as a part of her occult training in Golden Dawn circles.[6] Her husband took part in some of these games, as did MacGregor Mathers.[7] On the other hand, the full set of the rules is not well presented in the Golden Dawn material handed down; Donald Tyson has observed that the game has "numerous weird little quirks" that "make it impossible to actually play in any satisfactory manner".[8]
151
Enochian chess
Notes [1] Ellic Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn: a documentary history of a magical order (Taylor & Francis, 1972; ISBN 0710073399) [2] The Golden Dawn: a complete course in practical ceremonial magic : the original account of the teachings, rites, and ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Israel Regardie, Cris Monnastre, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, eds., p. 686 (Llewellyn, 1989; ISBN 0875426638) [3] Regardie et. al., p. 684. [4] Regardie et. al., p. 691 [5] Joseph Hone, W.B. Yeats, 1865-1939, p. 106 [6] Ann Saddlemyer, Becoming George: The Life of Mrs. W. B. Yeats, p. 71 (Oxford University Press, 2004; ISBN 0199269211). [7] Joseph Hone, W.B. Yeats, 1865-1939, p. 106 [8] Donald Tyson, Enochian magic for beginners: the original system of angel magic, p. 308 (Llewellyn, 1997; ISBN 1567187471).
Further reading • Chris Zalewski: Enochian Chess of the Golden Dawn: A Four-Handed Chess Game. Llewellyn's Golden Dawn, 1994. ISBN 978-0875428956.
External links • Enochian Chess publications (http://steve-nichols.com/page3.html) • Enochian Chess on the Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/enochian.html)
152
153
Unusual pieces Fairy chess piece Some fairy pieces Archbishop (knight + bishop compound)
Chancellor (knight + rook compound)
Grasshopper (shown as an upside-down queen)
Nightrider (Knightmare) or unicorn (shown as an upside-down knight)
A fairy chess piece or unorthodox chess piece is a piece analogous to a chess piece. It is not used in conventional chess, but is used in certain chess variants and some chess problems. These pieces vary in the way they move and possibly in additional properties. Because of the distributed and uncoordinated nature of unorthodox chess development, often the same piece is referred to by different names or the same name is used for different pieces in various contexts (chess problems, various chess variants).
Classification Fairy chess pieces usually fall into one of three classes, although some are hybrid pieces. Some types of pieces are created by combining the movement powers of two or more different pieces. A specialized solving program, WinChloe, recognizes more than 1200 different fairy pieces.
Movement type Leapers An (m,n)-leaper is a piece that moves by a fixed type of vector between its start square and its arrival square. One of the coordinates of the vector 'start square - arrival square' must have an absolute value equal to m and the other one an absolute value equal to n. A leaper moves in the same way whether or not it captures, the taken unit being on the arrival square. For instance, the knight is the (1,2)-leaper.[1] The leaper's move cannot be blocked; it "leaps" over any intervening pieces, like the knight in standard chess. In shatranj, a forerunner to chess, the pieces later replaced by the bishop and queen were also leapers: the alfil was a (2,2)-leaper (moving exactly two squares diagonally in any direction), and the fers a (1,1)-leaper (moving exactly one square diagonally in any direction).[2] Some pieces can be described as combined leapers, i.e. as pieces having the movement capabilities of multiple leapers. The king in orthodox chess (ignoring check restrictions) is an example of a combination of a (1,1)-leaper and a (1,0)-leaper.
Fairy chess piece
154
Leapers are not able to create pins, although they are often effective forking pieces. One additional property is that the check of a leaper cannot be parried by interposing. All orthodox chessmen except the pawn are either leapers or riders, although the Rook does 'hop' when it castles. The Wazir is a (1,0)-leaper (an "orthogonal" one-square leaper); the Fers is a (1,1)-leaper (a "diagonal" one-square leaper). Both are used in Muslim versions of chess. The King of standard chess combines the two. The Dabbaba is a (2,0)-leaper; the Alfil is a (2,2)-leaper; the Knight is a (1,2)-leaper. The Alibaba combines the Dabbaba and Alfil; while the Squirrel can move to any square 2 units away. The Arabic word dabbāba formerly meant a type of medieval siege engine, and nowadays means "army tank". The 'level-3' leapers are the Threeleaper, a (3,0)-leaper; the Tripper, a (3,3)-leaper; the Camel, a (1,3)-leaper; and the Zebra, a (2,3)-leaper. 0 0
Zero
1 Wazir
1
Wazir
Fers
2
Dabbaba
Knight
3
Threeleaper Camel
2
3
Dabbaba Threeleaper Knight
Camel
Alfil
Zebra
Zebra
Tripper
An amphibian is a combined leaper with a larger range on the board than its components. The simplest amphibian is the Frog, a (1,1)-(0,3)-leaper. Riders A rider is a piece that can move an unlimited distance in one direction, provided there are no pieces in the way. There are three riders in orthodox chess: the rook can move an unlimited number of (1,0) cells and is therefore a (1,0)-rider; the bishop is a (1,1)-rider; and the queen is a (1,1)- or (1,0)-rider. One of the most popular fairy chess riders is the nightrider, which can make an unlimited number of knight moves (that is, (2,1) cells) in any direction (though, like other riders, it cannot change direction half-way through its move). Sliders are a noteworthy special case of riders which can only move between geometrically contiguous cells. All of the riders in orthodox chess are examples of sliders. The names of riders are often obtained by taking the name of a leaper which moves a similar cell-size and adding the suffix "rider". For example, the zebra is a (3,2)-leaper, and the zebrarider is a (3,2)-rider. Riders can create both pins and skewers. Hoppers A hopper is a piece which moves by jumping over another piece (called a hurdle). The hurdle can usually be any piece of any color. Unless it can jump over a piece, a hopper cannot move. Note that hoppers generally capture by taking the piece on the destination square, not by taking the hurdle (as is the case in checkers). The exceptions are called locusts. There are no hoppers in Western chess, although in xiangqi, the cannon captures as a hopper (when not capturing, it is a rider which can not capture). The most popular hopper in fairy chess is the grasshopper, which moves along the same lines as an orthodox queen, except that it must hop over some other piece and land on the square immediately beyond it.
Fairy chess piece
155
Locusts A locust is any piece which captures by hopping over its victim (as in checkers). It is sometimes considered a type of hopper. Marine Piece A marine piece is a combination piece consisting of a rider (for ordinary moves) and a locust (for captures) in the same directions. Marine pieces have names alluding to the sea and its myths, e.g., nereïde (marine bishop), triton (marine rook), mermaid (marine queen), or poseidon (marine king).
Games Some classes of pieces come from a certain game; often these have a common set of characteristics. Chinese pieces Chinese pieces are pieces derived from those found in xiangqi, the Chinese form of chess. The most common Chinese pieces are the leo, pao and vao (each of which are derived from the Chinese cannon) and the mao (derived from the horse). Those derived from the cannon are distinguished by moving as a leaper when capturing, but otherwise moving as a rider. Less frequently encountered Chinese pieces include the moa, nao and rao.
Special attributes Royal pieces A royal piece is one which must not be allowed to be captured. If a royal piece is threatened with capture and cannot avoid capture next move, then the game is lost (this is "checkmate"). In orthodox chess, each side has one royal piece, the king. In fairy chess any other orthodox piece or fairy piece may instead be designated royal, there may be more than one royal piece, or there may be no royal pieces at all (in which case the aim of the game must be something other than to deliver checkmate, such as capturing all of the opponent's pieces). Xed pieces Name
Notes
Crowned pieces Any piece which, in addition to its normal powers, can move like a King. Knighted piece
Any piece which, in addition to its normal powers, can move like a knight. For example, an amazon is a knighted queen.
Notations Parlett's movement notation In his book The Oxford History of Board Games[3] David Parlett used a notation to describe fairy piece movements. The move is specified by an expression of the form m={expression}, where m stands for "move", and the expression is composed from the following elements: • Distance (numbers, n) • 1 - a distance of one (i.e. to adjacent square) • 2 - a distance of two • n - any distance in the given direction • Direction (punctuation, X) • * - orthogonally or diagonally (all eight possible directions)
Fairy chess piece • + - orthogonally (four possible directions) • > - orthogonally forwards • < - orthogonally backwards • <> - orthogonally forwards and backwards • = - orthogonally sideways (used here instead of Parlett's divide symbol.) • >= - orthogonally forwards or sideways • <= - orthogonally backwards or sideways • X - diagonally (four possible directions) • X> - diagonally forwards • X< - diagonally backwards • Grouping • / - two orthogonal moves separated by a slash denote a hippogonal move (i.e. jumping like knights) • & - repeated movement in the same direction, such as for hippogonal riders (i.e. the nightrider) Additions to Parlett's The following can be added to Parlett's to make it more complete: • Conditions under which the move may occur (lowercase alphanumeric, except n) • (default) - May occur at any point in the game • i - May only be made on the initial move (e.g. pawn's 2 moves forward) • c - May only be made on a capture (e.g. pawn's diagonal capture) • o - May not be used for a capture (e.g. pawn's forward move) • Move type • (default) - Captures by landing on the piece; blocked by intermediate pieces • ~ - Leaper (leaps) • ^ - Locust (captures by leaping; implies leaper) • Grouping (punctuation) • / - two orthogonal moves separated by a slash denote a hippogonal move (i.e. jumping like knights); this is in Parlett's, but is repeated here for completeness • , (comma) - separates move options; only one of the comma-delimited options may be chosen per move • () - grouping operator; see nightrider • - - range operator The format (not including grouping) is:
On this basis, the traditional chess moves are: • • • • • •
King: 1* Queen: n* Bishop: nX Rook: n+ Pawn: o1>, c1X>, oi2> Knight: ~1/2
156
Fairy chess piece
157
Ralph Betza's "funny notation" Ralph Betza created a classification scheme for fairy chess pieces (including standard chess pieces) in terms of the moves of basic pieces with modifiers.[4] Capital letters stand for basic pieces and components, besides the standard abbreviation for the chess pieces (R, N, B, Q, and K) the following letters are used: Wazir, Ferz, Alfil, Dabbaba, H (0,3)-leaper, Long Leaper (CameL), J (2,3)-leaper (Giraffe), and G (3,3)-leaper. Riders are denoted by duplication of the letter, e.g., NN is the funny notation for the nightrider piece; restricted range is denoted by a digit after the letter, e.g., R4 is a rook restricted to at most 4 steps. Small letters in front of the capital letters denote modifications of the component. Often used modifiers are: forward, backward, right, left, sideward, vertical, move only, capture only, z crooked (moving in a zigzag line like the Boyscout), grasshopper, jumping (i.e., it must jump, cannot move without a hurdle), non-jumping like the Chinese Elefant, o cylindrical, pao (like the Chinese Cannon captures), and q circular movement (like the Rose). In addition, Betza has also suggested adding brackets to his notation: q[WF]q[FW] would be a circular king, which can move from e4 to f5 then g5, h4, h3, g2, f2, e3, and back to e4, effectively passing a turn. Example: The standard chess pawn can be described in Ralph Betza's funny notation as mfWcfF (ignoring the initial double move). There is no standard order of the components and modifiers. In fact, Betza often plays with the order to create somehow pronouncable piece names and artistic word play. Addition to Betza's Betza does not use the small letter i. It is used here for initial in the description of the different types of pawns.
Notable examples Name
Parlett
Betza
Found in
Notes
Alfil
~2X
A
Shatranj
A (2,2)-leaper. Compare to Elephant. Alternate notation: ~2/2
Alibaba
~2*
AD
Fairy Chess Problems
Combines the powers of Alfil and Dabbaba
Amazon
n*, ~1/2
QN
Knightmare Chess
Combines the powers of the Queen and the Knight. Also called Superqueen.
Andernach chess
A Grasshopper that changes the colour of the hurdle it leaps over. Also known as a Chopper.
Capablanca chess
Combines the powers of Bishop and Knight. Also called a Princess, Cardinal, Janus or Paladin.
Four Dimensional Chess
A Bishop-like piece used in four-dimensional chess, i.e. it changes all coordinates simultaneously while moving.
mQ (Immo-N)
Nova Chess
A piece that moves as a Queen but immobilizes any piece within a knight's move of itself, that is, it prevents it from moving or taking. If it is a fairy piece with additional powers it may or may not perform these other tasks depending on the case in question. A Basilisk that is caught by another Basilisk in this fashion, for example, may continue to immobilize others, including the other Basilisk.
mfFcfWimfF2
Berolina chess
Moves one square diagonally forward (except on its first move, when it may move two), but captures by moving one square straight forward. Compare with Pawn.
Andernach grasshopper Archbishop
nX, ~1/2
BN
Balloon
Basilisk
on* (Immo~1/2)
Berolina pawn o1X>, c1>, io2X>
Fairy chess piece
Bishop
158 nX
Boyscout
B
Orthodox Chess
Moves any number of free squares diagonally.
zB
Fairy Chess Problems
Moves like a bishop, but takes 90 degree turns after each step. Invented by J. de A. Almay in the first half of the 20th century. Rediscovered as Crooked Bishop by Ralph Betza.
Fairy Chess Problems
Can jump to any square which would not be reachable by any orthodox chess piece. Since the Amazon is the sum of all orthodox chess pieces, the Bug-Eyed Monster is the complement of the Amazon.
Tamerlane Chess
Old historic piece. Jumps 2 squares orthogonally followed by one square diagonally outwards.
Bug-Eyed Monster
Camel
~1/3
L
Cannon
See "Pao" and "Korean Cannon"
Cardinal
See "Archbishop"
Champion
1+, ~2*
WAD
Omega Chess
Combines the powers of the Wazir and the Alibaba.
Chancellor
n+, ~1/2
RN
Capablanca chess
Combines the powers of the Rook and Knight. Also called Empress or Marshal.
Checker
cn(^2X>), o1X> King: cn(^2X), o1X
Checkers
Multiple captures in one turn, or without capturing can move forward one diagonal space, but cannot move backward until after it has finished a turn on the far rank of the board. (cf. Draughts, Checkers)
Chopper
See "Andernach grasshopper"
Colonel
n>, n=, 2/1> 1*
KfsRfN
Chess with different armies
Moves as forwards and sideways Rook, the forwards moves of a Knight, or a King.
Dabbaba
~2+
D
Tamerlane Chess
Old historic piece, also known as War machine or Machine. Alternate notation: ~0/2
Dayrider
n(~2*)
AADD
Combination of Alfilrider and Dabbabarider. Also known as Alibabarider.
Dummy
A piece with no moves at all. It may be captured, gain temporarily moving ability by relay, or pushed or pulled around by other pieces if there are pushing or pulling pieces on the board. Different from Zero.
Edgehog
n*
Q
Edgehog [5] Chess
A Queen that can move only to or from the edge of the board. Variant: when it moves from an edge, it may not move to an edge. Represented in diagrams by a Queen rotated 90° counterclockwise. Invented by John Driver in 1966.
Elephant
2X
nA
Xiangqi (Chinese)
A (2,2) leaper, but it cannot jump over an intervening piece, like the Ma. In Chinese Chess, the Elephant is restricted to its half of the board.
Empress
See "Chancellor"
Fers
1X
F
Shatranj
Move one square in any direction diagonally.
Fusilier
o1+, c1X
mWcF
Centennial Chess
Moves and captures like a Pawn in all 4 directions. Invented by F. Marinelli in 1770. Also known as Steward or Quadrapawn.
Giraffe
~1/4
Gold General
1+, 1X>
Grasshopper
Old historic piece. Jumps one square diagonally followed by three squares orthogonally. See also Zurafa. WfF
Shōgi
Moves in all 4 orthogonal directions or diagonally forward.
gQ
Fairy Chess Problems
A hopper which moves along the same lines as a queen and lands on the square immediately beyond that of the hurdle. One of the most popular fairy pieces. In diagrams, the Grasshopper is usually represented by an inverted Queen.
Fairy chess piece
159
Graz Pawn
1*> , io2*>
fWfFifmW2ifmF2 Fairy Chess Problems
Combines the powers of the Berolina Pawn and the standard Pawn. Also known as the Sergeant, this piece was used as early as 1943 in Arno von Wilpert's Wolf Chess. It occurs (without the initial double move) as Iron General in large Shogi variants from 15th century, e.g., in Tenjiku shogi.
Immobilizer
on* (Immo1*)
mQ (Immo-K)
Ultima
The Immobilizer, invented by Robert Abbott, moves as a chess Queen. At the end of its move, any enemy piece that is on a square adjacent to the Immobilizer is frozen in place, and can not move away until the Immobilizer moves away or is captured. The Immobilizer can never move to an occupied square and can not capture pieces. If two Immobilizers move next to each other, they are both frozen until the end of the game or until one is captured. An immobilised piece may commit suicide, e.g., to open a line of attack. This action counts as a move.
Janus chess
See "Archbishop"
Janus King
1*
K
Orthodox Chess
Move one square in any direction. Royal in orthodox chess. A non-royal piece which moves in this way is sometimes called a Commoner or Man.
Khohn
1X, 1>
FfW
Makruk
Move one square in any direction diagonally or one square straight forward. It has the same moves as the Silver General in Shogi.
Knight
~1/2
N
Orthodox Chess
It jumps one square orthogonally followed by another square diagonally.
pR
Korean Chess (Janggi)
Moves and captures along orthogonal lines by jumping exactly one piece, called the hurdle. There can be any number of free squares before and after the hurdle. Unlike the Pao it moves the same way for capturing and non-capturing moves. In chess problems it is sometimes called Rook Lion or Rion.
Korean Cannon
Kraken
~n/m
Leap to any square on the board, including the one it is currently on (leaping to the current square has the effect of passing a move). Compare with Universal leaper.
Leeloo
Quintessential Chess
Combines the powers of Quintessence and Rook
Leo
on*, c^&
mQcpQ
Chinese
Combines the powers of the Pao and Vao; it moves like a Queen when not capturing (that is, a (1,0) or (1,1) rider), but captures by leaping over an intervening piece and taking the piece on the Leo's destination square (the captured piece can be any number of squares beyond the hurdle).
Lias' Pawn
o1>, o1=, c1X>, io2>
mfsWcfFimfW2
Lias' proposal
An extended Pawn which can also step one square sidewards. Proposed in the 1920s by A. G. Lias to improve standard chess
pQ
Fairy Chess Problems
A hopper which moves along the same lines as a Queen and which can land on a square any distance beyond the hurdle.
QN
Maharajah and the Sepoys
A royal Amazon, the only piece for white.
Chinese
Moves like a Knight except that it does not leap. It first moves one square orthogonally in any direction, and then continues in the same general direction one square diagonally. The square it is on after its orthogonal move must be vacant. For example, if a white mao is on b2 and there is a white pawn on b3, the Mao cannot move to a4 or c4; if the pawn is on c3, however, it can move to both those squares (because the first part of the move is orthogonal, not diagonal).
Lion
Maharaja
Mao
n*, ~1/2
Marshal Moa
See "Chancellor" Chinese
as the Mao, but the first step is diagonal and the second orthogonal, not the other way round.
Fairy chess piece
Murray Lion
160 ~2*, c1*
Nao
Nightrider
n(1/2) (in same direction)
ADcK
mNNcpNN
Chinese
A Chinese Nightrider —moves as a normal Nightrider (that is, a (2,1) rider) when not capturing, but which captures by leaping over an intervening piece and taking the piece on the Nao's destination square (the captured piece can be any number of knight-moves beyond the hurdle).
NN
Fairy Chess Problems
A rider which moves any number of 2,1 cells (i.e., knight moves) in the same direction. A Nightrider on b2 on an empty board, therefore, can move to a4, c4, d6, e8, d3, f4, h5 and d1. A Pawn of the opposing colour on d6 could be captured, but the Nightrider could not move any further in that direction (i.e., it couldn't move on to e8). A pawn on b3, for example, would have no effect. On diagrams, the nightrider is usually represented by an inverted Knight. One of the most popular fairy pieces. See diagram below.
Fairy Chess Problems
The Odysseus' move depends on the file where it is located: It moves as a Rook on files a and h, as a Knight on files b and g, as a Bishop on files c and f, as a Queen on file d and as a King on file e. Also known as Querquisite.
mRcpR
Chinese
Moves like a Rook when not capturing (that is, a (1,0) rider), but captures by leaping over an intervening piece and taking the piece on the Pao's destination square (the captured piece can be any number of squares beyond the hurdle). Found in xiangqi (in which context it is normally known in English as a Cannon). Compare with Korean Cannon.
mfWcfFimfW2
Orthodox Chess
Moves one square straight forward (except on its first move, when it may move two squares), but captures one square forward diagonally. Compare with Berolina pawn.
Quinquereme Chess
Combines the powers of Queen and Quintessence.
Odysseus
Pao
Pawn
o1>, c1X>, io2>
Can move and capture as an Alfil or Dabbaba, and capture only as a King. This piece stems from a misinterpretation of the Lion of Chu Shogi but has become popular in fairy chess problems and chess variants. It is named after the chess historian Harold James Ruthven Murray who brought it up.
Pentere
Princess Pterodactyl
See "Archbishop" ~3/3, ~5/5, ~0/15
Quang trung rook Queen
n*
Q
Quintessence
Rao
Reflecting Bishop
mqNcpqN
Chess mathematics
The simplest triple range amphibian. George Jelliss demonstrated a [6] pterodactyl's knight's tour on a 16×16 board in 1985
Quang Trung Chess
Moves as Rook but when capturing must move on square away from captured piece in the same direction.
Orthodox Chess
Combines the powers of the Bishop and Rook.
Quintessential Chess
A Nightrider who takes 90-degree turns in a zig-zag manner on each step. First described in 2002 by Jörg Knappen and found in several chess variants since then.
Chinese
A Chinese Rose —moves as a normal Rose when not capturing, but captures by leaping over an intervening piece and taking the piece on the Rao's destination square. The captured piece can be any distance beyond the hurdle. Moves like a bishop, but additionally is allowed to "bounce" off the edge of the board when making a move, similar to a hockey puck or billiard ball. Its path continues down the diagonal to any legitimate square after the [7] "bounce".
Fairy chess piece
161
RennCavalier
Renniassance Chess
Moves in the same move one square diagonally and any number of squares othogonally or any number of squares orthogonally and one diagonally. It has two paths to the same target square and must make at least a blockable knight's move. Called Cavalier in RennChess, but the name Cavalier is used for other pieces as well. Renniassance Chess was invented by 1980 by Eric V. Greenwood.
RennDuke
Renniassance Chess
Moves in the same move one square orthogonally and then any number of squares diagonally or any number of squares diagonally and then one straight. It has two paths to the same target square and must make at least a blockable knight's move. Called Duke in RennChess, but the name Duke is used for other pieces as well.
R
Orthodox Chess
Moves any number of free squares orthogonally.
qN
Fairy Chess Problems
Moves as a Nightrider, except that rather than moving in a straight line, it moves along pseudo-circular ones. A rose standing on e1 on an empty board, for instance, can move to any of the squares on the large circle c2, b4, c6, e7, g6, h4 and g2; as well as c2 and a1; or d3 and b4; or d3, e5 and g6; or f3, e5, c6 and a5; or f3 and h4. As with the nightrider, an opposite-coloured piece on any one of these squares can be captured, but prevents the rose from progressing any further along that line. See diagram below.
Rook
n+
Rose
Spy
2>, 2=, (1/1)>
fsDfF
Chess Empire
The Spy can move two spaces forwards or sideways, or can move like a knight one forward and then one horizontally or vice versa. It can leap over pieces and can only move two spaces; thus, it is "trapped" on its own color like a Bishop.
Squirrel
~0/2, ~1/2, ~2/2
DAN
Fairy Chess Problems
Jumps to any field in a distance of 2. It was discovered independently several times and is also known as Centurion or Castle.
Superpawn
on>, cnX>
mfRcfB
Fairy Chess Problems
Moves without capture any number of fields forward, captures diagonally forwards like a Bishop. Promotes on the 8th rank. Cannot capture en passant nor be captured en passant. May be placed in the first rank. Invented by [8] Werner Speckmann in 1967.
Superqueen
See "Amazon"
Taxi
Fairy Chess Problems
Universal leaper
Moves without capture one step forward or backwards, captures one square diagonally forwards like a Pawn. When in the second rank can move one, two or three steps forward or one backwards. Can promote on the 8th rank or continue to be a Taxi. Can capture en passant other Pawns or Taxis. May be placed in the first or eight ranks. Leap to any square on the board apart from the one it is on. Compare with Kraken.
Unicorn
Vao
Raumschach
In Raumschach it is a triagonal rider, moves through the vertices of the cubes. See diagram below. The name Unicorn is also used for several pieces in 2 dimensions, e.g., for the Archbishop or for the combination of Bishop and Nightrider also known as Banshee.
mBcpB
Chinese
Moves like a Bishop when not capturing (that is, a (1,1) rider), but captures by leaping over an intervening piece and taking the piece on the Vao's destination square (the captured piece can be any number of squares beyond the hurdle).
Wazir
1+
W
Tamerlane Chess
Moves one square orthogonally in any direction.
Wizard
1X, ~1/3
FL
Omega Chess
Combines the movement of Fers and Camel.
Zebra
~2/3
J
Old historic piece. Jumps one square orthogonally followed by two squares diagonally outwards.
Fairy chess piece
Zero
162 ~0/0
A piece which can make a zero move, i. e., jump and land on its starting square without any side effects. This gives the player the option to pass a move. Sometimes used as a component to more complex pieces. It is different from the piece with no move at all called Dummy
Zurafa
Tamerlane Chess
a
b
c
Starts with a (1,4) leap (like the modern Giraffe) and may continue moving outwards as a Rook.
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Nightrider makes any number of knight moves in the same direction. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Rose. Moves as Nightrider, but along pseudo-circular lines. (two possible paths depicted.) Of course it may move clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Fairy chess piece
163
E
D
B
A
C
The unicorn, represented here by an upside-down knight, moves through the vertices of cubes (triagonally). A unicorn from its starting position can reach only 30 cubes. The white unicorn's destination squares are marked with a circle, black's with an X. The boards are stacked, with board E on top.
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Poisson, Catégories de pièces - Types of pieces, section "Bondisseur(m,n) - (m,n)Leaper". Poisson, Pièces – Pieces, sections Alfil, Fers Parlett, 1999 http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ piececlopedia. dir/ betzanot. html Betza Notation by Glen Overby II http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ dpieces. dir/ edgehog-chess. html Peter Aronson, "Edgehog Chess" G. Jelliss, Theory of Moves (Retrieved on 2009-07-18) (http:/ / www. ktn. freeuk. com/ 9a. htm) The Piececlopedia: Reflecting Bishop (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ piececlopedia. dir/ reflecting-bishop. html) by Peter Aronson. Märchenfiguren und ihre Grundtypen (pdf, in german) (http:/ / www. problemschachbuch. de/ Materialien/ Maerchenschach. pdf)
References • David Parlett (1999). The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-212998-8. • Christian Poisson. "Catégories de pièces - Types of pieces" (http://christian.poisson.free.fr/problemesis/ categories.html). Retrieved 2008-04-18. • Christian Poisson. "Pièces – Pieces" (http://christian.poisson.free.fr/problemesis/pieces.html). Retrieved 2008-04-18. • Ralph Betza's funny notation (http://www.chessvariants.org/d.betza/chessvar/pieces/notation.html) • George Jelliss. "All the King's Men" (http://www.mayhematics.com/v/gm.htm). Retrieved 2010-07-20.
Fairy chess piece
External links • Piececlopedia (http://www.chessvariants.org/index/mainquery.php?type=Piececlopedia& orderby=LinkText&displayauthor=1&displayinventor=1&usethisheading=Piececlopedia) - an extensive list of fairy chess pieces, their history and movement diagrams • Who is Who on Eight by Eight (http://www.chessvariants.org/piececlopedia.dir/whos-who-on-8x8.html) Compiled by Ivan A Derzhanski, shows also piece values • Jerome Grimbert's List of Fairy Chess Pieces (french) (http://jgrimbert.free.fr/pieces/indexa.html) • Fairy chess pieces and fairy problem conditions (german) (http://www.hilmar-ebert.de/VV1000.htm) • Märchenschachlexikon (http://www.dieschwalbe.de/lexikon.htm) (Die Schwalbe, German)
Hippogonal A hippogonal chess move is one similar to a knight's move. That is, a leap m squares in one of the orthogonal directions, and n squares in the other, for integer values of m and n. It need not be a 2:1 ratio for m and n. A specific type of hippogonal move can be written (m,n), usually with the smaller number first. For example, the knight itself moves two squares in one orthogonal direction and one in the other—it moves hippogonally. It is a (1,2) hippogonal mover, sometimes referred to as a (1,2) leaper. Other hippogonally moving pieces include the camel, a fairy chess piece, which moves three squares in one direction and one in the other, and thus is a (1,3) hippogonal mover.
External links • Piececlopedia: knight [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ piececlopedia. dir/ knight. html
164
Grasshopper
165
Grasshopper a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Grasshopper (shown as an inverted white queen with notation G) must hop over other pieces in order to move or capture. Here, it can capture the pawn in a7. The Grasshopper is a fairy chess piece that moves along ranks, files, and diagonals (as ordinary queen) but only by hopping over another piece at any distance to the square immediately closest. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond a piece is occupied by a piece of the opposite color, the grasshopper can capture that piece. The grasshopper may jump over pieces of either color; the piece being jumped over is unaffected. On the diagram it is shown as an inverted queen with notation G. For an example of grasshopper movement see the first diagram. The white grasshopper on d4 can move to the squares marked by cross (b2, d1, d7 and h8), as well as capture the black pawn on a7. It cannot move on g4, because there are two pieces to hop over. Grasshopper was introduced by T. R. Dawson in 1913 in problems published in the Cheltenham Examiner newspaper. Nowadays it is one of the most popular fairy pieces used in chess problems. V. Onitiu, N. Petrović, T. R. Dawson & C. M. Fox (1930) a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Mate in 8 (with grasshoppers Ga8, f7, h2 and h1)
Grasshopper
166
Solution of the problem on the second diagram is: 1.Gh3! Gh4 2.Gh5 Gh6 3.Gh7 Gh8 4.Ge7 Gd7 5.Gc7 Gb7 6.Ga7+ Ga6 7.Ga5+ Ga4 8.Ga3#.
Grasshopper chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Grasshopper chess. Second and seventh ranks are occupied with grasshoppers. Grasshopper chess is a chess variant, in which the pawns are allowed to promote to a fairy piece grasshopper. Grasshopper (shown as an inverted queen) must hop over other pieces in order to move or capture. In some variations grasshoppers may also be present on the board in the opening position, in addition to the usual pieces. For example, pawns can be moved forward and grasshoppers put along the second and seventh ranks[1] as shown on the diagram at right. Another possibility is to replace queens with grasshoppers in initial position.[2]
References [1] J. Boyer (1951). Les Jeux D'Echecs Non Orthodoxes. [2] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1.
External links • Grasshopper chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/dpieces.dir/grashopper.html) by Hans Bodlaender.
Berolina chess
167
Berolina chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
On its first move, a Berolina pawn may move two steps forward. It may not change direction during its move. The black e4-pawn may capture the white f2-pawn en passant if the white pawn advances to d4 in one move. Berolina Chess is a chess variant using a popular fairy chess piece called the Berolina pawn (also called Berlin pawn or Anti-pawn). The Berolina pawn was invented by Edmund Hebermann in 1926. The rules of Berolina Chess are the same as in standard chess, including castling, except that all the pawns are replaced by Berolina pawns.
Berolina pawn specifics The Berolina pawn moves, without capturing, one square diagonally forward. It captures one square straight forward. (So, it is the converse of a normal chess pawn, which moves straight forward and captures diagonally forward.) Like a normal chess pawn, the Berolina has the option to move two squares forward on its first move (so for the Berolina, two squares diagonally forward). En passant capturing is possible as well (see diagram). As in normal chess, the Berolina pawn promotes when reaching the last rank.
Related pawns Two famous pawns used in problem compositions are the Berolina Plus and the Sergeant. • The Berolina Plus moves and captures like the Berolina pawn, but in addition may capture one square sideways. • The Sergeant combines the normal chess pawn and the Berolina pawn; that is, it can move to or capture on any of the three squares immediately in front.
Further reading • Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. Berolina Chess, p. 21–22.
Berolina chess
168
External links • BrainKing.com [1] turn-based server for playing Berolina Chess • The Chess Variant Pages [2] article on Berolina Chess (specially "Recognized" by Chessvariants.org)
References [1] http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=59 [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ dpieces. dir/ berlin. html
Maharajah and the Sepoys Maharajah and the Sepoys a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Starting position. White queen is a maharajah; it can move as queen or knight. Maharajah and the Sepoys, originally called Shatranj Diwana Shah, is a popular chess variant with different armies for white and black. It was first played in the 19th century in India. Black has a full, standard chess army ("sepoys") in the usual position. White is limited to a single piece, the maharajah, which can move as either a queen or as a knight on White's turn. Black's goal is to checkmate the maharajah, while white's is to checkmate black's king. There is no pawn promotion. The asymmetry of the game pits movement flexibility and agility against greater force in numbers. By perfect play black always wins in this game, at least on an 8x8 board. According to Hans Bodlaender [1], "A carefully playing black player should be able to win. However, this is not always easy, and in many cases, when the white 'Maharaja' breaks through the lines of black, he has good chances to win." However, the following algorithm can help the black to win: • Step 1: The Maharaja can only check the black King from squares that are attacked by black. • Step 2: All black pieces other than King are at protected by at least one other pieces, or if there are any unprotected black pieces, Maharaja can only attack them from squares attacked by black. • Step 3: All black moves are done only to squares that were attacked by black before that moves. Using such a sequece of moves, black can finally create a situation where every empty square of the board is attacked.
Maharajah and the Sepoys
169
External links • The Maharaja and the Sepoys [1] by Hans L. Bodlaender. • Brainking Rules page [2]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ maharaja. html [2] http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=21
Omega Chess Omega Chess is a commercial chess variant designed by Daniel MacDonald in Toronto. The game is played on a 10x10 board with an extra square in each of the extreme corners where the wizards are placed at the start of the game.[1] The game is laid out like regular chess with the addition of a "champion" in each corner and a "wizard" diagonally behind each champion (see diagram on the right). W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
W3
I
J
W4 W4
Omega Chess - start position Part of the reason for adding the new pieces was to equalize the number of jumping pieces with sliding pieces. The wizard was created specially to be a color-bound piece, a parallel to the bishop. Because of the symmetry and four additional corners, Omega Chess creates new tactical possibilities, including the possibility of checkmate with two knights. Omega Chess has garnered endorsements by grandmasters Michael Rohde[2] and Alex Sherzer.
Omega Chess
170
Differences from standard chess The new pieces W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A W3
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W4 W4
Wizard, Champion, Pawn's first move, En passant and Castling. •
Champion: jumps 2 squares in any direction or slides 1 square orthogonally. White's King Champion can start the game by Ch2 or Cj2. In the position shown at the left, the black Champion's movement is indicated by an X, and it can't capture the white Knight. • Wizard: a colorbound piece, jumps {1,3} or {3,1} squares in any direction, or slides 1 square diagonally. White's King Wizard can start the game by Wj2. In the position shown at the left, the black Wizard's movement is indicated by a black dot, and it can capture the white Knight.
Pawns • The Pawn may slide one, two or three squares in the forward direction, on its first move only. This is shown on files (a),(b) and (d) respectively. • Capture, promotion and movement (following the first move) are otherwise identical to the pawn in standard chess. • The en passant rule also applies. The d pawn may be captured en passant by either black pawn. The b pawn may be captured normally by the pawn at c4, and en passant by the pawn at c3
Omega Chess
171
Castling The normal rules of castling apply. Also, it is done exactly as in Chess, with the king moving two squares to either side: to h0 for white or h9 for black to castle king-side, and to d0 or d9 to castle queen-side. (See diagram.) W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
W3
I
J
W4 W4
Position before 42... b4!
Sample games As seen in the diagrams, the ranks are numbered from 0-9, and the corner squares behind a0, j0, j9 and a9 are notated w1, w2, w3 and w4 respectively. It should be noted that these squares are part of the board, and all pieces (except rooks and pawns) can enter them. (See the problem at the end of the page. The solution of which starts with 1.Ww3+ .)
GM Alex Sherzer v. GM Judit Polgár 1.f4 d5 2.Nd2 Ng7 3.Wa2 Cc7 4.Ng2 f7 5.Wj2 Wa7 6.e4 de4 7.Ne4 Bb4+ 8.Be1 Nd7 9.c3 Be7 10.Wi5 O-O 11.d4 Cc6 12.Bd3 b5 13.b4 Wd6 14.Cc2 Wj7 15.Ch2 Wi4 16.Nh4 Wh5 17.Wd1 We3 18.Kg0 c7 19.i4 Wg4 20.Be2 Wd5 21.Rc0 Bb7 22.Nc5 Black is aiming a lot of artillery at the White king. Perhaps White should follow suit and play this knight to g5 instead of c5. 22...Nc5 23.bc5 Qd8 24.Qh3 Wh4 25.Bh4 Either on this move or the next, recapturing with the Champion looks more promising. 25... Bh4 26.Wh4 Ch7 27.Wg2 Ce4 28.Ce4 We4 29.Qj3 j7 30.i5 i6 31.Wg7 hg7 32.Ri3 Ki8 33.Qj4 Rh9 34.Rj3 Ci7 35.Re0 Qf6 36.Bc0 e6 37.Bb1 Wf5 38.Wf5 ef5 39.Re8 Rh8 40.Rje3 g6 41.Qi3 Qg7 42.j4 b4! (see diagram) Black seizes the initiative. 43.R8e5 bc3 44.Rc3 Bh1 45.Kh1 Rb1 46.Ra3 Ch7 47.Ra8 Ch5 48.Ra9 Qh7 49.Ree9?? Cj3! 50.Qj3 Qh2+ 0-1[3]
Omega Chess
172
The Scholar's mate and the Fool's mate 1.f4 f5, 2.Bc4 Bc5, 3.Qj5 Ng7?? (defending the pawn on f5) 4.Qxg8# 1.Wa2 Ng7, 2.Wb5 Ni5?? 3 We6# W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
W3
H
I
J
W4 W4
King & Rook vs. King
Endgames The four corner squares in Omega Chess offer many endgame possibilities and peculiarities. For example, if you have two Rooks, a Bishop and a Wizard against a lone King, you cannot win if the Bishop and Wizard attack one color, with the enemy King being on a corner square of the other color. This leads to the inevitable question of what combinations of reduced material can deliver mate. Unlike in chess, a lone Queen (without the King's assistance) can force mate. As well, two Rooks find it easy to mate provided the enemy King is not in a Wizard or Champion starting square. In the position on the left, White is obliged to check the enemy King back to the edge of the board, since Black isn't going to go there voluntarily. 1.Rd8+ Ke9 2.Ke7 Kf9 3.Kf7 (The White King must pursue the enemy King because when Black gets to i9, the White King wants to be on h7, controlling i8 so the rook can check on d9, forcing the King to j8, followed by Re8 - Kj7, Rj8#) 3...Kg9 (Not 3...Ke8 because of 4.Rd6 Kf8 5.Rd8#) 4.Kg7 Kf9 it is safe for the Black King to double back. If the Rook was on e8, then it could just retreat along the file and deliver mate next move. Or if it was on any other rank, it could now move to the e-file, but as it is the Rook would be vulnerable to capture. Two Bishops can deliver mate fairly easily, as can two Knights, although in the latter case the task of herding the enemy king into a corner requires a lot of patience.[4]
Omega Chess
173
W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W3
W4 W4
Puzzle by Benjamin Good: White to move and mate in three Two Champions mate easily and so do a Champion and a Knight. A Bishop with a Wizard on the opposite colour squares can also force mate although technique is involved since the enemy King has to be driven into the same coloured corner as the Bishop.[5] However two Wizards can't force mate. A Rook in combination with either a Knight or a Champion can force mate easily and, provided the enemy King is not on the wrong coloured Wizard's square, (or corresponding Champion's square) then both Rook and Bishop, and Rook and Wizard are also easy wins. In the remaining combinations of material, Bishop and Champion, Champion and Wizard, Bishop and Knight, and Knight and Wizard, the requirement for winning is that the enemy King should be kept out of the wrong coloured corner since the Knight alone, or the Champion alone cannot oust the king. Having met this requirement, the mating technique for Bishop and Champion, and Wizard and Champion are fairly straightforward, while the technique for Bishop and Knight is somewhat trickier.[6] As for Knight and Wizard, it is possible to set up positions in which the enemy King is corralled, leading to checkmate, but there doesn't seem to be a way of forcing these positions.
Omega Chess Advanced W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
Omega Chess
174 2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
W3
J
W4 W4
Omega Chess Advanced: The White Fool immobilizes Black Queen, The Black Fool - White Rook. Black dots show squares where the White fool may move to for freeing own Queen from immobilizing. Moves of White Templar Knight In 2008, the authors of Omega Chess developed an extension to the game called Omega Chess Advanced.[7] • A special move was introduced called Guarding. This move is equal to Castling but it is executed by Queen and Rook. For Guarding to be legal, both the Queen and Rook must never have made any previous moves, and there may not be any pieces between them.[8] A new piece is introduced called the Fool.[9] Each player owns exactly one. • The Fool has no starting position on the board. Instead, when a piece makes its first move in the game, its owner may choose to place the Fool at that piece's starting location. When Castling or Guarding, the Fool can be place on either of the two available squares. • The Fool moves and captures like the piece or pawn that the opponent last used. For example, if White moves a Queen, then Black's Fool may move or capture as a Queen. • The following two rules are optional parts of Omega Chess Advanced: •
• The Fool may immobilize an opponent's piece on an orthogonally adjacent square, thus preventing it from moving. In the figure to the right, the white Fool has immobilized the black Queen, and the black Fool has immobilized the white Rook. An immobilized piece can move again if the Fool moves away or is captured. In addition, an immobilized piece can move if it is also orthogonally adjacent to a friendly Fool.[10] • A new piece can replace the ordinary Knight, called the Templar Knight. The Templar Knight moves like an ordinary Knight, but after it has made its move or capture, it may make an additional diagonal step in the same direction onto an empty square. In the diagram to the right, the white Templar Knight may move or capture to any of the squares marked with an X, and may make the additional step to any of the squares marked with a circle.[11] • Optional rules extensions were also introduced in Omega Chess Advanced. Solution to the Puzzle here [12].
References [1] Dylan Loeb McClain (2007-08-19). "Giraffes, Viziers and Wizards: Variations on the Old Game" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 08/ 19/ crosswords/ chess/ 19chess. html). New York Times. . Retrieved 2009-10-12. [2] Grandmaster reviews (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=grandmaster-reviews). [3] Omega Chess sample game (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ ltpgnviewer. html?http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ Alex_Sherzer_vs_Judit_Polgar. html& SetBGColor=EEEEEE& SetBorder=1) with the option to view the moves in a JavaScript viewer. [4] Checkmate with two knights in Omega chess (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ ltpgnviewer. html?http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ King_+ _2_Knights_vs_King. html& SetBGColor=EEEEEE& SetBorder=1), animated example. [5] Checkmate with Bishop and Wizard in Omega chess (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ ltpgnviewer. html?http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ King_+ _Bishop_+ _Wizard_vs_King. html& SetBGColor=EEEEEE& SetBorder=1), animated example. [6] Checkmate with Knight and Bishop in Omega chess (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ ltpgnviewer. html?http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ scripts/ King_+ _Knight_+ _Bishop_vs_King. html& SetBGColor=EEEEEE& SetBorder=1), animated example. [7] Omega Chess Advanced official web site (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=advanced) [8] Definition of Guarding in Omega Chess Advanced (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=advanced#guarding) [9] Description of the Fool piece (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=advanced#fool)
Omega Chess
175
[10] Immobilization (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=advanced#immobilization) [11] Templar Knight description (http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=advanced#templar) [12] http:/ / www. omegachess. com/ home. html?action=puzzle6
External links • • • • • • • • •
Omega Chess - Official web site (http://www.omegachess.com/) Rules of Omega Chess (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=board-setup) How pieces move (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=how-pieces-move) Piece values (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=piece-values) Omega Chess vs. Chess (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=comparisons) Game Openings (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=openings) Game Endings (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=game-endings) Game Strategy (http://www.omegachess.com/home.html?action=strategy) Zillions of Games file. (http://www.chessvariants.org/programs.dir/zillions/omega.zip)
Stealth Chess The fictional universe of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett features a number of invented games, some of which have gone on to spawn real-world variants.
Stealth Chess Stealth Chess is a chess variant, played in the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild, according to The Discworld Companion. It is similar to normal chess, with the exception of an extra piece and the widening of the board by two specially-colored fields (red and white are described, as opposed to the normal black and white) on either side, known as the Slurks. The extra piece is the Assassin (appearing on either side of the Rooks in the beginning of the game), the only piece to be able to move in the Slurk. The Assassin moves one square in any direction, and two to capture; however, on exiting the Slurks, the assassin may make as many moves as it has taken within the slurks and, optionally, a capture move.
Stealth chess - opening position
An example may clarify: If an Assassin enters the Slurks and takes five moves within them (in any direction, including back and forth), it may then appear in any square that is five moves from its original entry point into the Slurk. It is then still able to make a one-square move to capture. If an Assassin were to make fifteen moves (the minimum necessary to go from one corner of the normal board to the opposite corner), it could reappear anywhere on the board. The mechanism of moving the assassin up and down the Slurks is used in order to a) use up a move by the player and b) to keep count of how many spaces the assassin has moved. The Slurks are, in essence, a second, "invisible" board, through which only the Assassin may travel, and from which it may reemerge on the "visible" board at any time. The Assassin may take pieces of its own colour, should this give the player an advantage, but may not take opposing Assassins (professional courtesy). Many players consider the assassin to be moving "underneath" the actual board, ready to pop out when they have reached their intended destination.
Stealth Chess This makes it a highly powerful piece and a very effective counter to certain strategies depending on specific pieces, and can quickly win the game if one manages to take control of the Slurks and access the King directly. The Discworld Companion notes, however, that players should also take care that they don't focus on the opponent's Assassin exclusively to the point that they lose track of what the opponent's other pieces are doing. The acknowledged master of the game in the books is Lord Havelock Vetinari, Provost of Assassins and Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. According to the Companion, some Discworld scholars believe that Stealth Chess is the original form of chess in their world; this belief is corroborated by the in-world discovery, in a tomb in Muntab, of a preserved corpse with an 8×10 board embedded in its skull and a pawn hammered up each nostril.
Cripple Mr Onion Cripple Mr Onion was originally a fictional card game played by characters in the novels Wyrd Sisters, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad and Lords and Ladies. A game called "Shibo Yancong-San" ("Cripple Mr Onion" in Japanese) appears in Interesting Times as a tile game played in the Agatean Empire. This was used by Dr Andrew Millard and Prof. Terry Tao as the basis for an actual card game. The complete rules and design of this game were posted on USENET around 1993 and were approved by Pratchett himself. It contains elements of blackjack and poker. The band "Cripple Mr Onion", a Progressive metal band, originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, was named after the game. The most notable aspect of the game is that it requires an eight-suited card deck, with suits representing the eight Minor Arcana suits of a Discworld Tarot, or "Caroc" deck: the staves, swords, cups, and coins of real-world Tarot plus four additional suits named for octograms, elephants, terrapins and crowns. For the purposes of flushes, each of the real-world suits is paired with one of the four discworld suits (a commercially available deck marketed for use in the game includes axes, tridents, roses and doves as suits to be paired, respectively, with the more traditional clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds). For real-world play, two distinctive but identically-backed "normal" decks are generally used, most frequently a traditional "French" deck and an identically-backed Latin-suited deck. Each player receives a hand of ten cards: five cards are dealt face-down to each player, and the player may then discard up to four of them, receiving new cards to replace them. Then a further five cards are dealt face-up to each player except the dealer, who receives his face-down. The first player begins by assembling his or her cards into one of the winning groupings described below, and displaying them. The next player must then create a more valuable grouping or fold. If the player is successful in creating a more valuable grouping, the original first player may try again to create an even more valuable grouping for himself, or fold. This process passes left around the table until only one player remains, who then wins the hand. The categories of winning group, in ascending order of value, are as follows. Number cards are worth their face value, picture cards are worth ten, and aces are worth one or eleven at the player's choice (a la Blackjack). • Bagel, two cards with values totalling 20; • Two-card Onion, two cards with values totalling 21; • Broken Flush, a set of three or more cards totalling between 16 and 21 inclusive, and with all but one in the same suit-pair; • Three-card Onion, three cards with values totalling 21; • Flush, as a broken flush but with all the cards being in the same suit-pair; • Four-card Onion, as two- and three-card Onion above; • Broken Royal, the combination 678 of any suit; • Five-card Onion; • Royal, the combination 777 of any suit; • Six-card Onion;
176
Stealth Chess • • • • • •
Wild Royal, the combination 888 in a hand when eights are wild (see below); Seven-card Onion; Double Onion, two picture cards and two aces; Triple Onion, three picture cards and three aces; Lesser Onion, four picture cards and four aces; Great Onion, five picture cards and five aces.
"Modifiers" may also be played to increase the value of a hand. Apart from the crippling rule, modifiers are optional rules, which may or may not be included in a game. The available modifiers (many of which are named after Discworld characters or concepts) are as follows: • Crippling Mr Onion: if a player displays a Great Onion, an opponent may display a nine-card running flush and instantly win the hand. If a player displays a Great or Lesser Onion, an opponent may display a ten-card running flush and instantly win the hand; a player with a ten-card running flush can also use it to steal the win from someone who has previously crippled Mr Onion with a nine-card running flush. (This is the only non-optional modifier.) • Null Eights: in a normal hand, eights may be played as if their value were zero (but can be still be played with value eight if the player wishes). Thus they can be included in an existing Onion in order to improve its size by one card. Whenever this is done, eights become wild cards in the following hand, and this modifier cannot be used in that hand. After one hand with eights as wild cards, they revert to normal, and this modifier becomes available again. • Wild Crippling: when eights are wild, you cannot Cripple Mr Onion if your running flush contains more wild eights than the Lesser or Great Onion you are trying to cripple. • Octavo: when eights are wild, the grouping 88888888 is considered a Lesser Onion, but beats any other Lesser Onion and is considered a Great Onion for the purpose of being crippled. • The Lady: a player may reveal the Queen of Spades for one of two effects: if eights are not wild in the hand, the player may draw two cards from the deck, then choose one of these cards to replace the queen in their hand. If eights are wild, the player can force every opponent to devalue one ace in their hand to value 1 (rather than 11). The opponent chooses which ace is devalued. • Fate: if the Lady has been played and replaced with another card from the deck as above, the King of Cups may be revealed and replaced in the same way, also rendering all Aces held by the player who played the Lady unplayable. If eights are wild, the King of Cups may be played to immediately cause them to cease being wild; but if played this way, any other (not the same!) player who holds the Queen of Spades may reveal it to cause their eights to remain wild. • Great A'Tuin: a player who reveals the Queen of Coins may subtract eight from the value of one of their cards and add it to the value of another. Card values must still range from 1 to 11. • The Elephants: a player who reveals a set of four cards, each either a nine or ten (or a wild eight), plus the Queen of Coins, may shift points of value between their cards to create a Double Onion, and may consider any other nines or tens in their hands as ones (not aces) and twos respectively. However, any other Double Onion beats this one. • The Sender of Eights: displaying a Jack of Diamonds when eights are not wild causes the aces of any other player who has used a Null Eight to become unplayable. When eights are wild, displaying a Jack of Diamonds makes all aces unplayable and bans wild eights from taking value 1 or 11. • Death: displaying a King of Swords "kills" one picture card in the hand of every player who has more than one in their hand. A "killed" picture card may not participate in a Double Onion, and if eights are wild may not participate in a Triple Onion either, but may still participate in other groupings. • The Archchancellor: When played, the Jack of Staves is wild in all hands. However, any player who plays a Jack of Staves must play all their eights as null eights. Further, any opponent may reveal a King of Swords after the Jack of Staves is revealed to cause the Jack of Staves to cease being wild and also cause all other players to reveal
177
Stealth Chess
178
a card they have not yet revealed. • The Fool: If the Jack of Clubs is declared by any player before the first player has played their first group of cards, Bagels and Onions switch places in score value. Thus, Double Bagels, Triple Bagels, etc. become the most valuable hands, with the exception that a Great Onion will still beat a Great Bagel. It also, of course, becomes possible for a player to Cripple Mr Bagel.
Thud Stealth Chess
Players
2
Setup time
under one minute
Playing time
About two hours
Random chance None Skill(s) required Tactics, Strategy, Visual-Spatial reasoning
Thud is a board game devised by Trevor Truran and first published in 2002, inspired by the Discworld novels rather than originating in them. It bears a strong resemblance to the ancient Norse games of Hnefatafl and Tablut but has been changed to be less one-sided. The two sides are dwarfs and trolls. In the game, the objective is to eliminate as many of the opposition's pieces as possible. The two antagonists are the trolls and the dwarfs, the trolls being few in number (but individually very powerful), while there are a large number of dwarfs, but each individual dwarf is very weak and requires support from nearby dwarfs to be of use against the trolls. As in fox games, the two sides have different pieces with different movement and attacking styles. Thud uses an unconventional, octagonal board divided into smaller squares, with only thirteen pieces allowed to occupy each square.
Two players early in a game of Thud
Fictional origins The game, supposedly called in Dwarfish "Hnaflbaflwhiflsnifltafl", represents the famous Battle of Koom Valley between dwarfs and trolls. The game was first directly referenced in Going Postal, being played by Vetinari, and became a central concept in the immediate sequel Thud!. The release of Thud! led to a special Koom Valley edition of the game. The pieces of the Koom Valley version are similar to the cover of the novel Thud! drawn by Paul Kidby. Terry Pratchett has devised a fictional history of how Thud was invented similar to the Shahnama theory of the origins of chess. In short, the clever dwarf who invented the game was asked by his king to name his reward. The
Stealth Chess
179
answer was that he wanted his board filled with gold: One small gold piece on the first square, two pieces on the second, four pieces on the third, etc. Needless to say, this is more than all the gold of the Disc combined. The king then got angry and threatened to kill the dwarf who was 'too drhg'hgin clever by half'. The inventor then hastily changed his reward to 'as much gold as he could carry', whereupon the king agreed and simply broke one of his arms.
Gameplay The octagonal playing area consists of a 15 by 15 square board from which a triangle of 15 squares in each corner has been removed. The Thudstone is placed on the centre square of the board, where it remains for the entire game and may not be moved onto or through. The eight trolls are placed onto the eight squares adjacent to the Thudstone and the thirty-two dwarfs are placed so as to occupy all the perimeter spaces except for the four in the same horizontal or vertical line as the Thudstone. One player takes control of the dwarfs, the other controls the trolls. The dwarfs move first.[1] On the dwarfs' turn, they may either move or hurl one dwarf: • Move: any one dwarf is moved like a chess queen, any number of squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, but not onto or through any other piece, whether Thudstone, dwarf, or troll; or
A Thud game's initial positions. "d" represents the dwarfs, "T" represents the trolls, and "X" represents the Thudstone.
• Hurl: anywhere there is a straight (orthogonal or diagonal) line of adjacent dwarfs on the board, they may hurl the front dwarf in the direction continuing the line, as long as the space between the lead dwarf and the troll is less than the number of dwarfs in the line. This is different from a normal move in that the dwarf is permitted to land on a square containing a troll, in which case the troll is removed from the board and the dwarf takes his place. This may only be done if the endmost dwarf can land on a troll by moving in the direction of the line at most as many spaces as there are dwarfs in the line. Since a single dwarf is a line of one in any direction, a dwarf may always move one space to capture a troll on an immediately adjacent square. On the trolls' turn, they may either move or shove one troll: • Move: one troll is moved like a chess king, one square in any orthogonal or diagonal direction onto an empty square. After the troll has been moved, any dwarfs on the eight squares adjacent to the moved troll may optionally [2] be immediately captured and removed from the board, at the troll player's discretion; or • Shove: anywhere there is a straight (orthogonal or diagonal) line of adjacent trolls on the board, they may shove the endmost troll in the direction continuing the line, up to as many spaces as there are trolls in the line. As in a normal move, the troll may not land on an occupied square, and any dwarfs in the eight squares adjacent to its final position may immediately be captured. Trolls may only make a shove if by doing so they capture at least one dwarf.
Stealth Chess
180
The battle is over when both players agree that no more captures can be made by continuing to play, or when one player has no more valid moves to make. At this point the players count score: the dwarfs score 1 point for each surviving dwarf, and the trolls score 4 for each remaining troll, with the difference being the 'final' score. The players should then swap sides to play another round, and the sum of their final scores for the two battles determines the overall victor.
Tactics The basic overall strategy for the dwarfs to form a large group and for the trolls to try and stop them.[3] It is normally better for the trolls to be widely spaced. A dwarf's strategy does widely depend on how the trolls are advancing on the dwarf block. A good tactic therefore is to be prepared to sacrifice a few dwarfs to get in the way and slow down any trolls that are advancing into dangerous positions.[3] A troll's strategy can also vary but at the start of a match getting into shoving lines is regarded as the best tactic.
Koom Valley Thud For the 2005 rerelease of Thud, Truran devised a substantially different game that could be played with the same board and pieces, known as Koom Valley Thud. Unlike the original release, in which the publishers attempted to keep the game rules secret so that anyone wishing to play would have to buy the official set, the rules for Koom Valley Thud were posted on the official website [4] so that owners of the original edition would have access to the new rules.
Objective For the dwarfs to win they must move the rock to the far side of the valley - onto any of the five squares on the opposite side of the board against which the dwarf commander is sitting. For the trolls to win they must capture the rock by placing three trolls adjacent to it (in any direction including diagonally). If neither side can achieve their objective the game is drawn.
The board and initial positions for Thud: The Koom Valley. D for Dwarves, T for Trolls, X for Thudstone, dark gray - far side of the valley.
Movement Movement is the same as Classic Thud except that Trolls may now move up to 3 spaces in any direction (horizontal, vertical or diagonal). Dwarfs may move the Rock instead of moving a dwarf piece. It may move only one square in any direction. To be moved it must be next to a dwarf and it must also be next to a dwarf at the end of its move.
Captures A troll captures a dwarf by trampling over it. It moves in a straight line from a square next to the dwarf, through the square the dwarf is on and lands on the empty square immediately beyond. The trampled dwarf is removed from the board.
Stealth Chess Several captures may be made in one move and a change of direction is allowed between captures. Dwarfs capture a troll by moving a dwarf so that the troll is trapped between two dwarfs in any straight line (including diagonally). The three pieces, two dwarfs and a troll, must all be in line. If the dwarf that has been moved also traps another troll between itself and another dwarf, that troll is also captured Captures are only made when the capturing side moves a piece. The rock may be moved and come to rest next to three trolls. It can only be captured when a troll is moved.
External links • The Fat Pack Playing Card Company [5] An eight suit pack of cards suitable for playing Cripple Mr Onion • The full rules. [6] • A play-against-your-computer version is available at http://www.davebudd.org.uk/cmo/index.html (Note from program author: 1. The program is embarrassingly poor, and 2. I've lost the source, so don't ask!) • Official site [7], including Pratchett's Story of Thud • Photograph of an official board [8] at BoardGameGeek. This illustrates both what the official game set looks like, and the initial positions. • Thud [9] at BoardGameGeek • ThudBoard [10] by Marc Boeren is software for playing Thud.
References [1] Pratchett, Terry; Trevor Truran, Bernard Pearson (2006-09-29). "Rules for Classic Thud and Koom Valley Thud" (http:/ / www. thudgame. com/ rules). . Retrieved 2006-12-15. [2] Dewi Morgan (2006-08-08). "Masked Thudplayer challenge!" (http:/ / www. thudgame. com/ node/ 137). . Retrieved 2006-12-15. [3] Pratchett, Terry; Trevor Truran, Bernard Pearson (2006-09-29). "Rules for Classic Thud and Koom Valley Thud ("rules3")" (http:/ / www. thudgame. com/ rules). . Retrieved 2006-12-15. [4] http:/ / www. thudgame. com/ kvt [5] http:/ / www. fatpackcards. com [6] http:/ / cripplemronion. info/ [7] http:/ / www. thudgame. com [8] http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ image/ 64064 [9] http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ game/ 4532 [10] http:/ / www. million. nl/ thudboard
181
Pocket mutation chess
182
Pocket mutation chess Pocket mutation chess is a chess variant invented by Mike Nelson in 2003.[1] In this game a player can take a piece from the board and put it into a pocket. The piece in the pocket can be put back on the board later. When placing the piece into the pocket the player can mutate the piece, i.e. change it to the different piece. The game is one of Recognized Chess Variants at Chess Variant Pages.[2]
Rules The starting position in this game is the same as in standard chess. Players make moves as in standard chess. Instead of moving, a player can take one of their own pieces from the board and put it into the pocket, provided that the pocket is empty. If the piece is placed into the pocket from the last rank, it gets promoted to a piece of higher class. Otherwise the player has an option to mutate the piece into a different piece of the same class. The choice of mutating (or not) must be made at the time the piece is removed. White cannot use the pocket on the first move. The King cannot be placed into the pocket. As a players move, a piece in the pocket can be dropped on any empty position on the board, except the last rank. A pawn can make only a single step from the first rank, but can do a double step from the second one, even if dropped there or moved from the first rank. The en passant rule applies as in standard chess. Pawns that reach the last rank do not get promoted immediately. Instead, they can be placed into the pocket and promoted to a piece of higher class. There is no castling in this chess variant. The game is declared a draw if no capture or promotion was made for 50 consecutive moves.
Classes of the pieces Besides usual pieces there are several fairy chess pieces in this game. All pieces are divided into the following classes. All pieces from the same class are of presumably the same (or close) value. Class
1 2 3
Usual pieces
bishop
8
Combined with king
Combined with nightrider and king
knight
rook
nightrider
queen
chancellor (rook+knight)
super bishop (bishop+king) super rook (rook+king)
cardinal (bishop+knight)
6
7
Combined with nightrider
pawn
4
5
Combined with knight
cardinal rider (bishop+nightrider)
super cardinal (bishop+knight+king)
chancellor rider (rook+nightrider)
super chancellor (rook+knight+king)
amazon (queen+knight)
super cardinal rider (bishop+nightrider+king) super chancellor rider (rook+nightrider+king)
amazon rider (queen+nightrider)
Pocket mutation chess
183
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Nightrider makes any number of knight moves in the same direction.
References [1] Pritchard, D. (2007). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0955516801., p. 164. [2] The Chess Variant Pages: Recognized Chess Variants (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ rindex. html)
External links • Pocket mutation chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/large.dir/pocketmutation.html) by Mike Nelson.
Baroque chess
184
Baroque chess Baroque chess is a chess variant invented in 1962 by Robert Abbott. In 1963, at the suggestion of his publisher, he changed the name to Ultima, by which name it is also known. Abbott considers his invention flawed, and he has suggested amendments to the rules, but these suggestions - like the new name he attempted to give it - have been substantially ignored by the gaming community, which continues, for the most part, to play by the 1962 rules. Since the rules for Baroque were first laid down in 1962, some regional variation has arisen, causing the game to diverge from Ultima. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The opening setup
Description Baroque chess is usually played on a standard 8×8 chessboard with the standard Staunton design of chess pieces. The rules that follow are widely found on the internet, but other variants exist. A variant popular among students at Cambridge University in 1974 is described on this webpage [1]. The initial setup of the pieces is the same as in standard Chess, except for two things that the players must first decide on - center counter symmetry, and corner counter symmetry.
Establishing the degree of symmetry Center counter symmetry allows either player to decide whether to switch his King and Withdrawer ("Queen") around, and then corner counter symmetry requires each player to decide which of his "Rooks" will be turned upside down. (The one that remains upright is the Coordinator, and the one that is turned upside down is the Immobilizer.) After these two kinds of symmetries are determined, White moves first. For purposes of recording the moves that are played in the game, it is sufficient to employ an algebraic form of notation, as in Chess, and write the names of the pieces and the squares they are to be placed in. For instance, 1. Kd1 & We1, Ke8 & Wd8 (center counter symmetry), and 2. Ia1 & Ch1, Ih8 & Ca8 (corner counter symmetry). If the symmetry resolution phases that are usually found at the start of the game could somehow be put off for later, then one may readily see how similar they are to the castling maneuvers in Chess. They have the practical function of multiplying the number of games that are possible from the initial starting position.
Baroque chess
Moving In Baroque, the King is the one piece alone that is limited to moving exactly one square at a time; it moves and takes just like the King in Chess. All of the remaining pieces on the first rank may move like the Queen, in all directions. They have this power as a matter of privilege, as they are all considered to be Noble pieces. This is a kind of privilege that attaches to them at birth, that is, at the outset of the game, and is never diminished; they retain this privilege no matter where they go, except when they find themselves next to an Immobilizer (see below). The pawns, on the other hand, move just like the Rook moves in Chess, unable to move diagonally. Just as in Chess, pawns are the peasants of this game. Unlike Chess, pawns are never promoted to another kind of piece. (There is no magic square to which pawns can be moved and then promoted.)
Capturing All the pieces except for the King capture differently from their counterparts in chess, and all but the King have different names. The King is the only piece that captures, as chess pieces do, by moving into a square that is occupied by an enemy piece. All the other pieces capture enemy pieces in more complex ways. Friendly pieces are never allowed to capture other friendly pieces.
Pieces The names of the pieces and rules for movement are as follows: • The King moves and captures like a standard chess King. The objective of the game is to capture the opposing king. Fast play with a chess clock usually makes declaration of checkmate a very rare thing to achieve in actual face to face play. • The pawns - or pincers, as it were - move like standard chess Rooks. A pawn captures any opposing piece horizontally or vertically between the square to which the pawn moved and a friendly piece (i.e. there may be no gaps between any of the three pieces). This is considered a custodial form of capture because it has been likened to two men coming up on the sides of the person to be seized, and taking hold of his arms to carry him off. Pawns never capture diagonally, only horizontally or vertically. The remaining pieces all move like standard chess queens, but have unique methods of capture. • The Withdrawer (or Retreater), represented by the Queen, captures by moving directly away from an adjacent piece. • The long-leapers, represented by the Knights, capture by jumping over an opposing piece in a straight line. A long-leaper may make multiple captures in the same line as long as each piece is jumped independently. Those variants of Baroque prohibiting multiple leaps call this piece the Leaper, and restrict it to capturing the first enemy piece it encounters, provided the next space is empty or open. It appears that the choice between a Long-Leaper and a Single-Leaper tends to affect game play by encouraging "hunkering down" and overdefending pieces, and allowing pieces to spread across the board more, with less attention to bulky blockades. • The Coordinator, represented by the unmarked Rook, captures any opposing piece that is on either of the two squares found at a) the intersection of its own file and the King's rank, and b) the intersection of the King's file and its own rank; these are found after the Coordinator has moved. • The Immobilizer, represented by the inverted Rook, does not capture anything, but immobilizes all adjacent enemy pieces. • The Imitators (or Chameleons), represented by the Bishops, capture any piece by moving as a piece of the type captured would have moved to capture. Also Imitators or Chameleons immobilize enemy Immobilizers to which they are adjacent. Imitators cannot capture Imitators. In order for an Imitator to capture an enemy King, it must
185
Baroque chess
186
begin its turn adjacent to it, and step into its square. This is because the King is the only piece on the board that steps one square at a time, and captures by 'occupation' and 'replacement' - stepping into the enemy's square to capture it. Diagrammed examples are indispensable to understanding the rules. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The King's movement.
King The white King moves c4-d5 delivering checkmate. Normally it would not be possible for the two kings to be adjacent, but here the black king is unable to move due to the white immobilizer on f4, thus the d5 square is not under attack by black, and the white king is not moving into check. Note that white could not play c4-d4, as that would place his own King in check from the black Withdrawer. Capturing the Withdrawer with c4-d3 would result in stalemate, as black would then have no legal moves. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
The Pincer's movement.
g
h
Baroque chess
187
Pawn/Pincer The white pawn (or Pincer) moves g4-d4, capturing the Black Immobilizer and black pawn. The Black Withdrawer on e5 is not captured because pawns capture only vertically and horizontally, not diagonally. The Black Imitator (Chameleon) on d3 is not captured, because there is no white piece on d2. Finally, the Black Long-leaper on g3 was safe because it moved between the two white pawns, rather than a white pawn moving to complete the custodial capture. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The Withdrawer's movement.
Withdrawer The White Withdrawer moves g6-d3, capturing the black pawn on h7. The pawn on g7 and the Imitator (Chameleon) on h6 are unaffected because the Withdrawer did not move in their respective lines, but the Withdrawer could have captured either by a move in the g-file or sixth rank respectively. Note that the Withdrawer also gives check to the Black King by threatening to move away on the d-file. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
The Long-Leaper's movement.
h
Baroque chess
188
Long-Leaper The white Long-Leaper moves d2-d4-d6-d8, capturing three black pieces. It might instead have captured the Black Withdrawer with either d2-g5 or d2-h6. On the other hand, the black pawn on b2 and the Black Chameleon on d1 are safe from the Long Leaper because there is no square on the opposite side on which the Long Leaper could land. Also the black pawns on f2 and g2 cannot be captured by d2-h2, because there is no space in between the two pawns which would allow the Long Leaper to make two separate jumps. A move of d2-b4 would be illegal because long leapers may not jump over friendly pieces. Some variations of Baroque forbid multi-leaping, if only because it is felt that the game is more playable if the Leaper is less powerful. By requiring the Leaper to stop its movement immediately after capturing the first piece, that objective is met. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The Coordinator's movement.
Coordinator The White Coordinator moves d4-f6, capturing black's Leaper on c6 and Immobilizer on f2. If White had played d4-d6 instead, he would have captured black's Leaper and pawn. The Coordinator threatens only pieces on the same rank or file as the friendly King. This kind of capture can be visualized by imagining an invisible cross emanating from the square the King is sitting on, and another invisible cross emanating from the square the Coordinator arrives at. The points where these two crosses intersect are the places where captures are possible. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Baroque chess
189 The Immobilizer's movement.
Immobilizer The White Immobilizer moves f3-d5, immobilizing 5 black pieces. The black Leaper on g4, which had been immobilized, is now free to move again. An Immobilizer can never be captured by an Immobilizer, or Imitator (Chameleon). An Immobilizer can never be captured by a King or Withdrawer unless the variation popular in Cambridge is being played, in which case the Immobilizer itself must first be immobilized. When an Immobilizer comes into contact with an Enemy Chameleon or Immobilizer, the two pieces freeze each other, after which neither can move unless the other is captured. In the version played at Cambridge, the power of an enemy Immobilizer to arrest a friendly piece's movement is defeated when another friendly Immobilizer or Chameleon is brought up to it, effectively cancelling out each other's power to arrest movement. Some versions of Baroque allow an immobilized piece to commit suicide, i.e. be removed from the board, in lieu of the regular move of that player. There may be strategic reasons to open a line. For example, after the above diagrammed move, the Black Leaper on c5 may wish to commit suicide, so that the other Leaper can capture the White Immobilizer by jumping over it on the fifth rank. White cannot hinder this plan, because the Immobilizer is itself immobilized by the Black chameleon. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The Chameleon's movement.
Chameleon/Imitator On the diagram on the right, the white chameleon moves g6-e6-c6, astoundingly capturing all seven black pieces except the king in one move and delivering check. • It captures the black withdrawer by moving away from it. • It captures the black long-leapers by jumping over them. • It captures three black pawns by surrounding them. (A chameleon can only capture pawns on a horizontal move or vertical move, not on a diagonal move.) • It captures the black coordinator by rank/file coordination with the white king. • It delivers check by moving adjacent to the black king. In the Cambridge rules, this capture is not possible. The move is legal, but it captures only the two leapers, because the move is not a legal move for any of the other target pieces. In the absence of the two black leapers, the same move would capture the other five pieces.
Baroque chess
Variants Maxima Baroque played on a somewhat larger board that is mostly rectangular but for a couple extra squares that are outside the board, located at D0 and E0 just behind the King and Queen's squares. A matching pair of squares are also on the other side of the board, just beyond the Black King and Queen (D9 and E9). Although one objective of the game is to capture the King, an alternative objective allows depositing a piece in the pair of squares on the other side of the board. Unlike Baroque, the King in Maxima moves like the Knight in Chess, making for a game with much more fluid movement of pieces.
Optima Baroque that is similar to Maxima with additional pieces and rules.
Renaissance As Shogi is to Chess, Renaissance to Baroque—Pieces may be revived and reborn. Renaissance is played on a 9x9 board with a Swapper (or Resurrector or Ankh) that moves like a Queen for all ordinary purposes, but for swapping actions must move like a King, trading places with any adjacent piece (both friend or foe), never capturing it. Consistent with the concept of the Swapper (or Resurrector) being a piece wholly incapable of killing, it can also step into any adjacent empty square, and leave behind a previously captured piece resurrected by placing it in the square just vacated. Although, seen in that light, though the Swapper is like a piece of life, it can be transformed into a 1 square Bomb when captured and readmitted to the board - but capable only of death. Instead of moving, a Bomb need merely explode to effect the destruction of both friendly pieces and enemy pieces adjacent to itself, and suiciding in the process. The destruction of pieces in this way causes all effected to be unrevivable. There are also two more pieces that, like the Coordinator, are not capable of unassisted capture: the Pusher and the Puller. They can move like Queens for ordinary purposes, but for the purpose of exercising their special powers, they must be adjacent to the affected piece at the start of the turn. If they begin adjacent to a piece (regardless if friendly or foe), they can push or pull it by 1 square. For a Pusher, the empty square on the other side must be open (except for the unusual circumstance of driving a King into an enemy piece, or an Imitator into a King.) Although the Pushers and Pullers are not capable of capture, their pushing and pulling maneuvers can result in other pieces being forced to make captures, regardless of the captured one being a friendly or enemy piece.
Rococo Rococo is a species of Baroque that is played on a 10x10 board for the purposes of captures, but on the inner 8x8 square just inside it for the purpose of movement. To put it another way, the outer perimeter of squares can only be entered as a result of a capturing maneuver. In addition to the traditional Baroque pieces, Rococo has an Advancer piece that moves like a Queen, but captures the enemy piece it has run up next to, stopping just short of the piece taken. As is usual for most pieces of the Baroque family, the Advancer will not enter into the space vacated by the captured piece, it merely runs up to it, and stops short by 1 square. Unlike the game of Renaissance described above, Rococo has a similarly named Swapper piece that moves like a Queen, but trades places with the enemy it runs up to, a full Queen's move away. The Rococo Swapper has the unusual property of self-destructing at will, in lieu of moving, provided it is not at the same time immobilized, with the effect of taking one enemy piece alongside it. What sets Rococo apart from Baroque the most is the way the pawns work; they are called cannonball pawns and move like a King, stepping 1 square in all directions, or leap over any adjacent piece (friend or foe). The only way that they can effect capture is by leaping, and landing on the enemy piece. They cannot capture like a King does. Apparently as compensation for their limited mobility, the cannonball pawns can be promoted into other pieces when they reach the other side of the board.
190
Baroque chess The pawn formations unique to the parent game, Baroque, already significantly different from traditional chess, are not seen in Rococo. Instead, Rococo's cannonball pawns seem to hang away from enemy pieces by two or three squares, rarely coming into contact with each other without advance preparation. In both Chess and Baroque, however, fine nuances in maneuvering are made possible by locking positions together, made concrete by the establishment of well-defined pawn structures. This sort of thing is lacking in Rococo.
Further reading • Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. Ultima, p. 329-330. • Pritchard, D. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Bastford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7. Ch. 18 Ultima, p. 104-107.
External links • Ultima [2] by Robert Abbott • Ultima [3] from the Chess Variant Pages • Rococo [4] from the Chess Variant Pages • An Illustrated Guide to Ultima Pieces [5] - Animated GIFs show how the pieces capture. • Ultima on Game Courier [6] - Play Ultima against others online
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
http:/ / www. inference. phy. cam. ac. uk/ mackay/ ultima/ ultima. html http:/ / www. logicmazes. com/ games/ ultima. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ other. dir/ ultima. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ other. dir/ rococo. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ other. dir/ ultimapieces. html http:/ / play. chessvariants. org/ pbm/ presets/ ultima. html
191
Chess with different armies
192
Chess with different armies Chess with different armies (or Betza chess[1] ) is a chess variant in which two sides use different sets of fairy pieces. There are several armies of equal strength to choose from, including standard FIDE army. In all armies kings and pawns are the same as in FIDE chess, but other pieces are different.
Rules Before the game players choose their armies in a certain way, predefined by tournament rules. This can be done either randomly or secretly by both players. Each player has a choice of 4 armies[2] : the Fabulous FIDEs, where all pieces move as in standard chess, Colorbound Clobberers, Nutty Knights or Remarkable Rookies army. All armies are designed to be equal in strength, but have significantly different properties. kings and pawns move the same as in chess for all armies. Pawns can only promote to pieces available in either player's army at the start. The castling is done as in standard chess with exception of the case when rook replacement is a colorbound, like in colorbound clobberers army. In the latter case the king when castling long moves to b1 and rook replacement to c1. This is so colorbound pieces don't change square color.
Fers.
Alfil, can jump.
Wazir.
Dabbaba, can jump.
Many pieces in the following armies are combination of standard chess pieces and 4 fairy pieces: fers, alfil, wazir and dabbaba (see their movement diagrams above). The game can be played with standard chess pieces and the following move diagrams use standard pieces as well (except queens).
Colorbound Clobberers a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Cardinal. Moves as bishop or knight. Can jump for knight moves.
Chess with different armies
193
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
FAD. Moves as fers, alfil or dabbaba (hence the name.) Can jump for all moves. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Bede. Moves as bishop or dabbaba. Can jump by orthogonal moves. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Waffle. Moves as wazir or alfil. Can jump by diagonal moves.
Chess with different armies
194
Nutty Knights a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Colonel. Moves as king or as rook forward and sideways or as knight forward. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Charging knight. Moves as king backward and sideways and as knight forward. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Charging rook. Moves as king backwards or as rook forward and sideways.
Chess with different armies
195
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Fibnif. Moves as fers or as a knight for its two longest forwards and backwards moves.
Remarkable Rookies a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chancellor. Moves as rook or knight. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Half duck. Moves as fers or dabbaba or jump 3 squares in orthogonal directions.
Chess with different armies
196
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Short rook. Moves as rook, but not more than 4 spaces. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Woody rook. Moves as dabbaba or as wazir. Can jump for all moves.
Other armies The four armies described above were play tested by Ralph Betza and selected as most balanced ones. There are other armies, invented by Betza and other people: • • • • • • •
Amazon Army[3] (Ralph Betza); Cylindrical Cinders[4] (Ralph Betza); Fighting Fizzies[5] (Peter Aronson); Forward FIDEs[6] (Ralph Betza); Pizza Kings[7] (John Lawson); Meticulous Mashers[8] (Ralph Betza); Seeping Switchers[9] (Jörg Knappen).
In initial version of the game there were 8 armies[1] and in these armies the king moved differently than the king in the standard chess. Instead of normal pawns, fairy pawns could be selected, for example berolina pawns. However, later Betza abandoned the idea of using fairy pieces for king and pawn[10] and reduced the number of armies to four.
Chess with different armies
References [1] Pritchard, D. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. [2] Chess with different armies (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ cwda. html) by Ralph Betza. [3] The Amazon Army (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ cvda/ amazon. html) by Ralph Betza. [4] The Cylindrical Cinders (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ cvda/ cylind01. html) by Ralph Betza. [5] The Fighting Fizzies (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ dpieces. dir/ fighting-fizzies. html) by Peter Aronson [6] The Forward FIDEs (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ dan/ forfid. html) by Ralph Betza. [7] The Pizza Kings (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ pizza-kings. html) by John Lawson. [8] The Meticulous Mashers (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ cda/ meticulous. html) by Ralph Betza. [9] The Seeping Switchers (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ unequal. dir/ seeping-switchers. html) by Jörg Knappen. [10] Different Kings and Pawns? (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ d. betza/ chessvar/ dan/ danx-70. html) by Ralph Betza
Duell Duell is a two-player chess variant played with dice on a board of 9x8 squares. Players take turns moving one of their dice in order to capture their opponent's pieces, with the ultimate aim of capturing the opponent's king to win the game. Designed by Geoffrey Hayes, it was previously published in the UK as "Conquest" and "The George v Mildred Dice Game" and in Germany as "Tactix".
Setup The board is placed between the two players such that the eight rows of nine squares run left to right. The pieces are placed so that from left to right the following numbers appear face up: 5 1 2 6 1 6 2 1 5, with the "key piece" (equivalent to the king in chess, which has a "1" on each face) appearing in the middle and the 3s facing towards the controlling player. To ensure true fairness, each die should be of the same chirality.
Gameplay Players take it in turn to move one piece the number of squares shown on the outermost face (at the start of that move) by rolling it along the direction of travel such that the uppermost number changes with each square moved. A move may optionally include a single 90-degree change in direction. Moves may not pass though existing pieces of either color. Opposing pieces are captured by landing on the occupied square with the final move. Captures are not compulsory, and there is no penalty for not doing so when possible. The game finishes when one of the players captures their opponent's key piece; the capturing player wins, or when a players' key piece lands in the opponents "key space" (the square initially occupied by the key piece at the start of the game, in the center of the home row).
197
Duell
198
References • Pritchard, D. B. (2007), The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, John Beasley, ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1
External links • Duell rules [1]
References [1] http:/ / aboardgamesdatabase. com/ rules/ duell/ duell. htm
Gess Gess is a strategic board game for two players, involving a grid board and mutating pieces. The name was chosen as a conflation of "chess" and "go". It is pronounced with a hard "g" as in "go", and is thus homophonous with "guess". Gess was created by the Puzzles and Games Ring of The Archimedeans, and first published in 1994 in the society's magazine Eureka. It was popularized by Ian Stewart's Mathematical Recreations column in the November 1994 issue of Scientific American.
Rules
The starting position of Gess.
• Gess is played on a grid of 18 × 18 squares. • Two players, "Black" and "White", each have 43 stones of their colour on the board in the starting configuration. • Starting with Black, players take turns moving a piece on the board. A move must always change the stone configuration on the board. There is no passing. • A piece consists of a 3 × 3 grid of squares, at least one of which must exist on the board. Only stones of one colour may be in the grid. There must be at least one stone on the eight squares around the central square. • A piece can only be moved by the player whose stones are inside the grid. • The 3 × 3 grid is termed the footprint of the piece. Each piece can move as determined by the stones in its footprint: • The central square determines the extent of the piece's movement. If the square is unoccupied, it may move up to three spaces; if it is occupied by a stone, it may move any number of spaces. • Each of the eight surrounding squares determines the directions the piece can move. If a square has a stone, the piece can move in the direction indicated by the square's location relative to the central square; if a square is unoccupied, the piece cannot move in that direction. • As a piece moves, all of the stones in its footprint move in unison. • When the footprint of a piece coincides with any other stones on the board, those stones are removed from the board and the move ends.
Gess
199 • If the footprint moves partially out of the board, the move ends. The stones of the piece which are on a square that has moved out of the board are removed. • A move also may end before any stone is removed. • A ring is any piece consisting of eight stones around an empty central square. • The game object is to be the only player with a ring piece on the board: when, at the end of any turn, a player has no ring pieces on the board, that player loses the game. If neither player has a ring piece, the player who has just moved loses.
Equipment A go set is one easy way to assemble the equipment needed for gess. The 19 × 19 line grid is simultaneously an 18 × 18 grid of squares, and the starting position needs only 43 each of the black and white stones.
Influences The rules describe a highly variable set of pieces, which will often change every turn. In total there are 510 possible sets of a footprint; however, the starting position uses these rules to emulate chess pieces: king, queen, bishop, rook and pawn in this order R - B - Q - K - B - R in the last row (black's view) and 6 pawns in the next row. The game objective, to remove the opponent's "ring" (described as a piece that moves like a chess king) also mimics that of chess.
Notation The rows are named 2 to 19 (1 and 20 being outside the grid), and the files are named b to s (a and t again being outside the grid). A move is notated by noting the place of the centre of the footprint at the beginning of a move and its place at the end of the move.
External links • Gess the Game [1], original article at the online Eureka archive • GESS -- a New chess/go variant [2], Gess @ chessvariants.com with links to a java applet to play Gess
References [1] http:/ / www. archim. org. uk/ eureka/ 53/ gess. html [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ crossover. dir/ gess. html
200
Variants with bishop+knight and rook+knight compounds Seirawan chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Seirawan chess, position after 1. Nc3/Eb1. White moved his Queen Knight from b1 to c3 and placed the Elephant on b1. Seirawan chess is a chess variant invented by grandmaster Yasser Seirawan in 2007.[1] It is played on the standard 8x8 board and uses two new pieces, the hawk (which moves like a knight or a bishop) and the elephant (which moves like a knight or a rook). Yasser Seirawan has given simultaneous exhibitions for the game. The first ever event was a 12 board simultaneous exhibition held March 31, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada.[2]
Rules The initial position is that of standard chess. Each side has additionally two pieces in hand (a hawk and an elephant): •
The Elephant, moves as a rook or a knight; and
• The Hawk, moves as a bishop or a knight. The elephant and the hawk are introduced to the game in the following way: whenever the player moves a piece (king, queen, knight, bishop or rook) from its starting position (that hasn't already been moved), one of the pieces in hand may be placed immediately on the square just vacated. One cannot use the placing of an elephant or hawk to block check. If the player moves all his pieces from the first rank without placing one or both in hand pieces, he forfeits the right to do so. After castling, the player may put one of the pieces in hand on either the king's or the rook's square, but he may not place both pieces in hand in the same turn. Pawns may promote to a hawk or an elephant in this game (in addition to the normal chess pieces). When notating games in algebraic notation, the letter E is used for the Elephant and H for the Hawk. If the player places one of the two pieces on the board, it's written after a slash. For example, 1. Nc3/Eb1 means that the player moved his knight from b1 to c3 and placed the elephant on b1 (see diagram).
Seirawan chess
201
Name GM Seirawan has expressed dissatisfaction with the name Seirawan chess, noting that the variant was a joint development with friend Bruce Harper.[3] The name SHARPER Chess (a combination of the names Seirawan and Harper) has been suggested.
References [1] Seirawan chess (http:/ / www. chessmastery. com/ seirawan-chess. html) [2] Seirawan chess simultaneous (http:/ / www. chessmastery. com/ seirawan-simul. html), photos and videos. [3] Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan explains Seirawan (http:/ / video. yahoo. com/ watch/ 1947363)
External links • Seirawan chess, a conservative drop chess (http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/seirawanchess.htm) by M. Winther. • Seirawan chess videos (http://video.yahoo.com/?t=t&p=seirawan+chess) • Chessvariants.org entry on game (http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay. php?itemid=MLseirawanchess)
Janus chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Janus Chess. The Janus (knight + bishop compound) is placed on the b-file and i-file, beside the rooks. Janus Chess is a chess variant played on a 10×8 board. It features a new piece, the Janus (also known as archbishop or cardinal), with the combined moves of a bishop and a knight. This piece is named after the Roman god Janus because this god was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Janus Chess was invented in 1978 by Werner Schöndorf from Bildstock, Germany. The usual set of chess pieces is extended with two pawns and two Januses per player. Each Janus is placed between a rook and a knight. The relative position of the king and queen is reversed compared to chess. After castling the king is placed on either the b-file or i-file and a rook is placed on either the c-file or h-file, depending upon which side to castle is chosen. Note that the Janus is the only piece in this game which is able to checkmate the opponent's king without the assistance of any other piece, if the king is in a corner.
Janus chess
202
This chess variant is quite popular in Europe. Several chess grandmasters play this game including Viktor Korchnoi, Péter Lékó and Artur Yusupov.
External links • • • •
Janus Chess [1] by Hans L. Bodlaender. Janusschach [2] - Janus Chess (in German). BrainKing.com [1] - a server which plays Janus Chess over the internet. ChessV [3] - a program which plays Janus Chess.
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ janus. html [2] http:/ / www. janusschach. de/ [3] http:/ / www. chessv. com
Capablanca chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Capablanca chess. Archbishop is placed between knight and bishop on the queen's side, chancellor on the king's side. Capablanca chess (or Capablanca's chess) is a chess variant invented in the 1920s by former World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca. It incorporates two new pieces and is played on a 10×8 board. Capablanca proposed the variant while World Champion, and not as a "sour grapes" rationalization after losing his title as some critics have asserted.[1] He believed that chess would be played out in a few decades and games between grandmasters would always end in draws. The threat of "draw death" for chess was his main motivation for creating a more complex and richer version of the game. •
The chancellor combines powers of a rook and a knight.
• The archbishop combines powers of a bishop and a knight. The new pieces have properties that enrich the game. For example, the archbishop by itself can checkmate a lone king (king in a corner, archbishop placed diagonally with one square in between).
Capablanca chess
203
Setup of the pieces Capablanca proposed two opening setups for Capablanca Chess. In one opening setup, he proposed that the archbishop be placed between the bishop and the queen and that the chancellor be placed between the king and the king's bishop. This setup has the flaw that it leaves the pawn in front of the king's bishop undefended, allowing white to threaten mate on the first move. He subsequently revised the opening setup so that the archbishop was between the queen's knight and bishop, and the chancellor was between the king's knight and bishop. He also experimented with 10×10 board sizes, where the pawns could move up to three squares on the initial move. In his book, The Adventure of Chess, Edward Lasker writes (p. 39): ...I played many test games with Capablanca, and they rarely lasted more than twenty or twenty-five moves. We tried boards of 10×10 squares and 10×8 squares, and we concluded that the latter was preferable because hand-to-hand fights start earlier on it. Lasker was one of the few supporters. Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy also played some games with Capablanca (who got the better of him). One of the few rational critics, British champion William Winter, thought that there were too many strong pieces, making the minor pieces less relevant. The names for new pieces, Archbishop and Chancellor, were introduced by Capablanca himself. These names are still used in most modern variants of Capablanca Chess.
Variants that predate Capablanca Chess Capablanca was not the first person to add the Chancellor and the Archbishop to the normal Chess set, though he is the most famous. Other attempts mostly differ only by the arrangement of pieces and the castling rules. In 1617, Pietro Carrera published a book Il Gioco degli Scacchi, which contained a description of a chess variant played on 8×10 board. He placed new pieces between a rook and a knight. Chancellor was on the king's side and archbishop on the queen's side. Carrera used names champion instead of chancellor and centaur instead of archbishop. The game was largely forgotten after the death of the inventor. In 1874, Henry Bird proposed a chess variant similar to Carrera's variant. The only significant difference was the opening setup. The chancellor was placed between the queen's bishop and queen and the archbishop was placed between the king's bishop and king. Bird used names guard instead of chancellor and equerry instead of archbishop. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Carrera Chess. Earliest chess variant on 8×10 board with archbishop and chancellor.
Capablanca chess
204
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Bird's chess. Another predecessor of Capablanca chess.
Variants that postdate Capablanca Chess Capablanca Chess has inspired a number of chess variants; • • • • • • • • • •
Aberg's variation [2] (2003) by Hans Aberg. Grotesque Chess [3] (2004) by Fergus Duniho. Univers Chess [4] (2006) by Fergus Duniho. Ladorean Chess [5] (2005) by Bernhard U. Hermes. Grand Chess (1984) by Christian Freeling. Embassy Chess (2005) by Kevin Hill. Gothic Chess (2002) by Ed Trice. Schoolbook Chess [6] (2006) by Sam Trenholme. Paulovich's variation [7] (2004) by David Paulovich. Modern Capablanca Random Chess [8] (2008) by José Carrillo.
It is noteworthy that Embassy Chess uses a starting position identical to Grand Chess adapted to a 10×8 board. Another interesting recent development is Capablanca Random Chess, invented in 2004 by Reinhard Scharnagl. This game combines ideas of Fischer Random Chess and Capablanca Chess. It also applies the sound principle which demands that in the starting position, all pawns are protected by at least one piece.
Variants which use a different board There are also variants of Capablanca Chess that do not use the standard 10×8 board. Grand chess is a popular chess variant invented by Dutch game designer Christian Freeling in 1984. It uses Capablanca Chess pieces upon a larger, 10×10 board. In 2007 Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan devised a variant (called Seirawan chess), which adds the two pieces to the standard game in a different manner. The player, after moving a piece (for example, a bishop) from the first rank, may immediately place either of the two pieces on the bishop's square. If the player moves all his eight officers without placing the Hawk or the Elephant (Seirawan's names for the Archbishop and the Chancellor, respectively), he forfeits his right to do so.
Capablanca chess
205
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Grand Chess. The chancellor and archbishop are at right of the king. W1 W1
W2 A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
W2
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
0
W3
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
W3
I
J
W4 W4
Omega Chess - start position Capablanca chess has inspired many chess variants, including grand chess and omega chess.
Capablanca chess
206
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
"In Moscow" (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/ article/ 0,9171,721501,00. html). Time. 1925-12-07. . http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ capablancavariation. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ grotesque. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ univers. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ ladorean_chess. html http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ msdisplay. php?itemid=MSschoolbook http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ displaycomment. php?commentid=7258 http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ msdisplay. php?itemid=MPmoderncapablan
• D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. • Edward Lasker (1959). The Adventure of Chess. ISBN 0-486-20510-X.
External links • Capablanca Chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/large.dir/capablanca.html) by Hans L. Bodlaender • Capablanca Chess | material values of pieces (http://www.symmetryperfect.com/shots/texts/values-capa.pdf)
Capablanca random chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Capablanca Random Chess. One of the 12118 possible starting positions. Capablanca Random Chess (CRC) is a chess variant invented by Reinhard Scharnagl in 2004. It combines the piece set and 10x8 board from Capablanca Chess with the permutation idea of Fischer Random Chess. This game won a contest in 2005 held at The Chess Variant Pages to design a chess variant based upon the theme of the number 10.[1]
Capablanca random chess
Rules The rules are the same as in Capablanca chess but initial setup is randomized. White and black pieces are set up in symmetrical position. The pieces on the first rank are placed in a random way with the following restrictions: • Bishops must be on opposite colored spaces. • The queen and the archbishop (which are composite pieces possessing, in part, the movement powers of bishops) must also be on opposite colored spaces. • The king must be between the rooks. • All pawns must be protected in initial setup. • The starting position must be different from that of Gothic Chess. • Starting positions with neighbouring bishops must be avoided. The first restriction is taken from Fischer Random Chess for the purpose of balancing the power of colorbound bishops. The second restriction is based upon the first restriction but extrapolated to the unique piece set used within CRC. The third restriction is taken from Fischer Random Chess to preserve castling ability. The fourth restriction helps to minimize the advantage held by white in having the first move of the game. The fifth restriction is to avoid possible legal issues in America with Gothic Chess, which was formerly protected by a US patent. The sixth restriction was introduced later upon discovery by Reinhard Scharnagl that such positions might increase the first move of the game advantage for white. Together, these six rules restrict the opening setup to 12,118 starting positions.
Extended FEN Encoding Within Capablanca Random Chess, X-FEN is used (to represent positions).
References [1] "Contest to design a 10-chess variant" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ contests/ 10/ index. html). The Chess Variant Pages. 2005-12-25. . Retrieved 2007-08-19.
External links • Capablanca Random Chess | material values of pieces (http://www.symmetryperfect.com/shots/texts/ values-capa.pdf)
207
Gothic Chess
208
Gothic Chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Gothic Chess, starting position Gothic Chess is a chess variant derived from Capablanca Chess by Ed Trice. It was patented in 2002, but the patent expired in 2006.[1] [2] [3] It is played on the same 10×8 board and additional pieces as in Capablanca Chess. The only difference is the starting position, which is shown right.
Tournaments In 2004, Trice organized the Gothic Chess Computer World Championship, which was won by his own Gothic Vortex computer program.[4]
References [1] Chessvariants.org page on Gothic Chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ displayitem. php?itemid=GothicChess) retrieved August 11, 2009 [2] United States Patent 6,481,716 (http:/ / patft. uspto. gov/ netacgi/ nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1& Sect2=HITOFF& d=PALL& p=1& u=/ netahtml/ PTO/ srchnum. htm& r=1& f=G& l=50& s1=6481716. PN. & OS=PN/ 6481716& RS=PN/ 6481716) Method of playing a variant of chess [3] Notice of Expiration of Patents Due to Failure to Pay Maintenance Fee (http:/ / www. uspto. gov/ web/ offices/ com/ sol/ og/ 2007/ week03/ patexpi. htm) Patent 6,481,716 expired on November 19, 2006 [4] Trice E (Dec 2004). "The 2004 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship". ICGA Journal 27 (4): 249–254.
External links • Play Gothic Chess online (http://grandgames.net/) • The Gothic Chess Federation (http://www.gothicchess.com) • CRC | material values of pieces (http://www.symmetryperfect.com/shots/texts/values-capa.pdf)
Embassy Chess
209
Embassy Chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Embassy chess, starting position Embassy chess is a chess variant created in 2005 by Kevin Hill. It borrows the opening setup from Grand chess by Christian Freeling and adapts it to the 10x8 board. Embassy chess is a free, non-commercial Capablanca random chess variant that is played on a 10x8 board with two additional pawns per side and two fairy chess pieces: the marshall and the cardinal.[1] •
The marshall moves as both a rook and a knight.
• The cardinal moves as both a bishop and a knight. The castling in this chess variant is done by king moving 3 spaces in rook direction, see diagram at right. All other rules, like en passant are the same as in chess. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Castling in Embassy chess. White castled king-side, black queen-side.
Embassy Chess
210
Computer implementations Embassy chess is supported by at least three multi-variant programs available in the chess variant world. It was selected as one out of seven 10x8 board games featured in SMIRF (developed by Reinhard Scharnagl). It was selected as one out of eleven 8x10 board games featured in ChessV (developed by Gregory Strong). In both programs, its opening setup can conveniently, automatically be loaded for play against a computer opponent. It is also possible to play Embassy chess in Zillions of Games using a third-party rules file, such as this one [2].
References [1] Embassy chess rules (http:/ / brainking. com/ en/ GameRules?tp=41) by Filip Rachunek. [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ zillions. php?itemid=zLargeChess
External links • Game Courier | Embassy Chess (http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/play.php?game=Embassy+Chess& settings=default) • ChessV (http://samiam.org/chessv/) • BrainKing (http://www.brainking.com) - a server where you can play Embassy Chess. • CRC | material values of pieces (http://www.symmetryperfect.com/shots/texts/values-capa.pdf)
Modern chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Modern chess. Prime Minister is placed to the left of the King. Modern chess is a chess variant played on a 9x9 board. The game was invented by Gabriel Vicente Maura in 1968. Besides the usual set of chess pieces, each player has an additional piece with a corresponding pawn: • a Prime Minister that moves as both a bishop and a knight. Otherwise, the standard rules of chess still apply, with the objective being to checkmate the opponent's king. The king piece must be moved out of check when it is placed in check. If escape is not possible, the game is lost. A player still may resign at any point in the game, and en passant is legal.
Modern chess
211
External links • Modern chess [1] by Hans Bodlaender
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ large. dir/ modern. html
Grand chess a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Grand chess initial position. The marshall and cardinal are at the right of the king. Grand chess is a popular[1] large-board chess variant invented by Dutch games designer Christian Freeling in 1984.[2] It is played on a 10×10 board, with each side having two additional pawns and two new pieces: the marshall and the cardinal. •
The marshall combines powers of a rook and a knight.
• The cardinal combines powers of a bishop and a knight. A superficial similarity exists between Grand chess and an early version of the historic chess variant Capablanca chess because the same pieces and game board are used. But differences in initial start position, rules governing pawn moves and promotion, and castling make them significantly different games. A series of Grand chess Cyber World Championship matches was sponsored by the Dutch game site Mindsports. Past title holders included R. Wayne Schmittberger (1998, 1999) and John Vehre (2001). Grand chess tournaments were held annually beginning in 1998 by the (now defunct) correspondence game club kNights Of the Square Table (NOST).[3]
Grand chess
212
Rules a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
10
10
9
9
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
White's major pieces are set up on the first and second ranks as shown in the diagram. White's pawns are set up on the third rank. The white rooks alone are positioned on the first rank, which makes it easier for them to activate earlier in the game since they are not blocked by the other pieces as they are in standard chess. The black rooks are placed the same, for the same advantage. Black's major pieces are set up on the ninth and tenth ranks, and Black's pawns are set up on the eighth rank. A white pawn may elect to either promote or remain a pawn upon reaching the eighth and ninth ranks, but must promote upon reaching the tenth rank. Unlike standard chess, a pawn may be promoted only to a previously captured piece of the same color. (So, it is illegal for either side to have two queens, or two marshalls, or three rooks, etc.) If no captured piece is available for promoting a white pawn about to reach the tenth rank, the pawn must stay on the ninth rank, but it can still give check. Similarly, a black pawn promotes optionally upon reaching the third and second ranks, but must promote in order to move to the first rank. It can still give check from the second rank to a white king on the first rank, even if it can't yet legally move to the first rank. As in standard chess, pawns can move one or two squares on their first move, and they may also capture en passant. As in chess, checkmate is a win and stalemate is a draw. But there is no castling in Grand chess.[4]
Notes [1] Hans Bodlaender and John William Brown. "Christian Freeling's Grand Chess" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ large. dir/ freeling. html). The Chess Variants server. . Retrieved 2008-12-13. [2] Dylan Loeb McClain (2007-08-19). "Giraffes, Viziers and Wizards: Variations on the Old Game" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 08/ 19/ crosswords/ chess/ 19chess. html). New York Times. . Retrieved 2008-12-07. [3] Formed in 1960 by Bob Lauzon and Jim France, NOST held an annual convention and enjoyed several hundred active members (Pritchard 1994:210). [4] "We're so used to castling that we tend to forget that it is the weirdest move in Chess, implemented specifically to solve a problem. Chess turned out a great game despite its problem, but it needed an ad hoc fix to do so. In Grand Chess, pawns retain their usual distance and rooks are free from the onset, so the problem doesn't exist in the first place." (Freeling)
Grand chess
References • R. Wayne Schmittberger (1992). New Rules for Classic Games. Wiley. ISBN 978-0471536215. • Pritchard, David (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524-1420-1. • Hochberg, Burt (August 1997). "Don't be Scared, It's Still Chess". Chess Life.
External links • Christian Freeling's Grand chess (http://www.chessvariants.org/large.dir/freeling.html) by Hans L. Bodlaender • Grand chess introduction (http://www.mindsports.nl/Arena/GrandChess/) official Mindsports website contains rules, problems, example games • 2001 Cyber World Championship game (http://www.samiam.org/grandchess/2001-VS.html) annotated by John Vehre—2001 Grand chess World Champion • Grand chess, The Yerevan Games (http://www.bcvs.ukf.net/grand.htm) by Malcolm Horne (Variant Chess, Volume 3, Issue 24, Summer 1997, pages 71–72)
213
214
Games inspired by chess Arimaa Arimaa
An Arimaa Elephant Designer(s)
Omar Syed and Aamir Syed
Publisher(s)
Z-Man Games
Players
2
Setup time
< 1 minute
Playing time
15 minutes - 2 hours
Random chance None Skill(s) required Tactics, Strategy
Arimaa is a two-player abstract strategy board game that can be played using the same equipment as chess. Arimaa was devised to be more difficult for artificial intelligences to play than chess.
History Arimaa was invented by Omar Syed, an Indian American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence. Syed was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat at the hands of the chess computer Deep Blue to design a new game which could be played with a standard chess set, would be difficult for computers to play well, but would have rules simple enough for his then four-year-old son Aamir to understand. ("Arimaa" is "Aamir" spelled backwards plus an initial "a"). In 2002 Syed published the rules to Arimaa and announced a $10,000 prize, available annually until 2020, for the first computer program (running on standard, off-the-shelf hardware) able to defeat each of three top-ranked human players in a three game series.[1]
Rules Arimaa is played on a chessboard with four squares distinguished as trap squares, namely c3, f3, c6, and f6 in algebraic chess notation. The two players, Gold and Silver, each control sixteen pieces. These are, in order from strongest to weakest, one elephant (
), one camel (
), two horses (
), two dogs (
), two cats (
),
and eight rabbits ( ). These may be represented by the king, queen, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns respectively when one plays on a chess board.
Arimaa
215
The players begin by setting up their pieces however they choose on their home rows. The objective of the game is to move a rabbit of one's own color onto the home rank of the opponent. Thus Gold wins by moving a gold rabbit to the eighth rank, and Silver wins by moving a silver rabbit to the first rank. However, because it is difficult to usher a rabbit to the goal line while the board is full of pieces, an intermediate objective is to capture opposing pieces by pushing or pulling them into the trap squares. The game begins with an empty board. Gold places the sixteen gold pieces in any configuration on the first and second ranks. Silver then places the sixteen silver pieces in any configuration on seventh and eighth ranks. The diagram at right shows one possible initial placement.
Arimaa
216
After the pieces are placed on the board, the players alternate turns, starting with Gold. A turn consists of making one to four steps. With each step a friendly piece may move into an unoccupied square one space left, right, forward, or backward, except that rabbits may not step backward. The steps of a turn may be made by a single piece or distributed between several pieces in any order. A turn must make a net change to the position. Thus one may not, for example, take one step forward and one step back with the same piece, effectively passing the turn. Furthermore, one's turn may not create the same position with the same player to move as has been created twice before. This rule is similar to the situational super ko rule in the game of Go, which prevents endless loops, and is in contrast to chess where endless loops are considered draws. The prohibitions on passing and repetition make Arimaa a drawless game. The second diagram, from the same game movement.
[2]
as the initial position above, helps illustrate the remaining rules of
A player may use two consecutive steps of a turn to dislodge an opposing piece with a stronger friendly piece which is adjacent (in one of the four cardinal directions). For example, a friendly dog may dislodge an opposing rabbit or cat, but not a dog, horse, camel, or elephant. The stronger piece may pull or push the adjacent weaker piece. When pulling, the stronger piece steps into an empty square, and the square it came from is occupied by the weaker piece. The silver elephant on d5 could step to d4 (or c5 or e5) and pull the gold horse from d6 to d5. When pushing, the weaker piece is moved to an adjacent empty square, and the square it came from is occupied by the stronger piece. The gold elephant on d3 could push the silver rabbit on d2 to e2 and then occupy d2. Note that the rabbit on d2 can't be pushed to d1, c2, or d3, because those squares are not empty. Friendly pieces may not be dislodged. Also, a piece may not push and pull simultaneously. For example the gold elephant on d3 could not simultaneously push the silver rabbit on d2 to e2 and pull the silver rabbit from c3 to d3. An elephant can never be dislodged, since there is nothing stronger. A piece which is adjacent (in any cardinal direction) to a stronger opposing piece is frozen, unless it is also adjacent to a friendly piece. Frozen pieces may not be moved by the owner, but may be dislodged by the opponent. A frozen piece can freeze another still weaker piece. The silver rabbit on a7 is frozen, but the one on d2 is able to move because it is adjacent to a silver piece. Similarly the gold rabbit on b7 is frozen, but the gold cat on c1 is not. The dogs on a6 and b6 do not freeze each other because they are of equal strength. An elephant cannot be frozen, since there is nothing stronger, but an elephant can be blockaded. A piece which enters a trap square is captured and removed from the game unless there is a friendly piece adjacent. Silver could move to capture the gold horse on d6 by pushing it to c6 with the elephant on d5. Also a piece on a trap square is captured if all adjacent friendly pieces move away. Thus if the silver rabbit on c4 and the silver horse on c2 move away, voluntarily or by being dislodged, the silver rabbit on c3 will be captured.
Arimaa Note that a piece may voluntarily step into a trap square, even if it is captured thereby. Also, the second step of a pulling maneuver may be completed, even if the piece doing the pulling is captured on the first step. For example, Silver to move could step the silver rabbit from f4 to g4, step the silver horse from f2 to f3, which captures the horse, and still pull the gold rabbit from f1 to f2 as part of the horse's move. In the diagrammed position, if it were Gold's turn to move, Gold could win in three steps: The dog on a6 can push the rabbit on a7 to a8, and when the dog is on a7, it unfreezes the rabbit on b7, which can step to b8 for the victory. Although almost all games end with a rabbit reaching goal,[3] there are two other ways for the game to end. • If a player has no legal move, either because all friendly pieces are frozen or blockaded, or because the only moves by mobile pieces are illegal due to repetition of position, the player whose turn it is loses. • A player wins by capturing all eight opposing rabbits, even if he sacrifices his last rabbit in the same turn in which he captures the last opposing rabbit. (Originally Arimaa was drawn if all sixteen rabbits were captured, but on July 1, 2008, Syed changed the rules of Arimaa to eliminate the possibility of draws. This change was essentially cosmetic, as there had never been a draw in thousands of human games anyway.) Finally, if an opposing rabbit is dislodged onto its goal line and dislodged off within the same turn, the game continues.
Strategy and tactics For beginning insights into good play, see the Arimaa Wikibook articles on tactics and strategy.
Computer performance Several aspects of Arimaa make it difficult for computer programs to beat good human players. Because so much effort has gone into the development of strong chess-playing software, it is particularly relevant to understand why techniques applicable to chess are less effective for Arimaa. Top chess programs use brute-force searching coupled with static position evaluation dominated by material considerations. Chess programs examine many, many possible moves, but they are not good (compared to humans) at determining who is winning at the end of a series of moves unless one side has more pieces than the other. The same is true for Arimaa programs, but their results are not as good in practice. When brute-force searching is applied to Arimaa, the depth of the search is limited by the huge number of options each player has on each turn. Computationally, the number of options a player has available to them governs the number of different paths play can go down. This is known as the branching factor. The average branching factor in a game of Chess is about 35,[4] whereas in Arimaa it is about 17,281.[5] These differing branching factors imply that a computer which can search to a depth of eight turns for each player in chess, can only search about three turns deep for each player in Arimaa:
Brute force search depth, for chess software, is nearly doubled by alpha-beta pruning, which allows the software to conclude that one move is better than another without examining every possible continuation of the weaker move. If the opponent can crush a certain move with one reply, it isn't necessary to examine other replies, which dramatically increases search speed. In Arimaa, however, the side to move switches only every four steps, which reduces the number of available cutoffs in a step-based search. Furthermore, the usefulness of alpha-beta pruning is heavily dependent on the order in which moves are considered. Good moves must be considered before bad ones in order for the bad ones to be neglected. In particular, checking and capturing moves are key for pruning, because they are often much better than other moves. In Arimaa software the speedup provided by alpha-beta pruning is less, because captures are rarer. In rated games played on arimaa.com,
217
Arimaa only 3% of steps result in capture, compared to about 19% of chess moves that result in capture. In most Arimaa positions, particularly toward the beginning of the game when the board is still crowded, a competent player can avoid losing any pieces within the next two turns. Compared to chess, Arimaa allows either player to delay captures for longer. Indeed, the median move number of the first capture in chess is turn 6, whereas in Arimaa it is turn 12. The struggle is initially more positional in Arimaa, and revolves around making captures unavoidable at some point in the future. This magnifies the importance of correctly judging who is gaining ground in non-material ways. Thus the strength of computer programs (examining millions of positions) is not as significant as their weakness (judging the position apart from who has more pieces). The weakness of Arimaa programs in the opening phases is further magnified by the setup phase. In chess every game starts from the same position. By compiling before the game a list of stock replies to all standard opening moves, chess programs may often make a dozen or more excellent moves before starting to "think". Humans do the same, but have a smaller and less reliable memory of openings, which puts humans at a relative disadvantage in chess. Arimaa, in contrast, has millions of possible ways to set up the pieces even before the first piece moves. This prevents programs from having any meaningful opening book. As the game progresses, exchanges and the advancement of rabbits tend to make the position more open and tactical. Arimaa programs typically play better in this sort of position, because they see tactical shots which humans overlook. However, it is usually possible for humans to avoid wide-open positions by conservative play, and to angle for strategic positions in which computers fare worse. Against a conservative opponent it is almost impossible to bust open the position in Arimaa, whereas in chess it is merely difficult. One must beat defensive play by the accumulation of small, long-term advantages, which programs do not do very well. One additional technique from computer chess which does not apply to Arimaa is endgame tablebases. Master-level chess games sometimes trade down into unclear endgames with only a few pieces, for example king and knight vs. king and rook. It is possible to build, by retrograde analysis, an exhaustive table of the correct move in all such positions. Programs have only to consult a pre-generated table in such positions, rather than "thinking" afresh, which gives them a relative advantage over humans. Arimaa, in contrast, seldom comes to an endgame. Equal exchanges of pieces are less common than in chess, so it is rare for a game of Arimaa to "trade down" and still be unclear. An average game of Arimaa has only eight captures (compared to seventeen for chess), and top humans can often defeat top programs in Arimaa without losing a single piece, for example the second game of the 2011 challenge match [6]. In the 2007 Postal Championship, the game between the top two [7] finishers featured only one capture, a goal-forcing sacrifice. Omar Syed hopes that, because traditional computer game-playing techniques are only moderately effective for Arimaa, programmers will be forced to use artificial intelligence techniques to create a strong Arimaa-playing program. The successful quest to build a world-championship-caliber chess program has produced many techniques to successfully play games, but has contributed essentially nothing to more general reasoning; in fact, the techniques of chess playing programs have been excluded from some definitions of artificial intelligence; a goal for Arimaa is that the techniques involved in playing it will help the larger goals of artificial intelligence. The structure of Syed's man-against-machine challenge is focused on rewarding advances in AI software and not advances in hardware. In the annual challenge, programs are run on machines chosen and provided by Syed himself, under the criterion that it be a typical, inexpensive, off-the-shelf home computer. The challenge would not be open to anyone requiring expensive multi-processor machines such as those used to challenge top-level chess players, much less something like the custom-built supercomputer Deep Blue, even though it was the success of this hardware-intensive approach which inspired Arimaa's invention. Syed believes that even the computer used in the 2004 challenge match (a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz system with 512 MB of RAM) had sufficient hardware to win the challenge prize if only it was running the proper software. Supercomputers might already have the power to conquer Arimaa by brute force using conventional AI software, and eventually personal computers will too, if hardware continues to advance at the current rate. This is why the Arimaa challenge prize is offered only until the year 2020.
218
Arimaa
219
Challenge history Year Prize[8]
Challenger / Developer
Result Human Defender [9] [10] (Human Rank)
Notes
2004 $10,000 Bomb / David Fotland
Omar Syed (1)
0–8
Syed gave a rabbit handicap in the last game and won.
2005 $10,000 Bomb / David Fotland
Frank Heinemann (5)
1–7
No handicap games
2006 $17,500 Bomb / David Fotland
Karl Juhnke (1) Greg Magne (2) Paul Mertens (5)
0–3 0–3 1–2
Mertens gave a camel handicap in his last game and lost.
2007 $17,100 Bomb / David Fotland
Karl Juhnke (1) Omar Syed (9) Brendan M (12) N Siddiqui (23)
0–3 0–3 0–2 1–0
Juhnke gave handicaps of a dog, a horse, and a camel respectively, and won all three. Syed gave a cat handicap in his last game and won. Siddiqui substituted for Brendan's second game.
2008 $17,000 Bomb / David Fotland
Jean Daligault (2) Greg Magne (3) Mark Mistretta (20) Omar Syed (24)
0–3 0–3 0–1 0–2
No handicap games. Syed substituted for Mistretta's final two games.
2009 $16,500 Clueless / Jeff Bacher
Jean Daligault (1) Karl Juhnke (2) Jan Macura (14) Omar Syed (18)
0–2 1–2 1–2 0–1
Juhnke gave a dog handicap in his second game and lost. Daligault gave a horse handicap in his last game and won. Syed substituted for Daligault's first game.
2010 $16,250 Marwin / Mattias Hultgren
Greg Magne (3) 0–3 Louis-Daniel Scott (10) 1–2 Patrick Dudek (23) 2–1
Scott gave a dog handicap in his second game and lost.
2011 $11,000 Marwin / Mattias Hultgren
Karl Juhnke (3) Gregory Clark (7) Toby Hudson (14)
Juhnke gave a cat handicap in his last game and lost
1–2 0–3 0–3
The Arimaa Challenge has been held eight times so far. Prior to the third match, Syed changed the format to require the software to win two out of three games against each of three players, to reduce the psychological pressure on individual volunteer defenders. Also Syed called for outside sponsorship of the Arimaa Challenge to build a bigger prize fund. In the first five challenge cycles, David Fotland, renowned for his program Many Faces of Go [11], won the Arimaa Computer Championship [12] and the right to play for the prize money, only to see his program beaten decisively each year. In 2009 Fotland's program was surpassed by several new programs in the same year, the strongest of which was Clueless by Jeff Bacher. Humanity's margin of dominance over computers appeared to widen each year from 2004 to 2008 as the best human players improved, but the 2009 Arimaa Challenge was more competitive. Clueless became the first bot to win two games of a Challenge match. In 2010, Mattias Hultgren's bot Marwin edged out Clueless in the computer championship. In the Challenge match Marwin became the first bot to win two out of three games against a single human defender, and also the first bot to win three of the nine games overall. In 2011, however, Marwin won only one of the nine games, and that having received a material handicap. The material handicaps given in the Challenge games can be roughly equated to chess handicaps as a proportion of the total material on the board in each game. Arimaa handicaps of rabbit, dog, horse, and camel are roughly equivalent to chess handicaps of pawn, two pawns, knight, and rook respectively.
Arimaa
220
Comparing Arimaa challenge to chess challenges It has been argued that a computer has beaten the world chess champion but not beaten the human in the Arimaa challenge because of six reasons: 1. Arimaa is a new game. Therefore, the number of programmers and amount of time devoted to computer Arimaa is much less than for computer chess. Computer chess had thousands more programmers and 40 more years than computer Arimaa. The later and smaller effort resulted in less and slower progress in computer Arimaa. 2. The rules for the Arimaa challenge required the computer to show a higher playing ability than the rules for the chess matches. In the Arimaa challenge, the computer must beat three human players in three matches. In the chess matches, the computer must win one match against one human player. 3. In the Arimaa challenge, the computer needs to score 2/3 of the total points to win. In chess matches, the computer needs to score more than 1/2 of the total points to win. 4. In the Arimaa challenge, the computer needs to win a qualification match. Then the human studied the computer games to find the computer’s weakness. In chess, there was no qualification match. 5. In the Arimaa challenge, the computer cannot be improved between games. In chess, the computer was improved between games. 6. In the Arimaa challenge, the rules reject powerful or custom made computers priced over $1,000. However, a powerful custom made computer beat the world chess champion. However, the Arimaa community disputes this argument point by point. To the first point, Arimaa is a new game, so the playing community is still small and even the best players are not professional players and have only been playing the game for a few years. Thus the human players in the Arimaa challenge are much weaker than the human players in the chess challenge. The weakness of humans players should make the Arimaa Challenge easier to conquer than chess, which compensates developers for having studied the problem for a shorter time. The remaining five points compare the Arimaa Challenge only to Kasparov vs. Deep Blue, ignoring all other man vs. machine chess matches in which computers have prevailed. The chess match which can most closely be compared to the Arimaa challenge match is the Man vs Machine World Team Championship. In 2004 and 2005 a team of humans played against a team of computer opponents. In both years the computers won by wide margin. In 2005 all three humans lost, the computers won 2/3 of the total points, the chess engines were commercially available for the humans to study, and the machine hardware used was not a supercomputer, but rather comparable to hardware used in the Arimaa Challenge. Man-vs.-machine chess matches since 2005 have shown increasing computer dominance. For example, the 2006 Deep Fritz vs. Vladimir Kramnik and 2007 Rybka vs. Jaan Ehlvest matches gave additional advantages to the human player, but the computers (running on commodity hardware) prevailed anyway.
World Championship Each year since 2004 the Arimaa community has held a World Championship [13] tournament. The tournament is played over the Internet and is open to everyone. Past world champion title holders are: • • • • • • •
2011 – Jean Daligault of France 2010 – Jean Daligault of France 2009 – Jean Daligault of France 2008 – Karl Juhnke of USA 2007 – Jean Daligault of France 2006 – Till Wiechers of Germany 2005 – Karl Juhnke of USA
• 2004 – Frank Heinemann of Germany
Arimaa
221
Computer World Championship Each year since 2004 the Arimaa community has held a Computer World Championship [13] tournament. The tournament is played over the Internet and is open to everyone. Past computer world champion title holders are: • • • • • • • •
2011 – bot_sharp developed by David Wu of USA 2010 – bot_marwin developed by Mattias Hultgren of Sweden 2009 – bot_clueless developed by Jeff Bacher of Canada 2008 – bot_Bomb developed by David Fotland of USA 2007 – bot_Bomb developed by David Fotland of USA 2006 – bot_Bomb developed by David Fotland of USA 2005 – bot_Bomb developed by David Fotland of USA 2004 – bot_Bomb developed by David Fotland of USA
Patent and trademark US PAT No. 6,981,700 [14] was filed on 3 October 2003, and granted on 3 January 2006. Omar Syed also holds a trademark on the name "Arimaa". Syed has stated that he does not intend to restrict noncommercial use and has released a license called "The Arimaa Public License" [15] with the declared intent to "make Arimaa as much of a public domain game as possible while still protecting its commercial usage". Items covered by the license are the patent and the trademark.
Footnotes [1] Syed, Omar; Syed, Aamir (2003). "Arimaa – a New Game Designed to be Difficult for Computers". International Computer Games Association Journal 26: 138–139. [2] http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ gameroom/ replayFlash. cgi?gid=5641& s=w [3] The Arimaa server game archive (http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ download/ gameData/ ) as of December 2006 showed the following number of rated human versus human games: 1653 ending in goal, 38 ending in immobilization, 4 ending by repetition of position, and 0 ending in a draw. [4] François Dominic Laramée. "Chess Programming Part IV: Basic Search" (http:/ / www. gamedev. net/ reference/ articles/ article1171. asp). GameDev.net. . Retrieved 2007-05-01. [5] Brian "Janzert" Haskin. "A Look at the Arimaa Branching Factor" (http:/ / arimaa. janzert. com/ bf_study/ ). http:/ / janzert. com/ . . Retrieved 2009-11-25. [6] http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ games/ jsShowGame. cgi?gid=179122& s=w [7] http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ games/ jsShowGame. cgi?gid=57508& s=w [8] The history of prize fund pledges is as follows: In 2002 Omar Syed pledged $10,000 until 2020; Prior to 2006 Omar Syed pledged an additional $5,000 until 2010; Prior to 2006 Paul Mertens pledged $2,000 for 2006, $1,500 for 2007, $1,000 for 2008, $500 for 2009, and $250 for 2010; Prior to 2006 Karl Juhnke pledged $500 for 2006; Prior to 2007 Karl Juhnke pledged $600 for 2007; Prior to 2008 Karl Juhnke pledged $1,000 for 2008; Prior to 2009 Karl Juhnke pledged $1,000 for 2009; Prior to 2010 Karl Juhnke pledged $1,000 for 2010; Prior to 2011 Karl Juhnke pledged $1,000 for 2011 [9] The Arimaa Forum (http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ forum/ cgi/ YaBB. cgi?board=talk;action=display;num=1207699394;start=45#45) The rank of human players was calculated from human games only, and does not necessarily reflect anti-computer expertise or lack thereof. [10] The listed ranks include inactive players. Among active players only, the 2010 ranks were Magne(3), Scott(9), Dudek(16), and the 2011 ranks were Juhnke(3), Clark(5), Hudson(10). [11] http:/ / www. smart-games. com/ manyfaces. html [12] http:/ / www. arimaa. com/ arimaa/ wc/ [13] http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ wc/ [14] http:/ / www. google. com/ patents?vid=6981700 [15] http:/ / arimaa. com/ arimaa/ license/
Arimaa
References • Syed, Omar; Syed, Aamir (2003), Arimaa – a New Game Designed to be Difficult for Computers, International Computer Games Association Journal 26: 138–139 • Juhnke, Fritz (2009). Beginning Arimaa: Chess Reborn Beyond Computer Comprehension. Flying Camel Publications. ISBN 0-9824-2740-9
External links • Official Arimaa Website (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/) • First Official Hand-Crafted Arimaa Set (http://www.newforestearth.org/index.php?option=com_content& view=category&layout=blog&id=24&Itemid=115&lang=en/) • Academic Papers and Presentations (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/papers/) • David Fotland's Arimaa Program (http://www.smart-games.com/arimaa.html) • The Arimaa Public License (http://www.arimaa.com/arimaa/license/current.txt) • Arimaa Strategy (wikibook) • Arimaa Videos (http://youtube.com/arimaa2) • Play Arimaa game on the iGoogle homepage (http://www.iggamecenter.com/) • Play Arimaa game online at [[boardspace.net (http://boardspace.net/)] • Arimaa articles @ Rajmahendra.com (http://www.rajmahendra.com/category/arimaa/)
Icehouse pieces Icehouse pieces are pyramid-shaped gaming pieces invented by Andrew Looney and John Cooper in 1987, originally for use in the game of Icehouse.
Description Each stash or set of Icehouse pieces consists of fifteen pyramids (variously called pieces, pyramids, or minions) of the same color in three different point (or pip) values: five large 3-point pyramids (called Various Icehouse pieces. queens in some games), five medium 2-point pyramids (sometimes called drones), and five small 1-point pyramids (or pawns). The commercially produced plastic sets are hollow and can be stacked and nested; this feature isn't used in the original Icehouse game, but is taken advantage of in some of the other Icehouse-based games listed below. Icehouse pieces were, for many years, sold as tubes containing one stash of durable crystal-look plastic pieces in one of ten available colors (though cyan was only available through their promotional program or as part of the Ice Towers set). There was also a less expensive starter set called Origami Icehouse (later called Paper Icehouse), made of cardstock in four colors, which one punched out and folded into the pyramid shapes. In 2006, Looney Labs began selling Icehouse pieces as Treehouse sets, which are multicolored sets of 15 pyramids: five colors, each color having one each of the three sizes. Looney Labs has also sold boxed sets for Zendo and IceTowers; the latter contained cyan pieces. The Icehouse website also has instructions for making your own pieces. Looney Labs has licenced Crystal Caste LLC to make regulation-sized Icehouse pieces out of semiprecious stone[1]. In 2001, Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set won the Origins Award for Best Abstract Board Game of 2000. In 2004, the Zendo boxed set won Best Abstract Board Game of 2003. In 2006, Treehouse won the Origins Award for Best Board Game of 2006.
222
Icehouse pieces
223
Games Icehouse pieces can be used to play many different abstract strategy games. Most games need at least two colors, and some require other readily-available equipment such as glass stones or a checkerboard. Rules for these games can be found on the Icehouse website. Some are also available in Playing with Pyramids, published by Looney Labs. Games that use Icehouse pieces include: • Alien City • Armada • Blam! • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Branches & Twigs & Thorns(a Go inspired game) CrackeD Ice DNA Focus Gnostica Gridlock Hailstorm Hextrix Homeworlds Icehouse IceSickle IceTowers IceTraders Igloo Martian Backgammon Martian Chess Martian Coasters Martian Mud Wrestling Martian Shogi Pantopia Pikemen RAMbots Rotationary Sprawl Thin Ice Torpedo Tic Tac Doh! Treehouse Trice Undercut Volcano World War 5 Zagami (game) Zarcana Zark City
Icehouse pieces in paper and plastic
Icehouse pieces • Zendo
Score-keeping Icehouse pieces can also be used as a score-keeping device or counter for non-icehouse games. For example, when scoring a Cosmic Wimpout game, a small pyramid would be worth five points, a medium pyramid worth twenty-five points, and a large pyramid one-hundred; the goal being to collect five of the large pieces (for the 500 point standard game). They could be use instead of poker chips, the denominations would be determined by size rather than color (smalls are worth one, mediums worth five, and larges valued at twenty-five, for example).
External links • Icehouse official website [2] • Fan-run community website and comprehensive wiki [3] • Icehouse pieces [4] at BoardGameGeek
References [1] http:/ / www. crystalcaste. com/ mm5/ merchant. mvc?Screen=CTGY& Store_Code=CC& Category_Code=PY [2] http:/ / www. icehousegames. com [3] http:/ / www. icehousegames. org [4] http:/ / www. boardgamegeek. com/ game/ 225
Martian chess See Jetan for a discussion of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian chess. Martian Chess is an abstract strategy game for two to six players invented by Andrew Looney. It is played with Icehouse pieces on a chessboard or checkerboard; to play with a number of players other than two or four, a small, Non-Euclidean board is available [1] which can be tiled to produce a board of the required size, allowing up to six players.
224
Martian chess
Rules Initial setup Each player starts with nine pieces: three small, three medium, and three large. The color of the pieces is irrelevant; for reasons given below, a mix of colors should be used. In a two-player game, only half the board is used; a folding checkerboard is useful. The pieces are placed in the corners of the board as shown:
The players decide who moves first by a random method or by agreement. Play passes to the left after each move.
Movement and capturing The red lines in the diagrams indicate notional canals that divide the board into territories. At any given time a player controls only those pieces that are in his or her territory. The pieces may be moved as follows: • small pieces (pawns) move one space diagonally (unlike chess pawns, they may move backwards) • medium pieces (drones) move one or two spaces horizontally or vertically • large pieces (queens) move any distance horizontally, vertically or diagonally, just like a chess queen A piece is captured when an enemy piece lands on the square it occupies. The person who moved takes the piece and puts it aside for later scoring. Since a piece is always owned according to the territory it is in, a player whose piece is captured immediately gains control of the capturing piece. It is easy to forget this if each player's starting pieces are all the same color, as if that determined whose it was, so it is better to start with a mix of colors instead (unless you have enough pieces that everyone can use the same color). Pieces may not jump over other pieces, nor may they end a move on an occupied square except to capture. The No Rejections rule: in the two-player game, you may not immediately reverse your opponent's last move.
225
Martian chess
End of game and scoring The game ends when one player runs out of pieces (i.e., their territory becomes empty). Players then compute their scores by adding up the pips on their captured pieces: 3 per queen, 2 per drone, and 1 per pawn. The player or players with the highest total win. In a variation of the four-player game, the players form two teams who play for a combined score. Teammates sit at opposite corners. Aside from strategic differences, play is unaffected; it is legal (and sometimes good strategy) to capture your teammate's pieces.
Strategy Capturing with a queen often allows the opponent to immediately recapture, leading to a back-and-forth battle until one player runs out of pieces in the line(s) of capture. This is more common in two-player games, since other players may interfere in the four-player version. The net point difference is usually minor with two players, but can give the players involved a significant lead over the others in a four-player game. More generally, any piece used to capture becomes the opponent's. Moving a pawn or drone into enemy territory can be a good move for several reasons: • it can prevent an opponent from capturing the piece from you • it can ensure that you capture that piece or another piece from an opponent • it can block an attack from an opposing queen or drone
External links • Rules of Martian Chess [2] by Looney Labs
References [1] http:/ / ee0r. com/ tri-chess/ [2] http:/ / www. wunderland. com/ icehouse/ MartianChess. html
226
227
Historical variants History of chess For the book by H. J. R. Murray, see A History of Chess. The history of chess spans some 1500 years. The earliest predecessors of the game originated in India, before the 6th century AD. From India, the game spread to Persia. When the Arabs conquered Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Southern Europe. In Europe, chess evolved into its current form in the 15th century. In the second half of the 19th century, modern chess tournament play began, and the first world Chess Championship was held in 1886. The 20th century saw great leaps forward in chess theory and the establishment of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). Developments in the 21st century include use of computers for analysis, which originated in the 1970s with the first programmed chess games on the market. Online gaming appeared in the mid 1990's.
Photographs of real-size resin reproductions of the 12th century Lewis chessmen. The top row shows king, queen, and bishop. The bottom row shows knight, rook, and pawn.
Origin a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chaturanga: The position of the pieces at the start of a game.[1] Note that the Ràjas do not face each other; the white Ràja starts on e1 and the black Ràja on d8.
History of chess The precursors of chess probably originated in India during the Gupta empire,[2] [3] [4] [5] where its early form in the 6th century was known as chaturaṅga, which translates as "four divisions (of the military)": infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively.[6] Chess was introduced to Persia from India and became a part of the princely or courtly education of Persian nobility.[7] In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became chatrang, which subsequently evolved to shatranj, and the rules were developed further. Players started calling "Shāh!" (Persian for "King!") when attacking the opponent's king, and "Shāh Māt!" (Persian for "the king is helpless" – see checkmate) when the king was attacked and could not escape from attack. These exclamations persisted in chess as it traveled to other lands. The game was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely keeping their Persian names. The Moors of North Africa rendered Persian "shatranj" as shaṭerej, which gave rise to the Spanish acedrex, axedrez and ajedrez; in Portuguese it became xadrez, and in Greek zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh ("king"). Thus, the game came to be called ludus scacchorum or scacc(h)i in Latin, scacchi in Italian, escacs in Catalan, échecs in French (Old French eschecs); schaken in Dutch, Schach in German, szachy in Polish, šahs in Latvian, skak in Danish, sjakk in Norwegian, schack in Swedish, šakki in Finnish, šah in Slovene, sakk in Hungarian and şah in Romanian; there are two theories about why this change happened: 1. From the exclamation "check" or "checkmate" as it was pronounced in various languages. 2. From the first chessmen known of in Western Europe (except Iberia and Greece) being ornamental chess kings brought in as curios by Muslim traders. The Mongols call the game shatar, and in Ethiopia it is called senterej, both evidently derived from shatranj. Chess spread directly from the Middle East to Russia, where chess became known as шахматы (shakhmaty, treated as a plural). The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe.[8] Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th century manuscript covering shatranj and backgammon and dice named the Libro de los juegos. Chess spread throughout the world and many variants of the game soon began taking shape.[9] Buddhist pilgrims, Silk Road traders and others carried it to the Far East where it was transformed and assimilated into a game often played on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.[9] [10] Chaturanga reached Europe through Persia, the Byzantine empire and the expanding Arabian empire.[11] Muslims carried chess to North Africa, Sicily, and Iberia by the 10th century.[9] The game was developed extensively in Europe, and by the late 15th century, it had survived a series of prohibitions and Christian Church sanctions to almost take the shape of the modern game.[12] Modern history saw reliable reference works,[13] competitive chess tournaments[14] and exciting new variants which added to the game's popularity,[14] further bolstered by reliable timing mechanisms (first introduced in 1861), effective rules[14] and charismatic players.[15]
228
History of chess
229
India The earliest precursor of modern chess is a game called chaturanga, which flourished in India by the 6th century, and is the earliest known game to have two essential features found in all later chess variations — different pieces having different powers (which was not the case with checkers and go), and victory depending on the fate of one piece, the king of modern chess.[9] Other game pieces (speculatively called "chess pieces") uncovered in archaeological findings are considered as coming from other, distantly related, board games, which may have had boards of 100 squares or more.[9] Findings in the Mohenjo-daro and Harappa (2600–1500 BCE) sites of the Indus Valley Civilization show a prevalence of a board game that resembles chess.[16]
Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga on an 8x8 Ashtāpada.
Chess was designed for an ashtāpada (Sanskrit for "having eight feet", i.e. an 8x8 squared board), which may have been used earlier for a backgammon-type race game (perhaps related to a dice-driven race game still played in south India where the track starts at the middle of a side and spirals in to the center).[17] Ashtāpada, the uncheckered 8×8 board served as the main board for playing Chaturanga.[18] Other Indian boards included the 10×10 Dasapada and the 9×9 Saturankam.[18] Traditional Indian chessboards often have X markings on some or all of squares a1 a4 a5 a8 d1 d4 d5 d8 e1 e4 e5 e8 h1 h4 h5 h8: these may have been "safe squares" where capturing was not allowed in a dice-driven backgammon-type race game played on the ashtāpada before chess was invented.[17] The Cox-Forbes theory, started in the late 19th century, mainly from the works of Captain Hiram Cox and Duncan Forbes, proposed that the four-handed game chaturaji was the original form of chaturanga.[19] Other scholars dispute this and say that the two-handed form was the first.[20] In Sanskrit, "chaturanga" (चतुरङ्ग) literally means "having four limbs (or parts)" and in epic poetry often means "army" (the four parts are elephants, chariots, horsemen, foot soldiers).[7] The name came from a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata.[9] The game Chaturanga was a battle simulation game[7] which rendered Indian military strategy of the time.[21] Some people formerly played chess using a die to decide which piece to move. There was an unproven theory that chess started as this dice-chess and that the gambling and dice aspects of the game were removed because of Hindu religious objections.[22] Scholars in areas to which the game subsequently spread, for example the Arab Abu al-Hasan 'Alī al-Mas'ūdī, detailed the Indian use of chess as a tool for military strategy, mathematics, gambling and even its vague association with astronomy.[23] Mas'ūdī notes that ivory in India was chiefly used for the production of chess and backgammon pieces, and asserts that the game was introduced to Persia from India, along with the book Kelileh va Demneh, during the reign of emperor Nushirwan.[23] In some variants, a win was by checkmate, or by stalemate, or by "bare king" (taking all of an opponent's pieces except the king). In some parts of India the pieces in the places of the Rook and Knight and Bishop were renamed by words meaning (in this order) Boat, Horse, Elephant, or Elephant, Horse, Camel, but keeping the same moves.[17] In early chess the moves of the pieces were: • King: as now. • Queen: one square diagonally, only. • Bishop: • In the version that went into Persia: two squares diagonally (no more or less), but could jump over a piece between
History of chess
230
• In a version sometimes found in India in former times: two squares sideways or front-and-back (no more or less), but could jump over a piece between. • In versions found in Southeast Asia: one square diagonally, or one square forwards. • Knight: as now. • Rook: as now. • Pawn: one square forwards (not two), capturing one square diagonally forward; promoted to queen only. Two Arab travelers each recorded a severe Indian chess rule against stalemate[24] : • A stalemated player thereby at once wins. • A stalemated king can take one of the enemy pieces that would check the king if the king moves.
Iran (Persia)
Iranian shatranj set, glazed fritware, 12th century. New York Metropolitan [25] Museum of Art.
Persian manuscript from the 14th century describing how an ambassador from India brought chess to the Persian court.
Shams-e-Tabrīzī as portrayed in a 1500 painting in a page of a copy of Rumi's poem dedicated to Shams.
The Karnamak-i Ardeshir-i Papakan, a Pahlavi epical treatise about the founder of the Sassanid Persian Empire, mentions the game of chatrang as one of the accomplishments of the legendary hero, Ardashir I, founder of the Empire.[26] The oldest recorded game in chess history is a 10th century game played between a historian from Baghdad and a pupil.[11] A manuscript explaining the rules of the game called "Matikan-i-chatrang" (the book of chess) in Middle Persian or Pahlavi still exists. In the 11th century Shahnameh, Ferdowsi describes a Raja visiting from India who re-enacts the past battles on the chessboard.[23] A translation in English, based on the manuscripts in the British Museum, is given below:[26] One day an ambassador from the king of Hind arrived at the Persian court of Chosroes, and after an oriental exchange of courtesies, the ambassador produced rich presents from his sovereign and amongst them was an elaborate board with curiously carved pieces of ebony and ivory. He then issued a challenge: "Oh great king, fetch your wise men and let them solve the mysteries of this game. If they succeed my master the king of Hind will pay tribute as an overlord, but if they fail it will be proof that the Persians are of lower intellect and we shall demand tribute from Iran." The courtiers were shown the board, and after a day and a night in deep thought one of them, Bozorgmehr, solved the mystery and was richly rewarded by his delighted sovereign. (Edward Lasker suggested that Bozorgmehr likely found the rules by bribing the Indian envoys.) The Shahnameh goes on to offer an apocryphal account of the origins of the game of chess in the story of Talhand and Gav, two half-brothers who vie for the throne of Hind (India). They meet in battle and Talhand dies on his elephant without a wound. Believing that Gav had killed Talhand, their mother is distraught. Gav tells his mother that Talhand did not die by the hands of him or his men, but she does not understand how this could be. So the sages
History of chess of the court invent the game of chess, detailing the pieces and how they move, to show the mother of the princes how the battle unfolded and how Talhand died of fatigue when surrounded by his enemies.[27] The poem uses the Persian term "Shāh māt" (check mate) to describe the fate of Talhand.[28] The appearance of the chess pieces had altered greatly since the times of chaturanga, with ornate pieces and chess pieces depicting animals giving way to abstract shapes.[29] The Islamic sets of later centuries followed a pattern which assigned names and abstract shapes to the chess pieces, as Islam forbids depiction of animals and human beings in art.[29] These pieces were usually made of simple clay and carved stone.[29]
East Asia China As a strategy board game played in China, chess is believed to have been derived from the Indian Chaturanga.[30] Chaturanga was transformed and assimilated into the game xiangqi where the pieces are placed on the intersection of the lines of the board rather than within the squares.[9] The object of the Chinese variation is similar to Chaturanga, i.e. to render helpless the opponent's king, sometimes known as general.[30] Chinese chess also borrows elements from the game of Go, which was played in China since at least the 6th century BC.[30] Owing to the influence of Go, Chinese chess is played on the intersections of the lines on the board, rather than in the squares.[30] Chinese chess pieces are usually flat and resemble those used in checkers, with pieces differentiated by writing their names on the flat surface.[30] An alternative origin theory contends that chess arose from Xiangqi or a predecessor thereof, existing in China since the 2nd century BC.[31] David H. Li, a retired accountant, professor of accounting and translator of ancient Chinese texts, hypothesizes that general Han Xin drew on the earlier game of Liubo to develop an early form of Chinese chess in the winter of 204–203 BC.[31] The German chess historian Peter Banaschak, however, points out that Li's main hypothesis "is based on virtually nothing". He notes that the "Xuanguai lu," authored by the Tang Dynasty minister Niu Sengru (779–847), remains the first real source on the Chinese chess variant xiangqi.[32]
Japan A prominent variant of chess in East Asia is the game of Shogi, transmitted from India to China and Korea before finally reaching Japan.[33] The two distinguishing features of Shogi are: 1) The captured pieces may be reused by the captor and played as a part of the captor's forces, and 2) Pawns capture as they move, one square straight ahead.[33]
Mongolia Chess is recorded from Mongolian-inhabited areas, where the pieces are now called: • • • • • •
King: - Noyon - Ноён - lord Queen - Bers / Nohoi - Бэрс / Нохой - dog (to guard the livestock) Bishop: - Temē - Тэмээ - camel Knight- Morĭ - Морь - horse Rook - Tereg - Тэрэг - cart Pawn - Hū - Хүү - boy (the piece often showed a puppy)
Names recorded from the 1880s by Russian sources, quoted in Murray,[17] among the Soyot people (who at the time spoke the Soyot Turkic language) include: merzé (dog), täbä (camel), ot (horse), ōl (child) and Mongolian names for the other pieces. The change with the Queen is likely due to the Arabic word firzān or Persian word farzīn (= "vizier") being confused with Turkic or Mongolian native words (merzé = "mastiff", bar or bars = "tiger", arslan = "lion").[17] Chess in Mongolia is now played following the usual international rules.
231
History of chess
East Siberia Chess was also recorded from the Yakuts, Tunguses, and Yukaghirs; but only as a children's game among the Chukchi. Chessmen have been collected from the Yakutat people in Alaska, having no resemblance to European chessmen, and thus likely part of a chess tradition coming from Siberia.[17]
Arab world Chess passed from Persia to the Arab world, where its name changed to Arabic shatranj. From there it passed to Western Europe, probably via Spain. Over the centuries, features of European chess (e.g. the modern moves of Queen and Bishop, and castling) found their way via trade into Islamic areas. Murray's[17] sources found the old moves of Queen and Bishop still current in Ethiopia.
Europe Early history Shatranj made its way via the expanding Islamic Arabian empire to Europe and the Byzantine empire.[11] Chess appeared in Southern Europe during the end of the first millennium, often introduced to new lands by conquering armies, such as the Norman Conquest of England.[12] Chess remained largely unpopular in Northern Europe but started gaining popularity as soon as figure pieces were introduced.[12] The sides are conventionally called White and Black. But, in earlier Knights Templar playing chess, Libro de los European chess writings, the sides were often called Red and Black juegos, 1283 because those were the commonly available colors of ink when handwriting drawing a chess game layout. In such layouts, each piece was represented by its name, often abbreviated (e.g. "ch'r" for French "chevalier" = "knight"). The social value attached to the game – seen as a prestigious pastime associated with nobility and high culture – is clear from the expensive and exquisitely made chessboards of the medieval era.[34] The popularity of chess in the Western courtly society peaked between the 12th and the 15th centuries.[35] The game found mention in the vernacular and Latin language literature throughout Europe, and many works were written on or about chess between the 12th and the 15th centuries.[35] Harold James Ruthven Murray divides the works into three distinct parts: the didactic works e.g. Alexander of Neckham's De scaccis (approx. 1180); works of morality like Liber de moribus hominum et officiis nobilium sive super ludo scacchorum (Book of the customs of men and the duties of nobles or the Book of Chess), written by Jacobus de Cessolis; and the works related to various chess problems, written largely after 1205.[35] Chess terms, like check, were used by authors as a metaphor for various situations.[36] Chess was soon incorporated into the knightly style of life in Europe.[37] Peter Alfonsi, in his work Disciplina Clericalis, listed chess among the seven skills that a good knight must acquire.[37] Chess also became a subject of art during this period, with caskets and pendants decorated in various chess forms.[38] Queen Margaret of England's green and red chess sets – made of jasper and crystal – symbolized chess's position in royal art treasures.[36] Kings Henry I, Henry II and Richard I of England were chess patrons.[9] Other monarchs who gained similar status were Alfonso X of Castile and Ivan IV of Russia.[9] Saint Peter Damian denounced the bishop of Florence in 1061 for playing chess even when aware of its evil effects on the society.[12] The bishop of Florence defended himself by declaring that chess involved skill and was therefore "unlike other games," and similar arguments followed in the coming centuries.[12] Two separate incidents in 13th century London involving men of Essex resorting to violence resulting in death as an outcome of playing chess
232
History of chess
233
further caused sensation and alarm.[12] The growing popularity of the game – now associated with revelry and violence – alarmed the Church.[12] The practice of playing chess for money became so widespread during the 13th century that Louis IX of France issued an ordinance against gambling in 1254.[34] This ordinance turned out to be unenforceable and was largely neglected by the common public, and even the courtly society, which continued to enjoy the now prohibited chess tournaments uninterrupted.[34] By the mid-12th century, the pieces of the chess set were depicted as kings, queens, bishops, knights and men at arms.[39] Chessmen made of ivory began to appear in North-West Europe, and ornate pieces of traditional knight warriors were used as early as the mid 13th century.[40] The initially nondescript pawn had now found association with the pedes, pedinus, or the footman, which symbolized both infantry and loyal domestic service.[39] The following table provides a glimpse of the changes in names and character of chess pieces as they transitioned from India through Persia to Europe:[41] [42]
A comparison of the terms for chessmen in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Catalan Sanskrit
Arabic
Latin
English
Spanish
Persian
Italian
French
Catalan
Portuguese
Raja (King)
Shah
Malik
Rex
King
Rey
Rei
Re
Roi
Rei
Mantri (Minister)
Vazīr (Vizir)
Wazīr/Firz
Regina
Queen
Dama
Rainha
Regina
Reine
Dama/Reina
Gajah (war elephant)
Pil
Al-Fīl
Episcopus/Comes/Calvus Bishop/Count/Councillor Alfil/Obispo Bispo
Alfiere
Fou
Alfil
Ashva (horse)
Asp
Fars/Hisan
Miles/Eques
Cavallo
Chevalier Cavall
Ratha (chariot)
Rokh
Tour
Padati Piadeh (footman/footsoldier)
Knight
Caballo
Qal`a/Rukhkh Rochus/Marchio
Rook/Margrave
Torre/Roque Torre
Torre/Rocco
Baidaq/Jondi
Pawn
Peón
Pedone/Pedina Pion
Pedes/Pedinus
Cavalo
Peão
Torre Peó
The game, as played during the early Middle Ages, was slow, with many games lasting for days.[12] Some variations in rules began to change the shape of the game by 1300 AD.[43] A notable, but initially unpopular, change was the ability of the pawn to move two places in the first move instead of one.[43] In Europe some of the pieces gradually got new names: • Fers: "queen", because it starts beside the King. • Aufin: "bishop", because its two points looked like a bishop's mitre; In French fou; and others. Its Latin name alfinus was reinterpreted many ways.
History of chess
234
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Check by pinned piece • Queen once moving two squares with jump, diagonally or straight. This right was sometimes extended to a new queen made by promoting a pawn. • The short assize. ("assize" = "sitting".) Here the pawns started on the third rank; the queens started on d3 and d6 along with the queens' pawns; the players arranged their other pieces as they wished behind their pawns at the start of the game. This idea did not endure.[17] Attempts to make the start of the game run faster to get the opposing pieces in contact sooner included: • Pawn moving two squares in its first move. This led to the en passant rule: a pawn placed so that it could have captured the enemy pawn if it had moved one square forward was allowed to capture it on the passed square. In Italy, the contrary rule (passar battaglia = "to pass battle") applied: a pawn that moved two squares forward had passed the danger of attack on the intermediate square. It was sometimes not allowed to do this to cover check.[44] • King jumping once, to make it quicker to put the king safe in a corner. (This eventually led to castling.) Other sporadic variations in the rules of chess included: • Ignoring check from a piece which was covering check, as some said that in theory (in the diagram on the right), B x K would allow R x K in reply.[17]
Origins of the modern game The queen and bishop remained relatively weak until[12] between 1475 AD and 1500 AD, in either Spain, Portugal, France or Italy, the queen's and bishop's modern moves started and spread, making chess close to its modern form. This form of chess got such names as "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess" (Italian alla rabiosa = "with the madwoman").[45] This led to much more value being attached to the previously minor tactic of pawn promotion.[17] Checkmate became easier and games could now be won in fewer moves.[43] [46] These new rules quickly spread throughout Western Europe and in Spain,[47] [48] with the exception of the rules about stalemate, which were finalized in the early 19th century.[49] In some areas (e.g. Russia), the queen could also move like a knight. A poem Caïssa published in 1527 led to the chess rook being often renamed as "castle", and the modern shape of the Rook chess piece; see Vida's poem for more information. An Italian player, Gioacchino Greco, regarded as one of the first true professionals of the game, authored an analysis of a number of composed games that illustrated two differing approaches to chess.[13] This influential work went to some extent in popularizing chess and demonstrated the many theories regarding game play and tactics.[13]
History of chess
235
The first full work dealing with the various winning combinations was written by François-André Danican Philidor of France, regarded as the best chess player in the world for nearly 50 years, and published in the 18th century.[13] He wrote and published L'Analyse des échecs (The Analysis of Chess), an influential work which appeared in more than 100 editions.[13]
A woodcut drawn from Caxton's chess book printed in England in 1474
A tactical puzzle from Lucena's 1497 book
"Marguerite d'Alençon et son frère François d'Angoulême jouant aux échecs" from the book Échecs amoureux, 16th century
Portrait of François-André Danican Philidor from L’analyse des échecs. London, second edition, 1777
Original Staunton chess pieces by Nathaniel Cook from 1849
Writings about the theory of how to play chess began to appear in the 15th century. The oldest surviving printed chess book, Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez (Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess) by Spanish churchman Luis Ramirez de Lucena was published in Salamanca in 1497.[47] Lucena and later masters like Portuguese Pedro Damiano, Italians Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona, Giulio Cesare Polerio and Gioachino Greco or Spanish bishop Ruy López de Segura developed elements of openings and started to analyze simple endgames. In the 18th century the center of European chess life moved from the Southern European countries to France. The two most important French masters were François-André Danican Philidor, a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais who won a famous series of matches with the Irish master Alexander McDonnell in 1834.[50] Centers of chess life in this period were coffee houses in big European cities like Café de la Régence in Paris[51] and Simpson's Divan in London.[52] As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many chess clubs, chess books and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example the London Chess Club played against the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1824.[53] Chess problems became a regular part of 19th century newspapers; Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling and Samuel Loyd composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, von der Lasa published his and Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory.
History of chess
Modern competition-style chess Competitive chess became visible in 1834, and the 1851 London Chess tournament raised concerns about the time taken by the players to deliberate their moves. On recording time it was found that players often took hours to analyze moves, and one player took as much as two hours and 20 minutes to think over a single move at the London tournament. The following years saw the development of speed chess, five-minute chess and the most popular variant, a version allowing a bank of time to each player in which to play a previously agreed number of moves, e.g. two hours for 30 moves. In the final variant, the player who made the predetermined number of moves in the agreed time received additional time budget for his next moves. Penalties for exceeding a time limit came in form of fines and forfeiture. Since fines were easy to bear for professional players, forfeiture became the only effective penalty; this added "lost on time" to the traditional means of losing such as checkmate and resigning.[14] In 1861 the first time limits, using sandglasses, were employed in a tournament match at Bristol, England. The sandglasses were later replaced by pendulums. Modern clocks, consisting of two parallel timers with a small button for a player to press after completing a move, were later employed to aid the players. A tiny latch called a flag further helped settle arguments over players exceeding time limit at the turn of the 19th century.[14] A Russian composer, Vladimir Korolkov, authored a work entitled Stamp of the USSR devoted to the accomplished "Excelsior" in 1958 in which the White side wins only by making six Estonian player and analyst Paul Keres, 1991. [15] consecutive captures by a pawn. Position analysis became particularly popular in the 19th century.[15] Many leading players were also accomplished analysts, including Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov and Jan Timman.[15] Digital clocks appeared in the 1980s.[14] Another problem that arose in competitive chess was when adjourning a game for a meal break or overnight. The player who moved last before adjournment would be at a disadvantage, as the other player would have a long period to analyze before having to make a reply when the game was resumed. Preventing access to a chess set to work out moves during the adjournment would not stop him from analyzing the position in his head. Various strange ideas were attempted, but the eventual solution was the "sealed move". The final move before adjournment is not made on the board but instead is written on a piece of paper which the referee seals in an envelope and keeps safe. When the game is continued after adjournment, the referee makes the sealed move and the players resume.
Birth of a sport (1850–1945) The first modern chess tournament was held in London in 1851 and won, surprisingly, by German Adolf Anderssen, relatively unknown at the time. Anderssen was hailed as the leading chess master and his brilliant, energetic attacking style became typical for the time, although it was later regarded as strategically shallow.[54] [55] Sparkling games like Anderssen's Immortal game and Evergreen Game or Morphy's Opera game were regarded as the highest possible summit of the chess art.[56] Deeper insight into the nature of chess came with two younger players. American Paul Morphy, an extraordinary chess prodigy, won against all important competitors, including Anderssen, during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863. Morphy's success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy; he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks.[57] Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz later described how to avoid weaknesses in one's own position and how to create and exploit such weaknesses in the opponent's position.[58] In addition to his theoretical achievements, Steinitz founded an important tradition: his triumph over the leading Polish-German master Johannes Zukertort in 1886 is regarded as the first official World Chess Championship. Steinitz lost his crown in 1894 to a much younger German mathematician Emanuel Lasker, who maintained this title for 27 years, the longest tenure of
236
History of chess
237
all World Champions.[59] It took a prodigy from Cuba, José Raúl Capablanca (World champion 1921–27), who loved simple positions and endgames, to end the German-speaking dominance in chess; he was undefeated in tournament play for eight years until 1924. His successor was Russian-French Alexander Alekhine, a strong attacking player, who died as the World champion in 1946, having briefly lost the title to Dutch player Max Euwe in 1935 and regaining it two years later.[60] Between the world wars, chess was revolutionized by the new theoretical school of so-called hypermodernists like Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. They advocated controlling the center of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, inviting opponents to occupy the center with pawns which become objects of attack.[61]
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Chess Champion
Since the end of 19th century, the number of annually held master tournaments and matches quickly grew. Some sources state that in 1914 the title of chess grandmaster was first formally conferred by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall, but this is a disputed claim.[62] The tradition of awarding such titles was continued by the World Chess Federation (FIDE), founded in 1924 in Paris. In 1927, Women's World Chess Championship was established; the first to hold it was Czech-English master Vera Menchik.[63]
Post-war era (1945 and later) After the death of Alekhine, a new World Champion was sought in a tournament of elite players ruled by FIDE, who have controlled the title since then, with one interruption. The winner of the 1948 tournament, Russian Mikhail Botvinnik, started an era of Soviet dominance in the chess world. Until the end of the Soviet Union, there was only one non-Soviet champion, American Bobby Fischer (champion 1972–1975).[64] In the previous informal system, the World Champion decided which challenger he would play for the title and the challenger was forced to seek sponsors for the match.[65] FIDE set up a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches. The world's strongest players were seeded into "Interzonal tournaments", where they were joined by players who had qualified from "Zonal tournaments". The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play the reigning champion for the title. A champion defeated in a match had a right to play a rematch a year later. This system worked on a three-year cycle.[65] World Champions José Raúl Capablanca (left) and Emanuel Lasker in 1925
Botvinnik participated in championship matches over a period of fifteen years. He won the world championship tournament in 1948 and retained the title in tied matches in 1951 and 1954. In 1957, he lost to Vasily Smyslov, but regained the title in a rematch in 1958. In 1960, he lost the title to the Latvian prodigy Mikhail Tal, an accomplished tactician and attacking player. Botvinnik again regained the title in a rematch in 1961. Following the 1961 event, FIDE abolished the automatic right of a deposed champion to a rematch, and the next champion, Armenian Tigran Petrosian, a genius of defense and strong positional player, was able to hold the title for two cycles, 1963–1969. His successor, Boris Spassky from Russia (1969–1972), was a player able to win in both positional and sharp tactical style.[66]
History of chess
238
The next championship, the so-called Match of the Century, saw the first non-Soviet challenger since World War II, American Bobby Fischer, who defeated his Candidates opponents by unheard-of margins and clearly won the world championship match. In 1975, however, Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov when FIDE refused to meet his demands, and Karpov obtained the title by default. Karpov defended his title twice against Viktor Korchnoi and dominated the 1970s and early 1980s with a string of tournament successes.[67] Karpov's reign finally ended in 1985 at the hands of another Russian player, Garry Kasparov. Kasparov and Karpov contested five world title matches between 1984 and 1990; Karpov never won his title back.[68]
Current World Champion Viswanathan Anand
In 1993, Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short broke with FIDE to organize their own match for the title and formed a competing Professional Chess Association (PCA). From then until 2006, there were two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships: the PCA or Classical champion extending the Steinitzian tradition in which the current champion plays a challenger in a series of many games; the other following FIDE's new format of many players competing in a tournament to determine the champion. Kasparov lost his Classical title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Earlier in 1999, Kasparov as the reigning world champion played a game online against the world team composed of more than 50,000 participants from more than 75 countries. The moves of the world team were decided by plurality vote, and after 62 moves played over four months Kasparov won the game. The number of ideas, the complexity, and the contribution it has made to chess theory make it one of the most important chess games ever played.[69] The FIDE World Chess Championship 2006 reunified the titles, when Kramnik beat the FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and became the undisputed World Chess Champion.[70] In September 2007, Viswanathan Anand from India became the next champion by winning a championship tournament.[71] In October 2008, Anand retained his title, decisively winning the rematch against Kramnik.[72]
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
"The History Of Chess" (http:/ / www. thechesszone. com/ history_of_chess). ChessZone. . Retrieved 29 March 2011. Leibs (2004), page 92 Forbes (1860) Robinson & Estes (1996), page34 Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936317-01-9. OCLC 13472872. [6] Davidson, Hooper & Whyld, and Golombek all give this correspondence. Bird (pp 4, 46) exchanges the bishop and rook. [7] Meri 2005: 148 [8] Hooper and Whyld, 144-45 (first edition) [9] Chess: Ancient precursors and related games (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) [10] Remus, Horst, "The Origin of Chess and the Silk Road" (http:/ / www. silk-road. com/ newsletter/ volumeonenumberone/ origin. html), The Silk Road journal, The Silkroad Foundation, v.1(1), January 15, 2003. [11] Chess: Introduction to Europe (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007) [12] Riddler 1998 [13] Chess: Development of Theory (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) [14] Chess: The time element and competition (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) [15] Chess: Chess composition (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) [16] Gupta, K.R.; Gupta, Amita.(2006). Concise Encyclopaedia of India, Volume 3 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Efgu1BwmeCQC). Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. pp. 964. [17] A History of Chess, bottom of p.311, by H.J.R.Murray, publ. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
History of chess [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39]
Wilkins 2002: 46 Encyclopedia Britannica (Ninth Edition) Hooper 1992: 74 Kulke 2004: 9 Wilkins 2002: 48 Wilkinson 1943 A History of Chess See the chess set's page (http:/ / www. metmuseum. org/ toah/ hd/ nish/ ho_1971. 193a-ff. htm) on the Museum's website. Bell 1979: 57 Warner & Warner 2008, p. 394-402. Yalom 2004, p. 5. Chess: Set design (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007) Chinese chess (Encyclopedia Britannica 2007) Li 1998 Banaschak: A story well told is not necessarily true - being a critical assessment of David H. Li's "The Genealogy of Chess" Shogi (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) Vale 2001: 172 Gamer 1954 Vale 2001: 177 Vale 2001: 171 Vale 2001: 152 Vale 2001: 173
[40] Vale 2001: 151 [41] Vale 2001: 174 [42] Murray, H. J. R.: 1913 [43] Chess (History): Standardization of rules (Encyclopedia Britannica 2002) [44] Murray, Harold James Ruthven (1952). "6: Race-Games". A History of Board-Games Other than Chess. Hacker Art Books. ISBN 0-87817-211-4. [45] Murray (1913) p.777 [46] Davidson (1981), p. 13–17 [47] Calvo, Ricardo. Valencia Spain: The Cradle of European Chess (http:/ / www. goddesschess. com/ chessays/ ricardovalencia. html). Retrieved 10 December 2006 [48] An analysis from the feminist perspective: Weissberger, Barbara F. (2004). Isabel Rules: constructing queenship, wielding power. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-4164-1. OCLC 217447754. P. 152ff [49] See History of the stalemate rule. [50] Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnai. (http:/ / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessplayer?pid=31596) Chessgames.com. Retrieved 30 November 2006. [51] Metzner, Paul (1998). Crescendo of the Virtuoso: Spectacle, Skill, and Self-Promotion in Paris during the Age of Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20684-3. OCLC 185289629. Online version (http:/ / ark. cdlib. org/ ark:/ 13030/ ft438nb2b6/ ) [52] Bird, Henry Edward. Chess History and Reminiscences (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ etext/ 4902). Retrieved 10 December 2006 [53] London Chess Club. (http:/ / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessplayer?pid=80740) Chessgames.com. Retrieved 30 November 2006. [54] World Title Matches and Tournaments - Chess history. (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 2006/ worldchessnetwork. com/ English/ chessHistory/ salute/ matchesTournaments/ london1851. php) worldchessnetwork.com [55] Hartston, W. (1985). The Kings of Chess. Pavilion Books Limited. p. 36. ISBN 0-06-015358-X. [56] Burgess, Graham, Nunn, John and Emms, John (1998). The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-0587-6. OCLC 40209258., p. 14. [57] Shibut, Macon (2004). Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-43574-1. OCLC 55639730. [58] Steinitz, William and Landsberger, Kurt (2002). The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1193-7. OCLC 48550929. [59] Kasparov (1983a) [60] Kasparov 1983b [61] Fine (1952) [62] This is stated for example in The Encyclopaedia of Chess (1970, p.223) by Anne Sunnucks, but this is also disputed by Edward Winter (chess historian) in his Chess Notes 5144 and 5152 (http:/ / 72. 14. 205. 104/ search?q=cache:Uv0K9qUrveUJ:www. chesshistory. com/ winter/ winter38. html+ site:chesshistory. com/ winter+ Grandmaster+ Tsar& hl=en& ct=clnk& cd=1& gl=us). [63] Menchik at ChessGames.com (http:/ / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessplayer?pid=13277). Retrieved 11 December 2006 [64] Kasparov 2003b, 2004a, 2004b, 2006 [65] "Chess History" (http:/ / www. thechessplace. com/ page/ 976499). . Retrieved 2008-01-07.
239
History of chess [66] Kasparov 2003b, 2004a [67] Kasparov 2003a, 2006 [68] Keene, Raymond (1993). Gary Kasparov's Best Games. B. T. Batsford Ltd.. ISBN 0-7134-7296-0. OCLC 29386838., p. 16. [69] Harding, T. (2002). 64 Great Chess Games, Dublin: Chess Mail. ISBN 0-9538536-4-0. [70] Kramnik at ChessGames.com (http:/ / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessplayer?pid=12295). Retrieved 13 December 2006 [71] "Viswanathan Anand regains world chess title" (http:/ / in. reuters. com/ article/ sportsNews/ idINIndia-29785520070930). Reuters. 2007-09-30. . Retrieved 2007-12-13. [72] "Anand draws 11th game, wins world chess title" (http:/ / ibnlive. in. com/ news/ anand-draws-11th-game-wins-world-chess-title/ 77005-5. html?from=rssfeed). IBN Live. October 29, 2008. . Retrieved 2008-12-17.
References Encyclopedia Britannica • • • • •
"Chess: Ancient precursors and related games.". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. "Chess: Development of Theory". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. "Chess: The time element and competition". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. "Chess: Chess composition". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002. "Chess (History): Standardization of rules". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002.
• "Chess: Set design." (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80432/chess). Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-28. • "Chess: Introduction to Europe" (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-80430/chess). Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-28. • "Chinese chess" (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9024151). Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-28. • "Shogi". Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2002.
WWW • Banaschak, Peter. "A story well told is not necessarily true : a critical assessment of David H. Li's The Genealogy of Chess " (http://www.banaschak.net/schach/ligenealogyofchess.htm).
Books • Bell, Robert Charles (1979). Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0486238555. • Bird, Henry Edward (1893). Chess History and Reminiscences. London. (Republished version by Forgotten Books). ISBN 1-60620-897-7. • Davidson, Henry A. (1949, 1981). A Short History of Chess. McKay. ISBN 0-679-14550-8. OCLC 17340178. • Forbes, Duncan (1860). The History of Chess: From the Time of the Early Invention of the Game in India Till the Period of Its Establishment in Western and Central Europe (http://books.google.com/ books?id=Oa4UAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover). London: W. H. Allen & Co. • Golombek, Harry (1977). Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess. Crown Publishing. ISBN 0-517-53146-1 • Harding, Tim (2003). Better Chess for Average Players. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-29029-8. OCLC 33166445. • Hooper, David Vincent; Whyld, Kenneth (1992). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198661649. • Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth (1992). The Oxford Companion to Chess, Second edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866164-9. OCLC 25508610. Reprint: (1996) ISBN 0-19-280049-3 • Kasparov, Garry (2003a). My Great Predecessors, part I. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-330-6. OCLC 223602528.
240
History of chess • Kasparov, Garry (2003b). My Great Predecessors, part II. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-342-X. OCLC 223906486. • Kasparov, Garry (2004a). My Great Predecessors, part III. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-371-3. OCLC 52949851. • Kasparov, Garry (2004b). My Great Predecessors, part IV. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-395-0. OCLC 52949851. • Kasparov, Garry (2006). My Great Predecessors, part V. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-404-3. OCLC 52949851. • Kulke, Hermann; Dietmar Rothermund (2004). A History of India. Routledge. ISBN 0415329205. • Leibs, Andrew (2004). Sports and Games of the Renaissance. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32772-6 • Li, David H. (1998). The Genealogy of Chess. Premier Pub. Co. ISBN 0-9637852-2-2. • Meri, Josef W. (2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 0415966906. • Murray, H. J. R. (1913). A History of Chess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-827403-3. • Musser Golladay, Sonja, "Los Libros de acedrex dados e tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X’s Book of Games" (http://etd.library.arizona.edu/etd/GetFileServlet?file=file:/// data1/pdf/etd/azu_etd_2444_1_m.pdf&type=application/pdf) (PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2007) • Needham, Joseph (1962). "Thoughts on The Origin of Chess" (http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/ needham1.html). • Needham, Joseph; Ronan, Colin A. (June 1985). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521315364. • Needham, Joseph; Ronan, Colin A. (July 1986). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521315603. • Robinson, Dindy & Estes, Rebecca (1996). World Cultures Through Art Activities. New Hampshire: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-56308-271-3 • Vale, M. G. A. (2001). The Princely Court: Medieval Courts and Culture in North-West Europe, 1270-1380. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199269939. • Wilkins, Sally (2002). Sports and Games of Medieval Cultures. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313317119. • Yalom, Marilyn (2004). Birth of the Chess Queen: a History (Illustrated ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 0060090642. • Firdausí (1915). The Sháhnámá of Firdausí (http://www.archive.org/stream/shahnama07firduoft#page/n7/ mode/2up). VII. Trans. Warner, Arthur George & Warner, Edmond. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.. ISBN 0415245451.
Journals • Anand, Viswanathan, "The Indian Defense" (http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/ 0,28804,1815747_1815707_1815674,00.html), TIME, Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008. An article on the history of chess by the 2007-10 chess world champion. • Gamer, Helena M. (October 1954). "The Earliest Evidence of Chess in Western Literature: The Einsiedeln Verses". Speculum (Medieval Academy of America) 29 (4): 734–750. doi:10.2307/2847098. JSTOR 2847098. • Gordon, Stewart (July/August 2009). "The Game of Kings" (http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/ 200904/the.game.of.kings.htm). Saudi Aramco World (Houston: Aramco Services Company) 60 (4): 18–23. ( PDF version (http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/pdf/2000/200904.pdf)) • Riddler, Ian; Denison, Simon (February 1998). "When there is no end to a good game" (http://www.britarch.ac. uk/ba/ba31/ba31feat.html). British Archaeology (United Kingdom: Council for British Archaeology) (31). ISSN 1357-4442 • Wilkinson, Charles K (May 1943). "Chessmen and Chess" (http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/ chessmenandchess.html). The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) New
241
History of chess Series 1 (9): 271–279. doi:10.2307/3257111. JSTOR 3257111. • Wilkinson, Charles K. (May 1943). "Chessmen and Chess". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) New Series, Vol. 1, No. 9 (9): 271–279. doi:10.2307/3257111. JSTOR 3257111.
External links • Origin and history of Chess, Xiangqi, Shogi and more (http://history.chess.free.fr/) • Chess. (2007). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved July 30, 2007, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online (http:/ /www.britannica.com/ebc/article-80429) • "Chess," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007 (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565896_3/ Chess.html#s18) ( Archived (http://www.webcitation.org/5kwqozOV2) 2009-10-31) • Initiative group Koenigstein (http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-jostenge/) • Goddess Chess Chessays (http://www.goddesschess.com/chessays/chessaystoc.html) • Chess for all ages (http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/caa-hist.htm) • Alfonso X y el ajedrez - Alfonso X and Chess (http://knol.google.com/k/braulio-vázquez-campos/ alfonso-x-y-el-ajedrez/1nt2tw69bo2xt/13?hl=en#/)
Cox-Forbes theory The Cox-Forbes theory is a long-debunked theory on the evolution of chess put forward by Captain Hiram Cox and extended by Professor Duncan Forbes (1798–1868). The theory states that a four-handed dice-chess game (Chaturaji) was originated in India in approximately 3000 BC; and that arising from the results of certain rules, or the difficulty in getting enough players, the game evolved into a two-handed game (Chaturanga). On account of religious and legal objections in Hinduism to gambling, the dice were dropped from the game, making it a game purely of skill. In Forbes' explanation, he calls the four-handed dice version Chaturanga and insists that Chaturaji is a misnomer that actually refers to a victory condition in the game akin to checkmate. In his 1860 account, the players in opposite corners are allies against the other team of two players. He represents this "Chaturanga" as gradually developing into the two-player diceless form by the time it was adopted by the Persians as "Chatrang". He further asserts that this name later became "Shatranj" after the Arabic pronunciation. The theory was allegedly based on evidence in the Indian text Bhavishya Purana, but more recent study of the work has shown the evidence to be weaker than previously thought. The earliest Puranas are now assigned a more conservative date of 500 BC, rather than 3000 BC. As a result, the theory is now rejected by all serious chess historians. Albrecht Weber (1825–1901) and Dutch chess historian Antonius van der Linde (1833–1897) found that the Purana quoted by Forbes did not even contain the references he claimed. While working on Geschichte und Litteratur des Schachspiels (Berlin, 1874, two vols.), Van der Linde also found that the actual text around which Forbes had built his entire theory (Tithitattva of Raghunandana) was actually from around AD 1500, rather than 3000 BC as claimed by Forbes. Van der Linde thought that Forbes deliberately lied, and was furious. John Griswold White wrote in 1898, "He did not even make good use of the material known to him." (Hooper & Whyld 1992, pp. 143, 226–7)
242
Cox-Forbes theory
References • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (2 ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 143, 226–7, ISBN 0-19-280049-3 • The History of Chess, 1860, by Duncan Forbes [1] - complete original text • Chaturanga [2] - website debunking Cox-Forbes
References [1] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Oa4UAAAAYAAJ& client=firefox-a [2] http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ chaturanga. htm
Liubo Liubo (Chinese: 六博; pinyin: liù bó; Wade–Giles: liu po; literally "six sticks") is an ancient Chinese board game played by two players. For the rules, it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, symmetrical pattern. Moves were determined by the throw of six sticks, which performed the same function as dice in other race games. The game was invented no later than the A pair of Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD) ceramic tomb figurines of two middle of the 1st millennium BCE, and was gentlemen playing liubo immensely popular during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE). However, after the Han Dynasty it rapidly declined in popularity, possibly due to the rise in popularity of the game of Go, and it eventually became almost totally forgotten. Knowledge of the game has increased in recent years with archeological discoveries of Liubo game boards and game equipment in ancient tombs, as well as discoveries of Han Dynasty picture stones and picture bricks depicting Liubo players.
243
Liubo
244
History
Mural from an Easter Han Dynasty tomb at Luoyang, Henan showing a pair of Liubo players in the foreground, the player on the right with his right hand raised up as if about to throw down the six throwing sticks.
It is not known when the game of Liubo originated, although according to legend it was invented by Wu Cao (烏曹, called Wu Zhou 烏胄 in the early 2nd century CE Shuowen Jiezi dictionary), a minister to King Jie, the last king of the Xia Dynasty, who according to traditional chronology reigned 1728 BCE – 1675 BCE.[1] Although there is no archeological or reliable documentary evidence to support the view that Liubo dates back to the Shang Dynasty (1600 BCE–1046 BCE), early Chinese records do indicate that Liubo was already a popular game by the Warring States Period (476 BCE – 221 BCE). For example, the Records of the Grand Historian records a speech made during the reign of King Xuan of Qi (reigned 319 BCE – 301 BCE) that claims that the capital city of Linzi was so wealthy that its citizens were all able to indulge in activities such as playing musical instruments, cock fighting, dog racing, playing Liubo and playing kick ball.[2] The game of Liubo is also described in the mid 3rd century BCE poem Summons of the Soul (Zhao Hun 招魂) in the
Songs of Chu: Then with bamboo dice and ivory pieces the game of Liu Bo is begun; Sides are taken; they advance together; keenly they threaten each other. Pieces are kinged and the scoring doubled. Shouts of ‘five white!’ arise.[3] The earliest Liubo boards to have been discovered are a pair of ornately decorated stone boards from a 4th century BCE tomb in the royal tomb complex of the State of Zhongshan at Pingshan in Hebei.[4] The game reached its greatest popularity during the Han Dynasty, as is evidenced by the discovery of many examples of Liubo boards or sets of Liubo game pieces as grave goods in high status tombs dating to the Han Dynasty. Pottery or wooden figurines of players with model Liubo boards have also been discovered in some Han tombs.[5] [6] Engraved picture stones (畫像石) and moulded picture bricks (畫像磚) that were widely used to decorate tombs and temples during the Eastern Han period (25–220 CE) also frequently depict people playing Liubo, sometimes as a small part of a complex Eastern Han glazed pottery tomb figurines playing Liubo, scene depicting many different activities, but sometimes as the with six sticks laid out to the side of the game board focal point of the scene, with the players attended by servants and playing in the cool of a pavilion. Some picture stones and engravings on stone coffins, especially those from the area of modern Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, show two winged immortals playing Liubo on a mountain, usually as part of a larger scene depicting the Queen Mother of the West and various mythical animals. After the end of the Han Dynasty the game seems to have lost its poularity, and there are no known examples of Liubo funerary ware or depictions of Liubo playing later than the Jin Dynasty (265–420). Although the game is still occasionally referred to in some historical sources and in poetry as late as the Tang Dynasty (618–907), it seems that Liubo had been largely displaced by the game of Go. By the time of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) all knowledge
Liubo of the game of Liubo had been lost, and it is only with the archeological discoveries of recent years that the game has become better known. There is some evidence that the game of Liubo spread to beyond the confines of China. The Old Book of Tang mentions that Tibetans enjoyed playing both the game of Go and Liubo,[7] but although ancient Tibetan Go boards have been discovered, no examples of Tibetan Liubo boards are known.[8] The Chinese version of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra also mentions the playing of several games, including Liubo, which some have taken as evidence that Liubo was transmitted to India. However, to date no examples of Liubo boards have been found outside of China.
Equipment Liubo boards and game equipment are often found as grave goods in tombs from the Han Dynasty. Various types and sizes of Liubo board have been unearthed, made from a variety of materials, including wood, lacquered wood, pottery, stone and bronze. Some of the boards are simple square slabs of stone or wood, but others are supported by knobs at the four corners, and some are built as tables with long legs. Regardless of their size or shape, the common feature of all Liubo boards is the distinctive pattern that is carved or painted on their surface:
All excavated boards have the angular V-shaped marks at the corners and L-shaped marks at the center of the edges, as well as the central square and T-shaped protrusions, and most boards also have four marks (usually circular but sometimes a decorative pattern) between the corner mark and the central square. However, on some boards each circular mark is replaced by a straight line joining the corner mark to the corner of the inner square, and in a few cases there is no mark between the corner and the square at all.
245
Liubo
In many tombs only the Liubo board has survived (especially if made of stone or bronze), and it can be assumed that any associated game pieces have decayed, whereas in other cases the game pieces (which are often made of ivory) have survived but the Liubo board (which is often made of wood or lacquer) has rotted away. However, in 1973 a unique, complete set of Liubo equipment in a lacquer box was discovered in a 2nd century BCE tomb at Mawangdui (believed to be that of the son of the Marquis of Dai). This Liubo set comprises the following items (the Chinese description of the items in the inventory of grave goods that was found in the tomb are given in brackets):[9] • 1 lacquered wooden game box (45.0 × 45.0 × 17.0 cm.) [博一具]
246
A lacquered Chinese liubo board game set excavated from Tomb No. 3 of Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the 2nd century BCE during the Western Han Dynasty.
• 1 lacquered wooden game board (45.0 × 45.0 × 1.2 cm.) [博局一] • 12 cuboid ivory game pieces (4,2 × 2.2 × 2.3 cm.), six black and six white [象其十二] • 20 ivory game pieces (2.9 × 1.7 × 1.0 cm.) [象直食其廿] • 30 rod-shaped ivory counting chips (16.4 cm. long) [象筭三十枚] • 12 ivory throwing rods (22.7 cm. long) [象□□□□ (last four characters obliterated)] • 1 ivory knife (22.0 cm. long) [象割刀一] • 1 ivory scraper (17.2 cm. long) [象削一] • 1 eighteen-sided die with the numbers "1" through "16" and characters meaning "win" and "lose" [not listed in the inventory] The six black and six white game pieces are the main game pieces to be moved around the board, and similar sets of cubic or cuboid game pieces made from ivory, jadeite or rock crystal have been found in several other tombs. In at least one case the game pieces are not distinguished by colour, but by having an engraving of a tiger on the pieces of one set and an engraving of a dragon on the pieces of the other set.[10] The twelve long rods are two sets of the six throwing sticks that the players use to determine their moves, and which the game is named after (Liubo="six sticks"). Most Han stone pictures of Six jadeite Liubo game pieces from the tomb of King Zhao Mo of Nanyue (reigned 137 BC – 122 BC) Liubo show the players throwing sticks onto a mat between themselves (with the Liubo board to the side of the mat), and ceramic model Liubo sets such as the one excavated in 1972 from Lingbao in Henan province show six sticks lined up neatly between the two players.[11] Sets of thirty rod-shaped counting chips have also been found in association with Liubo sets from other tombs.[12] However, the twenty ivory game pieces and the eighteen-sided die in the Mawangdui set are not typically associated with Liubo boards in other tombs, and it is possible that they were not used for playing Liubo, but were equipment for a different game. A similar eighteen-sided die with numbers "1" through "16", "win" and "take a drink" was found in association with two sets of twenty copper, coin-shaped tokens (one set inscribed "Number 1" through "Number 20", and the other set inscribed with three-character lines of poetry) in a Han tomb at Mancheng County in Hebei. No Liubo board or Liubo game pieces were found in the tomb, and because of the inscription "take a drink" (酒來) on one face of the die, the die and sets of tokens are supposed to have been used for a drinking game.[13]
Liubo
247
Rules The exact rules of the game of Liubo are not known, and some of the surviving descriptions of the game are conflicting, which suggests that the game may have been played according to different rules at different times or in different places. The most complete description of the rules of Liubo occurs in a quotation from the lost Book of Ancient Bo (古博經) in a commentary by Zhang Zhan (張湛) to the Book of Liezi that was written during the Jin Dynasty (265–420): Method of play: Two people sit facing each other over a board, and the board is divided into twelve paths, A close-up view of the board game with game pieces from the Eastern Han tomb model set with two ends, and an area called the "water" in the middle. Twelve game pieces are used, which according to the ancient rules are six white and six black. There are also two "fish" pieces, which are placed in the water. The throwing of the dice is done with a jade. The two players take turns to throw the dice and move their pieces. When a piece has been moved to a certain place it is stood up on end, and called an "owl (梟or驍) ". Thereupon it can enter the water and eat a fish, which is also called "pulling a fish". Every time a player pulls a fish he gets two tokens, and if he pulls two fish in a row he gets three tokens [for the second fish]. If a player has already pulled two fish but does not win it is called double-pulling a pair of fish. When one player wins six tokens the game is won. Another, somewhat later source, The Family Instructions of Master Yan by Yan Zhitui (531–591) states that there were two variants of Liubo, "Greater Bo" (大博) which was played with six throwing sticks, and "Lesser Bo" (小博) which was played with two dice:[14] The ancient Greater Bo used six sticks, whereas Lesser Bo used two dice. Nowadays there is no-one who knows how to play, but in those days when it was played it used one die and twelve game pieces. It had very little skill, and was not worth playing. Most game historians think that Liubo was a race game, and that players moved their six games pieces around the marks on the board. However, others consider Liubo to have been a battle game played with dice or throwing sticks. There have been several attempts to reconstruct the rules of the game, most notably by Lien-sheng Yang, who discusses the game as it was possibly played on TLV mirrors.[15] Yang theorizes that a player’s piece would start on an L-shaped mark and try to move to a V-shaped corner mark depending on the throw of the sticks. Certain throws would allow a player's piece to move into the center and ‘kill’ the opponent’s piece if it was already there. Once in the center, a piece could begin to block the enemy’s pieces from taking a square. For each block one would gain two points. One could also attempt to recover one’s pieces after they are blocked, and would gain three points for doing this. If one failed to win after having blocked two men, then the opponent would gain six points and win the game. The first player to six points would win the game. Jean-Louis Cazaux has also reconstructed similar rules for playing Liubo.[16] An implementation of these reconstructed rules as a playable computer game has also been attempted.[17]
Liubo
248
Chupu A variant of Liubo in which dice were used to make the moves was called Chupu (樗蒲) or Wumu (五木).[18] In Korea the traditional game of jeopo 저포 (hanja: 樗蒲 ) is still played, on a board that is similar to a Liubo board.[19]
Relationship to other games There have been attempts to relate Liubo to other board games, and in particular some Chinese scholars believe that Xiangqi (Chinese chess) was based on Liubo.[20] Some Chinese game historians believe that Xiangqi is not related to Western chess, but was based on Liubo, whereas others have suggested that Liubo was transmitted from China to India during the Eastern Jin (317–420), where it developed into Chaturanga, which was the ancestor to both Western chess and Chinese chess.[21] Although many western game historians reject the claim that Xiangqi or other chess variants derive from Liubo,[22] Jean-Louis Cazaux argues that Liubo could have been transformed from a race game to a battle game, and it could then have become Chinese chess.[23]
Liubo patterns on other objects Liubo mirrors The pattern found on the surface of Liubo boards is also found on the most common type of Han Dynasty bronze mirror, known from their distinctive markings as TLV mirrors. There is some debate over whether the Liubo pattern on these mirrors was simply decorative, or whether it had a ritual significance, or whether perhaps the mirrors doubled as portable Liubo game boards. Zhou Zheng has pointed out that one TLV mirror dating to the reign of Wang Mang (9–23) has an inscription that includes the words "Carved with a Liubo board pattern to dispel misfortune" (刻具博局去[祛]不羊[祥]), which suggests that the main purpose of the Liubo pattern on mirrors was ritual, and that the pattern had a special significance beyond game-playing.[24] Han dynasty bronze mirror with TLV pattern
Liubo
249
Liubo coins The Liubo pattern is also sometimes found on the reverse of Wu Zhu coins. Such coins were not used as currency but were probably lucky charms.[25]
Sundials In 1897 a stone sundial was discovered in Inner Mongolia which had been overcarved with a Liubo board pattern.[26] The only other complete Han dynasty sundial, in the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, also has a Liubo pattern carved on it. It may be that the sundials were repurposed as Liubo boards by carving the Liubo pattern over the original sundial markings, or it may be that the Liubo markings were added for some unknown ritual purpose.
Divination boards Stone sundial from Inner Mongolia overcarved with a Liubo board pattern
In 1993 a wooden board with turtle divinition diagrams and prognostications on one side and a Liubo diagram and forty-five prognostications on five topics on the other side was excavated from a late Western Han tomb at Yinwan in Donghai County, Jiangsu.[27] The Liubo diagram is too small to have been used for playing Liubo, and is covered with the sixty terms of the sexagenary cycle which are written all along the lines of the Liubo diagram, in a similar way that the turtle diagram on the other side of the board is filled with the sixty terms. The prognostications under the Liubo diagram are headed with one of nine terms that correspond to the words of an enigmatic, mnemonic rhyme about Liubo written by Xu Bochang (許博昌) during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141 BCE – 87 BCE); Lillian Tseng (Zeng Lanying) argues that these are the names for particular points on the board (the two lines of the "V" mark, the two lines of the "L" mark, the two lines of the "T" mark, the circle or line between the corner and the central square, the outside edge of the central square, and the inside of the central square).[28]
Liubo
250
Schematic diagram of the Yinwan Han dynasty Liubo divination diagram, showing the positions of the sixty terms of the sexagenary cycle (following the corrections of Zeng Lanying) and examples of the nine board positions: A=fāng 方 "square"; B=lián 廉 (pàn 畔) "edge"; C=jié 楬 (jiē 揭) "lift"; D=dào 道 "path"; E=zhāng 張 "stretch"; F=qū 曲 (jiǔ 究) "bend"; G=qū 詘 (qū 屈) "curve"; H=cháng 長 (xuán 玄) "long"; I=gāo 高 "tall" (terms used in Xu Bochang's rhyme given in brackets if different).
Li Xueqin has suggested that the board was used for divination by matching the day to be divined to the corresponding sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram, and then reading off the corresponding prognostication according to the position of the sexagenary term on the Liubo diagram.[29] However, Lillian Tseng points out that the divination could also be done the other way round, by looking for the desired prognostication (for example an auspicious marriage day), and then all the days on the Liubo board that were written on the position corresponding to the term heading the prognostication would match the desired prognostication. It has been theorized that the placement of the sixty sexagenary terms on the points of the Liubo divination diagram indicate the possible positions for placing pieces when playing Liubo, and that the sequence of the terms across the divination diagram reflects the path to be followed around the board when playing the game (starting at the north-east corner and ending at the north side of the central square).[30]
Liubo
Famous Liubo players The following is a list of famous people who are recorded to have played Liubo: • King Mu of Zhou (reigned 977 BCE – 922 BCE), who according to the apocryphal Travels of King Mu once played a game of Liubo with a hermit that lasted three days.[31] • Duke Min of Song (宋湣公), who in 682 BCE got into an argument with Nangong Wan 南宮萬 whilst playing Liubo with him, and was killed by Nangong Wan when he hit the duke with the Liubo board.[32] • King Anxi of Wei 魏安釐王 (reigned Liubo players inside an Eastern Han model pottery tower 277 BCE – 243 BCE) and his half-brother Lord Xinling of Wei 信陵君 (died 243 BCE). Once when the two of them were playing Liubo a message came that the beacons on the northern border had been lit; King Anxi wanted to stop the game and discuss the situation with his ministers, but his brother told him not to worry as it was only the king of Zhao on a hunting trip, and so they continued playing. The king was worried and could not concentrate on the game, but after the game was over news came that it was indeed the king of Zhao out hunting.[33] • Jing Ke (died 227 BCE), the failed assassin of Qin Shi Huang, once had an argument with Lu Goujian (魯句踐) over a game of Liubo, and had to flee for his life.[34] • Emperor Jing of Han (reigned 156 BCE – 141 BCE), who when he was crown prince became angry during a game of Liubo with the Prince of Wu, and threw the Liubo board at the prince, killing him.[35] • Liang Ji (died 159), who according to his biography was fond of playing Liubo. • Li Guangyan (761–826), a Uyghur general who was presented with a girl who was trained in the arts of "song, dance, music and Liubo".[36] • Liu Min (895-954), a Shatuo Turk and founder of the Northern Han kingdom, liked to play Liubo and gambling games when he was young.[37] Confucius famously did not approve of Liubo. In the Analects he grudgingly allows that playing Liubo and Go is better than being idle,[38] and according to the apocryphal Family Sayings of Confucius he stated that he would not play the game as it promoted bad habits.[39]
References [1] Xu, Shen. "說文解字/06 [[[Shuowen Jiezi (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ 說æ解å/ 06)] vol. 7]"] (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "簙：局戲也。六箸十二棊也。从竹博聲。古者烏胄作簙。" [2] Sima, Qian. "史記/卷069 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.69]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ å²è¨/ å·069) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "臨菑甚富而實，其民無不吹竽鼓瑟，彈琴擊築，鬥雞走狗，六博蹋鞠者。" [3] Hawkes, David (1985). The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 229. ISBN 0-14-044375-4. [4] Rawson, Jessica (1996). Mysteries of Ancient China. London: British Museum Press. pp. 159–161. ISBN 0-7141-1472-3. [5] 甘肃省博物馆 (Gansu Provincial Museum). "武威磨咀子三座汉墓发掘简报 [Brief report of the excavation of three Han tombs at Mozuizi in Wuwei]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1972 (12): 9–16. [6] 河南省博物馆 (Henan Provincial Museum). "灵宝张湾汉墓 [The Han tomb at Zhangwan in Lingbao]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1975 (11): 80–81. [7] Xu, Liu. "舊唐書/卷196上 [Old Book of Tang vol.196A]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ èåæ¸/ å·196ä¸) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "圍棋陸博，吹蠡鳴鼓為戲，弓劍不離身。"
251
Liubo
252
[8] Hazod, Guntram (2002). "The Royal Residence Pho brang byams pa mi 'gyur gling and the Story of Srong btsan sgam po's Birth in Rgya ma" (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=UsC1sEKQNeYC). Tibet, past and Present: Tibetan Studies I. Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS, 2000. Leiden: Brill. pp. 27–48. ISBN 9004127755. . [9] 熊传新 (Xiong Chuanxin). "谈马王堆3号西汉墓出土的陆博 [Discussion of the Liubo set unearthed from the No. 3 Western Han tomb at Mawangdui]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1979 (4): 35–39. [10] 大葆台汉墓发掘组 (Dabaotai Han Tomb Excavation Group) (1989) (in Chinese). 北京大葆台汉墓 [The Han tomb at Dabaotai in Beijing]. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe. p. 53. ISBN 7-5010-0238-X. [11] "The green-glazed liubo-playing pottery figurines" (http:/ / www. cultural-china. com/ chinaWH/ html/ en/ History2041bye5118. html). Cultural China. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [12] 莱西县文化馆 (Laixi County Culture Hall). "山東萊西縣岱墅西漢木槨墓 [The Western Han timber-chambered tomb at Daishu in Laixi county in Shandong]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1980 (12): 15. [13] 中国社会科学院考古研究所 (Archeology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) (1980) (in Chinese). 满城汉墓发掘报告 [Excavation report for the Han tomb at Mancheng]. Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe. pp. 271–274. [14] Yan, Zhitui. "顏氏家訓/卷第7 [The Family Instructions of Master Yan vol. 7]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ é¡æ°å®¶è¨/ å·ç¬¬7) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "古为大博则六箸，小博则二茕，今无晓者。比世所行，一茕十二棋，数术浅短，不足可翫。" [15] Yang, Lien-sheng (June 1952). "An Additional Note on the Ancient Game Liu-po". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 15 (1): 124–139. doi:10.2307/2718275. JSTOR 2718275. [16] Cazaux, Jean-Louis (2008-01-20). "Reconstructed rules of Liubo" (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ liubo-rules. htm). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [17] "The Ancient Game of Liubo" (http:/ / liubo-game. appspot. com). 2011-04-11. . Retrieved 2011-04-19. [18] 色子的五木、投瓊和彩戰等 (http:/ / pjlog. com/ viewthread. php?tid=2648) [19] "[[Traditional Games (http:/ / gomalee. tistory. com/ 155) Play Jeopo]"]. 20 May 2011. . Retrieved 2011-09-30. [20] "Give up Western Chess – play Chinese Chess instead! (interview between Dr. René Gralla and Prof. David H. Li)" (http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ newsdetail. asp?newsid=2455). ChessBase. 2005-06-15. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "Professor Li, it seems to be that historians from China endorse your thesis – that the origins of chess can be found in China. In summary: XiangQi originates from the mysterious game Liubo; Liubo turned into GeWu, the latter has turned into Proto-XiangQi. Peter Banaschak analysed the sources that the representatives of the Chinese school cite, and he thinks that all those quotations from the past can be references to some game, but not necessarily to the game of chess or XiangQi." [21] "Liubo – the Ancestor of Board Games" (http:/ / kaleidoscope. cultural-china. com/ en/ 140K2115K5502. html). Cultural China. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "According to the research of modern board game historians, liubo is actually the ancestor of all battle board games of the world today, such as Chinese chess, chess etc. These games all evolve from liubo." [22] Banaschak, Peter. "A story well told is not necessarily true – being a critical assessment of David H. Li's "The Genealogy of Chess"" (http:/ / www. banaschak. net/ schach/ ligenealogyofchess. htm). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [23] Cazaux, Jean-Louis (2001). "Is Chess a Hybrid Game ?" (http:/ / www. mynetcologne. de/ ~nc-jostenge/ cazaux. pdf) (PDF). pp. 5–8. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "My idea, very speculative I must confess, is that someone could have turned this race game into a confrontation game opposing in each side the 6 stones as Soldiers, with a notion of promotion during the course of the game, and 10 fishes as Officers. ... Also, to divide the two sides on a battlefield, the best was probably to convert the central water into a river in the middle." [24] 周铮 (Zhou Zheng). ""规矩镜"应改称"博局镜" ["Geometric mirrors" should be called "Liubo pattern mirrors"]" (in Chinese). 考古 (Archeology) 1987 (12): 1116–1118. [25] "#54832: China, charm – Wu Zhu coin" (http:/ / www. zeno. ru/ showphoto. php?photo=54832). Zeno Oriental Coins Database. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [26] 孙机 (Sun Ji). "托克托日晷 [The Togtoh sundial]" (in Chinese). 中国历史博物馆馆刊 (Journal of the Museum of Chinese History) 1971 (3): 74–81. [27] "尹湾汉墓简牍初探 [Preliminary investigation about the wooden slips from the Han tomb at Yinwan]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1996 (10): 68–71. [28] 曾蓝莹 (Lillian Tseng). "尹湾汉墓"博局占"木牍试解 [Attempt to explain the "Liubo divination" wooden slip from the Han tomb at Yinwan]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1994 (8): 62–65. [29] 李学勤 (Li Xueqin). ""博局占"与规矩纹 ["Liubo board divination" and geometric patterns]" (in Chinese). 文物 (Cultural Relics) 1997 (1): 49–51. [30] Cazaux, Jean-Louis. "Liubo" (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ liubo. htm). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [31] "穆天子傳/卷五 [Account of King Mu of Zhou vol.5]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ ç©å¤©åå³/ å·äº) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "是日也，天子北入于邴，与井公博，三日而决。" [32] Sima, Qian. "史記/卷038 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.38]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ å²è¨/ å·038) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "十一年秋，湣公與南宮萬獵，因博爭行，湣公怒，辱之，曰：「始吾敬若；今若，魯虜也。」萬有力，病此言，遂以局殺湣公于蒙澤。"
[33] Sima, Qian. "史記/卷077 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.77]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ å²è¨/ å·077) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "公子與魏王博，而北境傳舉烽，言「趙寇至，且入界」。魏王釋博，欲召大臣謀。公子止王曰：「趙王田獵耳，非為寇也。」複博如故。王恐，心不
Liubo
253
[34] Sima, Qian. "史記/卷86 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.86]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ å²è¨/ å·086) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "荊軻遊於邯鄲，魯句踐與荊軻博，爭道，魯句踐怒而叱之，荊軻嘿而逃去，遂不復會。" [35] Sima, Qian. "史記/卷106 [Records of the Grand Historian vol.106]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ å²è¨/ å·106) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "孝文時，吳太子入見，得侍皇太子飲博。吳太子師傅皆楚人，輕悍，又素驕，博，爭道，不恭，皇太子引博局提吳太子，殺之。" [36] Xu, Liu. "列传第一百一十一 [Biographies chapter 111]" (http:/ / www. my285. com/ shishu/ jts/ 165. htm) (in Chinese). 旧唐书 (Old Book of Tang). 梦远书城 (my285.com). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [37] Xue, Juzheng. "舊五代史/卷135 [Old History of the FIve Dynasties vol. 135]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ èäºä»£å²/ å·135) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [38] Kong, Qiu. "論語/陽貨第十七 [Analects ch. 17]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ è«èª/ é½è²¨ç¬¬åä¸) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "子曰：「飽食終日，無所用心，難矣哉！不有博弈者乎？為之，猶賢乎已！」" [39] "孔子家語/卷一 [Family Sayings of Confucius vol. 1]" (http:/ / zh. wikisource. org/ wiki/ åå家èª/ å·ä¸) (in Chinese). 維基文庫 (Chinese Wikisource). . Retrieved 2009-06-26. "哀公問於孔子曰：“吾聞君子不博，有之乎？”孔子曰：“有之。”公曰：“何為？”對曰：“為其二乘。”公曰：“有二乘，則何為不博？”子曰：“為其兼行惡道
External links • Illustrated article on Liubo by Jean-Louis Cazaux (http://history.chess.free.fr/liubo.htm) • Pictures of Liubo artefacts on the Cultural China website (http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/ 11Kaleidoscope2115.html) • Andrew West, Pictures of funerary statuettes of Liubo Players (http://babelstone.co.uk/Blog/2009/05/ lost-game-of-liubo-part-1-funerary.html)
Chaturanga Further information: Chess (disambiguation) This article is about the two-player ancient game Chaturanga. For the four-player version, played with dice, see Chaturaji. Chaturanga pieces Raja (King) Mantri or Senapati (Counselor or General; Queen) Ratha (Chariot; Rook) Gaja (Elephant; Bishop) Asva (Horse; Knight) Padàti or Bhata (Foot-soldier; Pawn)
Chaturanga
254
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chaturanga: The position of the pieces at the start of a game.[1] Note that the Ràjas do not face each other; the white Ràja starts on e1 and the black Ràja on d8. a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Ashtāpada, the uncheckered 8x8 board, sometimes with special marks, on which Chaturanga was played. Chaturanga (Sanskrit caturaṅga चतुरङ्ग) is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi. Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century. In the 7th century, it was adopted as Shatranj in Sassanid Persia, which in turn was the form that brought chess to late-medieval Europe (see Origins of chess for more information on the ancestry of chess.) The exact rules of Chaturanga are not known. Chess historians suppose that the game had similar rules to those of its successor Shatranj. In particular, there is uncertainty as to the moves of the Gaja (elephant), the precursor of the Bishop in modern chess.
Chaturanga
255
History Sanskrit caturaṅga is a bahuvrihi compound, meaning "having four limbs or parts" and in epic poetry often means "army".[2] The name itself comes from a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata, referring to four divisions of an army, viz. elephants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry. Chaturanga was played on an 8x8 uncheckered board, called Ashtāpada [3]. The board had some special marks, the meaning of which is unknown today. These marks were not related to chaturanga, but were drawn on the board only by tradition. The great chess historian Murray has conjectured that the Ashtāpada was also used for some old race type dice game, perhaps similar to Chowka bhara, in which these marks had a meaning. An early reference to an ancient Indian board game is sometimes attributed to Subandhu in his Vasavadatta (c. AD 450): The time of the rains played its game with frogs for pieces [nayadyutair] yellow and green in color, as if mottled by lac, leapt up on the black field squares. The colors are not those of the two camps, but mean that the frogs have a two-tone dress, yellow and green. Banabhatta's Harsha Charitha (c. 625) contains the earliest reference to the name Chaturanga: Under this monarch, only the bees quarreled to collect the dew; the only feet cut off were those of measurements, and only from Ashtâpada one could learn how to draw up a Chaturanga, there was no cutting-off of the four limbs of condemned criminals.... While there is little doubt that Ashtâpada is the gaming board of 8x8 squares, the double meaning of Chaturanga, as the four folded army, may be controversial. There is a probability that the ancestor of Chess was mentioned there.
Pieces • Raja (King) - Moves like the King in chess, as in Shatranj. • Mantri (Minister); also known as Senapati (General) - Moves one square diagonally, like the Fers in Shatranj. • Ratha (Chariot); also spelled Śakata - Moves like the Rook in chess, as in Shatranj. • Gaja (Elephant) - Three different moves are described in ancient literature: 1. Two squares in any diagonal direction, jumping over one square, as the Alfil in Shatranj.
Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga on an 8x8 Ashtāpada.
• The same move is used for the Boat in a four-handed version of Chaturangam, Chaturaji.[4] • The Elephant in Xiangqi (Chinese chess) has the same move, but without jumping. (The name Elephant is used for a fairy chess piece with this move: a (2, 2) leaper, but one that cannot jump over an intervening piece.) 2. One square forward or one square in any diagonal direction • This is the same move as the Silver General in Shogi. • In Makruk (Thai chess) and Sittuyin (Burmese chess) the elephant moves in the same way. • This move was described ca. 1030 by Biruni in his India book. 3. Two squares in any orthogonal direction, jumping over one square. (In modern chess, the rook moves orthogonally.) • A piece with such a move is called a Dabbābah [5] in some chess variants. This move was described by the Arabic chess master al-Adli [6] ca. 840 in his (partly lost) chess work. (The Arabic word dabbābah in former times meant a covered siege engine for attacking walled fortifications, and nowadays means "army
Chaturanga
256 tank").
• The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843–1918) suggests, rather, that this was the earliest move of the Ratha. [7] • Ashva (Horse); also spelled Ashwa, Asva - Moves like the Knight in chess, as in Shatranj. (This is the distinctive move that marks a game as a likely descendant of Chaturanga.) • Padàti/Bhata (Foot-soldier); also spelled Pedati, Bhata; also known as Sainik (Warrior)—Moves like the Pawn in chess, as in Shatranj. Al-Adli also mentions two further differences from Shatranj: • Stalemate was a win for a stalemated player. This rule appeared again in some medieval chess variations in England ca. 1600. According to some sources, there was no stalemate, though this is improbable. • The player that is first to bare the opponent's king (capture all the pieces except the king) wins. In Shatranj this is also a win, but only if the opponent cannot bare the player's king on the next move in return.
References [1] "The History Of Chess" (http:/ / www. thechesszone. com/ history_of_chess). ChessZone. . Retrieved 29 March 2011. [2] Meri 2005: 148 [3] http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ ashtapada. htm [4] W. Borsodi, etc. (1898). American Chess Magazine (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=I_4LAAAAYAAJ& pg=RA1-PA262& dq="Horse+ ship"#PRA1-PA262,M1). Original from Harvard University. pp. 262. . [5] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ piececlopedia. dir/ dabbabah. html [6] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20091028083454/ http:/ / www. geocities. com/ SiliconValley/ Lab/ 7378/ aladli. htm [7] http:/ / www. goddesschess. com/ chessays/ calvognosis2. html
Further reading • • • •
A History of Chess, H.J.R. Murray (1913), ISBN 0-936317-01-9. The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, D.B. Pritchard (1994), ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. The Oxford History of Board Games, David Parlett (1999) ISBN 0-19-212998-8. Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them, Edward Falkener (1892, re-issued 1961) ISBN 0-486-20739-0 • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280049-3 • Davidson, Henry (1949), A Short History of Chess, McKay, ISBN 0-679-14550-8 (1981 paperback)
External links • Chaturanga, from Chess Variants (http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/chaturanga.html) • Software including the different historical rules variants (http://www.chaturanga.org/)
Sessa
257
Sessa Sessa (or Sissa) was a legendary vellalar and creatorlaskerbook of the game of chess ancestor, chaturanga.
References 1. Edward Lasker (1959). Adventure of Chess, Dover.
The vellalar Sessa creating Chaturanga (by Brazilian artist Thiago Cruz, 2007).
Chaturaji
258
Chaturaji a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chaturaji, starting position. Pieces with different colors were used for each of four players. Chaturaji (means "four kings", also known as "Choupat", IAST Caupāṭ, IPA: [tʃɔːˈpaːʈ]) is a four player chess-like game. It was first described in detail circa 1030 by Biruni in his India book.[1] Originally, this was a game of chance: the pieces to be moved were decided by rolling two dice. A diceless variant of the game was still played in India at the close of the 19th century.
History The ancient Indian epic Mahabharata contains a reference to a game, which could be Chaturaji:[2] Presenting myself as a Brahmana, Kanka by name, skilled in dice and fond of play, I shall become a courtier of that high-souled king. And moving upon chess-boards beautiful pawns made of ivory, of blue and yellow and red and white hue, by throws of black and red dice. I shall entertain the king with his courtiers and friends. However, there is no certainty whether the mentioned game is really a chess-like game like Chaturaji, or a race game like Pachisi. Captain Cox and professor Forbes put forth a theory (the Cox-Forbes theory), that Chaturaji is a predecessor of Chaturanga and hence the ancestor of modern chess. An even stronger version of this theory was put forward by Prof. Stewart Culin.[3] However, this theory was rejected by Murray,[1] modern scholars siding with Murray.
Rules Piece moves
Chaturaji
259
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Boat move. The boat at f6 can move to any of the four squares marked with a cross. The game is played with pieces of four different colors as shown in the diagram. Each player has four pieces on the back rank with four pawns in front of them on the second rank. The four pieces are king, elephant, horse and boat (or ship in some sources). The king moves like the chess king, the elephant like the chess rook and the horse like the chess knight. The boat corresponds to the chess bishop but has a more restricted range, like the alfil in Shatranj. The boat moves two squares diagonally in any direction as shown in the diagram, jumping over the intervening square. Note that this differs from most ancient chess-like games where it is the elephant which normally corresponds to the chess bishop. The pawn also moves as in chess, but does not have the option of an initial double-square move. Each of the four players' pawns moves and captures in a different direction along the board, as one would expect from the initial player's setup. For example, the red pawns which start on the g-file above move left across the board, promoting on the a-file. Also, the pawn's promotion rules are different; one must promote to the piece that starts on the same file (or rank) of the promotion square (king included) and one can promote only after one's piece of that type has been captured.
Boat triumph a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chaturaji Boat triumph rule. Green boat c3 can capture all other boats by moving to e5. All boats shown belong to different players. When a boat moves in such a way that a 2x2 square filled with boats is formed, it captures all three boats of other players (see diagram). This rule is called boat triumph.
Dice throws On each turn two dice are thrown. Usually oblong (four sided) stick dice were used. Players were allowed to throw the dice in the air and catch them, exercising some control over the outcome. However, playing with cubic dice is also possible. Pieces to be moved are determined by dice numbers (note that the stick dice didn't have 1 and 6): • • • •
1 or 5 - pawn or king 2 - boat 3 - knight 4 or 6 - elephant
On each turn two moves may be made, one for each die. The same or two different pieces may be moved, and the player may skip one or both of his moves if desired.
Scoring There is no check or checkmate. The king can be captured like any other piece. The goal of the game is to collect as many points as possible. Points are scored by capturing opponents' pieces, according to this scale: • • • • •
pawn - 1 boat - 2 knight - 3 elephant - 4 king - 5.
A score of 54 points is awarded to a player who manages to capture all three opponents' kings while his own king remains on the board. This value is a sum of points of all pieces in three armies.
References [1] Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936-317-01-9. [2] Mahabharata, Book 4, Section 1 (http:/ / www. sacred-texts. com/ hin/ m04/ m04001. htm) [3] Four-Handed Chaturanga (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ chaturanga. htm) by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
Further reading • D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (p. 48-49). ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
External links • Chaturanga for four players (http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/chaturang4.html) by Hans Bodlaender. • Chaturaji software (http://Chaturanga.net), including multi-media encyclopedia with Cox-Forbes theory. • 4-handed Chaturanga with dice (http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/4chaturanga.htm) implementation for Zillions of Games.
260
Shatranj
261
Shatranj Further information: Chess (disambiguation) Shatranj (Devanagari: शतरंज, Persian: )ﺷَﻄْﺮَﻧْﺞis an old form of chess, which came to the Western world from India. Modern chess has gradually developed from this game.
Iranian shatranj set, glazed fritware, 12th century. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Etymology and origins a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Shatranj: The position of the pieces at the start of a game. Note that the Shahs face each other, either in the d-file (as shown) or the e-file. The word shatranj is derived from the Sanskrit chaturanga (catuḥ="four", anga="arm"). In Middle Persian the word appears as chatrang, with the 'u' lost due to syncope and the 'a' lost to apocope, e.g., in the title of the text Mâdayân î chatrang ("Book of Chess") from the 7th century AD. In Persian folk etymology, the word is sometimes re-bracketed as sad ("hundred") + ranj ("worries"), which might appear quite meaningful to players. The word was adapted into Arabic as shatranj, and then into the Portuguese xadrez, Spanish ajedrez, and Greek ζατρίκιον; but English chess and check come via French échecs (Old French eschecs) from Persian ( ﺷَﺎﻩshāh = "king").
Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga on an 8x8 Ashtāpada.
Shatranj
262
The game came to Persia from India in the early centuries of the Christian Era (Common Era). The earliest Persian reference to shatranj is found in the Middle Persian book Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan, which was written between the 3rd and 7th centuries AD (Common Era). This ancient Persian text refers to Shah Ardashir I, who ruled from 224–241, as a master of the game:[1] By the help of Providence Ardeshir became more victorious and warlike than all, on the polo and the riding-ground, at Chatrang and Vine-Artakhshir, and in several other arts. However, Karnamak contains many fables and legends, and this only establishes the popularity of chatrang at the time of its composition.[2]
Iranian shatranj set, glazed fritware, 12th century. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Persian manuscript from the 14th century describing how an ambassador from India brought chess to the Persian court.
Shams-e-Tabrīzī as portrayed in a 1500 painting in a page of a copy of Rumi's poem dedicated to Shams.
During the reign of the later Sassanid king Khosrau I (531–579), a gift from an Indian king (possibly a Maukhari Dynasty king of Kannauj)[3] included a chess game with sixteen pieces of emerald and sixteen of ruby (green vs. red).[2] The game came with a challenge which was successfully resolved by Khosrau's courtiers. This incident, originally referred to in the Mâdayân î chatrang (c. 620 AD), is also mentioned in Firdausi's Shahnama (c. 1010 AD). The rules of Chaturanga seen in India today have enormous variation, but all involve four branches (angas) of the army: the horse, the elephant (bishop), the chariot (rook) and the foot-soldier (pawn), played on a 8x8 board. Shatranj adapted much of the same rules as Chaturanga, and also the basic 16 piece structure. In some later variants the darker squares were engraved. The game spread Westwards after the Islamic conquest of Persia and achieved great popularity and a considerable body of literature on game tactics and strategy was produced from the 8th c. onwards. With the spread of Islam, chess diffused into the Maghreb and then to Andalusian Spain. During the Islamic conquest of India (c.12th c.), some forms came back to India as well, as evidenced in the N. Indian term māt (mate, derivaative from Persian māt) or the Bengali borey (pawn, presumed der. Arabic baidaq).[4] Over the following centuries, chess became popular in Europe eventually giving rise to modern chess.
Rules
Shatranj
263
Shatranj pieces Shah (King) Fers or Wazīr (Counsellor) Rukh (Chariot or Rook) "Pīl" in Persian and "al-Fīl" in Arabic (Elephant) Asb (Horse in Persian) or Knight Sarbaz (piyadeh) (Pawn)
Fers. A move diagram for the fers.
Pīl, Alfil, Aufin, and similar. A move diagram for a Pīl. This piece can jump over other pieces. The initial setup in shatranj was essentially the same as in modern chess. However the position of the white shah (king), on the right or left side was not fixed. Either the arrangement as in modern chess or as shown on the diagram above were possible. In either case, however, the white and black shāh would be on the same file (but not always in modern India). The game was played with these pieces: • Shāh (king) moves like the king in chess. • Fers (counsellor; also spelled ferz; Arabic firz, from Persian ﻓﺮﺯﻳﻦfarzīn ; also called Wazīr) moves exactly one square diagonally, which makes it a rather weak piece. It was renamed "queen" in Europe. Even today, the word for the queen piece is ферзь (ferz) in Russian, vezér in Hungarian and "vazīr" in Persian. It has analogues to the guards in xiangqi and Gold Generals in shogi. • Rukh (chariot; from Persian ﺭﺥrokh) moves like the rook in chess. • Pīl, Alfil, Aufin, and similar (elephant; from Persian ﭘﻴﻞpīl; al- is the Arabic for "the") moves exactly two squares diagonally, jumping over the square between. Each Pīl could reach only one-eighth of the squares on the board, and because their circuits were disjoint, they could never capture one another. This piece might have had a different move sometimes in chaturanga, where the piece is also called "elephant". The Pīl was replaced by the bishop in modern chess. Even today, the word for the bishop piece is alfil in Spanish, alfiere in Italian, "fīl" in Persian and слон (which means elephant) in Russian. The elephant piece survives in xiangqi with the limitations that the elephant in xiangqi cannot jump over an intervening piece and is restricted to the owner's half of the
Shatranj board. In janggi, its movement was changed to become a slightly further-reaching version of the horse. • Faras (horse, from Arabic; Persian ﺍﺳﭗasp) moves like the knight in chess. • Baidaq (from Arabic ﺑﻴﺪﻕfrom Persian ﭘﻴﺎﺩﻩpiyāda, foot-soldier, by adapting the Persian word as Arabic bayādiq, which was treated as a broken plural from which was extracted an apparent singular baidaq) moves and captures like the pawns in chess, but not moving two squares on the first move. When they reach the eighth rank, baidaqs are promoted, but only to fers. Pieces are shown on the diagrams and recorded in the notation using the equivalent modern symbols, as in the table above. In modern descriptions of shatranj, the names king, rook, knight and pawn are commonly used for shah, rukh, faras, and baidaq. There were also other differences compared to modern chess: Castling was not allowed (it was invented much later). Stalemating the opposing king resulted in a win for the player delivering stalemate. Capturing all one's opponent's pieces apart from the king (baring the king) was a win, unless your opponent could capture your last piece on his or her next move, then in most parts of the Islamic world it was a draw, but in Medina it was a win.[2]
History Early Arabic shatranj literature During the Golden Age of Arabic, many works on shatranj were written, recording for the first time the analysis of opening games, chess problems, the knight's tour, and many more subjects common in modern chess books. Many of these manuscripts are missing, but their content is known due to compilation work done by the later authors.[2] The earliest listing of works on chess is in the Fihrist, a general bibliography produced in 377 AH (988 CE) by Ibn al-Nadim. It includes an entire section on the topic of chess, listing: • • • • •
Al-Adli's Kitab ash-shatranj ('Book of chess') Ar-Razi's Latif fi'sh-shatranj ('Elegance in chess') As-Suli's Kitab ash-shatranj (two volumes) Al-Lajlaj's Kitab mansubat ash-shatranj ('Book of chess-positions or problems') B. Aliqlidisi's Kitab majmu'fi mansubat ash-shatranj ('Collection of chess problems')
There is a passage referring to chess in a work said to be by Hasan, a philosopher from Basra who died in 728 CE. However the attribution of authorship is dubious.
Player classification Al-Adli as well as as-Suli introduced classifications of players by their playing strength. Both of them specify 5 classes of players: • Aliyat (or aliya), grandees • Mutaqaribat, proximes - players who could win 2-4 games out of 10 in the match against grandee. They received odds of a pawn from grandee (better players g-, a- or h-pawn, weaker ones d- or e-pawn). • Third class - players who received odds of a fers from grandee. • Fourth class - received odds of a knight. • Fifth class - received odds of a rook. To determine his or her class, a player would play a series or match with a player of a known class without odds. If he won 7 or more games out of 10, he belonged to a higher class.
264
Shatranj
265
Famous players During the reign of the Arab caliphs, shatranj players of highest class were called aliyat or grandees.[2] There were only a very few players in this category. The most well known of them were: • Jabir al-Kufi, Rabrab and Abun-Naam were three aliyat players during the rule of caliph al-Ma'mun. • Al-Adli was the strongest player during the rule of caliph al-Wathiq. At this time he was the only player in aliyat category. • Ar-Razi in 847 won a match against an already old al-Adli in the presence of caliph al-Mutawakkil and so become a player of aliyat category. • As-Suli was the strongest player during the reign of caliph al-Muktafi. Ar-Razi was already dead and there were no players of comparable strength before as-Suli appeared on the scene. In the presence of al-Muktafi he easily won a match against a certain al-Mawardi and thus proved that he was the best player of that time. As-Suli considered Rabrab and ar-Razi as the greatest of his predecessors. • Al-Lajlaj was a pupil of as-Suli and also a great shatranj master of his time.
Game play Openings a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Mujannah - Mashaikhi opening. In opening shatranj players usually tried to reach a specific position, tabiya. Openings in shatranj were usually called tabbiyya( ﺗَﺒِّﻴّﺔpl. tabbiyyaat), ﺗَﺒِﻴّﺎﺕwhich can be translated as battle array. Due to slow piece development in shatranj, the exact sequence of moves was relatively unimportant. Instead players aimed to reach a specific position, tabiya, mostly ignoring the play of their opponent. The works of al-Adli and as-Suli contain collections of tabiyat. Tabiyat were usually given as position on a half-board with some comments about them. The concrete sequence of moves to reach them was not specified. In his book Al-Lajlaj analyzed some tabiya in detail. He started his analysis from some given opening, for example "Double Mujannah" or "Mujannah - Mashaikhi", and then continued up to move 40., giving numerous variations.
Shatranj
266
Piece values Both al-Adli and as-Suli provided estimation of piece values in their books on shatranj. They used a monetary system to specify piece values. For example, as-Suli gives piece values in dirhem, the currency in use in his time:[2] Piece
Value 1 dirhem
Rook 2/3 dirhem Knight 1/3 - 3/8 dirhem Fers 1/4 dirhem Alfil 1/4 dirhem Central pawn (d-, or e-pawn) 1/6 - 1/5 dirhem Knight's or Alfil's pawn (b-, c-, f-, or g-pawn) 1/8 dirhem Rook's pawn (a- or h-pawn)
As-Suli also believed that the b-pawn was better than the f-pawn and King's side Alfil (on the c-file) was better than Queen's side one (on the f-file). Furthemore, an Alfil on the c-file was better than the d-pawn and the Alfil on the f-file was better than an e-pawn.
Mansubat Dilaram Problem, ca. 10th century a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move and win. This is a typical example of a shatranj problem, Mansuba. Persian chess masters composed many shatranj problems. Such shatranj problems were called mansūba (pl. mansūbāt). This word can be translated from Arabic as arrangement, position or situation. Mansubat were typically composed in such a way that a win could be achieved as a sequence of checks. One's own king was usually threatened by immediate checkmate. One of the most famous Mansuba is the Dilaram Problem shown at the right. Black threatens immediate checkmate by 1...Ra2 or Ra8. However, white can win with a two-rook sacrifice:
Shatranj
267 1. Rh8+ Kxh8; 2. Bf5+ Kg8; 3. Rh8+ Kxh8; 4. g7+ Kg8; 5. Nh6#. or 1. Rh8+ Kxh8; 2. Bf5+ Rh2; 3. Rxh2+ Kg8; 4. Rh8+ Kxh8; 5. g7+ Kg8; 6. Nh6#.
Note that the Alfil (bishop) moves two squares diagonally, jumping over intermediate pieces; this allows it to jump over the white knight to deliver the discovered check from the second rook with 2.Bf5+. It was said that a nobleman wagered (playing white) his wife Dilārām on a chess game, and this position arose, and she appealed "Sacrifice your two Rooks, and not me."[5]
References [1] Unknown court historian of the Sassanid Empire (before 628AD). The Karnamik-I-Ardashir, or The Records of Ardashir. http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ ancient/ ardashir. html. Note: Vine-Artakhsir is a reference to the game later known as Nard, a predecessor of Backgammon. [2] Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936-317-01-9. [3] Jean-Louis Cazaux (12 March 2004). "The Enigma of Chess birth: The Old Texts: 6th, 7th and 8th centuries" (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ sources. htm). . Retrieved 14 July 2007. [4] Jean-Louis Cazaux (16 June 2006). "Indian Chess Sets" (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ india. htm). . Retrieved 14 July 2007. [5] A History of Chess, bottom of p.311, by H.J.R.Murray, publ. Oxford at the Clarendon Press.
External links • Shatranj, the medieval Arabian Chess (http://history.chess.free.fr/shatranj.htm) by Jean-Louis Cazaux. • Shatranj (http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/shatranj.html) by Hans L. Bodlaender • The Time of Shatranj and the Aliyat (http://www.schemingmind.com/journalarticle.aspx?article_id=3& page=1) by Miguel Villa. • ICC Shatranj rules (http://www.chessclub.com/help/shatranj)
Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Yahya al-Suli (c. 880 – 946) was a nadim (boon companion) of successive Abbasid caliphs. He was noted for his poetry and scholarship and wrote a chronicle called Akhbar al-Radi wa'l-Muttaqi, detailing the reigns of the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi. He was a legendary shatranj (an ancestor of chess) player, still remembered to this day. Upon the death of al-Radi in 940, al-Suli fell into disfavour with the new ruler due to his sympathies towards Shi'a Islam and as a result had to go into exile at Basra, where he spent the rest of his life in poverty. Al-Suli's great-grandfather was the Turkish prince Sul-takin and his uncle the poet Ibrahim ibn al-'Abbas as-Suli.
Akhbar al-Radi wa'l-Muttaqi Al-Suli's chronicle has long been in the shadow of more famous chronicles such as those of al-Mas'udi and Miskawayh, perhaps because al-Suli was seen as a nadim and not a serious scholar. However, the account in significant for offering an eyewitness account of the transition to Buyid rule. It was during al-Radi's caliphate in 936 that the position of "amir al-umara" was created, which allowed for the transfer of executive power from the caliph to an "amir", a position that the Buyids later used to establish a new dynasty alongside the Abbasids. After this point, the Abbasids never regained their full power. However, al-Suli's account makes it clear that not all power was transferred to the amirs. He treats the period as a time of crisis, but not the end of the Abbasid caliphate.
Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli
268
Chess Al-Suli came to prominence as a shatranj player sometime in between 902 and 908 when he beat al-Mawardi, the court shatranj champion of al-Muktafi, the Caliph of Baghdad. Al-Mawardi was so thoroughly beaten he fell from favour, and was replaced by al-Suli. After al-Muktafi's death, al-Suli remained in the favour of the succeeding ruler, al-Muqtadir and in turn ar-Radi. Al-Suli's shatranj-playing ability became legendary and he is still considered one of the best Arab players of all time. His biographer ben Khalliken, who died in 1282, said that even in his lifetime great shatranj players were said to play like al-Suli. Documentary evidence from his lifetime is limited, but the endgames of some of the matches he played are still in existence. His skill in blindfold chess was also mentioned by contemporaries. Al-Suli also taught shatranj. His most well known pupil is al-Lajlaj ("the stammerer"). One of his most prominent achievements is his book, Kitab Ash-Shatranj (Book of Chess), which was the first scientific book ever written on chess strategy. It contained information on common chess openings, standard problems in middle game, and annotated end games. It also contains the first known description of the knight's tour problem. Many later European writers based their work on modern chess on al-Suli's work. Apart from his chess book he also wrote several historical books.
Al-Suli's Diamond a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move, White wins This ancient position is so difficult that there is no one in the world who would be able to solve it, except those I have taught to do so. I doubt whether anyone did this before me. This was said by al-Suli.
“
” [1]
—12th century manuscript from the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid
al-Suli created a shatranj problem called "al-Suli's Diamond" that went unsolved for over a thousand years.[2] David Hooper and Ken Whyld studied this problem in the mid-1980s but were unable to crack it. It was finally solved by Russian Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh.[1] [3] As this is a shatranj, the "queen" (counsellor) is a very weak piece, able to move only a single square diagonally. It is also possible to win in shatranj by capturing all pieces except the king. The solution given is 1. Kb4 in Hans Ree's "The Human Comedy of Chess".
Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli
269
Notes [1] Damsky, Yakov (2005), The Book of Chess Records, Batsford, pp. 166–167, ISBN 0-7134-8946-4 [2] Shenk, David, The Immortal Game: A History of Chess [3] Ree, Hans (2000), The Human Comedy of Chess, Access Publishers Network
References • Robert Charles Bell (1980). Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. ISBN 0-486-23855-5. • Leder, S. "al-Suli, Abu Bakr Muhammad." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online. • H.J.R. Murray (1913). A History of Chess. ISBN 0-936317-01-9.
Tamerlane chess Tamerlane chess is a strategic board game related to chess and derived from shatranj. It was developed in Persia during the reign of Timur, also called Tamerlane (1336–1405). Some sources attribute the game's invention to Timur, but this is by no means certain. Because Tamerlane Chess is a larger variant of shatranj, it is also called Shatranj Kamil (perfect chess) or Shatranj Al-Kabir (large chess). It is distinctive in that there are multiple varieties of pawn, each of which promotes in its own way.
The board Tamerlane chess starting board
A Tamerlane chess board is made up of 110 uncheckered squares arranged in a 10x11 pattern. Additional squares protrude from the left side on the ninth row and from the right side on the second row. These extra squares are called citadels. When the opposing king occupies a player's citadel, the game is declared a draw. No piece other than a king may occupy a citadel. There are several ways for an opening setup to be arranged. A common one is as follows: White's side, bottom row, from the left- Elephant, Space, Camel, Space, War Machine, Space, War Machine, Space, Camel, Space, Elephant. Second Row from the left- rook, knight, picket, giraffe, general, king, vizir, giraffe, picket, knight, rook. Third row from the left- pawn of pawns, pawn of war engines, pawn of camels, pawn of elephants, pawn of generals, pawn of kings, pawn of vizirs, pawn of giraffes, pawn of pickets, pawn of knights, pawn of rooks. Black's side mirrors white's.
Tamerlane chess
Pieces Anglicised versions of piece names are used here. • • • • • • • • • • •
King - Moves as a traditional King General - Moves one square diagonally Vizir - Moves one square horizontally or vertically Giraffe - Moves one square diagonally and then a minimum of three squares horizontally or vertically Picket - Moves as a Bishop in traditional chess, but must move a minimum of two squares Knight - Moves as a knight in traditional chess Rook - Moves as a rook in traditional chess Elephant - Moves two squares diagonally and is unobstructed by pieces in between Camel - Moves two diagonally and two straight, unobstructed by pieces in between War Engine - Moves two horizontally or vertically, unobstructed by pieces in between Pawns - Move as pawns in traditional chess, but with no initial double move or en passant capture. Every piece (including the pawn) has a corresponding pawn. Hence; Pawn of Kings, Pawn of Vizirs, Pawn of Giraffes, etc.
Promotion rules Upon reaching the last rank on the board, a pawn is promoted to its corresponding piece. Thus, Pawn of Giraffes becomes a Giraffe, etc. Exceptions to this are the Pawn of Kings and Pawn of Pawns. A Pawn of Kings becomes a Prince, which must be mated or taken before the opponent can win. It moves as a king. When the Pawn of Pawns reaches the last rank, it stays there and cannot be taken. As soon as a situation develops where the opponent cannot escape losing a piece to a pawn, or where a pawn may attack two opposing units at the same time, the player must move his/her pawn to that location. Upon the second promotion of this pawn, it moves to the starting point of the Pawn of Kings. Upon the third promotion it becomes an adventitious king, which acts as a prince.
Other rules When multiple kings are held, they may be captured as normal pieces. When only one king remains it must be checkmated. Once during the game a player may exchange a checked king for another non-royal piece. A player may move into check if he holds multiple kings. The adventitious king is the only piece that may move into a player's own citadel. This is often done to prevent the opponent from entering.
External links • • • •
Tamerlane chess [1] Play Tamerlane Chess [2] Timur's Chess [3] more details and history on Tamerlane Chess [4]
270
Tamerlane chess
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ historic. dir/ tamerlane. html http:/ / www. pathguy. com/ chess/ Tamerlan. htm http:/ / filer. case. edu/ org/ cwrums/ games/ tamerlane. html http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ tamerlane. htm
Hiashatar Hiashatar is a medieval chess variant played in Mongolia. The game is played on a 10 x 10 board. The pieces are the same as in chess with the exception that there is an additional piece which is called the "bodyguard".[1] [2] The game is not as popular as western chess or Shatar.
Pieces • King (noyon) - moves like the King in chess • Queen (bers) - moves like the Queen in chess • Bodyguard (hia) - moves like a Queen, but can only move one or two squares. The Bodyguard has a special power; any piece sliding must stop its move if it moves through any square a king's move away from the bodyguard. Any piece a king's move away from the bodyguard can only move one square. The only piece immune to this power of the Bodyguard is the Knight. • Rook (tereg) - moves like the rook in chess • Knight (mori) - moves like the Knight in chess • Bishop (teme) - moves like the Bishop in chess • Pawn (fu) - moves like the pawn in chess except that it can make an initial triple step.
Other Rules • There is no castling • Pawns promote only to queen
References • N. Okano, Sekai-no meina shogi (World's chess games), p.40-46, chapter V. 1999. [1] http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080703142230/ http:/ / www. geocities. com/ kisslook/ eng/ mongeng. html [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ msdisplay. php?itemid=MLhiashatar
271
Senterej
Senterej Senterej (or Ethiopian chess) is a chess variant, the form of chess traditionally played in Ethiopia. It is the last popular survival of shatranj.[1]
Rules The board is not checkered, merely marked into squares; it is usually a red cloth, marked by strips of black. Each king stands just to the right of the centerline from its player's point of view. It moves one step in any direction. At its left stands the ferz, moving one square diagonally. (One source says it moves one step in any direction, but may only capture diagonally. There may have been regional variations.) On their flanks stands a piece called the fil. This is the alfil, leaping diagonally to the second square distant. Beside these stand the horses, moving as knights. In the corners stand the rooks. The second rank is filled with pawns, which move one step forward and capture one square diagonally forward. There is no double first move, and therefore no capture en passant. A pawn reaching the farthest rank is promoted to ferz (one source says, to the rank of any piece already lost). In Senterej both sides start playing at the same time without waiting for turns. The phase before first capture is called the Mobilization Phase, or werera. Both players may move their pieces as many times as they like without concern for the number of moves the opponent makes. During this phase the players watch each other's moves, and retract their own and substitute others as they think best. They only start to take turns after the First Capture. The play was much more sociable than Europe is used to, with all the bystanders (even, in the old days, slaves) calling out their notions of useful plays and moving the pieces about to demonstrate. The rules and customs surrounding checkmate are numerous. Dealing the fatal blow with a rook or knight was considered inartistic. Delivering the fatal stroke with a ferz or fil is more respectable; with a combination of pawns, even more praiseworthy. A king denuded of all pieces cannot be mated. A king with only a single piece supporting him (pawns do not count, in this case or the previous one) can only be mated before that piece has moved seven times.[2]
Advantages Senterej creates randomized initial chess positions, which make the memorizing chess opening sequences far less helpful.
References [1] Pritchard, D. (2007). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0955516801., p. 247 [2] This account of the rules is taken from Murray, H. J. R., A History of Chess, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1913, pages 362–364.
External links • Senterej, the Ethiopian Chess (http://history.chess.free.fr/senterej.htm) • Senterej – Ethiopian Chess with a flying start (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5321) by Dr. René Gralla • A Note on Ethiopian Chess (http://tezeta.net/25/a-note-on-ethiopian-chess) by Dr. Richard Pankhurst • Kaiserin setzte ein Korps matt (Neues Deutschland) (http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/143861. kaiserin-setzte-ein-korps-matt.html) (German)
272
Lewis chessmen
273
Lewis chessmen Lewis Chessmen
Lewis chessmen in the British Museum Material
Walrus Ivory
Created
12th century
Discovered
Uig, Lewis in 1831
Present location
British Museum · Museum of Scotland
The Lewis Chessmen (or Uig Chessmen, named after the bay where they were found) are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces, most of which are carved in walrus ivory. Discovered in 1831 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland,[1] they may constitute some of the few complete, surviving medieval chess sets, although it is not clear if a set as originally made can be assembled from the pieces. They are owned and exhibited by the British Museum in London, which has 67 of the original pieces, and the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which has the remaining 11 pieces.
Lewis chessmen
Origin The chessmen were probably made in Norway, perhaps by craftsmen in Trondheim, in the 12th century,[2] although some scholars have suggested other sources in the Nordic countries.[3] During that period the Outer Hebrides, along with other major groups of Scottish islands, were ruled by Norway.[2] According to Dr. Alex Woolf, director of the Institute for Medieval Studies of the University of St. Andrews, there are a number of reasons for believing the chess pieces probably came from Trondheim: a broken queen piece in a similar style found in an excavation of the archbishop's palace (it appeared the piece was broken as it was being made), the presence of wealthy people in Trondheim able to pay craftsmen for the high-quality pieces, similar carving in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, the excavation in Trondheim of a kite-shaped shield similar to shields on some of the pieces and a king piece of similar design found on Hitra Island, near the mouth of Trondheim Fjord. Woolf has said that the armour worn by the chess figures includes "perfect" reproductions of armour worn at the time in Norway.[4] Some historians believe that the Lewis chessmen were hidden (or lost) after some mishap occurred during their carriage from Norway to wealthy Norse "Beserker" rook, at the British Museum in towns on the east coast of Ireland, like Dublin. The large number of pieces London and their lack of wear may suggest they were the stock of a trader or dealer in such pieces.[2] Along with the chess pieces, there were 14 plain round tablemen for the game of tables and one belt buckle, all made of ivory, making a total of 93 artifacts.[5] Another possibility, put forward by Icelanders Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson and Einar S. Einarsson, is that the chessmen originated in Iceland.[6] The pair claim that the most important indicator of Icelandic origins is the presence of bishops among the Lewis Chessmen – such pieces first being used in Iceland. However this is disputed by Woolf, who stated that the use of bishops originated in England.[4] The Icelandic hypothesis has been strongly challenged by chess historian and member of the Ken Whyld Association,[7] Morten Lilleøren, who has written an article entitled "The Lewis Chessmen Were Never Anywhere Near Iceland!"[8]
Description Almost all of the pieces in the collection are carved from walrus ivory, with a few made instead from whale teeth. The 78 pieces consist of 8 kings, 8 queens, 16 bishops, 15 knights, 12 rooks and 19 pawns. The heights of the pawns range from 3.5 to 5.8 cm while the major pieces are between 7 and 10.2 cm. Although there are 19 pawns (a complete set requires 16), they have the greatest range of sizes of all the pieces, which has suggested that the 78 pieces might belong to at least 5 sets.[9] All the pieces are sculptures of human figures, with the exception of the pawns, which are smaller, geometric shapes. The knights are mounted on rather diminutive horses and are shown holding spears and shields. The rooks are standing soldiers or warders holding a shield and sword; four of the rooks are shown as wild-eyed berserkers biting their shields with battle fury.[10] Some pieces bore traces of red stain when found, indicating that red and white were used to distinguish the two sides, rather than the black and white used in modern chess.[4]
274
Lewis chessmen
275 Scholars have observed that, to the modern eye, the figural pieces, with their bulging eyes and glum expressions, have a distinct comical character.[11] [12] This is especially true of the single rook with a worried, sideways glance (front left of first image below) and the beserkers biting their shields which have been called "irresistibly comic to a modern audience."[13] It is believed, however, that the comic or sad expressions were not intended or perceived as such by the makers to whom these images instead displayed strength, ferocity or, in the case of the queens who hold their heads with a hand, "contemplation, repose and possibly wisdom."[11]
Modern discovery The chessmen were discovered in early 1831 in a sand bank at the head of Camas Uig on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. There are various local stories concerning their arrival and modern discovery on Lewis.
The Lewis chessmen top: king, queen, bishop middle: knight, rook, pawn bottom: closeup of queen (resin replicas)
Malcolm "Sprot" Macleod from the nearby township of Pennydonald discovered the trove in a small stone kist in a dune, exhibited them briefly in his byre and sold them on to Captain Roderick Ryrie.[14] One reported detail, that it was a cow that actually unearthed the stash, is generally discounted in Uig as fabrication. Malcolm Macleod's family were evicted from Pennydonald several years later when the area was cleared to make the farm at Ardroil.
Exhibition and ownership
They were exhibited by Ryrie at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, on April 11, 1831. The chessmen were soon after split up, with 10 being purchased by Kirkpatrick Sharpe and the others (67 chessmen and 14 tablemen) were purchased on behalf of the British Museum in London. Kirkpatrick Sharpe later found another bishop to take his collection up to eleven, all of which were later sold to Lord Londesborough. In 1888 they were again sold, but this time the purchaser was the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who donated the pieces to the Royal Museum in Edinburgh. The eleven are now on display in the Museum of Scotland. The pieces given to the British Museum are still located there, and most can be found in Room 42 with the registration numbers M&ME 1831, 11–1.78–159. Others have been lent to Scottish museums and temporary exhibitions.[2] A range of resin or plastic replicas are popular items in the Museum shops. The chessmen were number 5 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the 2003 BBC Television documentary Our Top Ten Treasures presented by Adam Hart-Davis. They feature in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects as number 61, in the "Status Symbols" section. A new exhibition entitled "The Lewis Chessmen: Unmasked" that includes chesspieces from both the Museum of Scotland and the British Museum collections, along with other relevant objects, is touring Scotland in 2010/11. The exhibition opened in Edinburgh on 21 May 2010 and proceeded to Aberdeen, Shetland and the Museum nan Eilean in Stornoway, opening there on 15 April 2011.[15]
Lewis chessmen
276
Controversy In 2007–08 a dispute arose regarding the most appropriate place to display the pieces. The issue first arose late in 2007 with calls from Scottish National Party (SNP) politicians in the Western Isles (notably Councillor Annie Macdonald, MSP Alasdair Allan and MP Angus MacNeil) for the return of the pieces to the place they were found. Linda Fabiani the Scottish Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture stated that "it is unacceptable that only 11 Lewis Chessmen rest at the National Museum of Scotland while the other 82 remain in the British Museum in London". Richard Oram, Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling, agreed arguing that there was no reason for there to be more than "a sample" of the collection in London. Both points of view have been dismissed by Margaret Hodge the UK Minister of State in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, writing "It's a lot of nonsense, isn't it?"[14] The local historical society in Uig, Comann Eachdraidh Uig, which operates a registered museum near the find site featuring detailed information about the chessmen and Norse occupation in Lewis, has indicated publicly that it has no intention of pursuing any claim to the ownership of the pieces and does not support demands for them to be sent to Edinburgh, but would welcome short-term loans.[16] In October 2009 twenty-four of the pieces from the London collection and six from Edinburgh began a 16-month tour of diverse locations in Scotland. The tour was part-funded by the Scottish Government and Mike Russell, the Minister for Culture and External Affairs stated that the Government and the British Museum had "agreed to disagree" on their eventual fate. Bonnie Greer, the museum's deputy chairman said that she "absolutely" believed the main collection should remain in London.[17]
A selection of some of the other chess pieces, with a row of bishops at the back, then a row of knights.
A resin replica of one of the kings
Lewis chessmen in the Museum of Scotland
The Lewis chessmen in the British Museum
Knight in London
Popular culture The Harry Potter series depicts a game known as Wizard's Chess where magically animated pieces move and kill on vocal command of the players. In the films, the pieces of the standard tabletop game are depicted using Lewis Chessmen.
Notes [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Chessbase: The enigma of the Lewis chessmen (http:/ / www. chessbase. com/ newsdetail. asp?newsid=6665) British Museum Website. (http:/ / www. britishmuseum. org/ the_museum/ news_and_press_releases/ statements/ the_lewis_chessmen. aspx) Robinson, p. 14. McClain, Dylan Loeb (8 September 2010), Reopening History of Storied Norse Chessmen (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2010/ 09/ 09/ arts/ 09lewis. html), New York Times, , retrieved 14 September 2010 (appeared September 9, 2010 in the newspaper, page C2, New York Times) (Robinson 2004, pp. 5, 36, 54–55) Are the Isle of Lewis chessmen Icelandic? (http:/ / www. leit. is/ lewis/ ), , retrieved 14 September 2010 Ken Whyld Association (http:/ / www. kwabc. org/ Homepage-UK/ home-english. htm) Lilleøren, Morten, The Lewis Chessmen Were Never Anywhere Near Iceland! (http:/ / www. chesscafe. com/ text/ skittles399. pdf) (ChessCafe.com, 2011)
[9] Robinson, p. 30. [10] Robinson, pp. 28-29. [11] Robinson, pp. 37-41. [12] N. Stratford, The Lewis chessmen and the enigma of the hoard (The British Museum Press, 1997), p. 48.
Lewis chessmen [13] Robinson, p. 37. [14] Burnett, Allan (February 3, 2008) "Stalemate". Glasgow. The Sunday Herald. [15] "Lewis Chessman exhibition opens in Stornoway museum" (http:/ / www. bbc. co. uk/ news/ uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13085170). BBC. Retrieved 15 April 2011. [16] Uig News, February 2008 [17] Cornwell, Tim (2 October 2009) "Chessmen 'will never come home'. The Scotsman. Edinburgh.
References • British Museum Website. (http://www.britishmuseum.org/the_museum/news_and_press_releases/statements/ the_lewis_chessmen.aspx) • Murray, H. J. R. (1985). A History of Chess. Oxford University Press. • Robinson, James (2004). The Lewis Chessmen. British Museum Press. • Stratford, N. (1997). The Lewis chessmen and the enigma of the hoard. The British Museum Press. • Taylor, Michael (1978). The Lewis Chessmen. British Museum Publications Limited.
External links • The British Museum's page on the chessmen (http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/ highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lewis_chessmen.aspx) • National Museums Scotland's pages on the chessmen (http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/ national_museum/special_exhibitions/lewis_chessmen_tour.aspx) • A History of the World in 100 Objects, Number 61: The Lewis Chessmen (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/b00stb51) • Not Chess pieces, Not from Lewis (http://textualities.net/writers/features-a-g/chandlerg05.php) • The Isle Of Lewis Chessmen Website (http://www.isleoflewischessset.co.uk/)
277
278
Xiangqi and variants Xiangqi Xiangqi
Xiangqi board with pieces in their starting positions Genre(s)
Board game
Players
2
Setup time
Under one minute
Playing time
Informal games: may vary from 20 minutes to several hours Blitz games: up to 10 minutes
Random chance None Skill(s) required Tactics, strategy
Xiangqi Chinese
象棋
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin xiàngqí - Wade–Giles
hsiang4-ch'i2 [listen]
Min - Hokkien POJ chhiūⁿ-kî Cantonese - Jyutping
zeong6 kei2
Xiangqi
279
Xiangqi (Chinese: 象棋; pinyin: Xiàngqí) is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China. Besides China and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, Xiangqi is also a popular pastime in Vietnam (Cờ tướng). The game represents a battle between two armies, with the object of capturing the enemy's "general" piece. Distinctive features of Xiangqi include the unique A Xiangqi board movement of the pao ("cannon") piece, a rule prohibiting the generals (similar to chess kings) from facing each other directly, and the river and palace board features, which restrict the movement of some pieces. Its Chinese name can be treated as meaning "Image Game" or "Elephant Game": 象 originally, and primarily, means "elephant" and is derived from a stylized drawing of an elephant; it was later used to mean "image", as a jiajie (re-use for another word which was pronounced the same); also, elephant ivory was commonly used as a material for carving models. 棋 means "board game". Xiangqi contains features which are not in Indian chess: the river, the palace, and the placing of the pieces on the intersections of the lines, rather than within the squares. These features may have come from an earlier Chinese board game (perhaps a war-type game) which was also called 象棋 (Xiangqi). As in an astronomical context 象 sometimes means "constellation" or "asterism" (i.e., in both cases, a figure made of stars), there were early Chinese theorizings (which Harold James Ruthven Murray followed and believed) that the older Xiangqi simulated the movements of stars and other celestial objects in the sky.
Xiangqi
280
Rules of the game Board Xiangqi is played on a board that is 9 lines wide by 10 lines long. In a manner similar to the game Go (Wéiqí 圍棋), the pieces are played on the intersections, which are known as points. The vertical lines are known as files, while the horizontal lines are known as ranks. Centered at the first through third ranks of the board is a square zone also mirrored in the opponent's territory. The three point by three point zone is demarcated by two diagonal lines connecting opposite corners and intersecting at the center point. This area is known as 宮 gōng, the palace or fortress. Dividing the two opposing sides (between the fifth and sixth ranks) is 河 hé, the river. The river is often marked with the phrases 楚河 chǔ hé, meaning "Chu River", and 漢界 (in Traditional Chinese). hàn jiè, meaning "Han border", a reference to the Chu-Han War. Although the river provides a visual division between the two sides, only a few pieces are affected by its presence: "soldier" pieces have an enhanced move after crossing the river, while "elephant" pieces cannot cross. The starting points of the soldiers and cannons are typically marked with small crosses, but not all boards have these marks.
Xiangqi is a common pastime in Chinese cities.
Play The pieces start in the position shown in the diagram above. Which player moves first has varied throughout history, and also varies from one part of China to another. Some Xiangqi books state that the black side moves first; others state that the red side moves first. Also, some books may refer to the two sides as north and south; which direction corresponds to which color also varies from source to source. Generally, red goes first in most modern formal tournaments.[1] Each player in turn moves one piece from the point it occupies to another point. Generally pieces are not permitted to move through a point occupied by another piece. A piece can be moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, in which case the enemy piece is "captured" and removed from the board. A player cannot capture one of his own pieces. Pieces are never "promoted" (converted into other pieces), although the pawn/soldier is able to move sideways after it crosses the river. Generally all pieces capture using their normal moves. One piece has a special capture move, as described below.
Xiangqi
The game ends when one player captures the other's general. When the general is in danger of being captured by the enemy player on his next move, the enemy player is said to have "delivered a check" (simplified Chinese: 照将/将军; traditional Chinese: 照將/將軍, abbreviated (simplified Chinese: 将; traditional Chinese: 將; pinyin: jiāngjiāng)) and the general is said to be "in check". A check should be announced. If the general's player can make no move to prevent the general's capture, the situation is called "checkmate" (simplified Chinese: 将死; traditional Chinese: 將死).
281
"Checkmate!" (assuming the cannon is safe) Note that the horse is not actually needed for this to be checkmate.
Unlike Chess, in which a stalemate is a draw, in Xiangqi, a player with no legal moves left loses. In Xiangqi, a player (often with material or positional disadvantage) may attempt to check or chase pieces in a way that the moves fall in a cycle, forcing the opponent to draw the game. The following special rules are used to make it harder to draw the game by endless checking and chasing (regardless of whether the positions of the pieces are repeated or not): • The side that perpetually checks with one piece or several pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual checking. • The side that perpetually chases any one unprotected piece with one or more pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual chasing. Chases by generals and soldiers are allowed however.[2] • If one side perpetually checks and the other side perpetually chases, the perpetually checking side has to stop or be ruled to lose. • When neither side violates the rules and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw. • When both sides violate the same rule at the same time and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw. Different sets of rules set different limits on what is considered "perpetual". For example, Club Xiangqi rules allow a player to check/chase six consecutive times using one piece, twelve times using two pieces, and eighteen times using three pieces before considering the check/chase a perpetual check/chase.[2] The above rules to prevent perpetual checking and chasing are popular, but they are by no means the only rules. There are a large number of confusing end game situations.[3]
Pieces The pieces are flat circular disks, each with a Chinese character on, sometimes engraved into the surface. The black pieces are marked with somewhat different characters from the corresponding red pieces; this practice Western version of pieces may have originated in situations where there was only one material available to make the pieces from and no coloring material available to distinguish the opposing armies.
Xiangqi
282
General The generals are labelled with the Chinese character 將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) jiàng (general) on the black side and 帥 (trad.) / 帅 (simp.) shuài (marshal) on the red side. The general starts the game at the midpoint of the back edge (within the palace). The general may move and capture one point either vertically or horizontally, but not diagonally. The two generals may not face each other in the same file with no intervening pieces. If that happens, the "flying general" (飛將) move may be executed, in which one general may "fly" across the board to capture the enemy general. In practice this rule is only used to enforce checkmate. The general may not leave the palace except when executing the "flying general" move.
General and advisors
The Indian name "king" for this piece was changed to "general" because China's rulers objected to their royal title "king" or "emperor" being given to a game-piece.[4]
Advisor The advisors (also known as guards or ministers, and less commonly as assistants, mandarins, or warriors) are labelled 士 shì ("scholar", "gentleman", "officer") for black and 仕 shì ("scholar", "official") for red. Rarely, sets use the character 士 for both colours. The advisors start to the sides of the general. They move and capture one point diagonally and may not leave the palace, which confines them to five points on the board. They serve to protect the general. The advisor is probably derived from the mantri in Chaturanga, like the queen in Western chess. Elephant The elephants are labeled 象 xiàng (elephant) for black and 相 xiàng (minister) for red. They are located next to the advisors. These pieces move and capture exactly two points diagonally and may not jump over intervening pieces (the move is described as being like the character 田 Tián [field]). If an elephant is blocked by an intervening piece, it is known as "blocking the elephant's eye" (塞象眼). They may not cross the river; thus, they serve as defensive pieces. Because an elephant's movement is thus restricted to just seven board positions, it can be easily trapped or threatened. Typically the two elephants will be used to defend each other. The Chinese characters for "minister" and "elephant" are homophones (Listen) and both have alternative meanings as "appearance" or "image". However, both are referred to as elephants in the game.
Xiangqi
283
Horse
The horses are labelled 馬 mǎ for black and 傌 mà for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and 马 mǎ for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 馬 for both colours. They begin the game next to the elephants. A horse moves and captures one point vertically or horizontally and then one point diagonally away from its former position, a move which is traditionally described as being like the character 日 Rì. The horse does not jump as the knight does in Western chess. Thus, if there were a piece lying on a point one point away horizontally or vertically from the horse, then the horse's path of movement is blocked and it is unable to move in that direction. Note, however, that a piece two points away horizontally or vertically or a piece a single point away diagonally would not impede the movement of the horse. Blocking a horse is also known as "hobbling the horse's leg" (蹩馬腿). The diagram on the left illustrates the horse's movement.
The red horse may take the black horse, but the black horse cannot take the red horse because its movement is obstructed by another piece
Since horses can be blocked, it is sometimes possible to trap the opponent's horse. It is possible for one player's horse to attack the opponent's horse while the opponent's horse is blocked from attacking, as seen in the diagram on the right.
Green moves are legal; red ones are illegal because another piece is obstructing the movement of the horse
Xiangqi
284
Chariot The chariots are labelled 車 for black and 俥 for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and 车 for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 車 for both colors. All of these characters are pronounced as jū. The chariot moves and captures vertically and horizontally any distance, and may not jump over intervening pieces. The chariots begin the game on the points at the corners of the board. The chariot is considered to be the strongest piece in the game. The chariot is sometimes known as the "rook" by English speaking players, since it is like the rook in Western chess. Chinese players (and others) often call this piece a "car", since that is one modern meaning of the character 車. Cannon The cannons are labelled 砲 pào for black and 炮 pào for red. They are homophones. Sometimes 炮 is used for both red and black. 砲 pào means a "catapult" for hurling boulders. 炮 pào means "cannon". The 石 shì radical of 砲 means 'stone', and the 火 huǒ radical of 炮 means 'fire'. However, both are normally referred to as cannons in English. In Xiangqi, each player has two cannons. The cannons start on the row behind the soldiers, two points in front of the horses. Cannons move like the chariots, horizontally and vertically, but capture by jumping exactly one piece (whether it is friendly or enemy) over to its target. When capturing, the cannon is moved to the point of the captured piece. The cannon may not jump over intervening pieces if not capturing another piece, nor may it capture without jumping. The piece which the cannon jumps over is called the 炮臺 (trad.) / 炮台 (simp.) pào tái ("cannon platform"). Any number of unoccupied spaces may exist between the cannon and the cannon platform, or between the cannon platform and the piece to be captured, including no spaces (the pieces being adjacent) in both cases. Cannons are powerful pieces at the beginning of the game when platforms are plentiful, and are used frequently in combination with chariots to achieve checkmate. Although cannons can be exchanged for a horse immediately from their starting positions, this is usually not favorable, in part due to the superiority of cannons over horses at the beginning of the game. The two cannons, when used together, can form a check that cannot be The long-range threat of the cannon stopped easily. As they line up in the attack against the opposing general, the back cannon checks the general while the front cannon, serving as the platform, prohibits blocking for the opposing side. The opposing side can only move the general, capture the back cannon, or block between the two cannons.
Xiangqi
285
Soldier Each side has five soldiers, labelled 卒 zú (pawn/private) for black and 兵 bīng (soldier) for red. Soldiers are placed on alternating points, one row back from the edge of the river. They move and capture by advancing one point. Once they have crossed the river, they may also move (and capture) one point horizontally. Soldiers cannot move backward, and therefore cannot retreat; however, they may still move sideways at the enemy's edge. The soldier is sometimes known as the "pawn" by English speaking players, since it is similar to that piece in Western chess. Approximate relative values of the pieces Piece
Point(s) 1
Soldier before crossing the river 2–3 Soldier after crossing the river 2 Advisor 2 Elephant 4.5 Horse 5 Cannon 9–10 Chariot
These approximate values do not take into account positional advantages. For example, the chariot at the corner in the beginning of the game is not very useful, but it can be moved to points where it affects the game much more, for example near the center of the board or the opponent's palace. Also, the value of a cannon drops as the game goes on due to having fewer platforms for use in capturing, while the value of the horse increases slightly due to fewer obstructions. Although the chariot has the highest value of 9–10 points, players will often in certain game scenarios value a cannon or horse at or more than the level of a chariot due to the cannon's unique attack style. What is left on the board is also important to the value of a piece. For example, in a mid or late game, if red still has two chariots and black has one advisor left, that advisor is very valuable for black because it is very easy for red to checkmate with two chariots if black does not have an advisor. Equipment One player's pieces are usually painted red (or, less commonly, white), and the other player's pieces are usually painted black (or, less commonly, blue or green). Xiangqi pieces are represented by disks marked with a Chinese character identifying the piece and painted in a colour identifying which player the piece belongs. In mainland China, most sets still use traditional Chinese characters (as opposed to simplified Chinese characters) for the pieces. Modern pieces are usually made of plastic, though some sets use pieces made of wood, and more expensive sets may use pieces made of jade. In more ancient times, many sets were simple unpainted woodcarvings; thus, to distinguish between the pieces of the two sides, most corresponding pieces use characters that are similar but vary slightly between the two sides.
Xiangqi
286
The oldest Xiangqi piece found to date is a 俥 (chariot) piece. It is kept in the Henan Provincial Museum.
Notation There are several types of notation used to record Xiangqi games. In each case the moves are numbered and written with the same general pattern. 1. (first move) (first response) 2. (second move) (second response) It is clearer but not required to write each move pair on a separate line.
Notational system 1 The book The Chess of China[5] describes a move notation in which the ranks of the board are numbered 1 to 10 from closest to farthest away, followed by a digit 1 to 9 for files from right to left. Both values are relative to the moving player. Moves are then indicated as follows: [piece name] ([former rank][former file])-[new rank][new file] Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as: 1. 炮 (32)–35, 馬 (18)–37
Notational system 2 A notational system partially described in A Manual of Chinese Chess[6] and used by several computer software implementations describes moves in relative terms as follows: [single-letter piece abbreviation][former file][operator indicating direction of movement][new file, or in the case of purely vertical movement, number of ranks traversed] The file numbers are counted from each player's right to each player's left. In case there are two identical pieces in one file, symbols + (front) and – (rear) are used instead of former file number. Direction of movement is indicated via an operator symbol. A plus sign is used to indicate forward movement. A minus sign or hyphen is used to indicate backwards movement. A dot or period or equal sign is used to indicate horizontal or lateral movement. If a piece (such as the horse or elephant) simultaneously moves both vertically and horizontally, then the plus or minus sign is used rather than the period. Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as: 1. C2.5 H8+7 The single letter piece abbreviations are Piece
Initial(s)
Advisor
A
Cannon
C
Chariot
R*
Elephant E General
G
Horse
H
Soldier
S
*for Rook, because using C would conflict with the letter for Cannon
Xiangqi
287
Notational system 3 (unofficial, for players of Western chess) Letters are used for files and numbers for ranks. File "a" is on Red's left and rank "1" is nearest to Red. A point's designation does not depend on which player moves; for both sides "a1" is the lowest left point from Red's side. [single-letter piece abbreviation][former position][check indication][analysis]
position][capture
indication][new
Pieces are abbreviated as for system 2, except that no letter is used for the soldier. Former position is only indicated if necessary to distinguish between two identical pieces that could have made the move. If they share the same file, indicate which rank moves; if they share the same rank, indicate which file moves. If they share neither rank or file then the file is indicated. Capture is indicated by "x". No letter is used to indicate a non-capturing move. Check is indicated by "+", double check by "++", triple check by "+++", and quadruple check by "++++". Checkmate is indicated by "#". For analysis purposes, bad moves are indicated by "?" and good moves by "!". These can be combined if the analysis is uncertain ("!?" might be either but is probably good; "?!" is probably bad) or repeated for emphasis ("??" is a disaster). Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as: 1. Che3 Hg8 An example of a brief game ("the early checkmate") is: 1. 2. 3. 4.
10 9 8
Cbe3 Che8 Ch6 Cb4? Cxe7+! Cexe4?? Ce6#
Black is mated and therefore loses the game. Notice how Red's doubled cannons can't be blocked, and that the general can't move off the file either.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Xiangqi
288
Gameplay Because of the size of the board and the low number of long-range pieces, there is a tendency for the battle to focus on a particular area of the board.
Tactics There are several tactics common to games in the chess family, including Xiangqi. Some common ones are briefly discussed here; see Chess tactics for more details. • Fork: When one enemy piece can attack more than one piece, they are forked. • Pin: A piece is pinned when it cannot be moved without exposing a more important piece to be captured. A cannon can pin two pieces at once on one file or rank, and unlike in Western chess, because the horse can be blocked it can pin pieces as well. • Skewer: A piece is skewered when it is attacked and, on moving, exposes a less important piece to be captured. Fork 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
The horse forks the soldier and the chariot. Pin 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
The cannon is pinned by the chariot. Skewer
Xiangqi
289
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
The chariot is skewering the general and chariot. When the general moves, the chariot can be taken. • Discovered check: A discovered check occurs when an attacking piece moves so that it unblocks a line for a chariot, cannon, and less often, the horse, to check the enemy general. The piece uncovering the check can safely move anywhere within its powers regardless of whether the opponent has those squares under protection. • Double check: A double check occurs when two pieces simultaneously threaten the enemy general. It may or may not be possible to block. An example of a double check that can be blocked is a chariot checking the general and acting as a platform for a cannon situated behind. This can be blocked by moving a piece between the general and the chariot, blocking the cannon's fire and that of the chariot as well. An example of a double check that can not be blocked is a horse between the enemy general and a chariot. The horse can move to check the general and uncover a check from the chariot. No piece can block because there is an attack from two directions, and both can't be blocked at once. In either case, capturing one of the checking pieces doesn't get the general out of check either. Sometimes a double check results in mate. Another, blockable, case of double check is when a cannon or chariot uncovers two checks at once from two horses, but it is rare. • Particular to Xiangqi is triple check, which arises with a cannon, a chariot, and a horse or a chariot and two horses, the latter being comparatively rare. In the first case the horse moves to give check uncovering a double check from the chariot and the cannon, which uses the chariot as a platform. This check can't be blocked and capturing a checking piece doesn't work either, as that would leave the general still in check from two enemy pieces. In the second case the chariot moves to give check uncovering a double check from the two horses. Quadruple check is also possible, arising with 2 horses, a chariot, and a cannon. Triple check 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Xiangqi
290 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Red's horse has moved from e5 to d7, giving check and exposing a double check from chariot and cannon. Quadruple check 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Red's chariot has moved from f9 to e9, giving check and exposing a triple check from cannon and both horses. Triple check, alternate position 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Red's chariot discovers two checks from the horses and gives check itself.
Use of pieces Usually, the soldiers do not support each other unless the player has no better move. This is because from the initial position, it takes a minimum of 5 moves of a soldier to allow twin soldiers to protect each other. The two chariots are not normally lined up together as they are the most powerful pieces and in doing so, a player risks losing one chariot to an inferior piece of the enemy. Depending on the situation, it may be advantageous to position a chariot at one of the corners of the enemy's side of the board, where it is very difficult to dislodge, and threatens the enemy general. It is common to use the cannons independently to control particular ranks and files. Using a cannon to control the middle file is often considered vital strategy, because it helps to lock certain pieces such as the advisors and elephants in certain positions to prevent a check. The two files adjacent to the middle file are also considered
Xiangqi
291
important and horses and chariots can be used to push for checkmate here. The two cannons on the same file is also a powerful formation. For example, the rear cannon threatens the general. Moving a piece in front of the cannons to block the attack does not work, because then the front cannon will attack the general. A common defensive configuration is to leave the general at its starting position, deploy one advisor and one elephant on the two points directly in front of the general, and to leave the other advisor and the other elephant in their starting positions, to the side of the general. In this setup, the paired-up advisors and elephants support each other, and the general is immune from attacks by cannons. However, with the loss of a single advisor or elephant, the general becomes vulnerable to cannons, and this setup may need to be abandoned. The defender may move advisors or elephants away from the general, or even sacrifice them intentionally, to ward off attack by a cannon.
Openings 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
The most common opening pair of moves Since the left and right flank of the starting setup are symmetrical and therefore equivalent, it is customary to always make the first move from the right flank. Starting on the left flank is considered to be needlessly confusing. The most common opening is to move the cannon to the central column, an opening known as 當頭炮 (trad.) / 当头炮 (simp.) dāng tóu pào = "appropriate start cannon". The most common reply is to advance the horse on the same flank. Together, this move-and-response is known by the rhyme 當頭炮，馬來跳 (trad.) / 当头炮，马来跳 (simp.) dāng tóu pào, mǎ lái tiào. The notation for this is "1. 炮 (32)–35, 馬 (18)–37" or "1. C2.5 H8+7". See also the diagrams to the right. This is usually followed by the most common second move, 出車 (trad.) / 出车 (simp.) chū jū—"chariot sortie"—in which the first player moves a chariot forward one space (usually the right one – moving the left one loses the horse, and even if the defender manages to trap the cannon with his/her chariots, the cannon can simply take the nearest advisor resulting in a net gain of an advisor in material for the other side and the maneuver to trap the cannon loses time allowing the opponent to bring out other pieces). The most common reply is to move the right advisor diagonally. 上士 shàng shì. This is to prevent a series of events that leads to the first player quickly checkmating the second. Less common first moves include: • moving an elephant to the central column
Xiangqi • advancing the soldier on the third or seventh file • moving a horse forward • moving either cannon behind the 2nd soldier from the left or right General advice for the opening includes rapid development of at least one chariot, because it is the most powerful piece and the only long-range piece besides the cannon. There is a saying that only a poor player does not move a chariot in the first three moves. It may not be a bad move to develop one horse to the edge of the board, for example, to avoid being blocked by one of one's own soldiers that cannot advance. Usually, at least one horse should be moved to the middle.
History Xiangqi has a long history. Its ancestor is believed to be the Indian chess game of Chaturanga,[7] though its precise origins have not yet been definitely confirmed; there are some indications that the game may have been played as early as the third century BC, during the Warring States Period. (See chess in early literature and timeline of chess.) Judging by its rules, Xiangqi was apparently closely related to military strategy in ancient China. The ancient Chinese game of Liubo may have had an influence as well. References to a game called Xiangqi date back to the Warring States Period; according to the first century BC text, Shuo yuan (說宛), it was one of Lord Mengchang of Qi's interests.[8] Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou once wrote a book Xiang Jing in AD 569. It is believed to have described the rules of an astronomically themed game called Xiangqi or Xiangxi (象戲). The word Xiàngqí 象棋 is usually translated as "elephant game" or "figure game", because the Chinese character 象 means "elephant" and "figure"; it originated as a stylized drawing of an elephant, and was used also to write a word meaning "figure", likely because the two words were pronounced the same. But the name can also be treated as meaning "constellation game", and sometimes the xiàngqí board's "river" is called the "heavenly river", which may mean the Milky Way. For these reasons, Harold James Ruthven Murray, author of A History of Chess, theorized that "in China it [Chess] took over the board and name of a game called 象棋 in the sense of "Constellation Game" (rendered by Murray as "Astronomical Game"), which represented the apparent movements of naked-eye-visible astronomical objects in the night sky, and that the earliest Chinese references to 象棋 meant the Astronomical Game and not Chinese chess". previous games called xiàngqí may have been based on the movements of sky objects. However, the connection between 象 and astronomy is marginal, and arose from constellations being called merely "figures" in astronomical contexts where other meanings of "figure" were less likely; this usage may have led some ancient Chinese authors to theorize that the game 象棋 started as a simulation of astronomy. To support his argument, Murray quoted an old Chinese source that says that in that older Xiangqi (which modern Xiangqi may have taken some of its rules from) the game-pieces could be shuffled, which does not happen in chess-type Xiangqi as known now.[9] Murray also wrote that in ancient China there was more than one game called Xiangqi.[10] An alternative hypothesis to Murray's is that Xiangqi was patterned after the array of troops in the Warring States era. David H. Li, for example, argues that the game was developed by Han Xin in the winter of 204 BC-203 BC to prepare for an upcoming battle.[11] His theories have been questioned by other chess researchers, however.[12] The earliest description of the game's rules appears in the story "Cen Shun" (岑順) in the collection Xuanguai lu (玄怪錄), written in the middle part of the Tang dynasty.
292
Xiangqi
293 With the economic and cultural development during the Qing Dynasty, Xiangqi entered a new stage. Many different schools of circles and players came into prominence. With the popularization of Xiangqi, many books and manuals on the techniques of playing the game were published. They played an important role in popularizing Xiangqi and improving the techniques of play in modern times.
Xiangqi game pieces dated to the Song Dynasty (960–1279)
A Western-style Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings was not written until 2004.
Modern play Tournaments and leagues Although Xiangqi has its origin in Asia, there are Xiangqi leagues and clubs all over the world. Each European nation generally has its own governing league; for example, in Britain, Xiangqi is regulated by the United Kingdom Chinese Chess Association. Asian countries also have nationwide leagues, such as the Malaysia Chinese Chess Association in Malaysia. In addition, there are also several international federations and tournaments. For example, the Chinese Xiangqi Association hosts several tournaments every year, including the Yin Li and Ram Cup Tournaments.[13] Other organizations include the Asian Xiangqi Federation[14] and a World Xiangqi Federation,[15] which hosts tournaments and competitions bi-annually, though most are limited to players from member nations.
Rankings The Asian Xiangqi Federation and its corresponding member associations also rank players in a number format similar to the rankings of chess. The best player in China, according to the 2006 Chinese National Ratings, was Xu Yinchuan with a rating of 2628.[16] Other strong players include Lu Qin and Hu Ronghua. The Asian Xiangqi Federation also bestows the title of grandmaster to select individuals around the world who have excelled at Xiangqi or have made special contributions to the game. Though there are no specific criteria for becoming a grandmaster, the list of grandmasters is limited to fewer than a hundred people.[17]
Computers The game-tree complexity of Xiangqi is approximately 10150, so in 2004 it was projected that a human top player will be defeated before 2010.[18] And in the Computer-Human Xiangqi Dual Meet in 2006, the final score was Computer 5.5 – Human 4.5 Xiangqi is one of the more popular competitions at the annual Computer Olympiad. Computer programs for playing Xiangqi show the same development trend as has occurred for international Chess: they are usually console applications (called engines) which communicate their moves in text form through some standard protocol. For displaying the board graphically, they then rely on a separate Graphical User Interface. Through such standardization, many different engines can be used through the same GUI, and the GUI can also be used for automated play of different engines against each other. Popular protocols are UCI (Universal Chess Interface), UCCI (Universal Chinese Chess Interface), Qianhong (QH) protocol, and WinBoard/XBoard (WB) protocol (the latter two named after the GUIs that implemented them). There now exist many dozens of Xiangqi engines supporting one or more of these protocols, including some commercial engines. Computer Xiangqi Programs Chinese Chess Soul [19]
Xiangqi
294 NEU Chess [20] XieXie [21] XQ Master [22] Hidden Lynx [23] HOXChess [24]
Xiangqi Graphical User Interfaces Qianhong Xiangqi [25] (QH, and UCCI through adapter) WinBoard / XBoard [26] (WB, and QH, UCI, UCCI through adapters) XQ Wizzard [27] (UCCI, and QH through adapter) Computer Xiangqi Website With many engine downloads [28] (Chinese site, but worth the effort of translation!) Computer Xiangqi Servers Vietson [29] ThaiGB [30] Ajax Chinese Chess [31] Club Xiangqi [32] PlayXiangqi [33]
Variations Using a standard Xiangqi board and pieces Blitz Chess Each player only has around 5–10 minutes each (depending on rules), leading to a fast-paced game with little or no room for thought, and moves have to be made by instinct. Supply Chess Similar to the Western chess variant, Bughouse Chess, this variant features the ability to re-deploy captured pieces, similar to a rule in Shogi, Four players play two games side-by-side with a team of two playing against another team. One teammate plays black and other plays red. Any piece obtained by capturing the opponent's piece is given to the teammate for use in the other game. These pieces can be deployed by the teammate to give him an advantage over the other player, so long as the piece starts on the player's own side of the board and does not cause the opponent to be in check. Formation One player's pieces are jumbled up, then placed randomly on one side of the river, except for the generals and advisors which must be at their usual positions in normal Xiangqi, and elephants must start at two of the seven points that they could reach from their usual positions. The other player's pieces are set up to mirror the first's. All other rules are the same as in Xiangqi. Blind Chess More well known in Hong Kong than in mainland China, this game uses Xiangqi's pieces and board, but does not follow any of its rules, bearing more of a resemblance to the western game Stratego as well as the Chinese gameLuzhanqi. The game is played on only half the Xianqi board, turned sideways to allow nine rows and five columns. Players flip their pieces so that the characters are concealed from their opponent, and then arrange them on their respective ends of the board. At each turn, a player can do one of three things: They may choose to uncover a concealed piece, move one of their own pieces to an empty square (pieces can only move to an
Xiangqi
295 adjacent square and not diagonally regardless of its movement style in original Xiangqi), or they may choose to capture one of their opponents pieces. There are limitations for the last option however: Each piece has a "rank" that enables it to capture pieces beneath its rank when an enemy piece is directly next to it. In the Taiwanese version, the rank of pieces (from highest to lowest) is: 1. General. 2. Advisor. 3. Elephant. 4. Chariot. 5. Horse. 6. Cannon. 7. Soldier. In Hong Kong, the rank is: 1. General. 2. Chariot. 3. Horse. 4. Cannon. 5. Elephant. 6. Advisor. 7. Soldier. In either version the Soldier is the lowest rank, but also important as it is the only piece that can capture the enemy General. A special rule enables the cannon to capture the same way as it does in Xiangqi by jumping over exactly one piece (whether friend or foe) landing on its target. Because of this rule, although by rank the cannon is higher than soldier, it cannot capture a soldier even when the soldier is placed directly next to it. The game continues until one of the players has lost all of his pieces. Blind chess is mostly a game of luck as the player cannot choose where his pieces are set up; he can only increase his chances by moving pieces and uncovering appropriately, calculating the odds that the uncovered piece next to them can be friend or foe, superior or inferior. T
Using a special board and/or pieces There are many versions of three-player Xiangqi, or "San Xiangqui" (Three Elephants Game), all played on special boards: San Guo Qi "The Game of Three Kingdoms" is played on a special hexagonal board with three armies (red, blue and green) of Xiangqi pieces vying for dominance. A Y-shaped river trisects the board into three gem-shaped territories, each containing the grid found on one side of a Xiangqi board, but distorted to make the game playable by three people. Each player has 18 pieces: the classical 16 of regular Xiangqi and 2 new ones which stand on the same file as the Cannons. The new pieces have different names depending on their side: Fire (Huo), for red, Flag (Qi) for blue, Wind (Feng) for green, and they move two spaces orthogonally, and then one diagonally. The Generals each bear the name of the historical Chinese kingdoms—Shu for red, Wei for blue, Wu for green—from China's Three Kingdoms Period.[34] It is likely that San Guo Qi first appeared under the Southern Song Dynasty (960–1279).[35] San You Qi "Three Friends Chess" was invented by Zheng Jinde from Shexian in Anhui province during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of Qing Dynasty (1661–1722). It is played on a Y-shaped board with a full army of Ziangqi pieces set up at the end of each of the board's three wide radii. In the center of the board sits a triangular zone with certain features (ocean, mountain, city walls) each of which are impassible by certain pieces. Two of an army's five Soldiers are replaced by new pieces called "Fires", which move one diagonal space forward. On the front corners of the palace are positioned two "Flag" pieces, which move two spaces forward inside their own camp, and then one space in any direction inside an enemy camp.[35] 'Sanrenqi:"Three Men Chess" is a riverless commercial variant played on a cross-shaped board with some special rules, including a fourth, neutral country called Han. Han has three Chariots, one Cannon, and one General named "Emperor Xian of Han," but these pieces do not move and do not belong to any of the three players until a certain point in the game when two player team up against the third player, who also gets to control Han (similar to player playing their own hand, plus that of a dummy in Bridge.[35] Si Guo Qi "Four Kingdoms Chess" is also played on a riverless, cross-shaped board, but with four players. Because there are no rivers, elephants may move about the board freely.[35]
Xiangqi
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
Xiangqi: Chinese Chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ xiangqi. html) at chessvariants.com Chinese Chess Rules (http:/ / www. clubxiangqi. com/ rules/ ) at clubxiangqi.com Asian Chinese Chess Rules (http:/ / www. clubxiangqi. com/ rules/ asiarule. htm) at clubxiangqi.com A History of Chess, p.120, footnote 3 says that Ssŭ-ma Kuang wrote in T'ung-kien nun in AD 1084 that Emperor Wen of Sui (541–604) found at an inn some foreigners playing a board game whose pieces included a piece called "I pai ti" = "white emperor"; in anger at this misuse of his title he had everybody at the inn put to death. [5] Leventhal, Dennis A. The Chess of China. Taipei, Taiwan: Mei Ya, 1978. ( getCITED.org listing (http:/ / www. getcited. org/ pub/ 101996662)) [6] Wilkes, Charles Fred. A Manual of Chinese Chess. 1952. [7] Henry Davidson, A Short History of Chess, p. 6 [8] "Facts on the Origin of Chinese Chess" (http:/ / www. banaschak. net/ schach/ origins. htm). Banaschak.net. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [9] A History of Chess, p.122, footnote 12: "In the biography of Lü-Ts'ai. The Emperor T'ai-Tsung (627–650) was puzzled by the phrase 太子洗馬 t'ai-tze-si-ma ('the crown-prince washes the horses') in the 周武帝三局象經 Zhou Wudi sanju xiangjing ('Zhou Wudi's three games in the Xiangjing'): 'to wash the dominoes' means 'to shuffle them' in modern Chinese; ma or 'horse' is used for the pieces in a game. The phrase probably meant 'the crown-prince shuffles the men'). He consulted Yün-Kung, who had known the phrase as a young man but had forgotten it, and then Lü-Ts'ai. The latter, after a night's consideration, explained the point, and recovered the method of play of the astronomical game and the actual position." [10] A History of Chess, p.122: The 32nd book of the history of the T'ang dynasty (618–907) said that Wu-Ti wrote and expounded a book named San-kü-siang-king (Manual of the three xiangqi's). [11] This theory is propounded in The Genealogy of Chess [12] "A story well told is not necessarily true – being a critical assessment of David H. Li's "The Genealogy of Chess", by Peter Banaschak (http:/ / www. banaschak. net/ schach/ ligenealogyofchess. htm). Banaschak.net. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [13] From FAQ #21: “What are some of the top tournaments in the world?” (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ chinfaq. html#question20), rec.games.chinese-chess, chessvariants.com [14] Asian Xiangqi Federation (http:/ / www. asianxiangqi. org/ ) homepage includes English translations of Asian tournament results, rules, etc. [15] World Xiangqi Federation (http:/ / www. wxf. org/ ). Wxf.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [16] 职业棋手等级分-象棋资料-象棋网 (http:/ / chess. ourgame. com/ info/ info. asp) [17] rec.games.chinese-chess FAQ lists the International Grandmasters by country (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ chinfaq. html). [18] Yen, Chen, Yang, Hsu, 2004, Computer Chinese Chess (http:/ / www. csie. ndhu. edu. tw/ ~sjyen/ Papers/ 2004CCC. pdf). [19] Chinese Chess Soul (http:/ / www. chesssoul. com) Chinese Chess Computer Software [20] NEU Chess (http:/ / www. neuchess. com/ ). NEU Chess. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [21] XieXie (http:/ / www. cc-xiexie. com/ ). Cc-xiexie.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [22] XQ Master (http:/ / www. xqmaster. com/ ) [23] Hidden Lynx – A free Chinese Chess program for Windows (http:/ / mayoneez. 1g. fi/ hiddenlynx/ ) [24] HOXChess – A cross platform, open source Xiangqi program (http:/ / hoxchess. googlecode. com/ ). Hoxchess.googlecode.com (2010-03-25). Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [25] Qianhong Xiangqi (http:/ / www. jcraner. com/ qianhong/ ). Jcraner.com (2009-04-01). Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [26] WinBoard Xiangqi (http:/ / home. hccnet. nl/ h. g. muller/ XQ. html). Home.hccnet.nl. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [27] Xiangqi Wizard. Sourceforge.net. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [28] 象棋巫师 – 最受欢迎的中国象棋单机版游戏 – 象棋百科全书 (http:/ / www. xqbase. com). Xqbase.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [29] Vietson Online Chinese Chess (http:/ / www. vietson. com/ ). Vietson.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [30] ThaiGB – An Internet Chinese Chess server in Thai (http:/ / www. thaibg. com/ CCOnline/ ). Thaibg.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [31] Ajax Chinese Chess – Play Chinese Chess online! (http:/ / ajaxchess. pragmaticlogic. com/ ). Ajaxchess.pragmaticlogic.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [32] Club Xiangqi – A Chinese Chess server with English/Vietnamese/Chinese interface (http:/ / www. clubxiangqi. com/ ). Clubxiangqi.com (2007-12-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [33] PlayXiangqi – A Xiangqi server with Open Source client and Open Server API (http:/ / www. playxiangqi. com/ ). Playxiangqi.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01. [34] "The Chess Variants Pages" (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ xiangqivariants. dir/ chin3pl. html). The Game of the Three Kingdoms. . Retrieved 31 August 2011. [35] "Sanguo Qi (Three Kingdoms Chess) & Sanyou Qi (Three Friends Chess)" (http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ sanguoqi. htm). Another view on Chess: Odyssey of Chess. . Retrieved 31 August 2011.
296
Xiangqi
Further reading • Lau, H. T. Chinese Chess. Tuttle Publishing, Boston, 1985. ISBN 0-8048-3508-X. • Leventhal, Dennis A. The Chess of China (http://www.banaschak.net/index.html). Taipei, Taiwan: Mei Ya, 1978. (out-of-print but can be partly downloaded) • Li, David H. First Syllabus on Xiangqi: Chinese Chess 1. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 1996. ISBN 0-9637852-5-7. • Li, David H. The Genealogy of Chess. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 1998. ISBN 0-9637852-2-2. • Li, David H. Xiangqi Syllabus on Cannon: Chinese Chess 2. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 1998. ISBN 0-9637852-7-3. • Li, David H. Xiangqi Syllabus on Elephant: Chinese Chess 3. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 2000. ISBN 0-9637852-0-6. • Li, David H. Xiangqi Syllabus on Pawn: Chinese Chess 4. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 2002. ISBN 0-9711690-1-2. • Li, David H. Xiangqi Syllabus on Horse: Chinese Chess 5. Premier Publishing, Bethesda, Maryland, 2004. ISBN 0-9711690-2-0. • Sloan, Sam. Chinese Chess for Beginners. Ishi Press International, San Rafael, Tokyo, 1989. ISBN 0-923891-11-0. • Wilkes, Charles Fred. A Manual of Chinese Chess. 1952. • Lo, Andrew; Wang, Tzi-Cheng. "'The Earthworms Tame the Dragon': The Game of Xiangqi" in Asian Games, The Art of Contest, edited by Asia Society, 2004. (a serious and updated reading about Xiangqi history)
External links Learn • • • • •
Rules, openings, strategy, ancient manuals (http://www.xqinenglish.com/) An Introduction to Xiangqi for Chess Players (http://www.crockford.com/chess/xiangqi.html) Presentation, rules, history and variants of xiangqi (http://history.chess.free.fr/xiangqi.htm) Xiangqi: Chinese Chess (http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html) at the Chess Variant Pages Apertures and strategy (https://sites.google.com/site/xiangqiesp/) In Spanish
Play • • • •
PlayOK -Play Xiangqi online, free! (http://www.playok.com/en/xiangqi/) XiangQi on ChessFreaks, play online or on your mobile (http://www.chessfreaks.com/en) Vietson Online Chinese Chess / Xiangqi – Play with friends from all over the world (http://www.vietson.com/) Play Xiangqi online against human or robot opponents, free! (http://www.boardspace.net/english/ about_xiangqi.html) • Club Xiangqi – Play Chinese Chess online with or without a user fee (http://www.clubxiangqi.com/) • PlayXiangqi – A free online service with Open Source client and Open Server API (http://www.playxiangqi. com) Software • Plays Xiangqi on your computer (http://www.jcraner.com/qianhong/) • Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) on Apple iPhone / iPod Touch (http://sites.google.com/a/clomputing.com/iphone/)
297
Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings
Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings The Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings (Chinese: 中国象棋开局编号) is a classification of all possible openings of Chinese chess (Xianqi), including rarely used openings. The editor of Encyclopedia of Chess Network included the first game of the 8197 Board as the basis, to draw up the ECCO code. ECCO characteristics of the times has numbers, due to the development of the game ECCO reference to the cut-off in 2004, the number of the system to be known as ECCO 2004.
External links • http://www.elephantbase.net/ecco/ecco_intro.htm
298
Banqi
299
Banqi Banqi
Players
2
Age range
Any
Setup time
< 1 minute
Playing time
5-15 minutes
Random chance
High
Skill(s) required
Tactics, Strategy
Banqi (Chinese: 半棋, 暗棋 or 盲棋; Pinyin: bànqí, ànqí or mángqí; ), or Half Chess, is a two-player Chinese board game played on a 4x8 grid, or half of the Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) board. Most games last between ten and twenty minutes, but advanced games can go on for an hour or more. Banqi is a social game, usually played for fun rather than serious competition. A more formal version of the game may have evolved into modern Luzhanqi.
Equipment Board Although boards made specifically for Banqi exist, it is common to play on one half of the Xiangqi board (using only one side of the River).
Pieces Banqi uses Xiangqi pieces. The backs of the pieces must be indistinguishable from each other so the pieces cannot be Basic 4x8 Banqi board identified when face down. Pieces with international symbols printed on their backs are unsuitable. Each player controls five Soldiers, one General, and two each of the five other piece types, for a total of 16 pieces. In a typical set, one player’s pieces are red, and the other player’s pieces are black. The characters may also differ. For more detailed descriptions of the pieces used in this game, see the Xiangqi article.
Banqi
300
Name of piece
Number per side
Notes
General, marshal, "king"
Highest rank. Captures everything except soldiers.
帥 shuai, 將 jiàng
× 1 Second-highest rank in Taiwanese version.
Advisor, guard, minister*, assistant, mandarin, warrior 仕 shi, 士 shì
× 2
Elephant, war elephant, minister* 相 xiàng, 象 xiàng
× 2
Chariot, rook, cart
Second-highest rank in Hong Kong version.
俥 jū, 車 jū
× 2 Horse, cavalry 傌 mà, 馬 mǎ
× 2 Soldier, private, pawn
Lowest rank, except able to capture the general.
兵 bīng, 卒 zú
× 5 Cannon, catapult
Abilities differ in Taiwanese variations.
炮 pào, 砲 pào
× 2
Playing the game The 32 pieces are shuffled and randomly allocated face-down to squares on the board. The pieces, as in Western Chess, are placed inside the squares, rather than on the intersections as in Chinese Chess. The first player turns up a piece to begin the game. The color of that first uncovered piece is the color he or she will play in the game. The second player then makes a move, and the two alternate until the game is finished. The game ends when a player cannot move, and that player is the loser. Most often, the game is lost because all of a player’s pieces have been captured and so he has no pieces to move. However, it is possible for one player to surround all of the other player’s remaining pieces in a manner that makes it impossible for them to move.
Rules for moves There are three kinds of moves. A player may turn a piece face-up, move a piece, or capture an enemy piece. In some game variants, multiple captures may be made in one turn.
Turning over a piece Turning a piece face-up is a legal move if there are any face-down pieces on the board. Once revealed, a piece may be moved, capture, or be captured. In some variants of Banqi, face-down pieces may also be captured.
Moving a piece A player may only move face-up pieces of their own color. Unlike Xiangqi, all pieces move identically: a piece may move only one square up, down, left, or right. A piece may never move onto a square that is already occupied unless such a move is a legal capture.
Banqi Note that all pieces capture the same way that they move, except the cannon in Taiwanese rules.
Capturing an opposing piece A player may only capture with a face-up piece of their own color, and may only capture a face-up piece of the opposing color. In all captures, the captured piece is removed from the board and its square is occupied by the capturing piece. The pieces are ranked, forming a hierarchy with the general at the top and soldiers at the bottom. Only pieces of equal or lower rank may be captured, with one exception. For instance, a chariot may capture a horse, and the general may capture either, but a horse cannot capture a chariot, and neither can capture the general. The one exception concerns generals and soldiers: the general cannot capture soldiers, and soldiers can capture the general. This reversal is reminiscent of Stratego. In the Hong Kong version, the pieces are ranked in this order: general, chariot, horse, cannon, elephant, advisor, soldier. This ranking reflects the approximate value of the corresponding pieces in Xiangqi (though the relative rank of horse and cannon is arguable). All pieces capture exactly as they move: one square up, down, left, or right. In the Taiwanese version, the ranking goes as follows: general, advisor, elephant, chariot, horse, soldier. This ranking is based on the initial board positions of the corresponding pieces in Xiangqi, though the horse and chariot are inexplicably swapped. Except for the cannon, pieces capture with the same motion as for movement: one square up, down, left, or right. The cannon is not included in the ranking because it is exceptional: it captures in an unusual way, it can capture a piece of any rank, and yet is vulnerable to capture by any piece except the soldier. A cannon captures as in Xiangqi: it moves any distance along a single row or column of the board, jumping over exactly one intermediate piece (called a screen). Any other squares between the cannon and its target must be empty. The color of the screening piece does not matter; it may be friend or foe, or even face down. While a cannon may capture any piece, it must jump a screen to do so. Since a cannon must jump to capture, it cannot capture a piece in an adjacent square. There are many other variations on the cannon capture rule that may add variety if desired: • One variation gives cannons the ability to capture soldiers and other cannons directly, without jumping over a screen. In other words, the cannon acts like the other pieces, ranking between horse and soldier, but with the added ability of capturing any piece by catapulting. • Another popular variation allows the attempted capture of a face-down piece, which if it can be captured is done so. If the piece cannot be captured due to its rank or color, then it is left face-up, and no movement takes place. • A popular variation with children, allows multiple captures on the same turn for already exposed pieces as well as face-down pieces as long as they are successful. • A variation that may change the strategy is that the cannon can not use a face down piece for a screen but can capture multiple pieces in a single turn. The cannon can not capture face down pieces in this variant.
Stalemate A stalemate threat occurs when one player forces an endless cycle of moves. In a typical stalemate, the instigator repeatedly attacks, but cannot capture, an enemy piece. The legality of stalemating varies by culture: • Some players consider stalemate illegal. This is consistent with the rules of Chinese Chess, which require the instigator to cease the continual attack, else the victim wins. • Some players consider stalemate a legal strategy. The ability to instigate a stalemate in an otherwise losing game is one of the ways that skill can overcome luck, since the victim must accept either a drawn game or the loss of a piece. Handling a stalemate situation requires skill for the winning player, as well — the necessity of heading off a potential stalemate adds spice to an otherwise overwhelming victory. And deciding whether you can still win, even without that piece, requires great expertise.
301
Banqi Games in which stalemate is allowed tend to produce much more even games — many a lopsided game is turned into an interesting match by the surrender of a piece to avoid a stalemate.
Strategy • Early Action - Under Taiwanese rules, playing first is a slight disadvantage. If you turn up a cannon, the opponent can turn up next to it with a high likelihood of capturing the cannon and no risk of losing his piece to the cannon. If you turn up anything else, the opponent can turn over a piece one hop away. If he finds a cannon, it can take your piece, but no matter what it is, your piece can't immediately take his. By convention, the new challenger plays first to give the previous game’s loser a slight advantage. • Chance - It is difficult to form strategy early on, since all pieces are hidden. This is a disadvantage to experienced players, who cannot follow a formulaic win strategy. • Royalty - Incidentally, the life of the general is not the point of this game; the game does not end because of the general’s death. In fact, both generals usually die long before the end of the game. The game ends only when one player has no legal move. Banqi is often a game of attrition. • Soldiers - Since there are five opposing soldiers, the mighty general is perversely vulnerable, and frequently the general turns out to be worthless in the face of a soldier front. This vulnerability makes the second-highest rank, chariots in Hong Kong or advisors in Taiwan, the most powerful pieces in many games. • It is often advantageous to search out and destroy the enemy soldiers, which the opponent may overlook as less valuable pieces. Once the enemy soldiers are eliminated, the general can roam free across the field in relative safety, vulnerable only to attacks by cannons and the opposing general. • Cannons - Under Taiwanese rules, the cannon has devastating potential if it is well placed behind a shield of strong allied pieces. Given such position, a cannon can be stronger than either general or advisor, especially if the opposing general and/or advisors have limited lateral mobility—that is, if they can’t sidestep a cannon attack. On the other hand, the opponent has plenty of pieces that can capture the cannon if only they can get next to it, so a poorly placed Cannon is usually short-lived. Most players will readily sacrifice a horse, chariot, or elephant to capture a cannon. • Hidden Pieces - Play is often directed by the face-down pieces. Pieces are vulnerable in a dead-end “tunnel” (a sequence of empty squares one square wide, surrounded by face-down pieces), in which there is no escape from a pursuing enemy piece. • If there is enough space between you and the attacker, you will have time to turn up some face-down pieces before the attacker closes on you. If you get to an open area at least 2 x 2 in size, you can use that “rotation space” to dodge a single enemy piece by sidestepping. You can sometimes create a rotation space by turning up a smaller enemy piece on the inside corner of a bend in the tunnel, or you might be able to punch through a wall of the tunnel to reach an open area on the other side. • It is often important to keep track of what pieces are still face-down. Usually this is done by checking both the “graveyard” for dead pieces and the playing field for live pieces; by the process of elimination you can figure out what must still remain. • Resignation - A player may simply resign if the game seems lopsided. • Attrition - Exchanging equal pieces is usually to the advantage of the player who is ahead. When winning by a sufficient margin, even disadvantageous trades can accelerate victory if chosen carefully. • Objective - Often, the move that will win most quickly (or break an impending stalemate) gives away the most valuable piece. Such moves are often overlooked. • Evasion - Some players derive pleasure from making it as difficult as possible for the opponent to actually coerce the win. Others make a game of seeing how many opposing pieces they can capture before their demise. Some just resign when defeat becomes evident, and start a new game.
302
Banqi
303
• Parity - Parity is important, especially in the end game. In situations where only an opposing King and pawn are left with one space between, turn order invariably determines the winner. The pawn's move will produce a stalemate, while the King's move will result in his inevitable capture. • Pinning - It is fairly easy to pin a piece against the edge of the board. Frequently, being pinned or not is the difference between defeat and stalemate.
External links • Introduction to one variant of Banqi [1]
Software • Banqi Blue for Android [2] • Chinese Dark Chess for Android [3]
References [1] http:/ / woodpress. org/ banqi/ [2] https:/ / market. android. com/ details?id=com. mct. banqiblue2011 [3] https:/ / market. android. com/ details?id=com. xidea. ChineseDarkChess& hl=en
Giog Giog is a game played by two to four players. It can either be played for fun or as a serious competition. It contains a considerable amount of luck, strategic and psychological elements.
Giog Players
2 to 4
Age range
Any
Setup time
< 1 minute
Playing time
5-10 minutes
Random chance Medium Skill(s) required Tactics, Psychology
Equipment Like Banqi, Giog uses Xiangqi Pieces. For Giog, it is important that the backs as well as the rims of the pieces be indistinguishable from each other so the pieces cannot be identified when face down. There are seven piece types in the game: Pawns, Cannons, Horses (or Knights), Chariots (or Rooks), Advisors (or Elephants), Guards, Generals (or Kings), respectively shown in the figure below. There are altogether 32 pieces and 2 colors. Let's say the colors are Red and Black.
Giog
304
Set Up All players help to scramble the 32 pieces face down and distribute the pieces evenly to themselves. If the number of players is three, the winner of the previous game or a volunteer receives 12 pieces and the other two players receive 10 pieces each. Like a Mahjong game, each player arranges his/her pieces into one line with half of the pieces on top of the other half. Figure below shows how 3 players arrange their pieces.
The Ranking of Pieces The ranking of pieces in Giog is identical to Banqi's ranking. That is, in ascending order: • Pawns < Cannons < Horses < Chariots < Advisors < Guards < Generals. The exceptions are: firstly, a black piece is always inferior than a red piece of the type. • Black < Red. For example, Red Horse wins Black Horse. And also, Pawns are inferior than Generals.
Determining the Order of players Each of the players now reveals (turns up) any one lower piece not in his/her own profile. He/she then places the revealed piece face up on top of the other face down piece. The ranking of the 4 revealed pieces determines the order of the players who revealed them. Should there be a tie among some players, they apply the same procedures again by revealing more lower pieces until the order is finally determined.
Choosing and collecting pieces The first player (who revealed or subsequently revealed the strongest piece in the previous process) starts to choose his pieces. He/she may only choose his pieces starting from a left or right head duo in any player's profile. He/she therefore has as many choices as twice the number of players. Following the first player, the second, third and fourth players consecutively collect their pieces, two at one time. The process is repeated until no piece (4-player game), 2 pieces (3-player game), 8 pieces (2-player game) are remained. These pieces are kept face down at a side and do not enter the game. Figure below shows John, having revealed a Black general starts to collect his first two pieces from no. 1 position. Kate who reveals a Red Guard collects the no. 2 duo. John misses the Black General but is consoled by the Red Guard at no. 7.
Playing the game The first player plays his pieces first. He/she or any player who starts a new round may play the following 6 valid combinations of a same color: • "Liab": Single. Any piece. • "Dui": Double. Any 2 identical pieces. • "Giog": A triple of a certain combination: • 1 Chariot + 1 Horse + 1 Cannon • 1 Cannon + 1 Advisor + 1 Guard • 1 General + 1 Guard + 1 Advisor • "Sam Mui": 3 identical pieces. • "Si Mui": 4 identical pieces. • "Wu Mui": 5 identical pieces. Each of the other players must play the same number of pieces. A player may play any pieces regardless of color or rank if he/she does not have the above valid combinations. The ranking of "Liab" is as before. Bear in mind that
Giog
305 Black < Red. The ranking of "Dui" is same as the ranking of "Liab". The ranking of "Giog" is as follows: • Chariot, Horse, Cannon < Cannon, Advisor, Guard < General, Guard, Advisor. The ranking of "Sam Mui", "Si Mui" and "Wu Mui" are according to color, since only pawns are possible to form them. The player who played the strongest combinations of a same type (as what the round-starter played) wins that round. If there is a tie, the round-starter always wins, or the order of players determines the winner. For example, if the first and fourth player play the same combinations, first player wins unless fourth player is the round-starter. The winner of a round collects the won pieces and starts a new round. The game is played until all pieces are exhausted. The winner will go to the player who wins most pieces.
Beheading the Cock It is forbidden to play a General in the first or last round, either as a single piece or as part of a valid or non-valid combination. If a player is forced or tricked to play a general in the first or last round, then it is said that a cock is beheaded, and that player is considered the ultimate loser of the game even if he wins most pieces.
306
Shogi and variants Shogi Further information: Chess (disambiguation)
Shogi
A shogi game being played with a magnetic traveling set. Captured pieces in the tray (bottom-center) can be dropped on the board by the capturing player. Genre(s)
Board game
Players
2
Age range
5+
Setup time
< 2 minutes
Playing time
30 mins. to 2 hours (typically)
Random chance
None
Skill(s) required
Tactics, Strategy
Shogi (将棋 shōgi, generals' chess) ( /ˈʃoʊɡiː/), also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan. Shōgi means general's (shō 将) boardgame (gi 棋). The earliest predecessor of the game, chaturanga, originated in India in the 6th century, and was brought to Japan sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, where it spawned a number of variants. Shogi in its present form was played as early as the 16th century, while a direct ancestor without the "drop rule" was recorded from 1210 in a historical document Nichūreki, which is an edited copy of Shōchūreki and Kaichūreki from the late Heian period (ca. 1120). According to ChessVariants.com, "Perhaps the enduring popularity of Shogi can be attributed to its 'drop rule'; it was the first chess variant wherein captured pieces could be returned to the board to be used as one's own. David Pritchard credits the drop rule to the practice of 16th century mercenaries who switched loyalties when captured—no doubt as an alternative to execution."[1]
Shogi
307
Game equipment Two players, Sente 先手 (Black) and Gote 後手 (White), play on a board composed of rectangles in a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The rectangles are undifferentiated by marking or color. The board is almost always made of rectangles; square boards are very uncommon. Each player has a set of 20 wedge-shaped pieces of slightly different sizes. Except for the kings, opposing pieces are differentiated only by orientation, not by marking or color. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful), the pieces are: • 1 king • 1 rook • 1 bishop • 2 gold generals • 2 silver generals • 2 knights
A traditional shōgi-ban (shogi board) displaying a set of koma (pieces). The pieces on the far side are turned to show their promoted values. The stands on either side are komadai used to hold captured pieces. The board itself is raised for the comfort of players seated on tatami mats (background), and is hollowed underneath to produce a pleasing sound when the pieces are moved.
• 2 lances • 9 pawns Several of these names were chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in international chess, and not as literal translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name written on its surface in the form of two kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese), usually in black ink. On the reverse side of each piece, other than the king and gold general, are one or two other characters, in amateur sets often in a different colour (usually red); this side is turned face up during play to indicate that the piece has been promoted. The pieces of the two players do not differ in colour, but instead each faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. It has been claimed that the Japanese characters have deterred people from learning shogi. This has led to "Westernized" or "international" pieces, which replace the characters with iconic symbols. However, partially because the traditional pieces are already iconic by size, with more powerful pieces being larger, most Western players soon learn to recognize them, and Westernized pieces have never become popular. Following is a table of the pieces with their Japanese representations and English equivalents. The abbreviations are used for game notation and often to refer to the pieces in speech in Japanese.
Shogi
308
Closeup of shogi pieces. Top: +R, R, K (reigning), K (challenging), B, +B. Bottom: +L, L, +S, S, G, N, +N, p, +p.
English name
Image
Kanji
Rōmaji
Meaning
Abbreviations
King (reigning)
王將
ōshō
king general
K
王
ō
King (challenging)
玉將
gyokushō
jeweled general
K
玉
gyoku
Rook
飛車
hisha
flying chariot
R
飛
hi
Promoted rook ("Dragon")
龍王
ryūō
dragon king
+R 龍 or 竜* ryū
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
angle mover
B
Promoted bishop ("Horse")
龍馬
Gold general ("Gold")
角
kaku
ryūma or ryūme dragon horse
+B 馬
uma
金将
kinshō
gold general
G
金
kin
Silver general ("Silver")
銀将
ginshō
silver general
S
銀
gin
Promoted silver
成銀
narigin
promoted silver
+S (全)
—
Knight
桂馬
keima
cassia horse
N
kei
Promoted knight
成桂
narikei
promoted cassia
+N (圭 or 今) —
Lance
香車
kyōsha
incense chariot
L
Promoted lance
成香
narikyō
promoted incense +L (杏 or 仝) —
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
foot soldier
p
Promoted pawn ("tokin")
と金
tokin
reaches gold
+p と (or 个) to
桂
香
歩
kyō
fu
Shogi
309
* The kanji 竜 is a simplified form of 龍. English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as horses and promoted rooks as dragons, after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese term tokin for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds. The characters inscribed on the reverse sides of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive variants of 金 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These cursive forms have these equivalents in print: 全 for promoted silver, 今 for promoted knight, 仝 for promoted lance, and 个 for promoted pawn (tokin). Another typographic convention has abbreviated versions of the unpromoted ranks, with a reduced number of strokes: 圭 for a promoted knight (桂), 杏 for a promoted lance (香), and the 全 as above for a promoted silver, but と for tokin.
Setup and gameplay Each player sets up his pieces facing his opponent. • In the rank nearest the player he places: • • • • •
The king is placed in the center file. The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king. The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general. The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general. The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.
That is, the first rank is
The starting setup of a game of shogi.
L N S G K G S N L
or 香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香
• In the second rank, each player places: • The bishop in the same file as the left knight. • The rook in the same file as the right knight. • In the third rank, the nine pawns are placed one to each file. Traditionally, even the order of placing the pieces on the board is determined. There are two recognized orders, ohashi and ito.[2] Placement sets pieces with multiples (generals, knights, lances, pawns) from left to right in all cases, and follows the order: • • • •
King Gold generals Silver generals Knights
Shogi
310
• In Ito, the player now places pawns • Lances • Bishop • Rook • In Ohashi, the player now places pawns The players alternate taking turns, with one player taking Black and playing first. The terms "Black" and "White" are used to differentiate the two sides, but there is no actual difference in the color of the pieces. For each turn a player may either move a piece which is already on the board (and potentially promote it, capture an opposing piece, or both) or else "drop" a piece that has already been captured onto an empty square of the board. These options are detailed below. Professional games are timed as in International Chess, but professionals are never expected to keep time in their games. Instead a timekeeper is assigned, typically an apprentice professional. Time limits are much longer than in International Chess (9 hours a side plus extra time in the prestigious Meijin title match), and in addition byōyomi (literally "second counting") is employed. This means that when the ordinary time has run out, the player will from that point on have a certain amount of time to complete every move (a byōyomi period), typically upwards of one minute. The final ten seconds are counted down, and if the time expires the player to move loses the game immediately. Amateurs often play with electronic clocks that beep out the final ten seconds of a byōyomi period, with a prolonged beep for the last five.
Movement and capture Most shogi pieces can only move to an adjacent square. A few may move across the board, and one jumps over intervening pieces. Every piece blocks the movement of all other non-jumping pieces through the square it occupies. However, if a piece occupies a legal destination for an opposing piece, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the opposing piece. It is not possible for the capturing piece to continue beyond that square on that turn. It is common to keep captured pieces on a wooden stand (or komadai) which is traditionally placed so that its bottom left corner aligns with the bottom right corner of the board from the perspective of each player. It is not permissible to hide pieces from full view. This is because captured pieces, which are said to be in hand, have a crucial impact on the course of the game. The knight jumps, that is, it passes over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, without an effect on either. It is the only piece to do this. The lance, bishop, and rook are ranging pieces: They can move any number of squares along a straight line limited only by intervening pieces and the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by removing it from the board and replacing it with the moving piece. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece must stop short of that square; if the friendly piece is adjacent, the moving piece may not move in that direction at all. All pieces but the knight move either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. These directions cannot be combined into a single move; one direction must be chosen. Normally when a player moves a piece, he/she snaps it to the board with the ends of the fingers of the same hand. This makes a sudden sound effect, bringing the opponent to the attention of the piece. This is also true for capturing and dropping pieces. On a traditional shogi ban, the pitch of the snap is deeper, delivering a more subtle effect.
Shogi
311
King A King can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
○
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
The king
Rook A rook can move any number of free squares along any one of the four orthogonal directions.
│ │ ─ ─ 飛
─ ─
| | The rook
Bishop A bishop can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonal directions.
＼
／ ＼
／ 角
／ ／
＼ ＼
The bishop
Because they cannot move orthogonally, the opposing unpromoted bishops can only reach half the squares of the board, unless they are captured and then dropped by the opposing player.
Shogi
312
Gold general A gold general can move one square orthogonally, or one square diagonally forward, giving it six possible destinations. It cannot move diagonally backward.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
The gold general
Silver general A silver general can move one square diagonally or one square directly forward, giving it five possibilities.
○
○
○
銀 ○
○
The silver general
Because an unpromoted silver can retreat more easily than a promoted one (see below), it is very common to leave a silver unpromoted at the far side of the board.
Knight A knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. It cannot move to the sides or backwards.
☆
☆ 桂
The knight
The knight is the only piece that ignores intervening pieces on the way to its destination. It is not blocked from moving if the square in front of it is occupied, but neither can it capture a piece on that square.
Shogi
313
It is often useful to leave a knight unpromoted (see below) at the far side of the board. However, since a knight cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it lands on one of the two far ranks and would otherwise be unable to move further.
Lance A lance can move any number of free squares directly forward. It cannot move backward or to the sides.
│ │ 香
The lance
It is often useful to leave a lance unpromoted (see below) at the far side of the board. However, since a lance cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote if it arrives at the far rank.
Pawn A pawn can move one square directly forward. It cannot retreat.
○ 歩
The pawn
Since a pawn cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote (see below) if it arrives at the far rank. However, in practice, a pawn is promoted whenever possible, for the most part. Unlike the pawns of international chess, shogi pawns capture the same way they otherwise move, directly forward. There are two restrictive rules for where a pawn may be dropped. (See below.)
Promotion A player's promotion zone is the far third of the board, the three ranks occupied by the opposing pieces at setup. If a piece moves across the board and part of that path lies within the promotion zone, that is, if it moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not if it is dropped(see below), then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the character for the promoted rank. If a pawn or lance reaches the far rank or a knight reaches either of the two farthest ranks, it must promote, as it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. A silver general never needs to promote, and it is often advantageous to keep a silver general unpromoted; it is easier, for example, to extract an unpromoted silver from
Shogi
314
behind enemy lines, whereas a promoted silver, with only one line of retreat, can be easily blocked.
A player's promotion zone (green)
歩
歩
歩
歩
歩
歩
歩
角
歩
歩
飛
香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香
When captured, pieces lose their promoted status. Otherwise promotion is permanent. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. Each piece promotes as follows: • A silver general, knight, lance, or pawn replaces its normal power of movement with the power of a gold general. • A rook or bishop keeps its original power of movement and gains the power to move one square in any direction, like a king. This means that a promoted bishop is able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves. • A king or a gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted.
Promoted rook A promoted rook (dragon king, Ryuou) may move as a rook or as a king, but not as both on the same turn.
│
─
○
│
○
─
龍
─
○
│
○
─
│ The dragon king
Promoted bishop A promoted bishop ("dragon horse Ryuuma") may move as a bishop or as a king, but not as both on the same turn.
＼
／ ＼
○ ／
○ 馬 ／ ／ The dragon horse
○
○ ＼ ＼
Shogi
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player may take a piece that had been previously captured and place it, unpromoted side up, on any empty square, facing the opposing side. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece, nor does dropping within the promotion zone result in immediate promotion. However, either capture or promotion may occur normally on subsequent moves by the piece. A pawn, knight, or lance may not be dropped on the far rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. Similarly, a knight may not be dropped on the penultimate rank. There are two other restrictions when dropping pawns: 1. A pawn cannot be dropped onto the same file (column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player (promoted pawns do not count). A player who has an unpromoted pawn on every file is therefore unable to drop a pawn anywhere. For this reason it is common to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain flexibility for drops. 2. A pawn cannot be dropped to give an immediate checkmate. However, other pieces may be dropped to give immediate checkmate, a pawn that is already on the board may be advanced to give checkmate, and a pawn may be dropped so that either it or another piece can give checkmate on a subsequent turn. It is common for players to swap bishops, which oppose each other across the board. This leaves each player with a bishop "in hand" to be dropped later, and gives an advantage to the player with the stronger defensive position.
Checkmate and winning the game When a player makes a move such that the opposing king could be captured on the following turn, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check (which is necessary whenever possible[3] ), the checking move is also checkmate (tsumi 詰み) and effectively wins the game. The losing player should resign out of courtesy at this point, although in practice this rarely happens, as a player will concede defeat as soon as loss is inevitable. To give the warning "check!" in Japanese, one says "ōte!" (王手). However, this is an influence of international chess and is not required, even as a courtesy. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check. In professional and serious amateur games, a player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. There are two other possible, if uncommon, ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same game position occurs four times with the same player to play, the game is considered a draw. (This used to be that it happened if a sequence caused repetition thrice.)[4] For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same as well as the positions on the board. However, if this occurs with one player giving perpetual check, then that player loses. The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens, the winner is decided as follows: Each rook or bishop scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces except kings score 1 point each. (Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring.) A player scoring fewer than 24 points loses. (If neither player has fewer than 24, the game is no contest—a draw.) Jishōgi is considered an outcome in its own right rather than no contest, but there is no practical difference. As this impasse generally needs to be agreed on for the rule to be invoked, a player may refuse to do so, on the grounds that he/she could gain further material or position before an outcome has to be decided. If that happens, one player may force jishōgi upon getting his king and all his pieces protected in the promotion zone.[5]
315
Shogi
316
In professional tournaments the rules typically require drawn games to be replayed with colours (sides) reversed, possibly with reduced time limits. This is rare compared to chess and xiangqi, occurring at a rate of 1-2% even in amateur games. The 1982 Meijin title match between Nakahara Makoto and Kato Hifumi was unusual in this regard, with jishōgi in the first game (only the fifth draw in the then 40-year history of the tournament), a game which lasted for an unusual 223 moves (not counting in pairs of moves), with an astounding 114 minutes spent pondering a single move, and sennichite in the sixth and eighth games. Thus this best-of-seven match lasted ten games and took over three months to finish; Black did not lose a single game and the eventual victor was Katō at 4-3.
Player ranking and handicaps Amateur players are ranked from 15 kyū to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan and upwards; this is the same terminology as many other arts in Japan. Professional players operate with their own scale, from professional 4 dan and upwards to 9 dan for elite players.[6] Amateur and professional ranks are offset (with amateur 4 dan being equivalent to professional 6 kyu).[7] Games between players of disparate strengths are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces are removed from the setup, and in exchange White plays first. Note that the missing pieces are not available for drops and play no further part in the game. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in international chess because material advantage is not as powerful in shogi. Common handicaps, in increasing order of severity, include: • • • • • • •
Left lance Bishop Rook Rook and left lance Two pieces: Rook and bishop Four pieces: Rook, bishop, and both lances Six pieces: Rook, bishop, both lances and both knights
Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon, with several systems in use. If a jishōgi occurs in a handicap game, the removed pieces are counted as if White had them in play, or available for drops.[8]
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. It is not used in Japanese-language texts, as it is no more concise than kanji. A typical move might be notated P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P for Pawn. (There is also L lance, N knight, S silver, G gold, B bishop, R rook, K king, as above.) Promoted pieces are indicated by a + in front of the letter: +P is a tokin (promoted pawn). Following the abbreviation for the piece is a symbol for the type of move: – for a simple move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the square on which the piece lands. This is indicated by a numeral for the file and a lowercase letter for the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen by Black) and 9i being the bottom left corner. This is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, square 2c is "2三" in Japanese. If a move entitles the player to promote, then a + is added to the end if the promotion was taken, or an = if it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting.
Shogi
317
In cases where the piece is ambiguous, the starting square is added to the letter for the piece. For example, at setup Black has two golds which can move to square 5h (in front of the king). These are distinguished as G6i-5h (from the left) and G4i-5h (from the right). Moves are numbered per player's move, unlike chess which counts each pair of moves as one move. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. 3. 5. 7.
P-7f P-2f P-2e Sx8h
2. 4. 6. 8.
P-3d G-3b Bx8h+ S-2b
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Strategy and tactics Shogi is similar to chess but has a much larger game tree complexity because of the use of drops.[9] However, like chess, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses and positioning for attack, the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own, and the end game starts when one side's defenses have been compromised.
History "The world's first chess variant Chaturanga arose in India in approximately the seventh century AD. From there it migrated both westward and northward, mutating along the way."[1] "The western branch became Shatranj in Arabia and Orthodox Chess in Europe. The northern branch became Xiangqi in China and Changgi in Korea."[1] "Sometime in the 10th to 12th centuries, 'chess' crossed the channel to Japan where it spawned a number of interesting variants."[1] "One of these was called 'Small Shogi'."[1] "Eventually, Small Shogi (though it went through many forms) won out over the larger variants and is now referred to simply as 'Shogi'."[1] "It is certain that Shogi in its present form was played in Japan as early as the 16th century."[1] It is not clear when chess was brought to Japan. The earliest generally accepted mention of shogi is Shin Saru Gakuki (新猿楽記) (1058–1064) by Fujiwara Akihira. The oldest archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the grounds of Kōfuku-ji in Nara Prefecture. As it was physically associated with a wooden tablet written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058), the pieces are thought to date from that period. These simple pieces were cut from a writing plaque in the same five-sided shape as modern pieces, with the names of the pieces written on them. The dictionary of common folk culture, Nichūreki (二中歴) (ca. 1210–1221), a collection based on the two works Shōchūreki (掌中歴) and Kaichūreki (懐中歴), describes two forms of shogi, large (dai) shogi and small (shō) shogi. These are now called Heian shogi (or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi. Heian small shogi is the version on which modern shogi is based, but the Nichūreki states that one wins if one's opponent is reduced to a single king, indicating that drops had not yet been introduced. According to Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the names of the Heian shogi pieces keep those of chaturanga (general, elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add to them the five treasures of Buddhism (jade, gold, silver, katsura tree, and incense). Around the 13th century the game of dai shogi developed, created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, as was sho shogi, which added the rook, bishop, and drunken elephant from dai shogi to Heian shogi. Around the 15th century, the rules of dai shogi were simplified, creating the game of chu shogi in a form close to the modern game. It is thought that the rules of standard shogi were fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was
Shogi removed from the set of pieces. However, there is no clear record of when drops were introduced. In the Edo period, shogi variants were greatly expanded: tenjiku shogi, dai dai shogi, maka dai dai shogi, tai shogi, and taikyoku shogi were all invented. However, it is thought that these were only played to a very limited extent. Both standard shogi and go were promoted by the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1612, the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to top shogi players (Meijin (名人)). During the reign of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, castle shogi tournaments were held once a year on the 17th day of Kannazuki, corresponding to November 17, which is Shogi Day on the modern calendar. The title of meijin became hereditary in the Ōhashi and Itō families until the fall of the shogunate, when it came to be passed by recommendation. Today the title is used for the winner of the Meijin-sen competition, the first modern title match. From around 1899, newspapers began to publish records of shogi matches, and high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games published. In 1909, the Shogi Association (将棋同盟社) was formed, and in 1924, the Tokyo Shogi Association (東京将棋同盟社) was formed. This was an early incarnation of the modern Japan Shogi Association (日本将棋連盟), founded in 1997. In 1935, meijin Sekine Kinjirō stepped down, and the rank of meijin came to be awarded to the winner of a Meijin title match (名人戦 meijin-sen). Yoshio Kimura (木村義雄) became the first Meijin under this system in 1937. This was the start of the shogi title matches (see titleholder system). After the war other tournaments were promoted to title matches, culminating with the Ryūō title match (竜王戦 ryūō-sen) in 1988 for the modern line-up of seven. About 200 professional shogi players compete. Each year, the title holder defends the title against a challenger chosen from knockout or round matches. The closest cousin of Shogi in the Chaturanga family is Makruk of Thailand. Not only the similarity in distribution and movements of the pieces but also the names of Shogi pieces suggest intimacy between Shogi and Makruk by its Buddhist symbolism (Gold, Silver, Cassia and Incense), which isn't recognised in Chinese chess at all. In fact, Chinese chess and its East Asian variants are far remoter relatives than Makruk. Though some early variants of Chaturanga more similar to Shogi and Makruk are known to have been played in Tang Dynasty China, they are thought to have been extinguished in Song Dynasty China and in East Asia except in Japan probably owing to the popularity of Chinese chess.
Tournament Play In 1996, Yoshiharu Habu won all seven titles; in 2008 he held four. In 2006, the Shogi Association admitted women to the ranks of professionals (正棋士). Since the 1990s, shogi has grown in popularity outside Japan, particularly in the People's Republic of China, and especially Shanghai. The January 2006 edition of Kindai Shogi (近代将棋) states that there are 120,000 shogi players in Shanghai. The game has been relatively slow to spread to countries where Chinese characters are not in common use.
Computer shogi Shogi has the highest game complexity of all popular chess variants. Therefore, Shogi is the hardest of the popular chess variants in terms of programming the computer to beat the highest rated player. Computers have steadily improved in playing shogi since the 1970s. In 2007, champion Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza at the level of 2-dan shoreikai. Tools used by shogi programmers are the GUI Shogidokoro, shogi server Floodgate and the annual computer tournaments. The Japan Shogi Association prohibits professionals from playing computers in public without prior permission. After some 35 years of development, a computer finally beat a professional player on October 12, 2010, when the top ranked female champion Ichiyo Shimizu was beaten by the Akara2010 system in a game lasting just over 6 hours.[10] Highest rated player on Shogi Club 24 is computer program Ponanza, rated 3211.[11] On July 24 2011, computer Shogi programs
318
Shogi
319
Bonanza and Akara crushed the amateur team of Kosaku and Shinoda in 2 games. The allotted time for the amateurs was 1 hour and then 3 minutes per move. The allotted time for the computer was 25 minutes and then 10 seconds per move.[12]
Shogi video games Hundreds of video games were released exclusively in Japan for several consoles.
Notes [1] ChessVariants.com (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogi. html) [2] The Japanese-language page Shogi Pineapple (http:/ / shogi-pineapple. com/ bbs/ mibbs. cgi?mo=p& fo=beginner& tn=0006) indicates the two orders; ohashi is depicted on the left and ito on the right. See also the page from Lucky Dogs Games (http:/ / www. luckydog. pwp. blueyonder. co. uk/ games/ shogi/ index. htm) [3] http:/ / lists. topica. com/ lists/ shogi/ read/ message. html?sort=a& mid=812767402 [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
YouTube - How to play Shogi(将棋) -Lesson#15- Repetition("Sen-nichi-te") (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=7SZpI_a4aC0) http:/ / www. shogi. net/ arc/ shogi-l/ shogi_rules. txt http:/ / www. shogi. net/ arc/ shogi-l/ shogi_ranking. txt Title offset illustration (http:/ / web-japan. org/ kidsweb/ archives/ news/ 04-12/ image/ kyudan. gif) - The Basic Rules, par. 2 (http:/ / eric. macshogi. com/ shogi/ handicap/ handicap-intro. html)
[9] Hitoshi Matsubara, Reijer Grimbergen. "Differences between Shogi and western Chess from a computational point of view". Proceedings: Board Games in Academia. [10] http:/ / search. japantimes. co. jp/ cgi-bin/ nn20101012x3. html [11] "Computer program Ponanza highest rated player on Shogi Club 24" (http:/ / www. shogidojo. com) (in Japanese). Shogi Club 24. . [12] "Shogi computer programs crush Amateurs" (http:/ / www. asahi. com/ shougi/ topics/ TKY201108020334. html) (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. 2 August 2011. .
References Bibliography • SHOGI Magazine (70 issues, January 1976 - November 1987) by The Shogi Association (edited by George Hodges) • Shogi for Beginners (1984) by John Fairbairn • Guide to Shogi openings: Shogi problems in Japanese and English (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn • Better Moves for Better Shogi (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn ISBN 4-87187-999-2 • The Art of Shogi (1997) by Tony Hosking • Habu's Words (2000) by Habu Yoshiharu, translated by Takahashi Yamato and Tony Hosking • Classic Shogi (2006) by Tony Hosking • The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (1994) by David Pritchard, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1
Shogi
320
External links • Shogi (http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Board_Games/Abstract/Battle_Games/Shogi/) at the Open Directory Project • Shogi play site, with almost all Shogi variants available for online play (http://shogitter.com/) • Presentation, rules, history of shogi (http://history.chess.free.fr/shogi.htm) • Micro-Shogi (http://www.kolumbus.fi/geodun/shogi.htm) • Shogi.Net (http://www.shogi.net/shogi.html) • Reijer Grimbergen's Shogi Page (http://www.teu.ac.jp/gamelab/SHOGI/shogipage.html) • Ricoh Shogi Page (http://www.ricoh.co.jp/SHOGI/index_e.html) • An Introduction to Shogi for Chess Players (http://www.crockford.com/chess/shogi.html) • Photos from international shogi tournament Tendo, Japan 2008 (http://depositfiles.com/files/06htzgcug) • Turn Based Shogi on GoldToken (http://goldtoken.com/games/play?rules=Shogi) • Shogipedia (http://wiki.81squareuniverse.com/) • Japanese Chess (http://www.japanesechess.org/) Flash file with an AI to play against.
Shogi strategy and tactics Shogi, or Japanese Chess, is similar to chess but has a much larger game tree complexity because of the use of drops.[1] However, like chess, the game can be divided into the opening, middle game and endgame, each requiring a different strategy. The opening consists of arranging one's defenses and positioning for attack, the mid game consists of attempting to break through the opposing defenses while maintaining one's own, and the end game starts when one side's defenses have been compromised. The basic tactics of Shogi are similar to those of chess, involving forks, pins, removing the defender and other techniques, all of which are considered very strong when used effectively.
Opening
The starting setup of a game of shogi
The opening of shogi is generally slower than that of chess, due to the larger board and less mobile pieces. But since a quick offense will leave a player's home territory open to drop attacks as soon as pieces are exchanged, the aim of the opening is to build up defenses for the king, typically by moving the king to the side in a castle with three generals.[2] Leaving a king on its original square (居玉 igyoku or "sitting king") is a particularly dangerous position.[3] Both players can move the rook pawn forward, or, more commonly, advance the pawn above and to the right of the bishop. The former is known as a rook opening and the latter a bishop opening. With a bishop opening, it's common to exchange bishops by having one capture the other. This allows each player to put their newly captured bishop into play anywhere on the board. However, it is not advantageous to exchange bishops if your opponent has a better defensive setup, or more lines of attack. Openings are also classified as static rook (居飛車 ibisha) openings, where the offense is supported by the rook in its original position, and ranging rook (振り飛車 furibisha) openings, where the rook moves to the center or left of the board to support an attack there, typically with the idea of allowing the opponent to attack while arranging a better defense and aiming for a counterattack. However, as the most powerful piece on the board, the rook invites
Shogi strategy and tactics attack, and in most cases, especially for weaker players, it is a good idea to keep the king well away from the rook.[3] Many common opening attacks involve advancing a silver, and ideally a pawn, along a file protected by the rook. This is the climbing silver attack.[3] Because silvers have more possibilities for retreat, while golds better defend their sides, silvers are generally considered superior as attacking pieces, and golds superior as defensive pieces. It is common practice to defend the king with three generals, two golds and a silver. Because defense is so important, and because shogi pieces are relatively slow movers, the opening game tends to be much longer in shogi than in International Chess,[3] commonly with a dozen or more moves to shore up defenses before the initial attack is made. There are several strong defensive fortifications known as castles. There are many variations and types of castles which can be used, but it is essential to understand which ones are useful in the current situation and how to compensate for its weak points.
The Yagura castle The Yagura castle (矢倉囲い Yagura gakoi) is considered by many to be the strongest defensive position in shogi.[3] It has a strongly protected king; a well fortified line of pawns; and the bishop, rook, and a pawn all support a later attack by the rook's silver or knight. It is notoriously difficult to break down with a frontal assault, though it is weaker from the side. It is typically used against static rook openings that involve advancing the rook's pawn. However, one's opponent may just as easily adopt this defense, giving neither side an advantage. There is a good deal of flexibility in the order of moves when building the Yagura defense, and the possibilities will not be listed here. The The Yagura castle (defensive position) only point to keep in mind is that the generals should move diagonally, not directly forward.[3] However, there is a strong intermediate position called the kani ("crab").[3] It has the three pawns on the left side advanced to their final Yagura positions, and on the second rank all four generals are lined up next to the bishop, which is still in its starting position: |B|G|S|G|S| bishop-gold-silver-gold-silver. The king is moved one square to the left, behind the middle silver. While forming the castle, the rook's pawn is often advanced two squares in preparation for a climbing rook assault on the opposing king. Another common preparation is to advance the adjacent silver's pawn square, allowing passage for both the rook's silver and knight. These offensive moves are not properly part of the castle, but the two-square pawn advance must be carried out early if there is to be room for it, and so it is often done while still castling.[3] A common attack against the Yagura defense is to advance the rook's knight directly forward, defended by the rook and with a pawn in hand, to attack the fortifications on either side of the castled king.[3] If the defender has answered a lance's pawn advance on that side, a pawn may be dropped where the edge pawn had been. If the defending silver has moved or is not yet in position, a pawn may be dropped there.
321
Shogi strategy and tactics
322
The Mino castle A defensive position that is considered easier for beginners, but still popular with professionals, is the Mino castle (美濃囲い Minō gakoi). The King is placed in a safe position, while the three generals work well to back each other up. This is sometimes used when a player chooses a bishop opening rather than the rook-pawn opening. The Mino castle takes six moves to complete, not necessarily in this order:
The Mino castle (defensive position)
1. Move the rook to the left side of the board, preferably to the sixth file. This move must be first. 2. Move the king to where the rook started, 3 moves. 3. Move the right-side silver general up one space, so it is now adjacent to the king. 4. Move the left-side gold general diagonally up and right so that it is protected by the other gold general, which has not yet moved. 5. (Optional) Move the edge pawn one square forward; two is even better. This gives king an escape route at the end game. 6. (Optional) Move the fourth file pawn one square forward. This makes it harder for the most direct threat-mate on the castle to be made.
The Anaguma castle A third defense often used in professional Shogi is the Anaguma (アナグマ, Japanese for "badger"), commonly called the "bear in the hole" castle in English (穴熊囲い Anaguma gakoi). This castle can be executed on either side of the board, i.e. either by a player utilizing the ranging rook strategy or by a player employing the static rook strategy. The end-result will place the king in the corner square where the lance started, defended by two gold generals and one silver. One suggested strategy for a rook-side castle is: 1. Move the rook to the sixth or seventh file. 2. Move the king to the rook's starting square.
The Anaguma or "bear in the hole" castle (defensive position)
3. Move the lance up one square, then move the king to the lance's starting square. 4. Move the silver general up and right. 5. Move both gold generals to the castle for additional defense.
Middle game Professional shogi players tend to evaluate the 'flow' of the game, that is, the sequence of moves leading to the current position and its likely development, much more than chess players.[4] Because pawns attack head on, and cannot defend each other, they tend to be lost early in the game, providing ammunition for such attacks. Dropping a pawn behind enemy lines, promoting it to a "tokin" (gold general), and dropping a second pawn immediately behind the "tokin" so that they protect each other makes a strong attack; it threatens the opponent's entire defense, but provides little value to the opponent if the attack fails and the pieces are captured.
Shogi strategy and tactics Players raised on International Chess often make poor use of drops,[3] but dropping is half the game. If a player has more than a couple of captured pieces in hand, it is likely that dropping attacks are being overlooked. However, it is wise to keep a pawn in hand, and often to exchange pieces if necessary to get one. Compared with International Chess players, shogi players are more likely to sacrifice pieces, even powerful ones, if the resulting capture can be dropped back into play for a specific purpose. Attacking pieces can easily become trapped behind enemy lines, as the opponent can often drop a pawn on a protected square to cut off the line of retreat. For this reason, rooks, which can retreat in only one direction, are commonly kept at a safe distance in the early parts of the game, and used to support attacks by weaker pieces. However, once the game has opened up, a promoted rook is an especially deadly piece behind enemy lines. Advancing a lance pawn can open up the side of the board for attack. Therefore, when a player first advances a lance pawn, it is common, though not obligatory, for the opponent to answer by advancing the opposing pawn, in order to avoid complications later in the game. It also allows the king to escape if attacked from the side.
End game The collapse of one side's defense marks the beginning of the end game. Once a player has broken through the enemy lines, the opponent's king can be easily trapped by its own pieces. A common last-ditch defensive tactic is to open the pawn line to allow the king to escape. Kings are more difficult to checkmate in the open, especially if the opponent does not have many ranged pieces in play. In the endgame, it comes down to a race over who can checkmate the opponent first. A tactic known as speed counting plays an important role in the endgame. By counting the number of moves until checkmate (assuming the opponent doesn't get to move) for both Black and White, this will help to influence decisions on whether to attack or defend. A simple mistake can change the flow of the game drastically. Among this, there are many other delicate factors to look out for within the endgame, including sacrificial attacks and traps.
References [1] Hitoshi Matsubara, Reijer Grimbergen. "Differences between Shogi and western Chess from a computational point of view". Proceedings: Board Games in Academia. [2] Jonathan Schaeffer, Martin Müller, Yngvi Björnsson (2003). Computers and games: third international conference, CG 2002, Edmonton, Canada, July 25-27, 2002: revised papers. Springer. pp. 175. [3] Shogi for Beginners, John Fairbairn, 1984. [4] Ito Takeshi, Matsubara Hitoshi, R. Grimbergen (2004). "A Cognitive Science Approach to Shogi Playing Processes (2)-Some Results on Next Move Test Experiments". Transactions of Information Processing Society of Japan 45 (5): 1481–1492.
Bibliography • Shogi for Beginners (1984) by John Fairbairn. An introduction. • Guide to Shogi openings: Shogi problems in Japanese and English (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn • Better Moves for Better Shogi (1983) by Aono Teruichi, translated by John Fairbairn ISBN 4-87187-999-2 • The Art of Shogi (1997) by Tony Hosking • Habu's Words (2000) by Habu Yoshiharu, translated by Takahashi Yamato and Tony Hosking • Classic Shogi (2006) by Tony Hosking • Lightning Speed Endgame Technique (http://gamelab.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/SHOGI/TANIGAWABOOK/ tanigawabookmain.html) (1988) by Koji Tanigawa. Advanced strategy. • SHOGI Magazine (70 issues, January 1976 - November 1987) by The Shogi Association (edited by George Hodges)
323
Shogi strategy and tactics
External links • Ricoh Shogi Club (http://www.ricoh.co.jp/SHOGI/index_e.html)
History of shogi Arrival in Japan It is not clear when the ancestral chess-type game that later developed into shogi was brought to Japan. This is in contrast to the game of go, which was almost certainly brought to Japan in or around the Nara period, since a go board is stored in the treasury of Shōsōin (正倉院). There are tales that relate that it was invented by Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, and that Kibi Makibi (吉備真備) brought it back after visiting the country of Tang, but both these tales are likely to have been invented at the start of the Edo period by those keen to make a name for themselves as authorities on shogi. There are several theories about when shogi spread to Japan, but the earliest plausible date is around the 6th century. It is thought that the pieces used in the shogi of the time were not the current five-sided pieces, but three-dimensional figures, as were used in Chaturanga. This parallels the changes in chess pieces, which are more representational and less abstract than those made earlier. However, a large problem with this theory is that as pieces in this form have never been found, let alone stored in the treasury of Shōsōin, there is little physical evidence supporting it. Another theory gives a later date, stating that shogi was brought to Japan after the start of the Nara period. but as these games are different from shogi, for example in that pieces are placed on the intersections of lines, serious doubts about this theory remain. The games of makruk from Thailand and Cambodia and sittuyin from Myanmar have an elephant which moves in the same way as the silver general. Sittuyin also has the practice of dropping pieces. From the Song Dynasty through the Ming Dynasty, China sent great trade convoys through the southern islands and all around the Indian Ocean and also traded with Japan, so elements of South Asian chess could have reached Japan. See also the history of chess.
Shogi in the Heian period One of the oldest documents indicating the existence of shogi is Kirinshō (麒麟抄), written by Fujiwara Yukinari (藤原行成) (972 - 1027), a seven-volume work which contains a description of how to write the characters used for shogi pieces, but the most generally accepted opinion is that this section was added by a writer from a later generation. Shin Saru Gakuki (新猿楽記) (1058 - 1064), written by Fujiwara Akihira also has passages relating to shogi, and is regarded as the earliest document on the subject. The oldest archaeological evidence is a group of 16 shogi pieces excavated from the grounds of Kōfuku-ji in Nara Prefecture, and as a wooden writing plaque written on in the sixth year of Tenki (1058) was found at the same time, the pieces are thought to be of the same period. The pieces of the time appear to have been simple ones made by cutting a writing plaque and writing directly on the surface, but they have the same five-sided shape as modern pieces. As "Shin Saru Gakuki", mentioned above, is of the same period, this find is backed up by documentary evidence. The dictionary of common folk culture, Nichūreki (二中歴), which it is estimated was created between 1210 and 1221, a collection based on the two works Shōchūreki (掌中歴) and Kaichūreki (懐中歴), thought to have been written by Miyoshi Tameyasu (三善為康), describes two forms of shogi, large (dai) shogi and small (shō) shogi. So as not to confuse these with later types of shogi, in modern times these are called Heian shogi (or Heian small shogi) and Heian dai shogi. Heian shogi is the version on which modern shogi is based, but it is written that one wins if
324
History of shogi one's opponent is reduced to a single king, apparently indicating that at the time there was no concept of pieces in the hand. The pieces used in these variants of shogi consist of those used in Heian shogi: the king, gold general, silver general, knight, lance, and pawn, and those used only in Heian great shogi: the copper general, iron general, side mover, tiger, flying dragon, free chariot and go between. According to Kōji Shimizu, chief researcher at the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, the names of the Heian shogi pieces keep those of chaturanga (general, elephant, horse, chariot and soldier), and add to them the five treasures of Buddhism (jewel, gold, silver, katsura tree, and incense). There is also a theory by Yoshinori Kimura that while chaturanga was from the start a game simulating war, and thus pieces were discarded once captured, Heian shogi involved pieces kept in the hand.
The development of medieval shogi In games around the world related to shogi, there have been changes in the rules with the passage of time, such as increasing the abilities of the pieces or their numbers, as winning strategies have been discovered, and the Japanese game of shogi is no exception to this. Around the 13th century, the game of dai shogi, created by increasing the number of pieces in Heian shogi, was played, and the game of sho shogi, which adds the rook, bishop and drunken elephant from dai shogi to Heian shogi. Around the 15th century, as the rules of dai shogi had become too complicated, they were simplified, creating the game of chu shogi, which is close to the modern game. It is thought that the rules of modern shogi were fixed in the 16th century, when the drunken elephant was removed from the set of pieces. According to Shoshōgi Zushiki (諸象戯図式), a set of shogi rules published in 1696, during the Ganroku period, it states that the drunken elephant piece was removed from the game of sho shogi by Emperor Go-Nara during the Tenmon period (1532 - 1555), but whether or not this is true is not clear. As many as 174 shogi pieces have been excavated from the Ichijōdani Asakura Family Historic Ruins, which are thought to be from the latter half of the 16th century. Most of these pieces are pawns, but there is also one drunken elephant, leading to the hypothesis that in this period variations of shogi with and without the drunken elephant existed side by side. One point of note in the history of this family of games is that it was during this period that the unique rule in Japanese shogi was developed whereby captured pieces (pieces in the hand) could be returned to the board. It is thought that the rule of pieces in the hand was proposed around the 16th century, but there is also a theory that this rule existed from the time of Heian sho shogi. In the Edo period, more types of shogi with yet more pieces were proposed: tenjiku shogi, dai dai shogi, maka dai dai shogi, tai shogi (also called "dai shogi", but termed "tai shogi" to avoid confusing the two) and taikyoku shogi. However, it is thought that these forms of shogi were only played to a very limited extent.
Modern shogi Modern shogi (hon shogi), like go, was officially approved by the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1612, the shogunate passed a law giving endowments to shogi players including Kanō Sansa (加納算砂) (Hon'inbō Sansa (本因坊算砂)) and Shūkei (宗桂) (who was given the name Ōhashi Shūkei (大橋宗桂) after his death). These iemotos (families upholding the tradition of go or shogi) gave themselves the title of go-dokoro (碁所) (literally, places of go) and shogi-dokoro (将棋所), places of shogi. The first O-hashi Shu-kei received fifty koku of rice and five men. In the Kan'ei period (around 1630), the "castle shogi" (御城将棋) tournament, where games were played before a shogun, was held. During the time of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, a system was established where the castle shogi tournament was held once a year on the 17th day on Kannazuki, and today the corresponding day in the modern calendar, November 17, has been designated Shogi Day.
325
History of shogi The Meijin (名人), who were the iemotos of shogi, were paid endowments. Over the reign of the shogunate, the title of meijin became a hereditary title of the Ōhashi family and one of its branches, and the Itō family. Today the title of meijin is still used, for the winner of the Meijin-sen competition. It became a tradition for shogi players inheriting the title of meijin to present a collection of shogi puzzles to the shogunate government. A number of genius shogi players emerged who were not hereditary meijin. Itō Kanju (伊藤看寿) was born in the mid-Edo period, and showed promise as a potential meijin, but died young and never inherited the title (which was bestowed on him posthumously). Kanju was a skilled composer of shogi puzzles, and even today his collection of puzzles "Shogi Zukō" (将棋図巧) is well known as one of the greatest works of its kind. In the late Edo period, Amano Sōho (天野宗歩) came to prominence. As he was one of the "Arino group" of amateur shogi players, the rank of meijin was out of his reach, but he was feared for his skill, being said to have "the ability of a 13-dan player", and was later termed a kisei (棋聖) (literally, wise man or master of shogi). More than a few count Sōho as one of the greatest shogi players in history.
Newspaper shogi and the formation of shogi associations After the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate, the three shogi families were no longer paid endowments, and the iemoto system in shogi lost its power. The lines of the three families ended, and the rank of meijin came to be bestowed by recommendation. The popularity of amateur shogi continued in the Meiji period, with shogi tournaments and events held all over Japan, and "front-porch shogi" (縁台将棋), played wherever people gathered, in bath houses or barber's shops. However, it is thought that, with the exception of a handful of high-ranking players at the end of the 19th century, it was impossible to make a living as a professional shogi player during this period. From around 1899, newspapers began to publish records of shogi matches, and high-ranking players formed alliances with the aim of having their games published. In 1909, the Shogi Association (将棋同盟社) was formed, and in 1924, the Tokyo Shogi Association (東京将棋同盟社) was formed, with Sekine Kinjirō (関根金次郎), a thirteenth-generation meijin, at its head. This was an early incarnation of the modern Japan Shogi Association (日本将棋連盟), founded in 1997.
The meijin system and title matches In 1935, Sekine Kinjiro- stepped down from the rank of meijin, which then came to be conferred based on ability in the short term, rather than recommendation as before. The first Meijin title match (名人戦 meijin-sen) (known officially at the time as the Meijin Kettei Kisen (名人決定大棋戦)) was held over two years, with Yoshio Kimura (木村義雄) becoming the first Meijin in 1937. This was the start of the shogi title matches (see titleholder system). Later, in 1950, the Kudan title match (九段戦 kudan-sen) (9-dan title match) (renamed the Jūdan title match (十段戦 jūdan-sen) (10-dan title match) in 1962) and the Ōshō title match (王将戦 ōshō-sen) (King title match) were founded. The Ōza-sen (王座戦) tournament was started in 1953 and became a title match in 1983. In 1960 the Ōi title match (王位戦 ōi-sen) was founded, and later the Kisei-sen (棋聖戦) in 1962, and the Kiō-sen (棋王戦 kiō-sen) in 1974. The Jūdan-sen was changed to become the Ryūō title match (竜王戦 ryūō-sen) in 1988, completing the modern line-up of seven title matches.
The ages of Ōyama and Habu It was considered to be nearly impossible to hold all the titles at once, but in 1957, Kōzō Masuda took all three of the titles which existed at the time (Meijin, Kudan and Ōshō), to become a triple champion (三冠王). However, another player later took these three titles from Masuda, and went on in 1959 to take the newly founded titles of Ōi and Kisei, to become a quintuple champion (五冠王) - Yasuharu Ōyama (大山康晴). Ōyama went on to defend these titles for six years, a golden age which became known as the "Ōyama age". Ōyama reached a total of 80 title holding periods, an unprecedented achievement at the time, when there were fewer titles than at present.
326
History of shogi After the number of titles increased to seven in 1983, it was believed to be impossible to hold all of them at once, but in 1996, Yoshiharu Habu became the first septuple champion (七冠王), beginning an age known as the "Habu age". Since then, there has never been a time when he was without a title, and he has amassed a total of over 70 title holding periods (71 at October 2008).
The birth of the women's game While there are both men and women among the ranks of professional shogi players, no woman player has yet won through the pro qualifier leagues (新進棋士奨励会 shinshin kishi shōreikai) to become an officially certified professional player (棋士 kishi). This served to slow the spread of the game among women, and to overcome the problem, the system of professional woman shogi players (女流棋士 joryū kishi) was introduced. In 1966, Akiko Takojima (蛸島彰子) left the pro-qualifier leagues at the 1-dan level and became the first professional woman shogi player. However, at the time women's contests were not held, and so her only work as a professional was giving shogi lessons. In 1974, the first women's contest, the Women's Meijin Title Match (女流名人位戦 joryū meijin-sen), was held, which Takojima won, becoming the first woman meijin. 1974 is often considered to be the year in which women's shogi began, and indeed the Ladies Shogi Professional Organization (女流棋士会 joryū kishi kai) celebrates "anniversary parties" counting from this year. At present there are more than 50 professional women players, and as well as the Women's Meijin title match, there is also the Women's Ōshō Title Match (女流王将戦), the Women's Ōi Title Match (女流王位戦), the Ōyama Meijin Cup Kurashiki–Tōka Title Match (大山名人杯倉敷藤花戦), the Ladies' Open Tournament (レディースオープントーナメント), and the Kajima Cup, a total of six competitions. In addition, each of the standard professional tournaments has a women's section, in which the top women in each tournament compete.
Trends in the world of amateur shogi Shogi is also well-known among the general public (amateurs). Two different rating systems based dan and kyu ranks are used, one for amateurs and one for professionals, with the highest ranks at amateur level, 4-dan or 5-dan, being equivalent to 6-kyu at the professional level. In the past, there were games between amateurs and professionals, but these were generally special match-ups organised by newspapers or magazines, or instructional games at events or shogi courses. However, sometimes there are amateurs with an ability to rival professionals, some of whom earn a living as shinken-shi (真剣師), gamblers playing for stakes. Motoji Hanamura (花村元司) made enough to live on as a shinken-shi, before taking the entrance exam and turning professional in 1944. He later challenged Yasuharu Ōyama in the meijin-sen, but did not manage to take the title of meijin from him. Jūmei Koike (小池重明) was another shinken-shi, who beat one professional after another in special matches, and won the title of amateur meijin twice in a row, putting him ahead of the crowd in the amateur world. Later, due in part to the instigation of Ōyama, the then chairman of the general assembly of the Japanese Shogi Association (棋士総会), a vote was held on whether to accept Koike among their ranks, but there were concerns about his behaviour, and the vote went against him. Although he never became a professional, after his death, television programmes and books telling his story were produced, and he now has more fans all over Japan than when he was alive. In recent times, the gap in ability between strong amateurs and professionals continues to diminish, and there are even official professional tournaments in which those with the best results in amateur shogi contests (将棋のアマチュア棋戦) can take part. Some amateurs, including Tsuneyoshi Kobayashi (小林庸俊), Takashi Amano (天野高志), Hirukawa (蛭川敦), Kiriyama (桐山隆), Masaki Endō (遠藤正樹), Masakazu Hayasaki (早咲誠和) and Atsumoto Yamada (山田敦幹) have been called "pro killers", and recently two young players, Yukio Katō (加藤幸男) and Tōru Shimizukami (清水上徹) have been making waves in the amateur world.
327
History of shogi The number of players who have left the pro qualifier leagues and gone on to have success as amateurs has increased. Shōji Segawa (瀬川晶司) retired from the qualifier leagues due to age restrictions, but went on to compete as an amateur in professional matches. His performance in the Ginga title match (銀河戦, ginga-sen) was particularly notable, and at one point he won over 70% of his matches with professionals. Sekawa submitted a petition requesting entry to the professional ranks to the Japan Shogi Association, and was granted exceptional permission to take the entrance exam. He is the first person to become a professional after retiring from the pro qualifier leagues. In 2006, the Shogi Association officially admitted the entrance of amateurs and women professionals to the ranks of professionals (正棋士), and announced details of an entrance exam for the 4-dan level (entering the "free class" (フリークラス) level of the professional ranking league (順位戦)) and the third-level pro qualifier league (奨励会三段リーグ). Unless exceptional permission is granted, applicant normally need to have experience in the pro qualifier leagues, and cannot become professionals if they have retired from the leagues, but given the reforms taking place in the Association, it would be by no means unlikely if another Shōji Segawa were to appear.
The spread of shogi outside Japan The game of shogi has developed independently inside Japan, and its pieces are differentiated by Japanese characters written on them, factors which have impeded the spread of the game outside Japan. By way of comparison, the game of go has spread internationally for a combination of many reasons, including the facts that it originated in China, its rules are (more or less) unified at an international level, it is played using black and white stones, and that it does not resemble games unique to another country (as is the case with shogi, which is one of many games resembling chess). However, in the 1990s, efforts to make shogi popular outside Japan began in earnest. It has grown to be particularly popular in the People's Republic of China, and especially Shanghai. The January 2006 edition of Kindai Shogi (近代将棋) states that Shanghai has a shogi population of 120,000 people. The game has been relatively slow to spread to countries where Chinese characters are not in common use, although attempts have been made to aid adoption by replacing the names of pieces with symbols indicating how they move.
Changes in the shogi population According to the "Leisure White Paper" (レジャー白書) by the Japanese Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development (財団法人社会経済生産性本部), the "shogi population" (the number of people of 15 years or over who play at least one game of shogi a year) fell from 16.8 million in 1985 to 9 million in 2004, and 8.4 million in 2006, and is continuing to fall gradually. During the above period, in which the shogi population fell by a half, shogi has often appeared in the general media, for example Yoshiharu Habu's achievement of taking all seven titles in one year (1996), the airing of the NHK TV novel Futarikko (ふたりっ子) (1996), the reporting of the affair between Makoto Nakahara (中原誠) and Naoko Hayashiba (林葉直子), Shōji Segawa taking the professional entrance exam (2005), and the debate about the management of the meijin-sen being passed to a different body (2006). However, none of these led to the birth of a "shogi boom", and in some cases unfavourable media reports accelerated the decline in the number of shogi fans. The number of 10 to 19 year olds playing go is said in the "Leisure White Paper" above to have increased due to the story "Hikaru no Go", serialised in Weekly Shōnen Jump. (The overall go population is decreasing.) However, the 2006 Leisure White Paper reports that go is most popular among those in their 60's, while shogi is most popular between those aged 10 to 19. From around 1996, internet shogi programs such as Java Shogi (Java将棋) and The Great Shogi (ザ・グレート将棋), which allow users to play games over the internet without the need for an actual shogi set, grew to be widely used. At present, many games are played using services such as Shogi Club 24 (将棋倶楽部24), Kindai Shogi Dojo (近代将棋道場) and Yahoo! Japan Games.
328
History of shogi
329
Computer shogi Computers have steadily improved in playing shogi since the 1980s. Champion Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza at the level of 2 dan shoreikai. Tools to help shogi programmers are Shogidokoro, annual computer tournaments and the Floodgate shogi server. The Japan Shogi Association restricts professionals from playing computers.
Current title holders In Japan, some 200 professional shogi players, all members of Japan Shogi Association, compete in seven title tournaments. The winner of the previous year defends the title against a challenger chosen from knockout or round matches. Current title holders 2010 67th Meijin Yoshiharu Habu won over Hiroyuki Miura 4-0 2009 22nd RyūŌ Akira Watanabe won over Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-0 2009 80th Kisei
Yoshiharu Habu won over Kazuki Kimura 3-2
2010 50th Ōi
Akihito Hirose
2009 57th Ōza
Yoshiharu Habu won over Takayuki Yamasaki 3-0
2010 58th Ōshō
Toshiaki Kubo
won over Yoshiharu Habu 4-2
2009 34th Kiō
Toshiaki Kubo
won over Yasumitsu Satō 3-2
won over Kōichi Fukaura 4-2
References • This article was translated from the history section of the Japanese Wikipedia shogi article, retrieved on September 17, 2006.
Meijin
330
Meijin Meijin (名人) is one of the seven titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryu-oh. The word "meijin" means "an excellent person" in a certain field. ("mei"(名) = excellent, artful) ("jin"(人) = person) The Meijin institution started in the 17th century (Edo period), but the person who assumed the Meijin position was selected by succession. In the 1930s, Kinjiro Sekine (13th Meijin) made a courageous decision. He abandoned his Meijin position and proposed the institution of a tournament. Since 1937, the Meijin title has been given to the person who wins the Meijin Championship each year. The preliminary round of the Meijin tournament is called "Rank Tournament" (Jun-i Sen 順位戦) and involves five league classes (A, B1, B2, C1, C2). The top three players of the C2 league are promoted to next year's C1 league. The top two of the C1, B2, B1 leagues are promoted to next year's B2, B1, and A leagues, respectively. Only the winner of the A-Class league can challenge the Meijin title holder. Therefore, at least five years experience of Rank-Tournament-league is needed for challenging for the title of Meijin after one's professional debut. The player that wins four games out of seven first in the championship will become the new Meijin title holder.
Honorary Meijin Honorary Meijin (Permanent Meijin, Eiseimeijin 永世名人) title is given to a person who won Meijin Championship five times. • • • • • • •
(1st - 13th : in succession) 14th Honorary Meijin : Yoshio Kimura 15th Honorary Meijin : Yasuharu Oyama 16th Honorary Meijin : Makoto Nakahara 17th Honorary Meijin : Koji Tanigawa 18th Honorary Meijin : Toshiyuki Moriuchi 19th Honorary Meijin : Yoshiharu Habu
Winners Year
Winner
Score
Opponent
1935 Yoshio Kimura -1937 1940
Yoshio Kimura
4-1
Doi Ichitaroh
1942
Yoshio Kimura
4-0
Kanda Tatsunosuke
Yoshio Kimura
no match
Yoshio Kimura
no match
1947
Masao Tsukada
4-2
Yoshio Kimura
1948
Masao Tsukada
4-2
Yasuharu Oyama
1949
Yoshio Kimura
3-2
Masao Tsukada
1950
Yoshio Kimura
4-2
Yasuharu Oyama
1951
Yoshio Kimura
4-2
Kozoh Masuda
1952
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Yoshio Kimura
Meijin
331 1953
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Kozoh Masuda
1954
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Kozoh Masuda
1955
Yasuharu Oyama
4-2
Takashima Kazukiyo
1956
Yasuharu Oyama
4-0
Hanamura Motoji
1957
Kozoh Masuda
4-2
Yasuharu Oyama
1958
Kozoh Masuda
4-2
Yasuharu Oyama
1959
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Kozoh Masuda
1960
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Hifumi Katoh
1961
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Maruta Yuzoh
1962
Yasuharu Oyama
4-0
Tatsuya Futakami
1963
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Kozoh Masuda
1964
Yasuharu Oyama
4-2
Tatsuya Futakami
1965
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Michiyoshi Yamada
1966
Yasuharu Oyama
4-2
Kozoh Masuda
1967
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Tatsuya Futakami
1968
Yasuharu Oyama
4-0
Kozoh Masuda
1969
Yasuharu Oyama
4-3
Michio Ariyoshi
1970
Yasuharu Oyama
4-1
Rensho Nada
1971
Yasuharu Oyama
4-3
Kozoh Masuda
1972
Makoto Nakahara
4-3
Yasuharu Oyama
1973
Makoto Nakahara
4-0
Hifumi Katoh
1974
Makoto Nakahara
4-3
Yasuharu Oyama
1975
Makoto Nakahara
4-3
Nobuyuki Ouchi
1976
Makoto Nakahara
4-3
Kunio Yonenaga
1977
blank
1978
Makoto Nakahara
4-2
Keiji Mori
1979
Makoto Nakahara
4-2
Kunio Yonenaga
1980
Makoto Nakahara
4-1
Kunio Yonenaga
1981
Makoto Nakahara
4-1
Kiyozumi Kiriyama
1982
Hifumi Katoh
4-3
Makoto Nakahara
1983
Koji Tanigawa
4-2
Hifumi Katoh
1984
Koji Tanigawa
4-1
Hidemitsu Moriyasu
1985
Makoto Nakahara
4-2
Koji Tanigawa
1986
Makoto Nakahara
4-1
Yasuharu Oyama
1987
Makoto Nakahara
4-2
Kunio Yonenaga
1988
Koji Tanigawa
4-2
Makoto Nakahara
1989
Koji Tanigawa
4-0
Kunio Yonenaga
1990
Makoto Nakahara
4-2
Koji Tanigawa
1991
Makoto Nakahara
4-1
Kunio Yonenaga
Meijin
332 1992
Makoto Nakahara
4-3
Michio Takahashi
1993
Kunio Yonenaga
4-0
Makoto Nakahara
1994
Yoshiharu Habu
4-2
Kunio Yonenaga
1995
Yoshiharu Habu
4-1
Taku Morishita
1996
Yoshiharu Habu
4-1
Toshiyuki Moriuchi
1997
Koji Tanigawa
4-2
Yoshiharu Habu
1998
Yasumitsu Satoh
4-3
Koji Tanigawa
1999
Yasumitsu Satoh
4-3
Koji Tanigawa
2000
Tadahisa Maruyama 4-3
Yasumitsu Satoh
2001
Tadahisa Maruyama 4-3
Koji Tanigawa
2002
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-0
Tadahisa Maruyama
2003
Yoshiharu Habu
Toshiyuki Moriuchi
2004
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-2
Yoshiharu Habu
2005
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-3
Yoshiharu Habu
2006
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-2
Koji Tanigawa
2007
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-3
Masataka Goda
2008
Yoshiharu Habu
4-2
Toshiyuki Moriuchi
2009
Yoshiharu Habu
4-3
Masataka Goda
2010
Yoshiharu Habu
4-0
Hiroyuki Miura
References • Japan Shogi Association : Meijin Tournament [1] [1] http:/ / www. shogi. or. jp/ kisenhyo/ meizin. html
4-0
Ryu-oh
333
Ryu-oh Ryu-oh or Ryūō (竜王, lit. "Dragon King") is the name of a promoted piece in shogi, a Japanese professional shogi tournament, and the title of its winner. The basic meaning of "Ryu-oh" is a "promoted rook". It can move as either a rook (hisha 飛車, lit. flying chariot") or a king (gyokushō 玉将, lit. "jade general") during a turn, and is one of the most powerful pieces in shogi. "Ryu-oh" also refers to the annual Ryu-oh Tournament (Ryūō-sen 竜王戦) organized by Yomiuri Shimbun as well as the title awarded to its winner. The Ryu-oh Tournament, which is one of seven Japanese shogi title matches, was first held in 1988. It comprises preliminary The dragon king tournaments in six classes and one final. The final tournament, which determines the challenger, involves competitions among eleven players (the top five players from 1st class, top two from 2nd class, and the top four from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes). The first player to win four out of seven championship games becomes the new titleholder. Cash prizes are ¥32,000,000 for the winner of championship and new Ryu-oh titleholder, and ¥8,000,000 for the loser (approximately US$320,000 and $80,000 respectively). Additional compensation includes ¥14,500,000 for the previous titleholder and ¥7,000,000 for the challenger (approximately US$145,000 and $70,000). Among the seven rankings in the professional shogi titleholder system, Ryu-oh and Meijin are the most prestigious designations.
Honorary Ryu-oh Honorary Ryu-oh ("Eisei Ryu-oh" = Permanent Ryu-oh) is the title given to a player who won the championship five times in a row or seven times.[1] Akira Watanabe won the championship five times in a row from 2004 to 2008, which makes him the first honorary Ryu-oh.
Winners Year
Winner
Score
Opponent
1988
Akira Shima
4-0
Kunio Yonenaga
1989
Yoshiharu Habu
4-3
Akira Shima
1990
Koji Tanigawa
4-1
Yoshiharu Habu
1991
Koji Tanigawa
4-2
Taku Morishita
1992
Yoshiharu Habu
4-3
Koji Tanigawa
1993
Yasumitsu Sato
4-2
Yoshiharu Habu
1994
Yoshiharu Habu
4-2
Yasumitsu Sato
1995
Yoshiharu Habu
4-2
Yasumitsu Sato
1996
Koji Tanigawa
4-1
Yoshiharu Habu
1997
Koji Tanigawa
4-0
Keiichi Sanada
Ryu-oh
334 1998
Takeshi Fujii
4-0
Koji Tanigawa
1999
Takeshi Fujii
4-1
Daisuke Suzuki
2000
Takeshi Fujii
4-3
Yoshiharu Habu
2001
Yoshiharu Habu
4-1
Takeshi Fujii
2002
Yoshiharu Habu
4-3
Takashi Abe
2003
Toshiyuki Moriuchi 4-0
Yoshiharu Habu
2004
Akira Watanabe
4-3
Toshiyuki Moriuchi
2005
Akira Watanabe
4-0
Kazuki Kimura
2006
Akira Watanabe
4-3
Yasumitsu Sato
2007
Akira Watanabe
4-2
Yasumitsu Sato
2008
Akira Watanabe
4-3
Yoshiharu Habu
2009
Akira Watanabe
4-0
Toshiyuki Moriuchi
References [1] プロ棋戦の規定に関するご質問(日本将棋連盟) (http:/ / www. shogi. or. jp/ osirase/ qa. html#kisen)
External links • 竜王戦：日本将棋連盟 (http://www.shogi.or.jp/kisenhyo/ryuuou.html), Ryūō Tournament: Japan Shogi Association (Japanese) • 第21期竜王戦中継 (http://live.shogi.or.jp/ryuou/), 21st Ryūō Tournament website (Japanese)
Computer shogi
335
Computer shogi Computer shogi is a field of artificial intelligence concerned with the creation of computer programs which can play shogi. The research and development of shogi software has been carried out mainly by freelance programmers, university research groups and private companies.
Game complexity Shogi has the distinctive feature of reusing captured pieces. Therefore shogi has a higher branching factor than other chess variants. The computer has more positions to examine because each piece in hand can be dropped on many squares. This gives shogi the highest number of legal positions and the highest number of possible games of all the popular chess variants. The higher numbers for shogi mean it is harder to reach the highest levels of play. The number of legal positions and the number of possible games are 2 measures of shogi’s Game complexity. Game
Board Size
Legal Positions
Possible Games
Average Game Length
Chess
64
1047
10123
80
Xiangqi 90
1048
10150
95
Shogi
1071
10226
110
81
Computers versus humans In the 1980s, due to the immaturity of the technology in such fields as programming, CPUs and memory, computer shogi programs took a long time to think, and often made moves for which there was no apparent justification. These programs had the level of an amateur of kyu rank. In the first decade of the new millennium, computer shogi has taken large steps forward in software and hardware technology. In 2007 champion Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza. He wrote in the Nikkei Newspaper evening edition on March 26, 2007 about the match between Bonanza and the 2006 Ryuo Champion Watanabe. Yoshiharu Habu rated Bonanza’s game at the level of 2 dan shoreikai.[1] In particular, computers are most suited to brute-force calculation, and far outperform humans at the task of finding ways of checkmating from a given position, which involves many fewer possibilities. In games with time limits of 10 seconds from the first move, computers are becoming a tough challenge for even professional shogi players. With the past steady progress of shogi computers as a guide of the future, the prediction is even computers with a large handicap will be unbeatable in the future. Larry Kaufman, one of the strongest western shogi players said in 2008, “In 10 years I predict a computer will be able to give lance handicap (kyo-ochi) to the Meijin”.[2]
Bonanza Vs Watanabe The Japan Shogi Association (JSA) started restricting professionals from playing computers in 2005. In 2007, the JSA granted permission to one professional to play one game against a computer. The Japan Shogi Association gave reigning Ryuo Champion Watanabe permission to compete in a showdown against the reigning World Computer Shogi Champion Bonanza on 21 March 2007. Daiwa Securities sponsored the match. Hoki Kunihito wrote Bonanza. The computer was an Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz 8 core with 8 gigabytes of memory and 160-gigabyte hard drive. The game was played with 2 hours each and 1 minute byo-yomi per move after that. Those conditions favor Watanabe because longer time limits mean there are fewer mistakes from time pressure. Longer playing time also means human players can make long-term plans beyond the computer’s calculating horizon. The 2 players were not at the same playing level. Watanabe was 2006 Ryuo Champion and Bonanza was at the level of 2 dan shoreikai.[1]
Computer shogi Bonanza was a little stronger than before due to program improvements and a faster computer. Watanabe prepared for a weaker Bonanza as Watanabe studied old Bonanza game records. Bonanza moved first and played fourth file rook anaguma as Watanabe expected. Watanabe thought some of Bonanza’s moves were inferior. However, Watanabe deeply analyzed these moves thinking that maybe the computer saw something that Watanabe did not see.[3] Watanabe commented after the game that he could have lost if Bonanza had played defensive moves before entering the endgame. But the computer choose to attack immediately instead of taking its time (and using its impressive endgame strategies) which cost it the match. Bonanza resigned after move 112. Hidetchi reviews this game.[4] After Bonanza’s loss Watanabe commented on computers in his blog, “I thought they still had quite a way to go, but now we have to recognize that they’ve reached the point where they are getting to be a match for professionals.” Ryuo champion Akira Watanabe clarifies his position on computers playing shogi. Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper quoted Akira Watanabe on June 27, 2008. Watanabe said "I think I'll be able to defeat shogi software for the next 10 years". Another indication Bonanza was far below the level of professional Watanabe came 2 months after the match at the May 2007 World Computer Shogi Championship. Bonanza lost to the 2007 World Computer Shogi Champion YSS. Then YSS lost to amateur Kato Yukio in a 15-minute game.
Akara vs Shimizu The Computer program Akara defeated the women’s Osho champion Shimizu Ichiyo. Akara contained 4 computer engines, Gekisashi, GPS Shogi, Bonanza and YSS. Akara ran on a network of 169 computers. The 4 engines voted on the best moves. Akara selects the move with the most votes. If there is a tie vote then Akara selects Gekisashi’s move. Researchers at the University of Tokyo and the University of Electro-Communications developed Akara. Shimizu moved first and resigned in 86 moves after 6 hours and 3 minutes. Shimizu said she was trying to play her best as if she was facing a human player. She played at the University of Tokyo on 11 October 2010. The allotted thinking time per player is 3 hours and 60 seconds byoyomi. 750 fans attended the event. This is the second time since 2005 that the Japan Shogi Association granted permission to a professional to play a computer, and the first victory against a female professional. However, a computer has never defeated a male professional under standard time controls. Hidetchi reviews this game.[5] Akara aggressively pursued Shimizu from the start of the game. Akara played with a ranging rook strategy and offered an exchange of bishops. Shimizu made a questionable move partway though the game, and Akara went on to win.[6] Ryuo champion, Akira Watanabe, criticized Shimizu’s game. On 19 November 2010, the Daily Yomiuri quoted Watanabe. Watanabe said, "Ms. Shimizu had plenty of chances to win".[7]
Annual CSA tournament exhibition games The winners of CSA tournaments played exhibition games with strong players. These exhibition games started in 2003.[8]
336
Computer shogi
337
Year
Program
Human
Handicap
Time
Byoyomi Winner
2003
IS Shogi
Pro 5 Dan Katsumata 2 Piece Handicap 25 Min None
Computer
2004
YSS
Pro 5 Dan Katsumata Rook
25 Min None
Computer
2005
Gekisashi
Pro 5 Dan Katsumata Bishop
25 Min None
Computer
2006
Bonanza
Yukio Kato
None
15 Min 30 Sec
Human
2007
YSS
Yukio Kato
None
15 Min 30 Sec
Human
2008
Tanase Shogi Yukio Kato
None
15 Min 30 Sec
Computer
2008
Gekisashi
Shimizugami Toru
None
15 Min 30 Sec
Computer
2009
GPS Shogi
Amateur champion
None
1 hour
Canceled
1 min
In each succeeding year, the human competition was stronger to match the stronger programs. Kato Yukio was the Asahi Amateur Meijin champion. Shimizugami Toru was the Amateur Meijin champion. The current winning program does not play humans in public tournaments or on a game server such as the Shogi Club 24. Therefore, its strength relative to humans is unknown.
Computers Bonanza and Akara beat Amateurs Kosaku and Shinoda On July 24 2011, there was a two game amateur versus computer match. Two computer Shogi programs beat a team of two amateurs. One amateur, Mr. Kosaku, was a Shoreikai three Dan player. The other amateur, Mr. Shinoda, was the 1999 Amateur Ryuo. The allotted time for the amateurs was main time 1 hour and then 3 minutes per move. The allotted time for the computer was main time 25 minutes and then 10 seconds per move.[9] [10] [11] Game
Computer
Sente (first)
Gote (second)
Moves
Computer Time
Amateur Time
1
Bonanza
Kosaku & Shinoda
Bonanza
93
24 min 41 sec
2 hours 2 min
2
Akara
Akara
Kosaku & Shinoda
150
25 min 54 sec
1 hour 42 min
Hardware
Winner
17 processors, 132 cores, 300 Bonanza GB Intel Xeon W3680 with 6 cores
Akara
Programmer tools • Shogidokoro[12] is a graphical user interface (GUI) that calls a program to play shogi and displays the moves on a board. Shogidokoro was created in 2007. Shogidokoro uses the Universal Shogi Interface (USI). The USI is an open communication protocol that Shogi programs use to communicate with a user interface. USI was designed by Norwegian computer chess programmer Tord Romstad in 2007. Tord Romstad based USI on Universal Chess Interface (UCI). UCI was designed by computer chess programmer Stefan Meyer-Kahlen in 2000. Shogidokoro can automatically run a tournament between 2 programs. This helps programmers to write shogi programs faster because they can skip writing the user interface part. It is also useful for testing changes to a program. Shogidokoro can be used to play Shogi by adding a Shogi engine to shogidokoro. Some engines that will run under shogidokoro are Blunder, GPS Shogi, Laramie, Lightning, ponanza, Spear, Ssp and TJshogi. Bonanza can also run with an adapter (u2b). • WinBoard/XBoard and BCMShogi are other GUIs that support Shogi. This support was added to WinBoard in 2007 by H.G. Muller. WinBoard uses its own protocol (Chess Engine Communication Protocol) to communicate with engines, but can connect to USI engines through the UCI2WB adapter. Engines that can natively support WinBoard protocol are Shokidoki, TJshogi, GNU Shogi and Bonanza.[13] Unlike Shogidokoro, WinBoard is open source, and also available under Linux as XBoard. BCMShogi[14] is a graphical user interface for the USI
Computer shogi
338
protocol and the WinBoard shogi protocol. • Floodgate[15] is a computer shogi server for computers to compete and receive ratings. Programs running under Shogidokoro can connect to Floodgate. The GPS team created Floodgate. Floodgate started operating continuously in 2008. The most active players have played 4,000 games. From 2008 to 2010, 167 players played 28,000 games on Floodgate. Humans are welcome to play on Floodgate.
Floodgate Annual Highest Rating Date
Program
May 23, 2011 Bonanza_expt
Rating 3054
• The annual computer vs computer world shogi championship[16] is organized by the Computer Shogi Association (CSA) of Japan. The computers play automated games through a server. Each program has 25 minutes to complete a game. The first championship was in 1990 with 6 programs. In 2001, it grew to 55 programs. The championship is broadcast on the Internet. At the 19th annual CSA tournament, 4 programs (GPS Shogi, Otsuki Shogi, Monju and KCC Shogi) that had never won a CSA tournament defeated 3 of the previous year’s strongest programs (Bonanza, Gekisashi and YSS).[17] The top three winners of the 2010 CSA tournament are Gekisashi, Shueso and GPS Shogi.[18] In 2011, Bonkras won the CSA tournament with 5 wins out of 7 games. Bonkras ran on a computer with 3 processors containing 16 cores and 6 gigabytes of memory. Bonanza won second place on a computer with 17 processors containing 132 cores and 300 gigabytes of memory. Shueso won third place. The 2010 CSA winner, Gekisashi, won fourth place. Ponanza won fifth place. GPS Shogi won 6th place on a computer with 263 processors containing 832 cores and 1486 gigabytes of memory.[19] [20]
Computer shogi programs Components of computer shogi programs: • Opening book : An opening book of moves puts the program in a good position and saves time. The problem is professionals do not always follow an opening sequence as in chess but make different moves to create good formation of pieces. • Search algorithm : The Search algorithm that looks ahead more deeply in a sequence of moves allows the program to better evaluate a move. The search is harder in shogi than in chess because of the larger number of possible moves. A program will stop searching when it reaches a stable position. The problem is many positions are unstable because of the drop move. • Endgame : The endgame starts when the king is attacked and ends when the game is won. In chess there are fewer pieces which leads to perfect play by endgame databases. In shogi pieces can be dropped so there are no endgame databases. A Tsumeshogi solver is used to quickly find mating moves. Computer shogi programs that have played at the annual World Computer Shogi Championships: • Bonanza won first place the first time it was entered in the championships in 2006. Programmer Kunihito Hoki was living in Canada. • YSS won in 1997, 2004 and 2007. YSS won 2nd place in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 3rd place in 1994. Programmer is Hiroshi Yamashita. YSS entered the first time in the 1991 tournament. • IS Shogi won in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003. Yasushi Tanase was part of the Tokyo University team that wrote IS Shogi. • Tanase shogi won 2nd place in 2007 and 2008 also written by Yasushi Tanase. • Gekisashi won 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2010. The Gekisashi team is led by Yoshimasa Tsuruoka. • KCC Shogi came in second place in 2005 and is from North Korea.
Computer shogi • • • • • • •
Shogi Kakinoki won 2nd place in 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1996 and written by Yoshikazu Kakinoki. Kiwame won in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and written by Shinichirou Kanazawa. Shogi Kanazawa won in 1996 and in 1999 also written by Shinichirou Kanazawa. Morita Shogi won in 1991 and written by Kazurou Morita. Shotest won 3rd place in 1998, 1999 and written by British programmer Jeff Rollason. Spear a free program written by Reijer Grimbergen has won 9th place of 24 in the 2009 upper division contest. GPS Shogi is free software written by students of the University of Tokyo and won in 2009.
Computer Shogi programs that play in video game systems: • • • •
Habu Meijin no Omoshiro Shōgi plays on the Super Famicom. Clubhouse Games includes Shogi plays on the Nintendo DS. Shotest Shogi plays on the Xbox. List of shogi video games.
GNU Shogi is a free software program by the Free Software Foundation that plays Shogi.
Restrictions On 18 September 2005 a Japan Shogi Association professional 5 dan played shogi against a computer. The game was played at the 29th Hokkoku Osho-Cup Shogi Tournament in Komatsu, Japan. The Matsue National College of technology developed the computer program Tacos. Tacos played first and chose the static rook line in the opening. Professional Hashimoto followed the opening line while changing his bishop with the bishop of Tacos. Tacos had a good development with some advantages in the opening and middle game even until move 80. Many amateur players expected Tacos to win. However, professional Hashimoto defended and Tacos played strange moves. Tacos lost.[21] On 14 October 2005, the Japan Shogi Association banned professional shogi players from competing against a computer.[22] The Japan Shogi Association said the rule is to preserve the dignity of its professionals, and to make the most of computer shogi as a potential business opportunity. The ban prevents the rating of computers relative to professional players. Since 2005, the Japan Shogi Association has permitted one game between a male professional and a computer.
Milestones • 2005, At the Amateur Ryo tournament, program Gekisashi defeated Eiji Ogawa in a 40 minute game of the first knock out round. • 2005, Program Gekisashi defeated amateur 6-dan Shinoda Masato in a 40 minute exhibition game. • 2007, Highest rating for a computer on Shogi Club 24 is 2744 for YSS.[23] • 2008 May, computer program Tanase Shogi beat Asahi Amateur Meijin title holder Kato Yukio. 75 moves played in 15 minute exhibition game. • 2008 May, computer program Gekisashi beat Amateur Meijin Shimizugami Toru. 100 moves played in 15 minute exhibition game.[24] • 2008 November, Gekisashi beat Amateur Meijin Shimizugami in a 1 hour game with 1 minute byoyomi.[25] • 2010 October, first time a computer beat a Shogi champion. Akara beat the women’s Osho champion Shimizu in 6 hours and 3 minutes. • 2011 May, Highest rated player on Shogi Club 24 is computer program Ponanza, rated 3211.[26]
339
Computer shogi
Notes [1] Yoshiharu, Habu (2007-03-27). "Yoshiharu Habu rates computer at the level of 2 dan shoreikai" (http:/ / lists. topica. com/ lists/ shogi/ read/ message. html?sort=d& mid=812686165& start=1928). Shogi-L mailing list. . Retrieved 2008-11-13. [2] Kaufman, Larry (2008-05-07). "Computer with a lance handicap will beat a Meijin" (http:/ / lists. topica. com/ lists/ shogi/ read/ message. html?sort=d& mid=813103510& start=2563). Shogi-L mailing list. . Retrieved 2008-08-12. [3] "Watanabe comments on his game with Bonanza" (http:/ / lists. topica. com/ lists/ shogi/ read/ message. html?mid=812678696& sort=d& start=1965). . [4] Hidetchi. "Famous Shogi Games: Bonanza Vs Watanabe (Mar. 21st, 2007)" (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=H1YrSkDxXYQ) (video). . [5] Hidetchi. "Famous Shogi Games: Shimizu Vs Akara (Oct. 11th, 2010)" (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=lUnbzhnDIvA) (video). . [6] "Shogi computer beats female champ Shimizu" (http:/ / blog. chess. com/ view/ shogi-computer-beats-female-champ-shimizu). The Mainichi Newspapers. 12 October 2010. . [7] "Will shogi software beat male pros?" (http:/ / www. yomiuri. co. jp/ dy/ national/ T101118005564. htm). The Daily Yomiuri. 19 November 2010. . [8] Reijer Grimbergen. "Report on the Annual Computer Shogi Championships" (http:/ / www. teu. ac. jp/ gamelab/ SHOGI/ articlesmain. html). . [9] "The University of Electro-Communications" (http:/ / entcog. c. ooco. jp/ entcog/ event/ event2011_comvshum. html) (in Japanese). 3 August 2011. . [10] "Shogi programs crush Amateurs" (http:/ / www. asahi. com/ shougi/ topics/ TKY201108020334. html) (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. 2 August 2011. . [11] "Museum of Abstract Strategy Games" (http:/ / www. nakajim. net/ index. php?å°æ£-æ¦ç¥çãªã¢ããããåè°ã¯ã³ã³ãã¥ã¼ã¿ã«åã¦ãã) (in Japanese). 3 August 2011. . [12] "Shogidokoro Shogi Graphical User Interface" (http:/ / www. geocities. jp/ shogidokoro/ index. html) (in Japanese). . [13] "WinBoard for Shogi" (http:/ / home. hccnet. nl/ h. g. muller/ shokidoki. html). . [14] "BCMShogi Shogi Graphical User Interface" (http:/ / home. arcor. de/ Bernhard. Maerz/ BCMShogi/ ). . [15] "Floodgate is a computer shogi server for computers" (http:/ / wdoor. c. u-tokyo. ac. jp/ shogi/ logs/ LATEST/ players-floodgate. html) (in Japanese). . [16] "Computer Shogi Association" (http:/ / www. computer-shogi. org/ index_e. html). . [17] Reijer Grimbergen. "Upset at the 19th CSA Computer Shogi Championship" (http:/ / www. teu. ac. jp/ gamelab/ SHOGI/ CSA2009/ 19csa. html). . [18] "Winners of 2010 CSA tournament" (http:/ / www. computer-shogi. org/ wcsc20/ index_e. html). . [19] "Winners of 2011 CSA tournament" (http:/ / www. computer-shogi. org/ wcsc21/ index_e. html). . [20] "Teams in 2011 CSA tournament" (http:/ / www. computer-shogi. org/ wcsc21/ team. html) (in Japanese). . [21] "Hashimoto vs Tacos in 2005" (http:/ / www. jaist. ac. jp/ rccg/ menu/ topic. htm). . [22] "Shogi pros warned not to play computers" (http:/ / search. japantimes. co. jp/ member/ member. html?nn20051016a4. htm). . [23] Hiroshi Yamashita. "Computer Shogi Program YSS On Shogi Club 24" (http:/ / www32. ocn. ne. jp/ ~yss/ 24rating. html) (in Japanese). . [24] Reijer Grimbergen. "Exhibition Games at the 18th CSA Computer Shogi Championships" (http:/ / www. teu. ac. jp/ gamelab/ SHOGI/ CSA2008/ 18csa. html). . [25] "Gekisashi beat Amateur Meijin Champion in a 1 hour game" (http:/ / www. computer-shogi. org/ kifu/ gpw2008/ vs_shimizugami. sjis. csa). . [26] "Computer program Ponanza highest rated player on Shogi Club 24" (http:/ / www. shogidojo. com) (in Japanese). .
External links • Computer versus Human Shogi Events (http://www.junichi-takada.jp/computer_shogi/comvshuman.html) in Japanese
340
Shogi variant
Shogi variant Many variants of shogi have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest. A few of these variants are still regularly played, though none are nearly as popular as shogi itself. The drop rule, often considered the most notable feature of shogi, is absent from most shogi variants, which therefore play more like other forms of chess, with the board becoming less crowded as pieces are exchanged.
Predecessors of modern shogi Some form of chess had almost certainly reached Japan by the 9th century, if not earlier, but the earliest surviving Japanese description of the rules of chess dates from the early 12th century, during the Heian period. Unfortunately, this description does not give enough information to play the game, but this has not stopped people from trying to reconstruct this early form of shogi, which is usually referred to as Heian shogi (平安将棋). Piece movements were as in modern shogi, but there was no rook or bishop. The board appears to have been 9×8 or 8×8. The setup is unknown, but can reasonably be assumed to have been the same as in modern shogi (minus the rook and bishop, and minus a gold general in the 8×8 case), but possibly the pawns started on the second rank rather than the third. It can safely be assumed that the game was played without drops. By the 16th century the game had taken a form closer to the modern game: it was played on a 9×9 board with the same setup as in modern shogi except that an extra piece (a drunken elephant) stood in front of the king. This form of the game is known as sho shogi (小将棋), which means "little shogi". (While 9×9 may not seem 'little', it was smaller than the other shogi variants prevalent at the time.) The drunken elephant was eliminated by the Emperor Go-Nara (reign 1526-1557), and it is assumed that the drop rule was introduced at about the same time, giving rise to shogi as we know it today.
Large-board variants There are a number of shogi variants played on boards larger than 9×9. These variants are all quite old, and were probably all played without drops. It is thought that the really huge games (dai shogi and up) were never really played to any significant extent and were devised merely so that the creators could have the fun of inventing enormous games, amazing their friends and confounding their enemies. However, the games up to Tenjiku shogi at least appear to be quite playable, assuming one has the time.[1] The same 12th century document which describes the Heian form of shogi also describes a variant played on a 13×13 board, which is now called Heian dai shogi (平安大将棋). As with the smaller Heian shogi, the rules for this game have not been completely preserved. The most popular large-board variant is chu shogi (中将棋), played on a 12×12 board. The name means middle shogi, and the game is sometimes so called in English. Chu shogi has existed since at least the 14th century; there are earlier references, but it's not clear that they refer to the game as we now know it. Chu shogi is best known for a very powerful piece called the lion, which moves like a king but twice per turn. The game was still commonly played in Japan in the early 20th century, but has now largely died out. It has, however, gained some adherents in the West. The main reference work in English is the Middle Shogi Manual by George Hodges. Other large medieval shogi variants were wa shogi (11×11, possibly played with drops), dai shogi (大将棋, "great shogi", 15×15), tenjiku shogi (天竺将棋, literally "Indian shogi", but probably meant in the sense of "exotic shogi", 16×16), dai-dai shōgi (大大将棋, "great great shogi", 17×17), maka dai-dai shōgi (摩訶大大将棋, "ultra great great shogi", 19×19) and tai shogi (泰将棋, "grand shogi", 25×25). These variants date back at least to the 17th century. Tai shogi was thought to be the world's largest chess variant, but recently records of an even larger variant, taikyoku shogi (大局将棋, "ultimate shogi", 36×36), was discovered.
341
Shogi variant
342
The most recent large board variant is kō shōgi (廣将棋 or 廣象棋 "wide (elephant) chess", 19×19), which is played on a Go board and incorporates elements of Chinese chess. Ko shogi is unusual for the interdependence of its pieces and the complex rules of promotion.
Modern variants These are some of the new and old shogi variants which have been invented. Time will show which if any of the many recently-invented variants stand the test of usage and competition from other games, and stay in use.
Small variants name
board size
pieces each
when invented
invented by
notes
Bushi Shogi[2]
1×2
1
2000?
Georg Dunkel
The pieces are cubes, and move only by being rotated and set another face up.
Gufuu Shogi[3]
2×3
2
2000?
Georg Dunkel
The players have a king each, & 2 shared pieces.
Nana shogi[4]
3×3
3
1998/2001
Georg Dunkel
The pieces are cubes, and each piece's power and moves varies according to which of its 6 sides is up.
Dōbutsu shōgi
3×4
4
recently
Madoka Kitao
Children's game. Dōbutsu shōgi (official site, rules, in Japanese) [5] . Also sold as "Let's Catch the Lion!"
Micro shogi
4×5
5
modern, before 1982
Oyama Yasuharu?
Minishogi
5×5
6
c. 1970
Shigenobu Kusumoto
Kyoto shogi
5×5
5
c. 1976
Tamiya Katsuya
Judkins shogi
6×6
7
before April 1998
Paul Judkins of Norwich, England
Whale shogi
6×6
12
1981
R. Wayne Schmittberger of USA
All pieces named after cetaceans.
Tori shogi
7×7
16
late 18th century
Ōhashi Sōei
All pieces named after birds. Uses the drop rule. One of the more popular shogi variants
Yari shogi
7×9
14
1981
Christian Freeling, Netherlands
Heian shogi
8×8 or 9×8
16 or 18
c. 1120 or before
Standard-size variants
He actually may have rediscovered it instead of inventing it. Comparatively popular.
early form of shogi
Shogi variant
343
name
board size
pieces each
when invented
Sho shogi
9×9
21
16th century
Cannon shogi
9×9
20
February 1998
Hasami shogi
9×9
9 or 18
invented by
notes
Ancestor of modern shogi. Peter Michaelsen
Shogi plus xiangqi-type cannons.
Like ludus latrunculorum. Not much like shogi.
Hand shogi 9×9
19 pieces early 1997
Annan shogi
9×9
20
Unashogi
9×9
20
John William Brown, Lewisville, Arizona
Starts with 10 pieces each side in hand.
A Korean variation of standard shogi where pieces gain the powers of the pieces behind them. Popular in Japan. 1994
Edward Jackman
Starts with all pieces in hand.
Large variants name
board size
pieces each
when invented
Okisaki shogi
10×10
22
c. 1996
Wa shogi
11×11
27
Chu shogi
12×12
46
early 14th century?
Heian dai shogi
13×13
34
early 14th century
Dai shogi
15×15
65
about AD 1230
Tenjiku shogi
16×16
76
15th or 16th century
Dai-dai shōgi
17×17
96
15th or 16th century
Maka-dai-dai shōgi
19×19
96
15th century
Kō shōgi
19×19
90
turn of the 18th century
Hishigata shogi
19×19
39
2005 or a bit before
Tai shogi
25×25
177
15th century
Taikyoku shogi
36×36
209
around the mid 16th century
invented by
notes
Masayuki Nakayachi All pieces are named after animals.
Based partly on xiangqi & projectile weapons. Sean Humby
maka-dai-dai shogi with fewer pieces & different start [6] setup
Shogi variant
344
Three- and four-player variants name
board size
pieces each when invented
invented by
notes
Sannin shogi 7×7×7 hexagonal 18
circa 1930
Tanigasaki Jisuke three-person shogi
Yonin shogi
1993
Ota Mitsuyasu
9×9
9
four-person shogi
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
See http:/ / www. cs. caltech. edu/ ~mvanier/ hacking/ gnushogi/ gnushogi_17. html http:/ / www. kolumbus. fi/ geodun/ bushi/ bushi. htm http:/ / www. kolumbus. fi/ geodun/ gufuu/ gufuu. htm http:/ / www. kolumbus. fi/ geodun/ nana/ nana3. htm http:/ / doubutsushogi. jp http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shogivariants. dir/ hishigata. html Hishigata shogi
External links • Shogi Variants Program (http://www.netspace.net.au/~trout/) • International Chu Shogi Ladder (http://www.shogi.net/chu-ladder/) • Richard's Play-By-EMail Server (http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/) - supports many shogi variants and chess variants. • Shogi variants (http://history.chess.free.fr/shogivar.htm) (French)
Micro shogi Microshogi (五分摩訶将棋 gofun maka shōgi "5-minute (scarlet) poppy chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess), with very different rules for promotion, and depromotion. Kerry Handscomb of NOST (knights Of the Square Table) gave it this English name. Although not confirmed, he credits its invention to the late Oyama Yasuharu, a top level shogi player. The game was invented before 1982.
Rules of the game The game is identical to standard shogi with the following exceptions.
Game equipment Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 4 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 5 wedge-shaped pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are: • • • • •
1 king 1 bishop 1 gold general 1 silver general 1 pawn
Micro shogi
345
Setup 4
3
2
1
王 角 金 銀 一 将 行 将 将 歩 兵
4
3
2
1
K
B
G
S
P
b
二
c P d
三 歩 四 兵
a
S
G
B
K e
銀 金 角 玉 五 将 将 行 将
Each side places his pieces in the following positions, pointing toward the opponent. For more information click here [1] . • In the rank nearest the player: • • • •
The king is placed in the right corner The bishop is placed in the adjacent file to the king. The gold general is placed adjacent to the bishop. The silver general is placed adjacent to the gold general in the left corner.
That is, the first rank is |S|G|B|K|. • In the second rank, each player places the pawn in the same file as the king.
Promotion Unlike standard shogi, microshogi has no promotion zone. Instead, a piece promotes when it captures, and promotion is mandatory. When a promoted piece captures, it demotes—that is, it is flipped back over to show its original unpromoted value. Promotion values are entirely different from standard shogi: • • • • •
A king does not promote: K A silver general becomes a lance and vice versa: S ↔ L A bishop becomes a tokin (T) and vice versa: B ↔ T A gold general becomes a rook and vice versa: G ↔ R A pawn becomes a knight and vice versa: P ↔ N
Thus when a lance, tokin, rook, or knight makes a capture, it reverts back to its former state. A knight which reaches one of the two far ranks is trapped, as is a pawn which captures and thus promotes there. Likewise, a pawn that reaches the far rank is trapped, as is a knight which captures there. A lance is also trapped at the far rank, but can escape if it captures there and thus demotes to a silver. A silver which captures in the far rank and therefore promotes to a lance is trapped. Any trapped piece may be captured and returned to play as part of the opposing army. A tokin moves the same way as a golden general.
Micro shogi
Drops Drops are similar to standard shogi, except that: • A player may drop a piece with either side facing up. • Except for dropping in the far rank, there are no other restrictions when dropping pawns. That is, a player may have two unpromoted pawns on the same file, and a pawn can be dropped to give immediate checkmate.
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Shogi: Japanese Chess [3] • Chessvariants.com [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ poppysh. html [2] http:/ / www. shogi. net/ shogi. html [3] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shogi. html
Minishogi Minishogi (5五将棋 gogo shōgi "5V chess" or "5×5 chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess). Shigenobu Kusumoto of Osaka, Japan, invented or rediscovered the game c. 1970. The rules are identical to those of standard shogi, except that it is played with a reduced number of pieces on a 5x5 board, and each player's promotion zone consists only of the rank farthest from the player.
Rules of the game Minishogi is identical to standard shogi with the following exceptions:
Game equipment Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 5 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 6 wedge-shaped pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • •
1 king 1 rook 1 bishop 1 gold general 1 silver general 1 pawn
These are identical to the standard pieces of the same names.
346
Minishogi
347
Setup Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, from the perspective of Black, pointing toward the opponent. In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The king is placed in the left corner file. The gold general is placed in the adjacent file to the king. The silver general is placed adjacent to the gold general. The bishop is placed adjacent to the silver general. The rook is placed in the right corner, adjacent to the bishop.
That is, the first rank is |K|G|S|B|R|. • In the second rank, each player places the pawn in the same file as the king.
Promotion and drops These are as in standard shogi, except that the promotion zone is the farthest rank away from you. Pieces promote as they do in shogi. You can drop like you do in shogi as well.
External links • Minishogi [1] at chessvariants.com • Website of the Japanese Minishogi Association [2] (in Japanese, but contains game records which can be understood without knowing Japanese) • Mini Shogi [3] 6x5 Mini Shogi iPhone software
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ minishog. html [2] http:/ / www. geocities. co. jp/ Playtown-Spade/ 8662/ [3] http:/ / www. cascadiagames. com/ game_minishogi. html
Kyoto shogi
348
Kyoto shogi Kyoto shogi (京都将棋 kyōto shōgi "Kyoto chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess). It was invented by Tamiya Katsuya c. 1976. Kyoto shogi is played like standard shogi, but with a reduced number of pieces on a 5×5 board. However, the pieces alternately promote and demote with every move, and the promotion values are entirely different from standard shogi.
Rules of the game Game equipment Two players play on a board ruled into a grid of 5 ranks (rows) by 5 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 5 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • 1 king • • • •
1 gold general 1 silver general 1 tokin 1 pawn Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
White king
王将
ōshō
Black king
玉将
gyokushō
Rook/pawn
飛歩
hifu
Silver-general/bishop 銀角
ginkaku
Gold-general/knight
金桂
kinkei
Lance/tokin
香と
kyōto
The names of the pieces combine their promoted and unpromoted values, and are puns in Japanese for words with the same pronunciations but different kanji. For example, the lance/tokin is homonymous with the name of the city 京都 Kyoto, and provides the name of the game.
Setup
Setup
Kyoto shogi
349
5
4
3
2
1
歩
金
王
銀
と
と
銀
玉
金
歩
一
5
4
3
2
1
P
G
K
S
T a
二
b
三
c
四
d
五
T
S
K
G
P
e
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The king (K) is placed in the center file. The gold general (G) is placed in the adjacent files to the right of the king. The silver general (S) is placed in the adjacent files to the left of the king. The tokin (T) is placed in the left corner. The pawn (P) is placed in the right corner.
That is, the first rank is |T|S|K|G|P|.
Promotion There is no promotion zone in Kyoto shogi. Every time a piece makes a move it alternately promotes and reverts to its unpromoted state. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank; demotion is effected by turning the piece back. The promotion rules and values are reminiscent of microshogi and entirely different from standard shogi: • • • • •
A king cannot promote: K A tokin (T) promotes to a lance and vice versa: T ↔ L A silver general promotes to a bishop and vice versa: S ↔ B A gold general promotes to a knight and vice versa: G ↔ N A pawn promotes to a rook and vice versa: P ↔ R
Movement and capture A piece is allowed to move, capture or be dropped in a manner that will prevent it from moving on a subsequent turn, which is illegal in standard shogi. For example, a rook can move onto the farthest rank, becoming a pawn and unable to move further. Such pieces may be captured as any other.
Drops A captured piece may be dropped with either side facing up.
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Benri Shogi (in Chinese) [1] • Shogi: Japanese Chess [3]
Kyoto shogi
350
References [1] http:/ / shogi. hk/
Judkins shogi Judkins shogi (ジャドケンス将棋 Jadokensu shōgi "Judkins chess") is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess), however it is not Japanese. Credit for its invention has been given to Paul Judkins of Norwich, UK, prior to April 1998.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's king.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 6 ranks (rows) by 6 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 7 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • •
1 king 1 rook 1 bishop 1 gold general 1 silver general 1 knight
Setup
• 1 pawn Most of the English-language names are chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are one or two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game with their Japanese representation:
Judkins shogi
351
Piece
Kanji
King (reigning)
Rōmaji
王[将] ō[shō]
Unicode
Hiragana
Meaning
738b [5c06] おう[しょう]
king
King (challenging) 玉[将] gyoku[shō]
7389 [5c06] ぎょく[しょう]
jade general
Rook
飛[車] hi[sha]
98db [8eca] ひ[しゃ]
flying chariot
Promoted rook
竜[王] ryū[ō]
7adc [738b] りゅう[おう]
dragon king
Bishop
角[行] kaku[gyō]
89d2 [884c] かく[ぎょう]
angle mover
Promoted bishop
[竜]馬 uma (ryūma) [7adc] 99ac うま (りゅうま) dragon horse
Gold general
金[将] kin[shō]
91d1 [5c06] きん[しょう]
gold general
Silver general
銀[将] gin[shō]
9280 [5c06] ぎん[しょう]
silver general
Promoted silver
成銀
6210 9280
promoted silver
Knight
桂[馬] kei[ma]
Promoted knight
成桂
Pawn
歩[兵]
Promoted pawn
と[金] to[kin]
narigin
なりぎん
6842 [99ac] けい[ま]
laurelled horse
narikei
6210 6842
promoted laurel
fu[hyō]
6b69 [5175] ふ[ひょう]
foot soldier
3068 [91d1] と[きん]
reaches gold
なりけい
English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as horses and promoted rooks as dragons, after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese name tokin for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds. The characters inscribed on the backs of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive versions of 金 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These abbreviated characters have these equivalents in print: 全 for promoted silver, 今 for promoted knight, 仝 for promoted lance, and 个 for promoted pawn (tokin). Another convention has abbreviated versions of the original characters, with a reduced number of strokes: 圭 for promoted knight, 杏 for promoted lance, with promoted silver the same 全 as above, and と for tokin.
Setup 6
5
4
3
2
1
飛 角 桂 銀 金 王 一 車 行 馬 将 将 将
6
5
4
3
2
1
R
B
N
S
G
K a P b
歩 二 兵
c d
三 四 歩 兵
五
P K
e G
S
N
B
R
f
玉 金 銀 桂 角 飛 六 将 将 将 馬 行 車
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player:
Judkins shogi • • • • • •
The king is placed in the left corner file. The gold general is placed in the adjacent file to the king. The silver general is placed adjacent to the gold general. The knight is placed adjacent to the silver general. The bishop is placed adjacent to the knight. The rook is placed adjacent to the bishop in the right corner.
That is, the first rank is |K|G|S|N|B|R|. • In the second rank, each player places the pawn in the same file as the king on the far left side.
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the king, gold general, silver general and pawn. Jumping piece The knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging pieces The bishop and rook can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the two farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawn and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not including drops (see below), then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank.
352
Judkins shogi
353
Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows: • A king or gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted. • A silver general, knight or pawn, when promoted, loses its normal movement and gains the movement of a gold general. • A bishop or rook, when promoted, keeps its normal movement and gains the ability to move one square in any direction (like a king). This means the bishop is now able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves. If a pawn or knight reaches the furthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. For the same reason, a knight reaching the penultimate rank must be promoted. When captured, pieces lose their promoted status.
Individual pieces Following are diagrams that indicate the movement of each piece. Pieces are pared with their promotion and those with a grey heading start out in the game; promoted pieces have a blue heading. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／
King (reigning) Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The king general goes to the superior player.
King (challenging)
○
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The jeweled general goes to the inferior player.
○
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
Gold General Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
The gold general does not promote. ○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Silver General Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
Promoted Silver
○
○
○
銀 ○
Knight
○
Step: The promoted silver can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 全
○
Promoted Knight
○
Judkins shogi
354
Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches one of the two furthest ranks must promote.
☆
Step: The promoted knight can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
☆ 桂
Bishop Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
○
○
○
○ 圭
○
○
Dragon Horse
＼
Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.
／
＼
／
Range: The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Step: It can step one square in any of the four orthogonal directions.
＼
／
＼ ○ ／
○ 馬
角
○
／ ○ ＼ ／
＼ ／
／
Rook
Dragon King
Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
│ │ ─
─
飛
─
─
Range: The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can step one square in any of the four diagonal directions.
│
─
○ │
○
─
─
竜
│
○ │
│
│
Pawn Step: The pawn can step one square forward. A pawn that reaches the furthest rank must promote. There are restrictive rules for where a pawn may be dropped (see below).
＼
＼
─
○
Tokin
○ 歩
Step: The token can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ と
○
○
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in Judkins shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. Pieces that are dropped in the promotion zone do not promote as a result: Promotion requires that piece make a normal movement on a subsequent turn, as detailed under "Promotion", above. Pieces that are promoted when captured lose that promotion; they are unpromoted when dropped back on the board. A pawn or knight may not be dropped on the furthest rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. Similarly, a knight may not be dropped on the penultimate rank.
Judkins shogi There are two restrictions when dropping pawns: A pawn cannot be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player. (A tokin, or promoted pawn, does not count as a pawn when considering this drop restriction.) A pawn cannot be dropped directly in front of the opponent's king, if the opponent would have no way to prevent his king being captured on the next move. In other words, a pawn cannot be dropped to give immediate mate.
Check and mate When a player makes a move, such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check. For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the winner is decided as follows: each rook or bishop scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces (except kings) score 1 point each. Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring. A player scoring less than 12 points loses. If both players have at least 12 points, then the game is no contest. Games which are no contest are usually counted as draws in amateur tournaments, but in professional style tournaments the rules may require the game to be replayed with colors reversed (possibly with reduced time limits).
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Note that the pieces removed at the beginning play no further part in the game - they are not available for drops. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in chess, because material advantage is not as powerful in Judkins shogi as in chess. Common handicaps, in increasing order of size, are as follows: • Remove White's bishop • Remove White's rook • Two pieces: remove White's rook and bishop Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon.
355
Judkins shogi
356
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Minor variations are made for Judkins shogi. A typical example is P-6d. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, N = knight, S = silver, G = gold, B = bishop, R = rook, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a tokin (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 6f being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx5c= indicates a knight capturing on 5c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, if Black has two golds (one was captured and dropped) which can be moved to the square 5e in front of the king, and these are distinguished as C6e-5d (moving the left one) and C4e-5d (moving the right one). Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. P-1c 2. P-1d
P-6d P-6c
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
External links • Chessvariants.com [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ judkin. html
Whale shogi
357
Whale shogi Whale Shogi (鯨将棋 kujira shōgi) is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess). It is not, however, Japanese: it was invented by R. Wayne Schmittberger of the United States in 1981. The game is similar to Judkins shogi, but with more pieces, and all the pieces are named after a type of whale.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's white whale.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 6 ranks (rows) by 6 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 12 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • • •
1 white whale (W) 1 porpoise (P) 1 humpback (H) 1 grey whale (G) 1 narwhal (N) 1 blue whale (B) 6 dolphins (D)
Each piece has its initial written on its face. On the reverse side of the porpoise is another letter (K for 'killer whale'), often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Because this is a Western shogi variant, and kanji for the whales are difficult even for the Japanese, the pieces use Latin letters rather than kanji.
Setup 1
2
3
4
5
B
N
P
W G
H a
D
D
D
D
D b
D
6
c d D
D
D
D
D
D e
H
G W
P
N
B
f
This is the starting setup of a game of whale shogi, from the perspective of Black. Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • The white whale is placed just left of center.
Whale shogi • • • • •
358
The porpoise is placed in the adjacent file to the right of the white whale. The humpback is placed in the left corner. The grey whale is placed between the white whale and the humpback. The narwhal is placed adjacent to the porpoise. The blue whale is placed adjacent to the narwhal in the right corner.
That is, the first rank is: H G W P N B
• In the second rank, the six dolphins are placed one in each file.
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). Some pieces are capable of more than one kind of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the white whale, porpoise, humpback, narwhal, blue whale and killer whale. Jumping piece The narwhal can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either, but only directly forward. Ranging pieces The grey whale and killer whale can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. The dolphin can, too, but only on the back rank. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all.
Whale shogi
359
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／
White Whale (白鯨 hakugei)
•
○
○
○
○
W
○
○
○
○
Step: The white whale can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Porpoise (ネズミイルカ nezumi iruka)
○ P ○
•
Step: The porpoise can move one square orthogonally sideways. The porpoise promotes to a killer whale upon capture. Narwhal (イッカク ikkaku) ☆ ○
N
○
○
• •
Jump: The narwhal can jump to the second square directly forward; or, Step: It can move one square directly backward or sideways. Blue Whale (シロナガスクジラ shironagase kujira)
Whale shogi
360
○
○
○
B ○
•
Step: The blue whale can step one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities. Grey Whale (コククジラ koku kujira) | | G ／
＼
／
•
＼
Range: The grey whale can move any number of free squares directly forward or diagonally backward. Killer Whale (シャチ shachi) │ ○ │ ─
─
○
K ─
○ │
─
○
│
• •
Range: The killer whale can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction. Humpback Whale (ザトウクジラ zatō kujira) ○
○ H
○
•
○
○
Step: The humpback can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions, or directly backward. Dolphin (イルカ iruka) ○ D
Whale shogi
361
D ／
＼
／
• •
＼
Step: The dolphin can step one square forward; or, Range: It can move any number of free squares diagonally backward, but only if it is in the farthest rank.
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in whale shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. A porpoise cannot be dropped as such. When captured, the porpoise promotes to a killer whale and can only be dropped as a killer whale. There are three restrictions when dropping dolphins: • A dolphin may not be dropped on the furthest rank, even though it has a legal move on subsequent turns. • A dolphin cannot be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as two other dolphins controlled by the same player. For this reason, one may sacrifice a dolphin in order to gain flexibility for drops. • A dolphin cannot be dropped if the opponent would have no way to prevent his white whale being captured on the next move. In other words, a dolphin cannot be dropped to give immediate mate.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's white whale could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the white whale; the white whale is said to be in check. If a player's white whale is in check and no legal move by that player will get the white whale out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's white whale wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check. For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The game reaches an impasse if both white whales have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the winner is decided as follows: each grey whale scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces (except white whales) score 1 point each. Promotions are ignored for the purpose of scoring. A player scoring less than 14 points loses. If both players have at least 14 points, then the game is no contest.
Whale shogi
362
Games which are no contest are usually counted as draws in amateur tournaments, but if a professional-style tournament is to be played the rules may require the game to be replayed with colors reversed (possibly with reduced time limits).
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Note that the pieces removed at the beginning play no further part in the game—they are not available for drops. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in chess, because material advantage is not as powerful in whale shogi as in chess. Common handicaps, in increasing order of size, are as follows: • • • • •
Remove White's grey whale Remove White's humpback Remove White's porpoise Remove White's porpoise and grey whale Two pieces: remove White's porpoise and humpback
• Three pieces: remove White's porpoise, humpback and grey whale Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. This notation is modified for use in whale shogi in the letters used to name the pieces. A typical example is P-f6. The first letter represents the piece moved: D = dolphin, B = blue whale, N = narwhal, G = grey whale, H = humpback, P = porpoise, W = white whale. The promoted porpoise is simply K = killer whale. The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a lowercase letter representing the file and a number representing the rank, with a1 being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and f6 being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is the reverse of Japanese convention.) In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, if Black has two humpbacks (one was captured and dropped) which can be moved to the square h5 in front of the White whale, and these are distinguished as Hi6-h5 (moving the left one) and Gi4-h5 (moving the right one). Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. D-e4 2. D-d4 3. D-d3
D-c3 N-b3 Dxd3
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Whale shogi
363
Paulowich Whale Shogi This variant invented by David Paulowich in 2005 uses a 7x7 board and includes a new extra piece, the Pacific Northern Right Whale (A). It moves as a minor Gray Whale in that instead of sliding, it moves only one square, but also directly forwards or diagonally backwards—in other words, just like a dog in tenjiku shogi. It can be captured and dropped and all other Whale Shogi rules are the same.
Setup 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
B
N
P
W A
G
H a
D
D
D
D
D
D b
D
c d e D
D
D
D
D
D
D
H
G
A W
P
N
B g
External links • Shogi Net [2] • chessvariants.com [1] • Whale Shogi [2]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com [2] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ whale. html
f
Tori shogi
364
Tori shogi Tori shōgi (禽将棋 or 鳥将棋, 'bird chess') is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess) attributed to Ōhashi Sōei in the late 18th century. The game is played on a 7×7 board and uses the drop rule; it's the only Japanese variant to do so. This is one of the more popular shogi variants.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's phoenix.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 7 ranks (rows) by 7 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 16 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • •
1 phoenix 1 falcon 2 cranes 2 pheasants 2 quails (a left and a right) 8 swallows
In line with the bird theme, each piece is named after a different kind of bird. Each piece has its name in the form of a kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces is another character, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black) and are usually cursive; this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. (The quail are different: on one side is the character for "quail", while on the other is the character for left or right; some people will play with the "left"/"right" side up instead of the "quail" side up.) The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game in English and Japanese: Piece
Kanji
Romaji
Abbreviation
Phoenix
鵬
ootori, hō
Ph
Falcon
鷹
taka, ō
Fa
*Mountain Hawk Eagle 鵰
kumataka, shū +Fa
Crane
鶴
tsuru, kaku
Cr
Pheasant
雉
kiji, chi
Pt
Quail (right and left)
鶉
uzura, jun
Q (RQ & LQ)
Swallow
燕
tsubame, en
Sw
*Wild goose
鴈
kari, gan
+Sw
Tori shogi
365
The first pronunciation of each piece is the Japanese pronunciation, while the second is the Sino-Japanese pronunciation. The promoted pieces (*) are usually called eagle and goose in English.
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of the pieces. Black pieces are in bold face in the first diagram, and bigger in the second, and move first: RQ Pt
Cr
Ph
Cr
Pt
LQ
Fa Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw
Sw
Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Sw Fa LQ Pt Cr Ph Cr Pt RQ
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
鶉
雉
鶴
鵬
鶴
雉
鶉
鷹 燕
燕
燕 燕
燕
一 二
燕
燕
燕
燕 燕 燕 燕 燕 燕 燕 燕 鷹 鶉 雉 鶴 鵬 鶴 雉 鶉
三 四 五 六 七
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are:
Tori shogi
366
Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the phoenix, falcon, crane, and the 8 swallows on each side. Limited ranging piece The eagle can move along a limited number (2) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, it moves like ranging pieces (see below). Jumping pieces The pheasant and goose can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging pieces The quail and eagle can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the two farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's falcon and beyond. If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not including drops (see below), then that player must promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board (see above). Only two pieces promote, as follows: • A falcon promotes to an eagle. • A swallow promotes to a goose. When captured, pieces lose their promoted status.
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square or has a limited range
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
＼ ／
Tori shogi
367
Phoenix Step: The phoenix can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
The phoenix is the "royal" or "objective" piece. ○
○
○
○ 鵬
○
○
○
○
Falcon Step: The falcon can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal except directly backwards.
Eagle
○
○
○
○ 鷹
○
○
○
Range: The eagle can move any number of free squares diagonally forward or directly backward; or, Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally backward; or,
＼
／
＼ ○ ／
Step: It can step one square directly forward or sideways.
○ 鵰
○
○
○
○
Crane Step: The crane can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or, It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. That is, it can move to any of the six adjacent squares ahead or behind it, but not directly to the side.
│
│
○
Pheasant
○
○
Jump: The pheasant can jump to the second square directly forward; or, Step: It can move one square diagonally backward.
○
鶴 ○
○
Because of its unusual movement, a pheasant can only reach half the squares on the board.
○
Left Quail
☆ 雉 ○
○
Right Quail
Range: The left quail can move any number of free squares directly forward or diagonally backward to the right; or, Step: It can move one square diagonally backward to the left.
Range: The right quail can move any number of free squares directly forward or diagonally backward to the left; or, Step: It can move one square diagonally backward to the right.
│
│
│ │ 鶉 ○
／
鶉 ／ ○
＼
＼
Swallow
Goose
Step: The swallow can step one square forward. ○ 燕
Jump: The goose can jump to the second square directly backward or diagonally forward.
☆
☆ 鴈 ☆
Tori shogi
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in tori shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. Pieces that are dropped in the promotion zone do not promote as a result: Promotion requires that piece make a normal movement on a subsequent turn, as detailed under "Promotion", above. Pieces that are promoted when captured lose that promotion; they are unpromoted when dropped back on the board. There are three restrictions when dropping swallows: A swallow may not be dropped on the furthest rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. A swallow cannot be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as two other unpromoted swallows controlled by the same player. (A goose, or promoted swallow, does not count as a swallow when considering this drop restriction.) A swallow cannot be dropped where the opponent would have no way to prevent his phoenix being captured on the next move. In other words, a swallow cannot be dropped to give immediate mate.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's phoenix could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the phoenix; the phoenix is said to be in check. If a player's phoenix is in check and no legal move by that player will get the phoenix out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check. This is not a rule in itself, but arises from the repetition rule.
Repetition The rule for repetition (千日手 sennichite) in tori shogi is that if the same position occurs three times with the same player to play by repetition of moves, the player starting the sequence must vary the move. For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board.[1]
Game end A player who captures the opponent's phoenix wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Another possible (but fairly uncommon) way for a game to end is impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). The rules for impasse and tournaments are of modern origin and may be ignored for traditional game play. The game reaches an impasse if both phoenixes have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the winner is decided as follows: each falcon scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces (except phoenixes) score 1 point each. Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring. A player scoring less than 17 points loses. If both players have at least 17 points, then the game is no contest. Games which are no contest are usually counted as draws in amateur tournaments, but in professional style tournaments the rules may require the game to be replayed with colors reversed (possibly with reduced time limits).
368
Tori shogi
369
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Note that the pieces removed at the beginning play no further part in the game—they are not available for drops. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in chess, because material advantage is not as powerful in tori shogi as in chess. Common handicaps, in increasing order of size, are as follows: • • • •
Remove White's left quail Remove White's falcon Two pieces: remove White's falcon and left quail Three pieces: remove White's falcon and both quails
Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for tori shogi. A typical example is Sw-6d. The first letter represents the piece moved: Sw = swallow, Q = quail, Pt = pheasant, Cr = crane, Fa = falcon, Ph = phoenix. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter, as +Sw for a goose (promoted swallow). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 7g being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move requires the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken. For example, SWx4a+ indicates a swallow capturing on 4a and promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, if Black has a crane at both 3c and 5c, which can be moved to the square 4b in front of the phoenix, then these are distinguished as Cr5c-4b (moving the left one) and Cr3c-4b (moving the right one). Optionally, a prefix may be added to the quail to distinguish the left quail from the right quail, LQ and RQ, when the left quail appears to the right of the right quail. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. Swx3c 2. Fax5e 3. Cr-5f
Swx5e Fax3c Q-1b
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Tori shogi
370
References [1] Rules for Tori Shogi (http:/ / www. shogi. net/ rjhare/ tori-shogi/ tori-intro. html#rules) by Roger Hare
External links • Shogi Net (http://www.shogi.net/shogi.html) • Shogi.net/tori shogi (http://www.shogi.net/rjhare/tori-shogi/tori-intro.html) • Online play on Little Golem (http://www.littlegolem.net)
Yari shogi Yari shogi (槍将棋 yari shōgi, spear chess, where 'spear' is another name for the lance piece) is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess), however it is not Japanese. It was invented in 1981 by Christian Freeling of the Netherlands. This game accentuates shogi’s intrinsically forward range of direction by giving most of the pieces the ability to move any number of free squares orthogonally forward like a shogi lance. The opposite is true of promoted pieces which can move backward with the same power.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's general.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 7 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by markings or color. Each player has a set of 14 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • •
1 general 2 yari rooks 2 yari bishops 2 yari knights 7 pawns
Most of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names.
Setup
Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are one or two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.
Yari shogi
371
Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game with their Japanese representation: Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Hiragana
Meaning
General
将
shō
しょう
general
Yari rook
香飛[車]
kyō hi[sha]
きょうひ[しゃ]
incense flying chariot
Rook
飛[車]
hi[sha]
ひ[しゃ]
flying chariot
kyō kaku[gyō]
きょうかく[ぎょう]
incense angle mover
Yari bishop 香角[行] Yari gold
成香角[行] narikyō kaku[gyō] なりきょうかく[ぎょう] promoted incense angle mover
Yari knight 香桂[馬]
kyō kei[ma]
きょうけい[ま]
incense laurelled horse
Yari gold
成香桂
narikyō kei
なりきょうけい
promoted incense laurel
Pawn
歩[兵]
fu[hyō]
ふ[ひょう]
foot soldier
Yari silver
香銀[将]
kyō gin[shō]
きょうきん[しょう]
incense silver general
Setup 7
6
5
4
飛 桂 桂 将 車 馬 馬
3
2
1
7
角 角 飛 一 行 行 車 二
歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵
歩 兵
6
5
4
3
2
1
YR YN YN G YB YB YR a b P
P
P
P
P
P
P
歩 歩 歩 三 兵 兵 兵
d e
四
f
五 六 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 七 兵 兵 兵
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
YR YB YB G YN YN YR i
桂 桂 飛 九 馬 馬 車
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • •
g h
八 飛 角 角 将 車 行 行
c
The general is placed in the center file. The two yari bishops are placed in the adjacent two files to left of the general. The two yari knights are placed in the two adjacent files to the right of the general. The two yari rooks are placed in the far corners.
That is, the first rank is: YR YB YB G YN YN YR
• In the third rank, the seven pawns are placed one in each file.
Yari shogi
Gameplay The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception, in that it is not required to move in a straight line. If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must promote. This applies to the pawn, yari knight, yari bishop and yari rook upon reaching the farthest rank, and to the yari knight upon reaching either of the two farthest ranks. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers The king and pawn move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) Jumping piece The yari knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the yari rook, yari bishop and yari knight.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawns and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not including drops (see below), then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows: • A general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted.
372
Yari shogi
373
• A yari bishop or yari knight loses its normal movement and gains the ability to move one square orthogonally forward or sideways, diagonally forward and any number of free squares orthogonally backward. • A pawn, when promoted, keeps its normal movement and gains the ability to move one square diagonally forward or any number of free squares backward. • A yari rook, when promoted, keeps its normal movement and gains the ability to move any number of free squares backward. If a yari bishop, yari knight or pawn reaches the farthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. When captured, pieces lose their promoted status.
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces are paired with their promotion. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Notation ○ Steps to an adjacent square ☆ Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece │
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─
General Step: The general can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
The general is the "royal" or "objective" piece. ○
○
○
○ 将
○
○
○
○
Yari Knight Jump: The yari knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece; or, Range: It can move any number of free squares straight forward.
Yari Gold
☆ │
☆
│ 桂
Range: The yari gold can move any number of free squares directly backward. Step: It can step one square directly forward or sideways; or, one square diagonally forward.
A yari knight that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○
○
○ 成桂 ○ │ │
Yari Rook Range: The yari rook can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or sideways.
○
Rook
│
Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
│
│ │ ─ ─ 成飛 ─ ─
─ ─ 飛 ─ ─
│ │
Yari Bishop
Yari Gold
Yari shogi
374
Range: The yari bishop can move any number of free squares directly forward; or, Step: It can move one square diagonally forward.
│ ○ │
A yari bishop that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○
角
Range: The yari gold can move any number of free squares directly backward. Step: It can step one square directly forward or sideways; or, one square diagonally forward.
○
○
○
○ 成角 ○ │ │
Pawn Step: The pawn can step one square forward. A pawn that reaches the farthest rank must promote. There are restrictive rules for where a pawn may be dropped (see below).
Yari Silver
○ 歩
Range: The yari silver can move any number of free squares directly backward; or, Step: It can move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally.
○
○
○
銀 │ │
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in yari shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. Pieces that are dropped in the promotion zone do not promote as a result: Promotion requires that piece make a normal movement on a subsequent turn, as detailed under "Promotion", above. Pieces that are promoted when captured lose that promotion; they are unpromoted when dropped back on the board. A pawn, yari knight, or yari bishop may not be dropped on the farthest rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. A pawn cannot be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player. (A yari silver, or promoted pawn, does not count as a pawn when considering this drop restriction.) A player who has an unpromoted pawn on every file is therefore unable to drop a pawn anywhere. For this reason, it is common to sacrifice a pawn in order to gain flexibility for drops. Unlike shogi, a pawn can be dropped when the opponent would have no way to prevent his general being captured on the next move. In other words, a pawn can be dropped to give immediate mate.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's general could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the general; the general is said to be in check. If a player's general is in check and no legal move by that player will get the general out of check, the checking move is also a mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's general wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.)
Yari shogi There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs three times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The game reaches an impasse if both generals have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the winner is decided as follows: each yari rook or yari bishop scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces (except generals) score 1 point each. Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring. A player scoring less than 26 points loses. If both players have at least 26 points, then the game is no contest. Games which are no contest are counted as draws in tournament style games.
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Note that the pieces removed at the beginning play no further part in the game - they are not available for drops. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in chess, because material advantage is not as powerful in yari shogi as in chess. Common handicaps, in increasing order of size, are as follows: • • • • •
Remove White's left yari bishop Remove White's left yari rook Two pieces: remove White's left yari rook and left yari bishop Four pieces: remove White's yari rooks and yari bishops Six pieces: remove White's yari rooks, yari bishops and yari knights
Other handicaps are also occasionally used. The relationship between handicaps and differences in rank is not universally agreed upon.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. It has been modified for use in yari shogi. A typical example is P-7f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, YN = yari knight, YB = yari bishop, YR = yari rook, G = general. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a yari silver (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 7i being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, YNx7c= indicates a yari knight capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, in the initial position Black has
375
Yari shogi
376
two yari bishops which can be moved to the square 5h, and these are distinguished as YB6i-5h (moving the left one) and YB5i-5h (moving the right one). Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. P-7f 2. P-2f
P-3d YB-3b
In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Strategy and tactics Drops are the most serious departure from Western chess. They entail a different strategy, with a strong defensive position being much more important. A quick offense will leave a player's home territory open to drop attacks as soon as pieces are exchanged. Because pawns attack head on, and cannot defend each other, they tend to be lost early in the game, providing ammunition for such attacks. Dropping a pawn behind enemy lines, promoting, and dropping a second pawn behind it so they protect each other is a strong attack; it threatens the opponent's entire defense, but provides little of value if the attack fails and the pieces are captured. Players raised on Western chess often make poor use of drops, and dropping is half the game. If a player has more than a couple captured pieces in hand, it is likely that dropping attacks are being overlooked. However, it is wise to keep a pawn in hand, and often to exchange pieces if necessary to get one. Attacking pieces can easily become trapped behind enemy lines, as the opponent can often drop a pawn in a protected square to cut off a line of retreat. For this reason, yari rooks are commonly kept at a safe distance in the early parts of the game, and are used to support attacks by weaker pieces. There are various ranging yari rook openings, where the yari rook moves to the center or left of the board to support an attack. However, as the most powerful piece on the board it invites attack, and it is a good idea to keep your general well away from your yari rook. Advancing a yari rook pawn can open up the side of the board for attack. Therefore, when a player first advances a yari rook pawn, it is usual for the opponent to answer by advancing the opposing pawn, in order to avoid complications later in the game.
External links • Chessvariants.com / yari shogi [1] • MindSports / yari shogi [2]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ ms. dir/ yarishogi. html [2] http:/ / mindsports. nl/ index. php/ side-dishes/ more-games-by-cf?start=5
Heian shogi
Heian shogi Heian shōgi (平安将棋 "Heian era chess") is a predecessor of modern shogi (Japanese chess). Some form of chess almost certainly reached Japan by the 9th century, if not earlier, but the earliest surviving Japanese description of the rules dates from the early 12th century (c. 1120, during the Heian period). Unfortunately, this description does not give enough information to actually play the game, but this has not stopped people attempting to reconstruct this early form of shogi.
Rules of the game Piece movements were as in modern shogi, but there was no rook or bishop. The board appears to have been 9×8 or 8×8. The setup is unknown, but can reasonably be assumed to have been the same as in modern shogi (minus the rook and bishop, and minus a gold general in the 8×8 case), although it's possible that the pawns started on the second rank rather than the third. It can safely be assumed that the game was played without drops. This article outlines a fairly complete set of rules that can make the game playable in modern times.
Objective The objective of the game is to either capture your opponent's king or all the other pieces.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 8 or 9 ranks (rows) by 8 or 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 16 or 18 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • •
1 king 1 or 2 gold generals 2 silver generals 2 knights 2 lances 8 or 9 pawns
Most of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game with their Japanese representation.
377
Heian shogi
378
Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Unicode
Abbreviation
Meaning
King
玉将
gyokushō 7389 5c06 玉
jade general
Gold general
金将
kinshō
91d1 5c06 金
gold general
Silver general 銀将
ginshō
9280 5c06 銀
silver general
Knight
桂馬
keima
6842 99ac 桂
laureled horse
Lance
香車
kyōsha
9999 8eca 香
incense chariot
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
6b69 5175 歩
foot soldier
Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds, parallel to their abbreviations in Japanese. The characters inscribed on the backs of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink. All pieces except the king and gold general promote to gold.
Setup Below is the board setup for a 9x9 board. Smaller boards, of size 9x8, 8x9, or 8x8, can be obtained from this size board by removing the e-row (五-row), the sixth column, or both.
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香 一 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車 二
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
S
G
K
G
S
N
L a b
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 三 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
d e
四
f
五 六 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 七 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
c
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
g h
L
N
S
G
K
G
S
N
L
i
八 香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香 九 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The king is placed in the center file or left of center. The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king or one to its right. The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general or gold general and king. The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general. The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.
That is, the first rank is |L|N|S|G|K|G|S|N|L| or |L|N|S|K|G|S|N|L|. • In the third rank, the eight or nine pawns are placed one in each file.
Heian shogi
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece or displacing (capturing) an opposing piece.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. If a lance or pawn, which cannot retreat or move aside, advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must be promoted upon reaching the farthest rank. This also applies to the knight upon reaching either of the two farthest ranks. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the king, gold general, silver general and pawn. Jumping piece The knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging piece The lance can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. ○ - Steps to a square. ☆ - Leaps to a square (jumping over any intervening piece). │ - Ranging movement (may cross any number of empty squares).
379
Heian shogi
380
King Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
Gold General
○ ○ ○
○ 金 ○
○ ○ ○
○
Knight
○ ○ ○ 銀
○
Lance Range: The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. A lance that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○ ○ ○
○ 玉 ○
Silver General Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches one of the two farthest ranks must promote.
☆
☆ 桂
○
Pawn
│ │
Step: The pawn can step one square forward. A pawn that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○ 歩
香
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawns and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows: • A king or a gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted. • A silver general, knight, lance or pawn, when promoted, loses its normal movement and gains the movement of a gold general. If a pawn, knight or lance reaches the farthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns. For the same reason, a knight reaching the penultimate rank must be promoted.
Heian shogi
381
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king or all of the other pieces (bare king) wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, L = lance, N = knight, S = silver, G = gold, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a tokin (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 8h or 9h being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. For example, in the initial position Black may have two golds which can be moved to the square 5g in front of the king, and these are distinguished as G6h-5g (moving the left one) and G4h-5g (moving the right one). Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. P-7e 2. P-2e
P-3d G-3b
Heian shogi
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Chessvariants.com/heian shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ heian. html
Sho shogi Shō Shōgi (小将棋 'small chess') is a 16th century form of shogi (Japanese chess), and the immediate predecessor of the modern game. It was played on a 9x9 board with the same setup as in modern shogi, except that an extra piece stood in front of the king: A 'drunk elephant' that promoted into what was effectively a second king. (While 9x9 may not seem 'small', it was smaller than the other shogi variants prevalent at the time.) The drunk elephant was eliminated by the Emperor Go-Nara (reigned 1526-1557), and it is assumed that the drop rule was introduced at about the same time, giving rise to shogi as we know it today.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's king and crown prince (if present) or all other pieces.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 21 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • • • • •
1 king 1 drunken elephant 1 rook 1 bishop 2 gold generals 2 silver generals 2 knights 2 lances 9 pawns
Most of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.
382
Sho shogi
383
Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game with their Japanese representation: Piece King (reigning)
Kanji 王将
Rōmaji ōshō
Abr. 王
Meaning royal general
King (challenging) 玉将
gyokushō 玉
jade general
Drunken Elephant
酔象
suizō
酔
drunken elephant
Crown prince
太子
taishi
太
crown prince
Rook
飛車
hisha
飛
flying chariot
Promoted rook
竜王
ryūō
竜
dragon king
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
角
angle mover
Promoted bishop
竜馬
ryūma
馬
dragon horse
Gold general
金将
kinshō
金
gold general
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
銀
silver general
Promoted silver
成銀
narigin
全
promoted silver
Knight
桂馬
keima
桂
laureled horse
Promoted knight
成桂
narikei
圭
promoted laurel
Lance
香車
kyōsha
香
incense chariot
Promoted lance
成香
narikyō
杏
promoted incense
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
歩
foot soldier
Promoted pawn
と金
tokin
と
reaches gold
English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops as horses and promoted rooks as dragons, after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese name tokin for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds. The characters inscribed on the backs of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink, and are usually cursive. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive versions of 金 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These abbreviated characters have these equivalents in print: 全 for promoted silver, 今 for promoted knight, 仝 for promoted lance, and 个 for promoted pawn (tokin). Another convention has abbreviated versions of the original characters, with a reduced number of strokes: 圭 for promoted knight, 杏 for promoted lance, with promoted silver the same 全 as above, and と for tokin.
Sho shogi
384
Setup 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
香 桂 銀 金 王 金 銀 桂 香 一 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車 飛 車
酔 象
角 行
二
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
S
G
K
G
S
N
L a
B
b
R P
P
DE P
P
P
P
P
P
P
d
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 三 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
e f
四 五
P
角 行
酔 象
飛 車
P
P
P
B
六 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 七 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
c
L
N
P
P
P
DE S
G
K
P
P
R G
S
N
g h
L
i
八
香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香 九 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The king is placed in the center file. The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king. The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general. The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general. The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.
That is, the first rank is |L|N|S|G|K|G|S|N|L|. • In the second rank, each player places: • The bishop in the same file as the knight on the player's left. • The rook in the same file as the knight on the player's right. • The drunken elephant in the same file as the king. • In the third rank, the nine pawns are placed one in each file.
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece or displacing (capturing) an opposing piece. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player).
Sho shogi Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. If a lance or pawn, pieces that cannot retreat or move aside, advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must promote. Some pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the king, drunken elephant, gold general, silver general and the 9 pawns on each side. Jumping piece The knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging piece The bishop and rook can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawns and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows: • A king or a gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted. • A silver general, knight, lance or pawn, when promoted, loses its normal movement and gains the movement of a gold general. • A drunken elephant, bishop or rook, when promoted, keeps its normal movement and gains the ability to move one square in any direction (like a king). This means the bishop is now able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves. If a pawn, knight or lance reaches the farthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns.
385
Sho shogi
386
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces are paired with their promotion. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. ○ - Steps to a square. ☆ - Leaps to a square (jumping over any intervening piece). │─＼／ - Ranging movement (may cross any number of empty squares). King Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The challenger moves first.
The king does not promote.
○
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
Drunken Elephant Step: The drunken elephant can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward.
Crown Prince
○
○
○
○
酔
○
○
Step: The crown prince can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The crown prince effectively doubles as a second king, and must also be captured to win if present.
○
Rook
○
○
○
○ 太
○
○
○
○
Dragon
Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
Range: The dragon can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction.
│ │ ─ ─ 飛 ─ ─ │
│
─
○
│
○
─
龍
─
○
│
○
│
│
Bishop Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
Horse
＼
Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.
／ ＼
／ 角
／
＼
／
Range: The horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Step: It can move one square in any orthogonal direction.
＼
／ ＼
○ ／
○ 馬
＼
／
Gold General The gold general does not promote.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
○
○ ＼
／
Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or,one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
─
＼
Sho shogi
387 Silver General
Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
Promoted Silver General
○
○
○
銀 ○
○
Knight Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
☆
☆ 桂
○
○
○ 全
○
○
Step: The promoted knight can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 圭
○
○
Promoted Lance
│ │ 香
Pawn Step: The pawn can step one square forward. A pawn that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○
Promoted Knight
Lance Range: The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. A lance that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
Step: The promoted silver general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or,one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
Step: The promoted Lance can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 杏
○
○
Tokin
○ 歩
Step: The tokin can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ と
○
○
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king or crown prince could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king or crown prince; the king or crown prince is said to be in check. If a player's king or crown prince (sole one in play) is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king or crown prince out of check, the checking move is also mate, and can effectively win the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king and crown prince (if present) or all other pieces (bare king or bare crown prince) wins the game (unless the bared player immediately follows this baring by baring his own opponent, in which case it's a draw). In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.)
Sho shogi
388
The game reaches an impasse if either kings or crown princes have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, L = lance, N = knight, S = silver, G = gold, B = bishop, R = rook, DE = drunken elephant, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a tokin (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move and x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 9i being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. For example, the start of a game might look like this: 1. 2. 3. 4.
P-7f P-2f P-2e Sx8h
P-3d G-3b Bx8h+ S-2b
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Chessvariants.com/Sho shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ shoshogi. html
Cannon shogi
389
Cannon shogi Cannon shogi is a modern variant of shogi (Japanese chess). It was invented by Peter Michaelsen in February 1998.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's king.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 20 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • • • • • • • •
1 King 1 Rook 1 Bishop 1 Gold cannon 1 Silver cannon 1 Copper cannon 1 Iron cannon 2 Gold generals 2 Silver generals 2 Knights 2 Lances 5 Pawns
Cannon shogi setup
Most of the English names correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are two or three other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. The game is often played with "Westernized" (or "international") pieces, which replace the kanji with more intuitive symbols, such as pictorial icons. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to.
Cannon shogi
390
Piece White king (king)
Kanji 王将
Rōmaji ōshō
Promotes to —
Black king (jade general) 玉将
gyokushō —
Rook (flying chariot)
飛車
hisha
竜王 ryūō, dragon king
Bishop (angle mover)
角行
kakugyō
竜馬 ryūma, Dragon horse
Gold cannon
金砲
kinhō
成金砲 narikinhō, Flying gold cannon
Silver cannon
銀砲
ginhō
成銀砲 nariginhō, Flying silver cannon
Copper cannon
銅砲
dōhō
成銅砲 naridōhō, Flying copper cannon
Iron cannon
鉄砲
tetsuhō
成鉄砲 naritetsuhō, Flying iron cannon
Gold general
金将
kinshō
—
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
成銀 narigin, Promoted silver
Knight (laurelled horse)
桂馬
keima
成桂 narikei, Promoted laurel
Lance (incense chariot)
香車
kyōsha
成香 narikyō, Promoted incense
Pawn (foot soldier)
歩兵
fuhyō
と金 tokin, Equivalent to gold
English speakers sometimes refer to promoted bishops in shogi and its variants as horses and promoted rooks as dragons, after their Japanese names, and generally use the Japanese name tokin for promoted pawns. Silver generals and gold generals are commonly referred to simply as silvers and golds. The characters on the backs of the pieces that promote to gold generals are cursive versions of 金 'gold', becoming more cursive (more abbreviated) as the value of the original piece decreases. These abbreviated characters have these equivalents in print: 全 for promoted silver, 今 for promoted knight, 仝 for promoted lance, and 个 for promoted pawn (tokin). Another convention has abbreviated versions of the original characters, with a reduced number of strokes: 圭 for promoted knight, 杏 for promoted lance, with promoted silver the same 全 as above, and と for tokin.
Setup
Cannon shogi
391
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
香 桂 銀 銀 王 銀 銀 桂 香 一 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車 飛 銅 鉄 車 砲 砲 歩 兵
歩 兵
金 銀 角 砲 砲 行 歩 兵
歩 兵
二
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
S
G
K
G
S
N
L a
GC SC B
b
R CC IC P
P
P
P
P
d
歩 三 兵
e f
四 五
P
歩 兵 角 銀 金 行 砲 砲
歩 兵
歩 兵 鉄 銅 飛 砲 砲 車
歩 七 兵
P
P
B SC GC
六 歩 兵
c
L
N
S
G
P
P
IC CC R K
G
S
N
g h
L
i
八
香 桂 銀 銀 玉 銀 銀 桂 香 九 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing towards the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The king is placed in the center file. The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king. The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general. The two knights are placed adjacent to each silver general. The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.
That is, the first rank is |L|N|S|G|K|G|S|N|L|. • In the second rank, each player places: • The gold cannon in the same file as the gold general on the player’s left. • The silver cannon in the same file as the silver general on the player’s left. • The iron cannon in the same file as the gold general on the player’s right. • The copper cannon in the same file as the silver general on the player’s right. • The bishop in the same file as the knight on the player's left. • The rook in the same file as the knight on the player's right. • In the third rank, the five pawns are placed in the same files as the lances, silver generals and king.
Cannon shogi
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'Black' and 'White' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece in the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. Pawn The pawn moves and captures a single square forwards or sideways, like the soldier of Korean chess (janggi). It promotes (optionally) to a tokin (gold general) when making a move that begins or ends in the last 3 ranks of the board. Lance The lance has the same move as in shogi. It may move any number of empty squares forwards (i.e.: in the same file), capturing the first opposing piece it encounters. The lance promotes (optionally) to a gold general when ending a move in the second or third last ranks of the board. If ending its move in the final rank it must promote. Knight The knight has the same move as its equivalent in shogi. It may move one square forward followed by one square diagonally forward to a square that is either empty or occupied by an opposing piece, jumping over any intervening piece of either side in the first square. If landing on a square occupied by an opposing piece that piece is captured. The knight promotes (optionally) to a gold general when ending a move in the third last rank of the board. If ending its move on either of the final two ranks it must promote. Silver General The silver general is the same as in shogi. It moves and captures a single square forwards or diagonally in any direction. It promotes (optionally) to a gold general when making a move that begins or ends in the last 3 ranks of the board. Gold General The gold general is the same as in shogi. It moves and captures a single square diagonally forwards or orthogonally in any direction. It does not promote. Bishop The bishop is identical to that in shogi. It may move any number of empty squares in any diagonal direction, capturing the first opposing piece it encounters. The bishop may optionally promote to a dragon horse when beginning or ending a move in one of the final 3 ranks on the board. As a dragon horse it may either move as a bishop or move one square orthogonally.
392
Cannon shogi Rook The rook is the same as in shogi. It may move any number of empty squares in any orthogonal direction, capturing the first opposing piece it encounters. The rook may optionally promote to a dragon king when beginning or ending a move in one of the final 3 ranks on the board. As a dragon king it may move either as a rook or one square diagonally. Gold Cannon The gold cannon moves as a rook, by sliding any number of empty squares along a row or column, but can capture an enemy only if there is another piece (of either side) in between. Thus to capture the gold cannon leaps over the intervening piece and lands on the enemy piece, like a cannonball. This is the same move and capture as the cannon (Pao) of Chinese chess (xiangqi). The gold cannon may promote (optionally) if it begins or ends its move in one of the last 3 ranks of the board. On promotion it becomes a flying gold cannon. As a flying gold cannon it may move orthogonally over whole rows and is able to leap one piece while moving. Additionally, it can move one square diagonally, or move or capture two squares diagonally, by leaping an adjacent piece. Silver Cannon The silver cannon captures in the same way as the gold cannon, but can only move by leaping over an intervening piece, called a screen. This is the move and capture of the cannon of Korean chess (janggi). The silver cannon may promote (optionally) if it begins or ends its move in one of the last 3 ranks of the board. On promotion it becomes a flying silver cannon. As a flying silver cannon it has the same powers as the flying gold cannon. It may therefore move orthogonally over whole rows and is able to leap one piece while moving. It can also move one square diagonally, or move or capture two squares diagonally, by leaping an adjacent piece. Copper Cannon The copper cannon moves as a bishop, by sliding any number of empty squares in a diagonal direction, but can capture an enemy only if there is another piece (of either side) in between. Thus to capture the copper cannon leaps over the intervening piece and lands on the enemy piece, like a cannonball. This is the same move and capture as the gold cannon, but in a diagonal rather than orthogonal direction. The copper cannon may promote (optionally) to a flying copper cannon if it begins or ends its move in one of the last 3 ranks of the board. As a flying copper cannon it gains the power to move diagonally over whole rows to leap one piece while moving. Additionally, it can move one square orthogonally, or move or capture two squares orthogonally, by leaping an adjacent piece. Iron Cannon The iron cannon captures in the same way as the copper cannon, but can only move by leaping over an intervening piece, called a screen. The iron cannon may promote (optionally) to a flying iron cannon if it begins or ends its move in one of the last 3 ranks of the board. As a flying iron cannon it has the same powers as the flying copper cannon. It may therefore move diagonally over whole rows and is able to leap one piece while moving. It can also move one square orthogonally, or move or capture two squares orthogonally, by leaping an adjacent piece. King The king has the same move as in shogi. It may move one square in any direction.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawns and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moving into, out of, or wholly within the zone, but not including drops (see below), then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the
393
Cannon shogi
394
name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is captured and removed from the board. If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must be promoted. This applies to the lance, upon reaching the farthest rank, and to the knight upon reaching either of the two farthest ranks. When captured, pieces lose their promoted status.
Movement diagrams Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces are paired with their promotion. Pieces with a gray heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square
♦
Jumps over an adjacent square, bypassing an intervening piece
☆
Jumps to a distant square, bypassing an intervening piece
●
Must jump an intervening piece in order to capture
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／ │
Must jump an intervening piece in order to move or capture
─ ＼ ／
King (reigning) The king can move one square in any direction.
King (challenging)
○
○
○
○ 王 ○
○
The king can move one square in any direction. The player with the black king makes the first move unless White accepts a handicap.
○
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
Rook
○
Dragon
The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
The dragon can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. It can move one square in any diagonal direction.
│ │ ─
Bishop
○
─
飛
─
─
│
─
○ │
○
─
─
竜
│
○ │
│
│
Horse
○
─
Cannon shogi
395
The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
＼
Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.
／
＼
The horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. It can also move one square in any orthogonal direction.
＼
／
＼ ○ ／
／
○ 馬
角
○
／ ○ ＼ ／
＼ ／
／
Gold Cannon
Flying Gold Cannon
The gold cannon can move any number of squares along any of the four orthogonal directions but must jump at least one piece to capture.
● │ ●
─
炮
─
●
The flying gold cannon can move any number of squares along any of the four orthogonal directions but must jump at least one piece to capture. It may also jump one piece while moving on any row and may move one or two squares diagonally, jumping the adjacent square to reach the second.
♦
☆
│ ●
Silver Cannon
☆
The flying silver cannon has the same powers of movement as the flying gold cannon.
│
○
│
○
─
炮
─
○
│
○
☆
♦
☆
♦
♦
☆
♦
│ ─
─
砲
─
─
☆
│ │
Copper Cannon
○
│
○
─
砲
─
○
│
○
☆
♦
☆
♦
☆
♦
☆
Flying Copper Cannon
●
● ＼
／
銅
The flying copper cannon can move any number of squares along the four diagonal directions but must jump at least one piece to capture. It may also jump one piece while moving on any row and may move one or two squares orthogonally, jumping the adjacent square to reach the second.
＼
○
／
○ ♦ ＼
＼ ☆
●
○
♦ ○ 銅 ／
／
Iron Cannon
♦
Flying Silver Cannon
The silver cannon can move any number of squares along any of the four orthogonal directions but must jump at least one piece to move or capture.
The copper cannon can move any number of squares along the four diagonal directions but must jump at least one piece to capture.
＼
＼
●
Flying Iron Cannon
♦
☆
Cannon shogi
396
The iron cannon can move any number of squares along the four diagonal directions but must jump at least one piece to move or capture.
＼
／
The flying iron cannon has the same powers of movement as the flying copper cannon.
☆
♦ ＼
＼
○
♦ ○ 鉄
／
／ ＼
／
☆
○
♦
＼
Gold General The gold general does not promote. ○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Silver General The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
Promoted Silver General
○
○
○
○
○
○ 全
○
○
Promoted Knight
♦
♦
The promoted knight can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
桂
○
○
○
○ 圭
○
○
Lance The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. A lance that reaches the farthest rank must promote.
○
○
Knight The knight jumps one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches one of the two farthest ranks must promote.
The promoted silver general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
銀 ○
Promoted Lance The promoted lance can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
│ │
○
○
○
○ 杏
○
香
○
Pawn The pawn can step one square forward or sideways, giving it three possibilities.
Tokin The tokin can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○ ○ 歩
／
／
鉄
The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
☆
○
○
○
○
○ と
○
○
○ ♦ ＼
☆
Cannon shogi
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in cannon shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece on the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. Pieces that are dropped in the promotion zone do not promote as a result: Promotion requires that piece make a normal movement on a subsequent turn, as detailed under "Promotion", above. A knight, or lance may not be dropped on the farthest rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. Similarly, a knight may not be dropped on the penultimate rank. Unlike in shogi, there are no restrictions when dropping pawns: a pawn can be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as another unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player. Also a pawn can be dropped to check the opponent's king, if the opponent would have no way to prevent his king being captured on the next move. In other words, a pawn can be dropped to give immediate mate.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the winner is decided as follows: each rook, bishop and cannon scores 5 points for the owning player, and all other pieces (except kings) score 1 point each. Promotions are ignored for the purposes of scoring. A player scoring less than 38 points loses. If both players have at least 38 points, then the game is no contest. Games which are no contest are usually counted as draws in amateur tournaments, but in professional style tournaments the rules typically require the game to be replayed with colors reversed (possibly with reduced time limits).
397
Cannon shogi
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Note that the pieces removed at the beginning play no further part in the game - they are not available for drops. The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in chess, because material advantage is not as powerful in shogi as in chess.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, L = lance, N = knight, S = silver, G = gold, GC = gold cannon, SC = silver cannon, IC = iron cannon, CC = copper cannon, B = bishop, R = rook, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a tokin (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 9i being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Nature of the Game With the introduction of the cannons of Chinese and Korean chess, as well as their diagonal counterparts, the inventor wanted to add a new dimension to the classical game of shogi. With a pawn array similar to the one used in Chinese and Korean chess, the opening game tends to be much more tactical and explosive than in ordinary shogi. Not only because of their high number, the cannons dominate play more than in xiangqi and janggi. Because of the drops, they are more mobile and dangerous in all phases of the game. They may be weakened a little on board, as more and more pieces are captured and kept in hand, but may still be very useful when dropped on the board again, or when other pieces are dropped in front of them. The Pawns move and capture sideways as well as forwards, because the inventor thought that they needed some compensation, being only 2x5 against 2x15 officers.
398
Cannon shogi
399
External links • Shogi: Cannon Shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shogivariants. dir/ cannonshogi. html
Hasami shogi Hasami shogi (はさみ将棋 hasami shōgi, sandwiching chess) is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess).
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture five or eight (as agreed upon before the game) of your opponent’s pieces.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 9 wedge-shaped pieces or pawns (foot soldiers). Each pawn has its name in the form of two Japanese characters marked on its face (歩兵). On the reverse side of each pawn is the abbreviated character for tokin (と), often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black). Black plays with pawns and White plays with tokins.
Setup 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
と と と と と と と と と 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 九 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
Each side places his or her pieces in the nearest rank, one piece per file.
Hasami shogi
400
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a piece onto an empty square of the board.
Movement and capture Each piece moves as a rook in chess, that is, any number of empty squares along a straight line in any orthogonal direction, limited only by the edge of the board. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. If one of the opponent’s pieces lie between a pair of the player’s pieces (horizontally or vertically), then the opponent’s piece is captured and removed from the board. Multiple pieces may be captured if all of the squares between the attacking player's pieces are occupied by the opponent's pieces. This is called a custodian capture. If a piece is moved between two of the opponent's pieces, it is not captured.
Dai hasami shogi Dai hasami shogi is a variant of hasami shogi. It is the same as hasami shogi except that each player starts the game with 18 pieces occupying the two nearest ranks. Because most shogi sets only have 18 pawns total, this game is usually played with black and white Go stones.
This is how the setup will appear. A portion of a Go board is used in this illustration.
A similar game is Mak-yek played in Siam (and Malaysia under the name Apit-sodok) with the same goal, on an 8x8 board, but the 16 stones of each player are placed on the first and third row. The moves are the same, but the capture is custodian and also by intervention. Intervention capture is the opposite of custodian. If a stone moves between two enemy stones, it captures both stones. There is a hexagonal variant for Hasami Shogi, called Take invented in 1984 by Mike Woods. Curiously, there is an old Roman game, called Latrunculi seemly very similar to Hasami Shogi, but the exact rules are not known.
Hasami shogi
External links • • • •
Shogi Net [2] Shogi: Japanese Chess [3] chessvariants.com / hasami shogi [1] Dai hasami shogi [2]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ hasami. html [2] http:/ / www. di. fc. ul. pt/ ~jpn/ gv/ hasami. htm
Hand shogi Hand shogi (手将棋 te shōgi, hand chess) is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess), however it is not Japanese. It was invented in early 1997 by John William Brown of Lewisville, AR, USA. The name “hand” comes from the fact that each player starts the game with most of their pieces in hand and that each round of a match plays like the hand of a card game.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to win two consecutive hands. The objective of each hand is to capture your opponent's king.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 9 ranks (rows) by 9 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 19 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • • • • • • •
1 king 1 tycoon 1 shogun 2 gold generals 2 silver generals 1 pard 1 onager 1 hasty 2 knights 2 lances 5 soldiers
Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of each knight two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. The game is often played with "Westernized" (or "international") pieces, which replace the kanji with more intuitive
401
Hand shogi
402
symbols, such as pictorial icons.
Setup 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
G
K
G
a
SO
PD
SO
b
SO SO SO
c d e f
SO SO SO
g
SO
PD
SO
h
G
K
G
i
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • The king is placed in the center file. • The two gold generals are placed two files from the king. That is, the first rank is | | |G| |K| |G| | |. • In the second rank, each player places: • The pard in the same file as the king. • A soldier in the same files as the golden generals. • In the third rank, the three remaining soldiers are placed in the three center files. • All remaining pieces are held in hand.
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece, displacing (capturing) an opposing piece or dropping a captured piece onto an empty square of the board. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. If a lance, which cannot retreat or move aside, advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must remain there until captured. The movement categories are:
Hand shogi
403
Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the king, gold general, silver general and the 5 soldiers on each side. Limited ranging pieces The tycoon and shogun can move along a limited number (3) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces (see below). Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the knight, onager and hasty. Ranging piece The lance can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's soldiers and beyond (that is, the opponent's territory at setup). If a knight crosses the board and into the promotion zone then that player must promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a knight has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. The knight, when promoted, loses its normal movement and gains the movement of a gold general. When captured, knights lose their promoted status.
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Notation ○ Steps to an adjacent square or has limited range ☆ Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece │
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
Hand shogi
404
King Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
Pard Jump: The pard jumps to the second square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
○ ○ ○ ○ K ○
☆ Pd ☆
○ ○ ○
☆ ☆ ☆
Gold General Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
Silver General Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
○ ○ ○ ○ G ○ ○
Knight Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches one of the two furthest ranks must promote.
○ ○ ○ S ○
○
Promoted Knight
☆
Step: The promoted knight can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
☆ N
Lance Range: The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. A lance that reaches the furthest rank is stuck there until captured.
☆ ☆ ☆
○
○
○
○ +N ○ ○
Tycoon Limited range: The tycoon can move one to three squares along one of the four diagonal directions.
│ │
○
○ ○
L
○ ○
○ T
○ ○ ○
Shogun Limited range: The shogun can move one to three squares along one of the four orthogonal directions.
○
Jump: The onager can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions.
☆ ☆ O ☆
○ ☆
○ ○ ○ Sh ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Hasty
Soldier
○ ○
Onager
○
○
Hand shogi
Jump: The hasty can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions.
405
☆
☆ H
☆
Step: The soldier can step one square forward or sideways.
○ ○ So ○
☆
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in hand shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. Add to this the fact that each player starts the game with ten pieces in hand. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured or has in hand and place it on any empty square, facing the opponent. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. A drop cannot capture a piece; that requires an additional move. A knight cannot be dropped into the promotion zone. A lance may not be dropped on the furthest rank, since it would have no legal move on subsequent turns. A soldier cannot be dropped into the same file (vertical column) as another soldier controlled by the same player. A player who has an soldier on every file is therefore unable to drop a soldier anywhere. A hasty or onager must be dropped so that it gives check (see below).
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the hand. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king wins the hand. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a hand to end: repetition and impasse. If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the hand is a draw. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The hand reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material. If this happens then the hand is a draw.
Hand shogi
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. A typical example is S-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: SO = soldier, L = lance, N = knight, S = silver, G = gold, PD = pard, O = onager, H = hasty, T = tycoon, SH = shogun, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +N for a promoted knight. The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move, x for a capture, or * for a drop. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 9i being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move forces the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken. For example, Nx7c+ indicates a knight capturing on 7c and promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
External links • Chessvariants.com/hand shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ shogivariants. dir/ handshogi. html
406
Annan shogi
407
Annan shogi Annan shogi (Japanese: 安南将棋 annan shōgi) also called Korean shogi, is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess). Annan shogi is a popular shogi variant in Japan.
Gameplay The game is played as standard shogi, except that, when a piece has a friendly piece on the square directly behind it, it has the movement of that piece instead of its own. A variant rule is that a piece may move like any friendly piece that protects it. The setup is somewhat different from standard shogi. The game should not be confused with Korean chess, a variant of chess that is played in Korea, but which resembles xiangqi (Chinese chess) rather than shogi.
Setup 9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
香 桂 銀 金 王 金 銀 桂 香 一 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車 飛 車 歩 兵
角 行 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
歩 兵
二
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
S
G
K
G
S
N
L a
B
b
R P
歩 兵
歩 兵
四
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 角 行
歩 七 兵 飛 車
八
香 桂 銀 金 玉 金 銀 桂 香 九 車 馬 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
External links • The rules of Annan Shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / piccoro. ezdns. jp/ rule/ index. html
P
P
P P
P P
六
P
c d e
五 歩 兵
P
P
歩 三 兵 歩 兵
P
P P
P
P
P
P
B L
N
f P
R S
G
K
G
S
N
g h
L
i
Unashogi
Unashogi Unashogi is a variant of shogi (Japanese chess), invented in late 1994 by Edward Jackman and based on Unachess by Jeff Miller.
Rules Same as standard Shogi except: 1. The board is initially empty and each player has the normal complement of 20 pieces in reserve. 2. During a turn, a player must do one of three things: • place a piece from the reserve on an empty square on the board • move a previously placed piece to an empty square • move a piece to a square occupied by an opposing piece, capturing it. 3. A player may not make a capture until her/his own king is on the board. Your pieces have no real power of check on the opposing king until your own king is placed. Your opponent can legally place his or her king right next to your promoted Rook if your king is still in hand. There is no additional rule governing when you must enter your king. If a piece is checking the opposing king, but the friendly king has not been placed, that is called quasi-check. A player is under no compulsion to move out of quasi-check.
Variations • Pieces do not promote unless their king has been placed. This is strongly recommended. • Pieces do not promote unless the enemy king has been placed.
Sources • Unashogi on www.chessvariants.org [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ diffsetup. dir/ unachess. html#unashogi
408
Wa shogi
Wa shogi Wa shogi (和将棋, wa shōgi, peaceful chess) is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess) in which all of the pieces are named for animals. It is played either with or without drops.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's crane king.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 11 ranks (rows) by 11 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 27 wedge-shaped pieces, of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • 1 crane king • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1 cloud eagle 1 flying falcon 1 swallow’s wings 1 treacherous fox 1 running rabbit 1 violent wolf 1 violent stag 1 flying goose 1 flying cock 1 strutting crow 1 swooping owl 1 blind dog 1 climbing monkey 1 liberated horse 1 oxcart 11 sparrow pawns
Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji marked on its face. On the reverse side of each piece (other than crane kings, cloud eagles and treacherous foxes) are two other characters, often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.
Setup
409
Wa shogi
410
11
10
9
8
7
風 馬
登 猿
鴟 鶏 猛 靏 猛 鳫 烏 盲 牛 一 行 飛 鹿 玉 狼 飛 行 犬 車
雲 鷲 萑 歩
萑 歩
6
5
4
3
燕 羽
2
1
飛 鷹
二
萑 走 萑 萑 萑 隠 萑 萑 萑 三 歩 兎 歩 歩 歩 狐 歩 歩 歩 萑 歩
萑 歩
四
五 六 七 萑 歩 萑 歩
萑 歩
萑 歩
萑 隠 萑 萑 萑 走 萑 萑 萑 九 歩 狐 歩 歩 歩 兎 歩 歩 歩
飛 鷹 牛 車
11
10
盲 犬
9
燕 羽
8
7 VS
CE SP
雲 鷲
十
烏 鳫 猛 靏 猛 鶏 鴟 登 風 行 飛 狼 玉 鹿 飛 行 猿 馬
LH CM SO FC
SP
八
6
5
4
3
SP
1
CK VW FG SC BD OC a SW
SP RR
2
十 一
SP
SP
SP
TF SP
FF
b
SP
SP c
SP
d e f g
SP SP
SP FF
SP TF
SP SP
SP
SP
SW
OC BD SC FG VW CK
RR SP
h SP
SP
CE VS
i j
FC SO CM LH k
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • •
The crane king is placed in the center file. The violent wolf is placed in the adjacent file to the left of the crane king. The violent stag is placed in the file to the right of the crane king. The flying goose is placed in the file to the left of the violent wolf. The flying cock is placed in the file to the right of the violent stag.
• The strutting crow is placed in the file to the left of the flying goose. • The swooping owl is placed in the file to the right of the flying cock. • The blind dog is placed in the file to the left of the strutting crow.
Wa shogi • The climbing monkey is placed in the file to the right of the swooping owl. • The oxcart is placed in the corner file to the left of the blind dog. • The liberated horse is placed in the corner file to the right of the climbing monkey. That is, the first rank is |OC|BD|SC|FG|VW|CK|VS|FC|SO|CM|LH|. • In the second rank, each player places: • The swallow’s wings in the same file as the crane king. • The flying falcon in the same file as the blind dog. • The cloud eagle in the same file as the climbing monkey. • In the third rank, each player places: • The treacherous fox in the same file as the flying goose. • The running rabbit in the same file as the flying cock. • Nine sparrow pawns are placed in the remaining files. • In the fourth rank, each player places: • A sparrow pawn in the same file as the treacherous fox. • A sparrow pawn in the same file as the running rabbit.
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece or displacing (capturing) an opposing piece. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). If an oxcart or sparrow pawn, which cannot retreat or move aside, advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must promote. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the crane king, violent wolf, violent stag, blind dog, climbing monkey, flying goose, flying cock, strutting crow, swooping owl and the 9 sparrow pawns on each side. Limited ranging piece The liberated horse and cloud eagle can move along a limited number (2 or 3) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in a certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces (see below).
411
Wa shogi
412
Jumping piece The treacherous fox can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the cloud eagle, flying falcon, running rabbit, swallow’s wings, liberated horse and oxcart.
Promotion A player's promotion zone consists of the three farthest ranks, at the original line of the opponent's treacherous fox, running rabbit and beyond. If a piece crosses the board within the promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone then that player may choose to promote the piece at the end of the turn. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves.
Individual pieces Below are diagrams indicating each piece's movement. Pieces are paired with their promotion. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board after promotion. Pieces with an asterisk ("*") only appear as promoted pieces. Notation ○
Steps a limited number of squares
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／
Crane King 靏玉 kakugyoku
Cloud Eagle 雲鷲 unjū
Wa shogi
413
Step: The crane king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
○
○
○
○ 靏
○
○
○
○
Ranging: The cloud eagle can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Limited range: It can move one, two or three squares diagonally forward.
○
│
○
Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward.
○
│
○
│
○
○
○ 鷲 ○
○
│
○
│
Treacherous Fox 隠狐 inko, onko Step: The treacherous fox can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or, it can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. Jump: It can jump to the second square in those directions.
The treacherous fox does not promote. ☆
☆ ○
○
☆ ○
狐 ○ ☆
○
○
☆
☆
Flying Falcon 飛鷹 hiyō Range: The flying falcon can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Step: It can step one square forward.
*Tenacious Falcon 鶏鷹 keiyō
＼
／
＼ ○ ／
Range: The tenacious falcon can move any number of free squares in the two forward diagonal directions; or, it can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways.
＼
＼
／
Range: The running rabbit can move any number of free squares straight forward. Step: It can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight backward.
／
＼
Running Rabbit 走兎 sōto
○ │
│
／
│
○
Step: The treacherous fox can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or, it can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. Jump: It can jump to the second square in those directions.
☆
☆ ○
兎
＼
＼
○
○
☆ ○
狐 ○
○ ☆
Violent Wolf 猛狼 mōrō
／
Treacherous fox 隠狐 inko, onko │
○
│
／
○ 鶏 ○ 鷹
鷹
／
│
＼
*Bear's Eyes 熊眼 yūgan
○ ☆
○ ☆
Wa shogi
414
Step: The violent wolf can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 狼
○
Step: The bear’s eyes can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
○
Violent Stag 猛鹿 mōroku Step: The violent stag can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
○
○
○ 熊
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○ 猪
○
○
○
*Roaming Boar 行猪 gyōcho
○
○
○
Step: The roaming boar can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward.
鹿 ○
○
Blind Dog 盲犬 mōken Step: The blind dog can step one square orthogonally sideways, directly backward, or diagonally forward.
○
Violent Wolf 猛狼 mōrō
○
○
○ 犬
○
Step: The violent wolf can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 狼
○
○
○
Climbing Monkey 登猿 tōen Step: The climbing monkey can step one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities.
○
○
Violent Stag 猛鹿 mōroku
○
Step: The violent stag can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
猿
○
○
鹿
○
○
Flying Goose 鳫飛 ganhi Step: The flying goose can step one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities.
○
○
Swallow's Wings 燕羽 en’u
○ ○ ○
Range: The swallow's wings can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
○ ─
鳫
─ 燕
○ ○
Flying Cock 鶏飛 keihi Step: The flying cock can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward.
*Raiding Falcon 延鷹 en’yō
○
○
○ 鶏
○
Range: The raiding falcon can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward, backward or diagonally forward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways.
│ ○ │
○
○ 延
○
│ │
Swallow's Wings 燕羽 en’u
*Gliding Swallow 燕行 engyō
─
─
Wa shogi
415
Range: The swallow's wings can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
Range: The gliding swallow can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
○ ─
─
燕
─
│ │
─ ─
─ 行
─
─
○ │ │
Strutting Crow 烏行 ukō
Flying Falcon 飛鷹 hiyō
Step: The strutting crow can step one square directly forward or diagonally backward, giving it three possibilities.
Range: The flying falcon can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Step: It can step one square forward.
○
＼
烏 ○
／
＼ ○ ／ ○ 鷹 ／
＼
／
Swooping Owl 鴟行 shigyō Step: The swooping owl can step one square directly forward or diagonally backward, giving it three possibilities.
Cloud Eagle 雲鷲 unjū
○ 鴟 ○
＼
○
Ranging: The cloud eagle can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Limited range: It can move one, two or three squares diagonally forward.
○
Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward.
│
○
○
│
○
│
○
○
○ 鷲 ○ ○
│
○
│
Liberated Horse 風馬 fūma Range: The liberated horse can move any number of free squares along the forward orthogonal. Limited range: It can step one or two squares directly backward.
│ │ 風 ○
*Heavenly Horse 天馬 temma Jump: The heavenly horse jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward; or, one square backward plus one square diagonally backward in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece.
○
Oxcart 牛車 gissha
*Plodding Ox 歬牛 sengyū
☆
☆ 天
☆
☆
Wa shogi
416
Range: The oxcart can move any number of free squares straight forward. An oxcart that reaches the furthest rank must promote.
│
Step: The plodding ox can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
│ 車
Sparrow Pawn 萑歩 jakufu Step: The sparrow pawn can step one square forward. A sparrow pawn that reaches the furthest rank must promote.
○
○
○
○
○ 牛
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○ 金
○
*Golden Bird 金鳥 kinchō Step: The golden bird can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
歩
○
Drops Main article: Shogi, Drops Descriptions of wa shogi from historical texts make no mention that drops were ever used; however, many people in modern times enjoy playing this game with drops. The rules pertaining to drops are usually based on modern shogi.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's crane king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the crane king; the crane king is said to be in check. If a player's crane king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the crane king out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's crane king wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) For two positions to be considered the same, the pieces in hand must be the same, as well as the position on the board. The game reaches an impasse if both crane kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Wa shogi
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for wa shogi. A typical example is SP-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: SP = sparrow pawn, OC = oxcart, LH = liberated horse, CM = climbing monkey, BD = blind dog, SO = swooping owl, SC = strutting crow, FC = flying cock, FG = flying goose, VS = violent stag, VW = violent wolf, RR = running rabbit, TF = treacherous fox, SW = swallow’s wings, FF = flying falcon, CE = cloud eagle and , CK = crane king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter e.g., +SP for a golden bird (promoted sparrow pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 11k being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, FFx7c= indicates a flying falcon capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. This can only apply to golden birds. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
Modern rules In modern rules, Wa Shogi is played with drops. All other rules as the same as original rules.
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Shogi.net / Wa shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. shogi. net/ rjhare/ wa-shogi/ wa-intro. html
417
Chu shogi
Chu shogi Chū shōgi (中将棋 'mid (sized) chess') is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to modern shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and game play. Its name means "mid-sized shogi", from a time when there were three sizes of shogi variants in regular use. Chu shogi seems to have been developed in the early 14th century as a derivative of dai shogi ("large shogi"). There are earlier references, but it is not clear that they refer to the game as we now know it. With fewer pieces than dai shogi, the game was considered more exciting. It was still commonly played in Japan in the early 20th century, especially in Kyoto, but now has largely died out. It has, however, gained some adherents in the West. The main reference work in English is the Middle Shogi Manual by George Hodges.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's king and, if present, the crown prince, which counts as a second king. Alternatively, if the player has only the king or crown prince, together with an unpromoted gold general, it suffices to capture all the other pieces, leaving a bare king or a bare crown prince, whereupon the player wins and the game ends early. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after capture.
Game play Two players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms "Black" and "White" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A move consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus capturing that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if all or part of its move lies in the promotion zone.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 12 ranks (rows) and 12 files (columns). The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color, unlike a Western chess board. Each player has a set of 46 pieces of 21 different types, and each piece has its name written on it in Japanese kanji. The writing is typically in black. On the reverse side of most pieces there are characters to indicate the piece's promoted rank, typically written in red. The pieces are wedge-shaped and their orientation indicates which player they belong to, as they point toward the opposing side. The pieces are of slightly different sizes; from largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are:
418
Chu shogi
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
419
1 King 1 Free king 1 Lion 2 Dragon kings 2 Dragon horses 2 Rooks 2 Bishops 1 Kirin 1 Phoenix 1 Drunk elephant 2 Blind tigers 2 Ferocious leopards 2 Gold generals 2 Silver generals 2 Copper generals 2 Vertical movers 2 Side movers 2 Reverse Chariots 2 Lances 2 Go-betweens 12 Pawns
Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, the pieces they promote to. Initial setup with the full name in kanji on each piece. Names are rough translations that have become somewhat standardized in English. Pieces are listed alphabetically by their English name. The promotions apply only to pieces which start out with the ranks in the left-most column, that is, pieces with these ranks written in black; promoted pieces with those same ranks written in red may not promote further. Pieces which only appear upon promotion, that is, names which only occur written in red, are marked with an asterisk. The king, free king, and lion do not promote.
Pieces Piece name
Kanji
Romaji
Abbrev.
Promotion
bishop
角行
kakugyō
角
dragon horse
blind tiger
盲虎
mōko
虎
flying stag
copper general
銅将
dōshō
銅
side mover
*crown prince
太子
taishi
太
(promoted drunk elephant)
dragon horse
龍馬
ryūma1
馬
horned falcon
dragon king
龍王
ryūō
龍
soaring eagle
drunk elephant
酔象
suizō
象
crown prince
ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
豹
bishop
*flying ox
飛牛
higyū
牛
(promoted vertical mover)
*flying stag
飛鹿
hiroku
鹿
(promoted blind tiger)
*free boar
奔猪
honcho
猪
(promoted side mover)
Chu shogi
420 free king
奔王
honnō1
奔
go-between
仲人
chūnin
仲
drunk elephant
gold general
金将
kinshō
金
rook
*horned falcon
角鷹
kakuō
鷹
(promoted dragon horse)
king (challenging) 玉将
gyokushō 玉
king (reigning)
王将
ōshō
王
kirin
麒麟
kirin
麒
lion
lance
香車
kyōsha
香
white horse
lion
獅子
shishi
獅
pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
歩
tokin (gold general2)
phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
鳳
free king
reverse chariot
反車
hensha1
反
whale
rook
飛車
hisha
飛
dragon king
side mover
横行
ōgyō
横
free boar
silver general
銀将
ginshō
銀
vertical mover
*soaring eagle
飛鷲
hijū
鷲
(promoted dragon king)
*tokin2
と金
tokin
と
(promoted pawn)
vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
竪
flying ox
*whale
鯨鯢
keigei
鯨
(promoted reverse chariot)
*white horse
白駒
hakku1
駒
(promoted lance)
1
The names of 龍馬, 奔王, 反車, and 白駒 are irregular. The regular forms ryūme, hon’ō, hansha, and hakuku are also seen. 2
In many accounts of chu shogi, a pawn is described as promoting to gold; the special name tokin for a promoted pawn is in these descriptions restricted to standard shogi. Note that this is simply a naming convention and makes no difference in the movement of the piece. Below is a diagram showing the setup of the players’ pieces. The board setup is symmetrical: the way one player sees their own pieces is the same way that the opposing player sees their pieces.
Setup 12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
FL
C
S
G
DE
K
G
S
C
FL
L
RC
B
SM VM
R
p
p
p
BT Ph
Kr BT
B
a
RC b
DH DK FK Ln DK DH R VM SM c p
p
p
p
p
GB
p
p
p
p
GB
d e f g
GB p
p
p
p
GB p
p
p
p
p
h p
p
p
i
Chu shogi
421 SM VM
R
RC
B
L
FL
DH DK Ln FK DK DH R VM SM j
C
S
BT Kr
Ph BT
G
DE
K
G
B S
C
RC k FL
L
l
Setup legend Abbreviation
Name
Abbreviation
Name
Abbreviation
Name
B
bishop
FL
ferocious leopard
p
pawn
BT
blind tiger
G
gold general
Ph
phoenix
C
copper general
GB
go-between
R
rook
DE
drunk elephant
K
king
RC
reverse chariot
DH
dragon horse
Kr
kirin
S
silver general
DK
dragon king
L
lance
SM
side mover
FK
free king
Ln
lion
VM
vertical mover
Promotion The promotion zone is the 'enemy camp', the farthest four ranks of the board, which are mostly occupied by the opposing player's pieces when the board is first set up. When a promotable piece makes a move within the promotion zone—including entering, leaving, or moving entirely within the zone,—it has the option of "promoting" to a more powerful rank. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion is not mandatory if the unpromoted piece could move further on a later turn, and in some cases it may be beneficial to leave the piece unpromoted. Promotion is permanent and promoted pieces may not revert to their original rank. If a piece is not promoted upon entering the promotion zone, then it may not promote on the next turn unless it makes a capture, with the exception of pawns: If a pawn does not promote once entering the promotion zone, then it may not promote until it reaches the farthest rank. Many promoting pieces promote to a piece that exists in the initial setup of the board. However, such a promoted piece cannot then promote a second time as its namesake does. For example, a drunk elephant promotes to a crown prince. However, while a go-between can promote to a drunk elephant, it does not further promote to a crown prince later. Rather, it remains a drunk elephant for the rest of the game. This should be obvious from the game pieces, which only have two sides. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. See below. If a pawn or lance reaches the furthest rank, it must promote, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns.
Chu shogi
Piece movement An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece, that is, by another piece controlled by the moving player. Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The lion is the sole exception, in that it is not required to move in a straight line. As stated earlier, this game is based on dai shogi and all of the pieces of this game can be found in dai shogi. The eight types of pieces that were removed all promoted to gold generals, which made for comparatively dull game play. If a pawn or lance, which cannot retreat or move aside, advances across the board until it reaches the other side, it must promote. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured. The step movers are the king, drunk elephant, blind tigers, ferocious leopards, the generals, go-betweens, and the 12 pawns of each side. Only the king and crown prince can potentially move in all eight directions. Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the lion, the kirin, the phoenix, the horned falcon and the soaring eagle. Only the lion can jump in all directions. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight orthogonal or diagonal line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the free king, dragon king, dragon horse, rook, bishop, vertical mover, side mover, reverse chariot, lance, and all those pieces which do not appear in the initial setup. Only the free king can range along all eight directions. Lion move (multiple capture) The lion has a double-capture ability, called a 'lion move', as to a lesser extent do the soaring eagle and horned falcon (promoted dragon king and dragon horse). The details of these powerful moves are described for the lion below. Individual pieces Following are diagrams that indicate the movement of each piece. Pieces are listed roughly in order, from front to back rows, with pieces making similar moves paired. Pieces with a grey heading start out in the game; those with a blue heading only appear on the board as a promoted piece.
422
Chu shogi
423
Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／ !
igui (capture without moving)
Go-Between 仲人 chūnin (promotes to drunk elephant) ○ 仲 ○
• Step The go-between steps one square directly forward or backward. Side Mover 横行 ōgyō (promotes to free boar) ○ ─ ─
横 ─ ─ ○
• Range The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Step It can step one square directly forward or backward. Bishop 角行 kakugyō (promotes to dragon horse) ＼
／ ＼
／ 角
／ ／
＼ ＼
• Range The bishop can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonals. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. Dragon Horse 龍馬 ryūma (promotes to horned falcon)
Chu shogi
424
＼
／ ＼
○ ／
○ 馬 ／
○
○ ＼
／
＼
• Range The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonals; or, • Step It can take one step in any direction. Lance 香車 kyōsha (promotes to white horse) │ │ 香
• Range The lance can move any number of free squares directly forward. It cannot return and must promote upon reaching the farthest row. Blind Tiger 盲虎 mōko (promotes to flying stag) ○
○
○ 虎
○
○
○
○
• Step The blind tiger can take one step in any direction except directly forward. Copper General 銅将 dōshō (promotes to side mover) ○
○
○
銅 ○
• Step The copper general can take one step to any of the three squares ahead of it, or else directly backward, giving it four possibilities. Gold General 金将 kinshō (promotes to rook) Promoted Pawn と金 tokin
Chu shogi
425
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
• Step The gold general can take one step orthogonally, one else step diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities. The promoted pawn has a different symbol in some game sets, but moves identically. Kirin 麒麟 kirin (promotes to lion) ☆ ○ ☆
○ ☆
麒 ○
○ ☆
• Jump The kirin can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Or, • Step It can take one step diagonally. Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted kirin can only reach half the squares on the board. Free King 奔王 honnō │
＼
─
／
＼
│
／
─
奔
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
＼
• Range The free king can move any number of free squares along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. Flying Ox 飛牛 higyū (promoted vertical mover) │
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
牛 ／ ／
│ │
＼ ＼
• Range The flying ox can move any number of free squares forwards, backwards, or diagonally, but not directly to the side. Whale 鯨鯢 keigei (promoted reverse chariot)
Chu shogi
426
│ │ 鯨 ／
│
＼
│
／
＼
• Range The whale can move any number of free squares directly forwards, backwards, or along either rear diagonal. King 玉将 gyokushō, 王将 ōshō ○
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
• Step The king can take one step in any direction. Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō (promotes to tokin) ○ 歩
• Step The pawn can only step one square directly forward. It must promote upon reaching the farthest rank of the board. Vertical Mover 竪行 shugyō (promotes to flying ox) │ │ ○ 竪
○
│ │
• Range The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally, either forward or backward; or, • Step It can take one step directly sideways. Rook 飛車 hisha (promotes to dragon king)
Chu shogi
427
│ │ ─ ─ 飛 ─ ─ │ │
• Range The rook can move any number of free squares along any one of the four orthogonals. Dragon King 龍王 ryūō (promotes to soaring eagle) │
─
○
│
○
─
龍
─
○
│
○
─
│
• Range The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any one of the four orthogonals; or, • Step It can take one step in any direction. Reverse Chariot 反車 hensha (promotes to whale) │ │ 反 │ │
• Ranging The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Ferocious Leopard 猛豹 mōhyō (promotes to bishop) ○
○
○
豹 ○
○
○
• Step The ferocious leopard can take one step to any of the three squares ahead or three squares behind it, but not directly to either side. Silver General 銀将 ginshō (promotes to vertical mover)
Chu shogi
428
○
○
○
銀 ○
○
• Step The silver general can take one step diagonally, or else directly forward, giving it five possibilities. Drunk Elephant 酔象suizō (promotes to crown prince) ○
○
○
○ 象
○
○
○
• The drunk elephant can take one step in any direction except directly backward. Phoenix 鳳凰 hōō (promotes to free king) ☆
☆ ○ ○ 鳳
○
○ ☆
☆
• Jump The phoenix can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions. Or, • Step It can take one step orthogonally. Flying Stag 飛鹿 hiroku (promoted blind tiger) │ ○
│
○
○ 鹿
○
○
○
│ │
• Range The flying stag can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, • Step It can take one step in any direction. Free Boar 奔猪 honcho (promoted side mover)
Chu shogi
429
＼
／ ＼
─
─
／ 猪
／
─
─
＼
／
＼
• Range The free boar can move any number of free squares diagonally or to the side, but not directly forward or backward. White Horse 白駒 hakku (promoted lance) │
＼ ＼
／
│
／
駒 │ │
• Range The white horse can move any number of free squares directly backwards, forwards, or along either forward diagonal. Crown Prince 太子 taishi (promoted drunk elephant) ○
○
○
○ 太
○
○
○
○
• Step The crown prince can take one step in any direction, like a king. If a crown prince is in play, it must be captured along with the king. The next three pieces have special movements that involve the ability to move and even capture twice per turn. Horned Falcon 角鷹 kakuō (promoted dragon horse)
☆
＼
─
／
／
＼
!
／
─
鷹
─
／
│
＼
│
─
＼
Soaring Eagle 飛鷲 hijū (promoted dragon king)
☆
─
／
│
☆
!
│
!
─
鷲
─
／
│
＼
│
─
＼
Chu shogi
•
430
Range
•
The horned falcon can move any number of free squares along a straight line in any direction except directly forwards. •
Lion move
The soaring eagle can move any number of free squares along a straight line in any direction except the forward diagonals. •
It can step or jump up to two squares along a line directly forward, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the orthogonal.
Range
Lion move It can step or jump up to two squares along either forward diagonal, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the diagonal.
Lion 獅子 shishi
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○ 獅
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
☆ ☆ ☆
☆ ☆
!
!
!
☆
☆ ! 獅
!
☆
☆ !
!
!
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
•
☆ ☆
Area move/double capture The lion can take a step in any direction up to twice per turn. It can continue after a capture on the first step, potentially capturing two pieces per turn. It can change directions after the first step, so that it can reach the squares that a knight jumps to in Western chess.
By returning to its starting square with the second step, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". It can step to an adjacent empty square and back without capturing anything; this leaves the board unchanged, effectively passing a turn (jitto). Jitto may prove useful in endgame situations; it is traditionally indicated by tapping the lion and leaving it in place. •
Jump The lion can jump anywhere that it could step to on an empty board; that is, anywhere within a distance of two squares. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess.
•
Lion vs. lion Some game rules state that a lion cannot capture another lion unless certain criteria are met. These rules are designed to keep the lions in play:
1. A lion can always capture an adjacent lion. 2. It can always capture a non-adjacent lion (on a "☆" square) that is unprotected.(1) 3. It may only capture a non-adjacent protected lion if it first captures another piece so that it is then adjacent (double capture), and then only if the other piece is something other than a pawn or go-between. 4. Finally, if one player captures a lion with a non-lion, the opponent cannot then capture a lion on the next move with anything but another lion (as a player may have such a second lion by promoting a kirin), and this may only be done if the rules listed above are met.
Chu shogi
431
(1) Lion, note on protection: This may involve so-called "hidden protectors". The attacking lion is ignored when determining whether the defending lion is protected. That is, it doesn't matter if the attacking lion blocks the line of protection: if the attacking lion could be captured upon taking the defending lion, then the defending lion is considered to be protected.[1] For example, in the diagram below, the black lion is directly protected by the black pawn, so, since the two lions are not adjacent, red cannot capture black. Similarly, even though the black lion occupies the line of protection between the red bishop and the red lion, it could be captured by the red bishop if it were to take the red lion, so it is not allowed to do so. (This is the case even if the red bishop is tied down protecting the red king, and would not actually be used to capture the black lion.) 獅 獅 歩 角
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's only remaining royal (king or crown prince) could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check; the king or crown prince is said to be in check. If a player's king or crown prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check in chu shogi, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one royal may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check. This is not a rule in itself, but arises from the repetition rule.
Repetition A player may not make a move if the resulting position is one that has previously occurred in the game with the same player to move. Note that certain pieces have the ability to pass in certain situations (a Lion, when at least one square immediately adjacent to it is unoccupied, a Horned Falcon, when the square immediately in front of it is unoccupied, and a Soaring Eagle, when one or both of the two squares immediately diagonally in front of it are unoccupied). Such a pass move leaves the position unchanged, but it does not violate the repetition rule, as it will now be the turn of the other player to move. Of course, two consecutive passes are not possible, as the first player will see the same position as before.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining king or crown prince wins the game. A player who has only one piece left (a bare king or bare crown prince) loses automatically if his opponent has a gold in play which is neither promoted to rook, nor promoted from a pawn—that is, unless he can bare his opponent in the next move (in which case the result is a draw).[2] In practice these winning conditions are rarely fulfilled, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.)
Chu shogi
432
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strengths are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces are removed from the setup—in exchange, a few of White's pieces may be moved up to fill in the gaps and protect the weaker pieces, and White plays first.[3] [4] Lions can also be handicapped by having Black's kirin promoted for a second lion, and, for a third, swapping Black's phoenix for White's kirin and promoting the latter.[5] The imbalance created by this method of handicapping is not as strong as it is in international chess because material advantage is not as powerful in chu shogi as it is in chess. The handicaps detailed in the Middle Shogi Manual, in increasing order of size, are as follows: •
Copper General •
Two Lions
•
Three Lions
•
Silver General
•
Two Lions and a Copper General
•
Three Lions and One Piece: Three Lions and a Free King
•
Blind Tiger
•
Two Lions and a Silver General
•
Three Lions and Two Pieces: Three Lions, a Free King and a Dragon King
•
Ferocious Leopard
•
Two Lions and a Ferocious Leopard
•
Three Lions and Three Pieces: Three Lions, a Free King, a Dragon King and a Rook
•
Gold General
•
Two Lions and a Gold General
•
Three Lions and Four Pieces: Three Lions, a Free King, a Dragon King, a Rook and a Vertical Mover
•
Side Mover
•
Two Lions and a Side Mover •
•
Vertical Mover
•
Two Lions and a Vertical Mover
•
Rook
Three Lions and Five Pieces: Three Lions, a Free King, a Dragon King, a Rook, a Vertical Mover and a Side Mover
Other handicaps may be used, such as Free King, or Free King and Dragon King.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but modifications have been made for chu shogi. A typical example is p-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved (see setup above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter, for example +p for a tokin (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 12l being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, px7d= indicates a pawn capturing on 7d without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. When a 'Lion', 'Horned Falcon' or 'Soaring Eagle' captures by 'igui' (that is, without moving), the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol '!'. For example, a Lion on 8c capturing a piece on 9d would be shown as Lnx!9d. When a piece makes a double capture with 'Lion' powers both captures are shown in the order that they were made. For example, a Lion on 3g, capturing a piece on 3h and then capturing another on 2i, would be represented by
Chu shogi
433
Lnx3hx2i. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
Variations Heisei Chu Shogi setup 12
11
10
9
FL B R p
p
p
8
7
6
5
G
DE
K
G
BT
4
3
2
1
FL B
b
DH DK FK Ln DK DH R
c
p
p
BT
a
p
p
p
GB
p
p
p
p
GB
d e f g
GB p
p
p R B
FL
p
GB p
p
p
p
p
h p
p
DH DK Ln FK DK DH R BT G
BT K
DE
G
p
i j
B
k FL
l
One modern variant of Chu Shogi, called Heisei Chu Shogi (平成中将棋),[6] is played on a more open board. Forty percent of the pieces are set aside at setup and held in reserve, and once during the game a player may drop one of these on an empty square adjacent to a friendly piece. Captured pieces do not come back into play, and the rest of the game is played as in regular Chu. The set-aside pieces are the Lances, Coppers, Silvers, Side Movers, Vertical Movers, Reverse Chariots, Kyrin, and Phoenix. As with dropped pieces in standard shogi, the piece may not be dropped on a square from where it cannot move (e.g. a Lance in the far rank). If dropped into the promotion zone, the piece may promote immediately or on any subsequent move in the promotion zone.
References [1] If your attacking Lion is positioned directly between the opposing Lion, and another opposing piece, such that if your Lion were to be removed from the board, then the opposing Lion would be protected, then the opposing Lion is considered to be protected, and so may not be captured under the conditions of this rule (the "Hidden Protector"). The rules of the European Chu Shogi tournament (http:/ / www. colina. demon. co. uk/ chulib/ rules. en. html#double-capture) [2] The Bare King rule. If there are only three pieces left on the board, and one of the pieces is a Gold General (not a Tokin and not a Rook that has been promoted from a Gold General), then the player with the Gold General has won the game. The rules of the European Chu Shogi tournament (http:/ / www. colina. demon. co. uk/ chulib/ rules. en. html#AEN14) (3). [3] Chu Shogi Handicaps and Grades (http:/ / www. colina. demon. co. uk/ chuhand. html) [4] German Chu Shogi Association (http:/ / www. chushogi. de/ strategy/ chu_strategy_handicap. htm) [5] Richard's Play-by-eMail rules for ChuShogi (http:/ / www. gamerz. net/ pbmserv/ chushogi. html) [6] Heisei Chu Shogi (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ external. php?itemid=ChuShogi)
Chu shogi
External links • Chu Shogi page (http://www.shogi.net/rjhare/chu-shogi/chu-intro.html) • Chu Shogi strategy etc. (http://www.luckydog.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/games/shogi/chu.htm) • German Chu Shogi Association (GCSA) (http://www.chushogi.de) with many reports and games to replay online • Presentation of Chu Shogi (http://history.chess.free.fr/chushogi.htm) • SDIN Chu Shogi (http://sdin.jp/en/browser/board/chushogi/) - Play Chu Shogi in real time vs human players or AI • Chess Variants Game Courier (http://play.chessvariants.org/pbm/index.html) - Play Chu Shogi via web page, with email notifications when it's your move. • Richard's Play-by-eMail Server (http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/) - Play Chu Shogi via web page or email your commands to the server, with email notifications when moves have been made in the game you're playing
Heian dai shogi Heian dai shogi (Japanese: 平安大将棋 'Heian (Era) large chess') is an early large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess) as it was played in the Heian period. The same 12th century document which describes the Heian form of shogi also describes this variant. Unfortunately, this description does not give enough information to actually play the game, but this has not stopped people from attempting to reconstruct this early form of shogi. A fairly complete and playable reconstruction is outlined here.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponent's king or to capture all the other pieces, leaving a bare king. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after capture.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 13 ranks (rows) by 13 files (columns) for a total of 169 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 34 wedge-shaped pieces of 13 different types. In all, the players must remember 13 different moves. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: • • • • • • • • • •
1 king 2 flying dragons 2 gold generals 2 silver generals 1 side mover 2 copper generals 2 iron generals 2 fierce tigers 2 free chariots 1 go between
• 2 knights • 2 lances • 13 pawns
434
Heian dai shogi
435
Many of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of each piece (other than kings and gold generals) are one or two other characters, often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play.
Setup 13
12
11
10
9
8
香 車
桂 馬
鉄 将
銅 将
銀 金 玉 金 銀 銅 鉄 桂 香 一 将 将 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
奔 車
飛 龍
歩 兵
歩 兵
猛 虎 歩 兵
歩 兵
7
6
横 行
5
4
3
2
猛 虎
1
飛 奔 二 龍 車
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 三 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 注 人
四
五 六 七 八 九 注 人 歩 兵
歩 兵
奔 車
飛 龍
香 車
桂 馬
歩 兵
鉄 将
歩 兵
銅 将
十
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
十 一
猛 虎
飛 奔 龍 車
十 二
銀 金 玉 金 銀 銅 鉄 桂 香 将 将 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
十 三
横 行
猛 虎
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
I
C
S
G
K
G
S
C
I
N
L
FC
FD
P
P
FT P
P
P
SM P
P GB
FT P
P
a
FD FC b P
P
P
P
c d e f g h i
GB
j
Heian dai shogi
436 P
P
FC
FD
L
N
P
P
P
P
FT I
C
S
P
P
SM G
K
P
P
P
FT G
S
C
I
P
P
k
FD FC
l
N
m
L
Each side places his pieces in the positions shown below, pointing toward the opponent. • In the rank nearest the player: • • • • • • •
The king is placed in the center file. The two gold generals are placed in the adjacent files to the king. The two silver generals are placed adjacent to each gold general. The two copper generals are placed adjacent to each silver general. The two iron generals are placed adjacent to each copper general. The two knights are placed adjacent to each iron general. The two lances are placed in the corners, adjacent to each knight.
That is, the first rank is L N I C S G K G S C I N L
or 香 桂 鉄 銅 銀 金 玉 金 銀 銅 鉄 桂 香
• In the second rank, each player places: • The side mover in the same file as the king. • The fierce tigers in the same files as the silver generals. • The flying dragons in the same files as the knights • The free chariots in the same files as the lances. • In the third rank, the thirteen pawns are placed one in each file. • In the fourth rank, the go between is placed in the same file as the side mover.
Game play Two players alternate in making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms "Black" and "White" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A move consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus displacing (capturing) that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if all or part of its move lies in the promotion zone.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece, that is, by another piece controlled by the moving player. Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The knight is an exception in that it does not move in a straight line. If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must promote. This applies to the pawn, lance and knight upon reaching the furthest rank.
Heian dai shogi Some pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the king, generals, fierce tiger, go between and the 13 pawns on each side. Jumping piece The knight can jump, that is, it can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight orthogonal or diagonal line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the flying dragon, side mover, free chariot and lance.
Promotion The promotion zone is the 'enemy camp', the farthest three ranks of the board, which are mostly occupied by the opposing player's pieces when the board is first set up. When a promotable piece makes a move within the promotion zone—including entering, leaving, or moving entirely within the zone,—it has the option of "promoting" to a more powerful rank. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. The characters inscribed on the backs of the pieces to indicate promoted rank may be in red ink. Promotion is not mandatory if the unpromoted piece could move further on a later turn, and in some cases it may be beneficial to leave the piece unpromoted. Promotion is permanent and promoted pieces may not revert to their original rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves until it is removed from the board. Each piece promotes as follows: • A king or a gold general cannot promote, nor can pieces which are already promoted. • A flying dragon, when promoted, keeps its normal movement and gains the ability to move one square in any direction (like a king). This means the flying dragon is now able to reach any square on the board, given enough moves. • All other pieces, when promoted, lose their normal movement and gain the movement of a gold general. If a pawn, knight or lance reaches the furthest rank, it must be promoted, since it would otherwise have no legal move on subsequent turns.
437
Heian dai shogi
438
Individual pieces Following are diagrams that indicate the movement of each piece. Pieces are listed roughly in order, from nearest to furthest rows. It should be noted to players of chu shogi and dai shogi that the copper general and iron general move differently in this game from how they move in the other two games. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／
Piece Kanji Rōmaji
King 玉将 gyokushō
Text description of piece movement. Image description of piece movement.
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal.
○ ○ ○ ○ 玉 ○
○ ○ ○
Gold General 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
Silver General 銀将 ginshō
○
○
○
○ 金
○
Step: The silver general can take one step diagonally, or else directly forward, giving it five possibilities.
○ ○ ○ 銀
○ ○
Copper General 銅将 dōshō
Iron General 鉄将 tesshō
Step: The copper general can take one step in any of the four orthogonal directions.
○ ○ 銅
○
Step: The iron general can step one square in one of the three forward directions; or, one square sideways, giving it five possibilities.
○ ○ ○ ○ 鉄 ○
○
Knight 桂馬 keima Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches the furthest rank must promote. Side Mover 横行 ōgyō
○
Lance 香車 kyōsha ☆
☆ 桂
Range: The lance can move any number of free squares directly forward. It cannot return and must promote upon reaching the farthest row. Fierce Tiger 猛虎 mōko
│ │ 香
Heian dai shogi
439
Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can step one square directly forward.
Range: The fierce tiger can step one square along any of the four diagonal directions.
○ ─
─
横
─
○
─
虎
○
Flying Dragon 飛龍 hiryū Range: The flying dragon can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonals.
○
○
Free Chariot 奔車 hansha ＼
Because it cannot move orthogonally, it can only reach half the squares on the board.
／
＼
Ranging: The free chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward.
／
│ │ 車 │
龍
│ ／
／
Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō The pawn can only step one square directly forward. It must promote upon reaching the farthest rank of the board.
＼
＼
Go Between 注人 chūnin
○
Step: The go between steps one square directly forward or backward.
歩
○ 注 ○
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king or all the other pieces (bare king) wins the game unless the opponent’s bare king can bare the player’s king on the next move, in which case the game is a draw. In practice this winning condition rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) The game reaches an impasse if both kings have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Heian dai shogi
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but modifications have been made for heian dai shogi. A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved: P = pawn, L = lance, N = knight, GB = go between, FC = free chariot, FT = fierce tiger, I = iron, C = copper, SM = side mover, S = silver, G = gold, FD = flying dragon, K = king. Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter, for example +P for a promoted pawn. The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 13m being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7c= indicates a knight capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
External links • Shogi Net [2] • Chessvariants.org/heian dai shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shogivariants. dir/ heiandai. html
440
Akuro
441
Akuro Akuro (悪狼 akurō) or Evil Wolf is a piece in some variants of the Japanese board game Shogi. There are typically two akuro at the beginning of the game. They can step one square orthogonally sideways or forward, or diagonally forward. ○
○
○
○ 狼
○
The following shogi variants have akuro: • Dai shogi Akuro promotes to Gold General (金将 kinshō). • Dai dai shogi Akuro does not promote. • Maka dai dai shogi Akuro promotes to Free wolf (奔狼 honrō). • Tai shogi Akuro does not promote. • Taikyoku shogi. Akuro promotes to Venomous wolf (毒狼 dokurō)
Cultural references In the Doctor Who episode Gridlock, a poster appears in the background with the kanji 悪狼. The characters here allude to the theme of Bad Wolf, which appeared in almost all of the 2005 episodes as a hint to the events of the finale. The primary antagonist in the 2011 Nintendo DS game Okamiden is named Akuro, and his final form is a dark wolf.
Dai shogi Dai shōgi (大将棋, 'large chess') is a board game native to Japan. It is similar to standard shogi (sometimes called Japanese chess) in its rules and game play. Dai shogi is only one of several large board shogi variants. Its name means large shogi, from a time when there were three sizes of shogi games. Early versions of dai shogi can be traced back the end of the Heian period about AD 1230.
Rules of the game Other than the additional pieces, and the often weaker promotions, the rules of dai shogi are thought to have corresponded very closely to those of chu shogi.
Objective The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's king and, if present, the crown prince, which counts as a second king; or to capture all the other pieces leaving a bare king or bare crown prince. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after capture.
Game play Two players alternate, making a move with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms "Black" and "White" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A move consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus capturing that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if all or part of its move lies in the promotion zone.
Dai shogi
442
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 15 ranks (rows) and 15 files (columns) with a total of 225 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color, unlike a Western chess board. Each player has a set of 65 pieces of 29 different types. In all, a player must remember 36 different moves. Each piece has its name written on it in Japanese kanji. The writing is typically in black. On the reverse side of most pieces there are characters to indicate the piece's promoted rank, typically written in red. The pieces are wedge-shaped and their orientation indicates which player they belong to, as they point toward the opposing side. The pieces are of slightly different sizes, from largest to smallest (most to least powerful) they are: •
1 King
•
2 Violent oxen
•
2 Cat swords
•
1 Free king
•
2 Flying dragons
•
2 Vertical movers
•
1 Lion
•
1 Drunken elephant
•
2 Side movers
•
2 Dragon kings
•
2 Blind tigers
•
2 Reverse Chariots
•
2 Dragon horses •
2 Ferocious leopards •
2 Lances
•
2 Rooks
•
2 Gold generals
•
2 Knights
•
2 Bishops
•
2 Silver generals
•
2 Evil wolfs
•
1 Kirin
•
2 Copper generals
•
2 Iron generals
•
1 Phoenix
•
2 Angry boars
•
2 Stone generals
•
2 Go betweens
•
15 Pawns
Setup Below is a diagram showing the initial setup of the board. 15
14
13
12
11
10
9
香 車
桂 馬
石 将
鉄 将
銅 将
銀 将
金 王 金 銀 銅 鉄 石 桂 香 一 将 将 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
反 車
猫 刄 猛 牛
猛 豹 嗔 猪
8
7
6
盲 酔 盲 虎 象 虎 悪 狼
鳳 獅 麒 悪 凰 子 麟 狼
5
4
猛 豹
3
2
猫 刄 嗔 猪
1
反 二 車 猛 牛
三
飛 車
飛 龍
横 行
竪 行
角 行
龍 馬
龍 奔 龍 龍 角 竪 横 飛 飛 四 王 王 王 馬 行 行 行 龍 車
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 五 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
仲 人
仲 人
六
七 八 九 仲 人
仲 人
十
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵 兵
十 一
飛 車
飛 龍
横 行
竪 行
角 行
龍 馬
龍 奔 龍 龍 角 竪 横 飛 飛 王 王 王 馬 行 行 行 龍 車
十 二
Dai shogi
443 猛 牛 反 車 香 車
嗔 猪 猫 刄
桂 馬
石 将
悪 狼
麒 獅 鳳 悪 麟 子 凰 狼
猛 豹 鉄 将
銅 将
盲 酔 盲 虎 象 虎 銀 将
嗔 猪
猛 牛
猛 豹
猫 刄
十 三 反 車
十 四
金 玉 金 銀 銅 鉄 石 桂 香 将 将 将 将 将 将 将 馬 車
十 五
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
St
I
C
S
G
K
G
S
C
I
St
N
L
RC
CS VO
R p
FL AB
FD SM VM p
p
p
BT DE BT EW Ph
B p
Ln
FL
Kr EW
DH DK FK DK DH p
p
p
p
p
GB
CS AB
B p
RC b VO
VM SM FD p
p
a
p
c R
d
p
e
GB
f g h i
GB p R
p
p
FD SM VM VO
RC L
p
B
AB CS
N
p
St
GB p
EW Kr
C
p
p
p
DH DK FK DK DH
FL I
p
Ln
G
K
B
Ph EW
BT DE BT S
p
G
j p
AB
C
p
VM SM FD
FL S
p
k
R
l
VO CS
I
p
St
m RC n
N
L
o
Legend AB: angry boar
B: bishop
BT: blind tiger
C: copper general
CS: cat sword
DE: drunken elephant
DH: dragon horse
DK: dragon king
EW: evil wolf
FD: flying dragon
FK: free king
FL: ferocious leopard
GB: go-between
G: gold general
I: iron general
K: king
Kr: kirin
L: lance
Ln: lion
N: knight
p: pawn
Ph: phoenix
R: rook
RC: reverse chariot
S: silver general
SM: side mover
St: stone general
VM: vertical mover
VO: violent ox
Dai shogi
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece, that is, by another piece controlled by the moving player. Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The lion and knight are exceptions in that they do not move, or are not required to move, in a straight line. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured. The step movers are the king, drunken elephant, blind tiger, ferocious leopard, generals, angry boar, cat sword, evil wolf, go between and the 15 pawns on each side. Limited ranging pieces The violent ox and flying dragon can move along a limited number (2) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces. See below. Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the lion, kirin, phoenix and knight. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight orthogonal or diagonal line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the free king, dragon king, dragon horse, rook, bishop, vertical mover, side mover, reverse chariot and lance. Only the free king can range along all eight directions. Lion moves (multiple captures) The lion has sequential multiple-capture ability, called a 'lion move', as do the soaring eagle and horned falcon (promoted dragon king and dragon horse) to a lesser extent. The details of these powerful moves are described for the lion below.
Promotion The promotion zone is the 'enemy camp', the farthest five ranks of the board, which are mostly occupied by the opposing player's pieces when the board is first set up. When a promotable piece makes a move within the promotion zone—including entering, leaving, or moving entirely within the zone—it has the option of "promoting" to a more powerful rank. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion is not mandatory if the unpromoted piece could move further on a later turn, and in some cases it may be beneficial to leave the piece unpromoted. Promotion is permanent and promoted pieces may not revert to
444
Dai shogi
445
their original rank. Many promoting pieces promote to a piece that exists in the initial setup of the board. However, such a promoted piece cannot then promote a second time as its namesake does. For example, a gold promotes to a rook. However, while several pieces can promote to gold, they do not further promote to a rook later. Rather, they remain a gold for the rest of the game. This should be obvious from the game pieces, which only have two sides. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. See below. If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it reaches the other side, it must promote. This applies to the pawn, stone general, iron general, knight and lance.
Individual pieces Following are diagrams that indicate the movement of each piece. Pieces are listed in order, from back to front rows, from the center out. Pieces are paired with their promotion and those with a grey heading start out in the game; promoted pieces have a blue heading. Pieces with an asterisk ("*") only appear on the board as a promoted piece. Names are rough translations that have become somewhat standardized in English. Notation ○
Steps to an adjacent square or has a limited range
☆
Jumps to a non-adjacent square, bypassing any intervening piece
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／ !
igui (capture without moving)
King (reigning) • 王将 ōshō Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The king general goes to the superior player.
○
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
King (challenging) • 玉将 gyokushō Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The jeweled general goes to the inferior player.
○
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
Rook • 飛車 hisha Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
│ │ ─
─ 飛
│ │
Silver General • 銀将 ginshō
Vertical Mover • 竪行 shugyō
─
─
Dai shogi
446
Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, one square straight forward, giving it five possibilities.
○
○
○
銀 ○
○
Range: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways.
│ │ ○ 竪
○
│ │
Copper General • 銅将 dōshō Step: The copper general can step one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities.
○
○
○
銅 ○
Side Mover • 横行 ōgyō Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
○ ─
─ 横
○
Iron General • 鉄将 tesshō Step: The iron general can move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally, giving it three possibilities. An iron general that reaches the furthest rank must promote.
○
○
○
鉄
○
○ 石
○
○
○
○ 金
○
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Knight • 桂馬 keima Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. A knight that reaches the furthest rank must promote.
Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
Stone General • 石将 sekishō Step: The stone general can step one square diagonally forward, giving it two possibilities. A stone general can only reach a fraction of the board. A stone general that reaches the furthest rank must promote.
Gold General • 金将 kinshō
☆
☆ 桂
Lance • 香車 kyōsha
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
*White Horse • 白駒 hakku
─
─
Dai shogi
447
Range: The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. It must promote upon reaching the farthest row.
Range: The white horse can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, it can move any number of free squares diagonally forward.
│ │ 香
│
＼
／
＼ │ ／
駒 │
│
Drunken Elephant • 酔象 suizō Step: The drunken elephant can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward.
○
○
○
○ 象
○
○
○
Blind Tiger • 盲虎 mōko Step: The blind tiger can step one square in any direction except orthogonally forward.
○
○
○ 虎
○
○
○
○
*Crown Prince • 太子 taishi Step: The crown prince can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. If your opponent has a crown prince in play, both it and the king must be captured to win.
○
○
○
○ 太
○
○
○
○
*Flying Stag • 飛鹿 hiroku Range: The flying stag can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can move one square sideways or along one of the four diagonals.
│ ○ │
○
○ 鹿
○
○ │
○
│
Ferocious Leopard • 猛豹 mōhyō Step: The ferocious leopard can step to any of the six squares ahead or behind it, but not directly to the side.
○
○
○
豹 ○
○
○
Bishop • 角行 kakugyō Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.
＼
／
＼
／
角 ／
＼
／
Cat Sword • 猫刄 myōjin Step: The cat sword can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted cat sword can only reach half the squares on the board.
○
○ 猫
○
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Reverse Chariot • 反車 hensha
＼
○
*Whale • 鯨鯢 keigei
Dai shogi
448
Range: The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward.
Range: The whale can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or; it can move any number of free squares diagonally backward.
│ │ 反
│
│
│
鯨
│
／ │ ＼
│
／
＼
Lion • 獅子 shishi Area move/double capture: The lion can step one square in any direction up to twice in a turn. It can change directions after its first step, and is not restricted to following one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. That is, it can also step to one of the in-between squares that a knight jumps to in Western chess. It can continue after a capture on the first step, potentially capturing two pieces on each turn. By moving back to its starting square, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". A similar move without capturing leaves the board unchanged, which is a way to pass a turn. Jump: The lion can jump anywhere within two squares. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess. The lion does not promote.
Phoenix • 鳳凰 hōō Step: The phoenix can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions.
☆ ○ ○ 鳳
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ! 獅
! ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
○ ○
○
○ ○
○ ○
○
○ ○
○ ○ 獅
○ ○
○ ○
○
○ ○
○ ○
○
○ ○
Free King • 奔王 honnō
☆
Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions.
☆ ☆
Range: The free king can move any number of free squares along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions.
／
＼ │ ／
○
○
─
☆
│
＼
─ 奔
─
─
☆ ／ │ ＼
／
Kirin • 麒麟 kirin Step: The kirin can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted kirin can only reach half the squares on the board.
│
＼
Lion • 獅子 shishi See Lion above for text description.
☆ ○ ☆
○ ☆
麒 ○
○ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ !
獅
! ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
Dai shogi
449 Evil Wolf • 悪狼 akurō
Step: The evil wolf can step one square orthogonally sideways or forward, or diagonally forward.
○
○
○
○ 狼
○
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Angry Boar • 嗔猪 shincho Step: The angry boar can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions.
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○ ○ 猪
○
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
○
Violent Ox • 猛牛 mōgyū Limited range: The violent ox can move one or two squares along one of the four orthogonal directions.
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○ ○ ○ ○ 牛
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○ ○
○
○ ○
Free King • 奔王 honnō Range: The free king can move any number of free squares along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions.
The free king does not promote. │
＼
─
／
＼
│
／
─
奔
─
／
│
＼
─
│
／
＼
Dragon King • 龍王 ryūō Range: The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction.
*Soaring Eagle • 飛鷲 hijū Range: The soaring eagle can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction except the forward diagonals.
│
─
○
│
○
─
龍
─
○
│
○
│
─
Lion move: It can move or jump one or two squares along either forward diagonal, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the diagonal.
☆
│
!
─
│
!
─ 鷲
─
─
／ │ ＼
／
Dragon Horse • 龍馬 ryūme
☆
*Horned Falcon • 角鷹 kakuō
│
＼
Dai shogi
450
Range: The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
＼
／ ＼
○
／
○
馬
○
／
○
＼
Step: It can move one square in any orthogonal direction.
／
＼
Range: The horned falcon can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction except directly forwards. Lion move: It can move or jump one or two squares along a line directly forward, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the orthogonal.
☆
＼
!
／
─ 鷹
─
＼
─
Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board.
│
＼
Dragon Horse • 龍馬 ryūme
＼
／ ＼
／
Range: The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
＼
Step: It can move one square in any orthogonal direction.
角 ／
／
＼ ○ ／
＼
○ 馬
／
＼
○
／ ○ ＼
／
Vertical Mover • 竪行 shugyō Range: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways.
＼
*Flying Ox • 飛牛 higyū Range: The flying ox can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions; or, it can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward.
│ │ ○ 竪
○
│
│
＼
牛 ／ │ ＼
│
／
Side Mover • 横行 ōgyō
─
横
＼
*Free Boar • 奔猪 honcho
○ ─
／
＼ │ ／
│
Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
─
／ │ ＼
／
Bishop • 角行 kakugyō
／
─
─
Range: The free boar can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or along either orthogonal sideways.
＼
／
＼
／
─ 猪
─
／
＼
○ ─
／
─
＼
Dai shogi
451 Flying Dragon • 飛龍 hiryū
Limited range: The flying dragon can move one or two squares along one of the four diagonal directions.
○
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○ ○
○
○
○
○
○ 金
○
飛 龍 ○
○ ○
○
○
Rook • 飛車 hisha Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
Dragon King • 龍王 ryūō Range: The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions.
│ │ ─
─
飛
─
│
─
Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction.
│
─
│
○ │
○
─ 龍
─
○ │
○
─
│
Pawn • 歩兵 fuhyō Step: The pawn can only step one square directly forward. It must promote upon reaching the farthest rank of the board.
○ 歩
Gold General • 金将 kinshō Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, one square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities.
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
Go Between • 仲人 chūnin Step: The go between can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
○ 仲 ○
Drunk Elephant • 酔象 suizō Step: The drunken elephant can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward.
○
○
○
○ 象
○
○
○
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's only remaining royal (king or crown prince) could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check; the king or crown prince is said to be in check. If a player's king or crown prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check in dai shogi, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one royal may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Dai shogi
Game end A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining king or crown prince wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who has only one piece left (a bare king or bare crown prince) loses unless he can bare or mate his opponent in the next move. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) There are two other possible (but fairly uncommon) ways for a game to end: repetition (千日手 sennichite) and impasse (持将棋 jishōgi). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.) The game reaches an impasse if both kings, or crown princes have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but modifications have been made for dai shogi. A typical example is P-8f. The first letter represents the piece moved (see setup above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a gold general (promoted pawn). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 15o being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7d= indicates a knight capturing on 7d without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. When a 'Lion', 'Horned Falcon' or 'Soaring Eagle' captures by 'igui' (that is, without moving), the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol '!'. For example, a Lion on 8c capturing a piece on 9d would be shown as LNx!9d. When a piece makes a double capture with 'Lion' powers, both captures are shown in the order that they were made. For example, a Lion on 3g, capturing a piece on 3h and then capturing another on 2i, would be represented by LNx3hx2i. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
452
Dai shogi
453
External links • • • •
Shogi.net/Dai Shogi [1] Dai shogi games with problems etc. [2] SDIN Dai Shogi [3] - Play Dai Shogi in real time vs human players or AI Richard's Play-by-eMail Server [4] - Play Dai Shogi via web page or email your commands to the server, with email notifications when moves have been made in the game you're playing.
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. shogi. net/ rjhare/ dai-shogi/ dai-intro. html http:/ / www. luckydog. pwp. blueyonder. co. uk/ games/ shogi/ dai. htm http:/ / sdin. jp/ en/ browser/ board/ daishogi/ http:/ / www. gamerz. net/ pbmserv/
Tenjiku shogi Tenjiku shogi (天竺将棋 tenjiku shōgi, or 天竺大将棋 tenjiku dai shōgi "exotic chess") is a large-board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was based on the earlier chu shogi, which itself was based on dai shogi.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's king and, if present, the crown prince, which counts as a second king. Unlike standard shogi, captured pieces may not be dropped back into play by the capturing player.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board composed of squares in a grid of 16 ranks (rows) by 16 files (columns) with a total of 256 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. A pair of dots may be placed just beyond the fifth rank on each side to mark the promotion zones and aid in the initial setup of the two camps. Each player has a set of 78 wedge-shaped pieces of 36 types. In all, the players must remember 45 moves for these pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (roughly most to least powerful) they are: •
1 King
•
1 Lion hawk
•
2 Silver generals
•
1 Great general
•
1 Lion
•
2 Copper generals
•
1 Vice general
•
2 Dragon kings
•
2 Vertical movers
•
2 Rook generals
•
2 Dragon horses
•
2 Side movers
•
2 Bishop generals •
2 Rooks
•
2 Reverse chariots
•
1 Free eagle
•
2 Bishops
•
2 Vertical soldiers
•
1 Free king
•
1 Kirin
•
2 Side soldiers
•
2 Soaring eagles
•
1 Phoenix
•
2 Lances
•
2 Horned falcons
•
1 Drunken elephant
•
2 Knights
•
2 Water buffalos
•
2 Blind tigers
•
2 Iron generals
•
4 Chariot soldiers •
2 Ferocious leopards •
2 Dogs
•
2 Fire demons
2 Gold generals
16 Pawns
•
•
Tenjiku shogi
454
Several of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of one or two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are two or three other characters, often in a different color such as red; this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to. Pieces marked with an *asterisk are only available with promotion. Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Abbrev.
Promotes to
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
B
角
dragon horse
Bishop general
角将
kakushō
BG
砲
vice general
Blind tiger
盲虎
mōko
BT
虎
flying stag
Chariot soldier
車兵
shahei
CS
車
heavenly tetrarch
Copper general
銅将
dōshō
C
銅
side mover
*Crown prince
太子
taishi
CP
子
—
Dog
犬
inu
D
犬
multi general
Dragon horse
龍馬
ryūme
DH
馬
horned falcon
Dragon king
龍王
ryūō
DK
龍
soaring eagle
Drunk elephant
酔象
suizō
DE
象
crown prince
Ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
FL
豹
bishop
Fire demon
火鬼
kaki
FD
火
—
*Flying ox
飛牛
higyū
FO
牛
—
*Flying stag
飛鹿
hiroku
FS
鹿
—
*Free boar
奔猪
honcho
FB
猪
—
Free eagle
奔鷲
honjū
FE
–
—
Free king
奔王
honnō
FK
奔
free eagle
Gold general
金将
kinshō
G
金
rook
Great general
大将
taishō
GG 大
—
*Heavenly tetrarch 四天王
shitennō
HT
四
—
Horned falcon
角鷹
kakuō
HF
鷹
bishop general
Iron general
鉄将
tesshō
I
鉄
vertical soldier
King (Black)
玉将
gyokushō
K
玉
—
King (White)
王将
ōshō
K
王
—
Kirin
麒麟
kirin
Kr
麒
lion
Knight
桂馬
keima
N
桂
side soldier
Lance
香車
kyōsha
L
香
white horse
Lion
獅子
shishi
Ln
獅
lion hawk
Lion hawk
獅鷹
shiō, shitaka LH
–
—
Tenjiku shogi
455 *Multi general
雜将
suishō
MG 雜
—
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
P
歩
gold general
Phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
Ph
鳳
free king
Reverse chariot
反車
hensha
RC
反
whale
Rook
飛車
hisha
R
飛
dragon king
Rook general
飛将
hishō
RG
炮
great general
Side mover
横行
ōgyō
SM
横
free boar
Side soldier
横兵
ōhei
SS
–
water buffalo
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
S
銀
vertical mover
Soaring eagle
飛鷲
hijū
SE
鷲
rook general
Vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
VM 竪
flying ox
Vertical soldier
竪兵
shuhei
VS
–
chariot soldier
Vice general
副将
fukushō
VG
副
—
Water buffalo
水牛
suigyū
WB 水
fire demon
*Whale
鯨鯢
keigei
W
鯨
—
*White horse
白駒
hokku
WH 駒
—
The promotions can be summarized as series of promotion chains, as follows. Within each block below, a piece (except the kings) promotes to the piece above it. Pieces at the top of each block do not promote (and if in italics, and with an *asterisk, as stated before, these appear only upon promotion). Note that pieces may only promote once. For example, a gold general promotes to a rook, and a rook promotes to a dragon king, but a gold general promoted to a rook cannot promote a second time to a dragon king. This is clear from the equipment, for each piece only has two sides. Jeweled general
玉将
*Crown prince
太子
King general
王将
↑ Drunk elephant
↑ 酔象
Vice general
副将
Great general
大将
↑ Bishop general
↑ 角将 ↑ Rook general
↑ 飛将
↑ Horned falcon
↑ 角鷹 ↑ Soaring eagle
↑ 飛鷲
↑ Dragon horse
↑ 龍馬 ↑ Dragon king
↑ 龍王
↑ Bishop
↑ 角行 ↑ Rook
↑飛車
↑ Ferocious leopard ↑ 猛豹 ↑ Gold general ↑ Pawn
↑ 金将 ↑ 歩兵
Fire demon
火鬼
*Heavenly tetrarch 四天王
↑ Water buffalo
↑ 水牛 ↑ Chariot soldier
↑車兵
↑ Side soldier
↑ 横兵 ↑ Vertical soldier
↑ 竪兵
↑ Knight
↑ 桂馬 ↑ Iron general
↑ 鉄将
Free eagle
奔鷲
↑ Free king
↑ 奔王 ↑ Lion
↑ 獅子
↑ Phoenix
↑ 鳳凰 ↑ Kirin
↑ 麒麟
Lion hawk
獅鷹
Tenjiku shogi
456 *Free boar
奔猪
*Flying ox
↑ Side mover
↑ 横行 ↑ Vertical mover
↑ 竪行
↑ Copper general
↑ 銅将 ↑ Silver general
↑ 銀将
*Multi general
雜将
*Flying stag
飛鹿
↑ Dog
↑犬
↑ Blind tiger
↑ 盲虎
*White horse
白駒
*Whale
鯨鯢
↑ Lance
↑ 香車 ↑ Reverse chariot
飛牛
↑ 反車
Setup The initial setup of the board is as follows. See below for a description of the types of moves involved. Color coding 駒
Range-jumping pieces
駒
Ranging pieces (move of free eagle not clear)
駒
Multiple-capture pieces (move of lion-hawk not clear)
駒
Jumping pieces
駒
Pieces which are restricted to stepping moves
駒
Burning pieces (the fire demons)
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
6
5
4
香 車
桂 馬
猛 豹
鉄 将
銅 将
銀 将
金 将
酔 王 金 銀 象 将 将 将
銅 将
鉄 猛 桂 香 一 将 豹 馬 車
車 兵
車 兵
盲 虎
鳳 凰
奔 獅 麒 盲 王 子 麟 虎
反 車
8
7
3
車 車 兵 兵
2
1
反 二 車
横 兵
竪 兵
角 行
龍 馬
龍 王
水 牛
火 鬼
奔 獅 火 水 鷲 鷹 鬼 牛
龍 王
龍 角 竪 横 三 馬 行 兵 兵
横 行
竪 行
飛 車
角 鷹
飛 鷲
角 将
飛 将
副 大 飛 角 将 将 将 将
飛 鷲
角 飛 竪 横 四 鷹 車 行 行
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 五 兵 兵 兵 兵
犬
六
犬
七 八 九 十 犬
犬
十 一
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵
歩 兵
歩 歩 歩 歩 兵 兵 兵 兵
十 二
横 行
竪 行
飛 車
角 鷹
飛 鷲
角 将
飛 将
大 副 飛 角 将 将 将 将
飛 鷲
角 飛 竪 横 鷹 車 行 行
十 三
Tenjiku shogi
457 横 兵
竪 兵
反 車 香 車
桂 馬
角 行
龍 馬
車 兵
車 兵
猛 豹
鉄 将
龍 王
銅 将
水 牛
火 鬼
獅 奔 火 水 鷹 鷲 鬼 牛
盲 虎
麒 麟
獅 奔 鳳 盲 子 王 凰 虎
銀 将
金 将
玉 酔 金 銀 将 象 将 将
龍 王
銅 将
龍 角 竪 横 馬 行 兵 兵
十 四
車 車 兵 兵
反 車
十 五
鉄 猛 桂 香 将 豹 馬 車
十 六
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
L
N
FL
I
C
S
G
DE
K
G
S
C
I
FL
N
L
CS
CS
BT
Ph
FK
Ln
Kr
BT
VS
B
DH DK WB FD
SM VM
R
HF
SE
p
p
p
RC SS
p
p
FE LH FD WB DK DH
BG RG VG GG RG BG p
p
CS CS
p
p
p
p
D
SE HF p
p
a
RC b
B
VS
R
VM SM d
p
p
SS
p
c
e
D
f g h i j
D p
p
D
p
p
p
SM VM
R
HF
SE
SE HF
R
VM SM m
SS
B
DH DK WB FD LH FE FD WB DK DH
B
VS
CS
CS
FL
I
VS
RC L
N
C
p
p
p
p
p
p
BG RG GG VG RG BG
BT
Kr
Ln
FK
Ph
BT
S
G
K
DE
G
S
p
k p
p
p
CS CS C
I
FL
p
l
SS
n
RC o N
L
p
Legend B: Bishop
BG: Bishop General
BT: Blind Tiger
C: Copper General
CS: Chariot Soldier
D: Dog
DE: Drunk Elephant
DH: Dragon Horse
DK: Dragon King
FD: Fire Demon
FE: Free Eagle
FK: Free King
FL: Fierce Leopard
G: Gold General
GG: Great General
HF: Horned Falcon
I: Iron General
K: King
Kr: Kirin
L: Lance
LH: Lion Hawk
Ln: Lion
N: Knight
p: Pawn
Ph: Phoenix
R: Rook
RC: Reverse Chariot
RG: Rook General
S: Silver General
SE: Soaring Eagle
SM: Side Mover
SS: Side Soldier
VG: Vice General
VM: Vertical Mover
VS: Vertical Soldier
WB: Water Buffalo
Tenjiku shogi
Game play Two players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The pieces are not differentiated by color; the traditional chess terms "Black" and "White" are only used to indicate who plays first, and to differentiate the sides during discussions of the game.) A move consists of moving a piece either to an empty square on the board or to a square occupied by an opposing piece, thus capturing that piece; and optionally of promoting the moving piece, if all or part of its move lies in the promotion zone. Each of these options is detailed below. Despite the large size of the board and number of pieces, tenjiku shogi games are often quicker than smaller shogi variants because of the higher average power of the pieces. Good use of the fire demons can make for a short game. Unlike many shogi variants, the very first move can have a very profound effect on the outcome of the game, and indeed it is sometimes wondered whether playing first is an automatic win, barring any mistakes.
Movement and capture Tenjiku shogi pieces that occur in chu shogi move as they do in that game. An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece, that is, by another piece controlled by the moving player. The one exception to this is the unique burn of the fire demon. Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The vice general, fire demon, lion, and knight are exceptions, in that they do not move, or are not required to move, in a straight line. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction. The movement categories are: Step movers and limited range movers Some pieces are limited to moving one square at a time. If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured. The step movers are the king, drunk elephant, blind tiger, ferocious leopard, gold general, silver general, copper general, iron general, dog, and pawn. Other pieces may step in certain directions, but move differently in other directions. Other pieces have a limited range of two squares along a straight line. The water buffalo, chariot soldier, vertical soldier, and side soldier may move one or two squares in certain directions. They can only move to the second square if the first is unoccupied. They may capture on either square, but must stop where they capture. Area movers The lion, lion hawk, bishop general, and fire demon may take multiple (2 to 3) steps in a single turn. These do not have to be in a line, so these pieces can potentially reach every square within two or three steps of the starting square, not just squares along one of the diagonals or orthogonals. Such moves are also useful to get around obstructions. An area mover must stop where it captures. Jumping pieces Some pieces can jump, or in the case of the knight can only jump: They pass over an intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the free eagle, lion, soaring eagle, horned falcon, tetrarch, kirin, phoenix, and knight. (The lion hawk has this ability in some versions of the game.) These jumps all have a range of two squares: that is, the first square is passed over, and the piece lands (and captures) on the second. The knight
458
Tenjiku shogi jumps between the diagonals and orthogonals, and the lion (and lion hawk) may do so. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight orthogonal or diagonal line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the great general, vice general, rook general, bishop general, free eagle, soaring eagle, horned falcon, free king, water buffalo, chariot soldier, fire demon, lion hawk, dragon king, dragon horse, rook, bishop, vertical mover, side mover, reverse chariot, vertical soldier, side soldier and lance. Range jumping pieces A few powerful pieces may jump over any number of pieces, friend or foe, along a diagonal or orthogonal, but only when making a capture. These are the great general, vice general, rook general, and bishop general. However, they may only jump over other pieces of lower rank, whether friend or foe. None may jump a king or crown prince of either side. The relevant ranking is: 1. 2. 3. 4.
King, crown prince Great general Vice general Rook general, bishop general
That is, bishop and rook generals cannot jump any other range-jumping piece. Some descriptions of the game do not limit this ability to moves making a capture. However, most mention that these pieces have two types of move, ranging and range jumping, suggesting that the capture rule may have been mistakenly omitted. Multiple captures The lion, soaring eagle, horned falcon, and in some rule variants the lion hawk, have sequential multiple-capture abilities, called "lion moves". The fire demon can "burn" multiple pieces simultaneously. These unusual moves are described below. Other The heavenly tetrarch cannot move to an adjacent square, and has other idiosyncrasies; the fire demon 'burns' adjacent pieces. This is best described below. Repeated board positions A player is not allowed to make a move that would return the board to a previous position, with the same player to move. This rule prevents games from entering into a repeated loop.
Promotion Tenjiku shogi pieces that occur in chu shogi promote as they do in that game, with the exceptions of the lion and free king, which do not promote in chu shogi. A player's promotion zone consists of the five far ranks, at the original line of the opponent's pawns and beyond. As a promotable piece ends a move within the promotion zone—including moves entering, leaving, or moving entirely within the zone,—it has the option of "promoting" to a more powerful rank. (Pieces which take multiple steps per move may promote by crossing into the promotion zone and back out again.) Promotion is effected by turning the
459
Tenjiku shogi piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion is not mandatory if the unpromoted piece could move further on a later turn, and in some cases it may be beneficial to leave the piece unpromoted. Promotion is permanent and promoted pieces may not revert to their original rank. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. See above for what each piece promotes to and below for how they move. The king, great general, vice general, free eagle, lion hawk, and fire demon do not promote, nor can already promoted pieces promote further. If a piece which cannot retreat or move to the side advances to the far rank, so that it would otherwise have no further legal move, it is forced to promote. These pieces are the pawn, knight, iron general, and lance. Similarly, a knight reaching the penultimate rank must promote. If a piece does not promote when it first has the opportunity, it may not promote on its subsequent turn unless it captures or is forced to promote. Thereafter it may promote normally.
Movement diagrams In the diagrams below, the different types of moves are coded by symbol and by color: Blue for step moves, green for multiple capture, red for range moves, yellow for jumps, and orange for ranging jumps. Notation ☆
Jumps to this square, bypassing any intervening piece.
○
Steps a limited number of squares along a straight line.
●
Steps within an area, not restricted to a straight line. Must stop upon capture.
☆
Jumps to this square, then continues as a step mover.
●
Steps a limited number of squares within an area, and may capture more than once.
!
igui (capture without moving). Counts for two steps.
☆
May jump directly to this square, or reach it through a multiple move.
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼
／
☆
Jumps to this square, then continues as a range mover.
│
Jumps along a straight line, crossing any number of squares. In TSA rules, it may only jump when making a capture, otherwise it moves as a ranging piece. According to Japanese Wikipedia, it may always jump.
─ ＼
／
※
Burns any adjacent enemy pieces wherever it stops (background color indicates movement).
460
Tenjiku shogi
461
Individual pieces Pieces are arranged in this section so that, if they promote, they promote into the piece above them. Piece names with a grey background are present at the start of the game; those with a blue background only appear with promotion. Jeweled general (inferior player's king) 玉将 gyokushō
○
•
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Note: The king can move into check at any time. King general (superior player's king) 王将 ōshō
○
•
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Note: The king can move into check at any time. Vice general 副将 fukushō The vice general may make either a range-jumping move or an area move on any one turn. ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
／ 副
／
＼
／
＼
／
•
＼
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ● 副
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
Range jump: When making a capture, the vice general can jump any number of lower-ranking pieces along any one diagonal. Otherwise it ranges without jumping. It cannot jump a king, crown prince, great general, or another vice general.
Tenjiku shogi •
462
Area move: The vice general can step in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, up to three times in one turn. That is, it can step in another direction after its first or second step. It need not take all three steps. It must stop when it captures. It can return to the square it started from, allowing the player to "skip" a turn. Bishop general 角将 kakushō ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
／ 砲
／
＼
／
＼
／
＼
• Range jump: When making a capture, the bishop general can jump any number of lower-ranking pieces along any diagonal. Otherwise it ranges without jumping. It cannot jump a king, crown prince, or another range-jumping general. Horned falcon 角鷹 kakuō ＼
／ ☆
＼
─
─
＼
!
／
─
鷹
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
─
＼
│
／
• •
／
＼
Range: The horned falcon can move any number of free squares along any directio except directly forwards. Lion move: It can step twice, or jump two squares, directly forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"). Dragon horse 龍馬 ryūme The dragon horse moves as either a bishop or a king. ＼
／ ＼
／
／ ＼
○
／
○
馬
○
／
○
＼ ＼
／
＼
•
Range: It can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions.
•
Step: It can move one square in any orthogonal direction. Bishop 角行 kakugyō
Tenjiku shogi
463
＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
／ 角
／
＼
／
＼
／
•
＼
Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. Ferocious leopard 猛豹 mōhyō
○
○
○
豹 ○
•
○
○
Step: The leopard can step one square in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward or backward, giving it six directions of movement. That is, it can move to any of the six adjacent squares ahead or behind it. Fire demon 火鬼 kaki The fire demon may either make a range move or an area move on any one turn. In addition, it has the power to "burn". │
＼
│
＼ ※
／
※
※
※ 火
※
※
※
／
※ │ │
／
•
／
＼ ＼
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ※
※
※ ● ●
● ● ※ 火
※ ● ●
● ● ※
※
※ ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
● ● ●
●
● ● ●
Range: It can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward or backward. Note: The Shōgi Zushiki and Sho Shōgi Zushiki state that it moves like the water buffalo; that is, diagonally and to the sides.
Tenjiku shogi •
464
Area move: It can step in any direction up to three times per turn. It can change direction after its first or second step, and it need not take all three steps. However, unlike the lion, it must stop when it captures. It can return to the square it started from, allowing the player to "skip" a turn, but does not have the lion power of igui.
•
•
Burn: Wherever the fire demon stops, all adjacent opposing pieces except fire demons are removed from the board, in addition to any piece on the square it lands on. That is, a fire demon can capture up to eight pieces per turn (one it displaces, and seven it burns on adjacent squares). Passive burn: Any piece stopping next to an opposing fire demon is removed from the board (after making its capture, if any). Such suicide moves do not count as a turn for the stationary player: The fire demon passively burns opposing pieces that land on adjacent squares without using up a turn. Conflict between fire demons: When one fire demon lands next to another, it is the only the moving piece that is immolated. The stationary fire demon survives, as do all other adjacent pieces. (These are the TSA rules. In Colin Adam's book, the stationary fire demon survives the suicide move, but all other adjacent enemy pieces are immolated.) Water buffalo 水牛 suigyū ＼
／ ○
＼
─
─
／
＼
○
／
─
水
─
／
○
＼
○
／
─
─
＼
／
• •
＼
Range: The water buffalo can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions, or orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward. Note: Since a piece promotes when its move is finished, the water buffalo does not burn surrounding pieces upon promotion to fire demon. Side soldier 横兵 ōhei ○ ○ ─
─
─
横兵 ─
─
─
○
• • •
Range: The side soldier can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward. Step: It can move one square directly backward. Knight 桂馬 keima
Tenjiku shogi
465
☆
☆ 桂
•
Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. It ignores any intervening piece on the way to its destination. Since a knight cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it reaches one of the two far ranks. Free eagle 奔鷲 honjū Move according to Edo-era sources: │
＼ ☆
☆ !
─
☆ ─ ! ☆
│
☆ !
奔鷲 ─ │
☆ ─
!
☆
☆
│
／
• •
／
＼
Range: The free eagle can move any number of free squares in any direction. Double move: It can move twice as a cat-sword (one square in any diagonal direction). Based on descriptions of the lion having a triple king move, it is thought that the double cat-sword move includes jumping a piece. Move in English-language sources │
＼
☆
＼ ＼ ─
☆
─ ／
／ ／
／
│
／ ／
奔鷲 ─ │ ☆
☆
─
＼ ＼
│
＼
• Range: The free eagle can move any number of free squares in any of the eight directions, orthogonal or diagonal. • Jump: It can jump to the second square in any orthogonal direction. Note: If the two cat-sword moves are required to be in different directions, as one of the Edo sources appears to state, and are interpreted as a jump to the second square rather than two actual steps, this is the result. Free king 奔王 honnō The free king moves like a queen in Italian chess.
Tenjiku shogi
466
│
＼
│
＼
─
─
／
＼
│
／
─
奔
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
─
＼
│
／
•
／
＼
Range: The free king can move any number of free squares in any of the eight directions, orthogonal or diagonal. Phoenix 鳳凰 hōō ☆
☆ ○ ○ 鳳
○
○ ☆
• •
☆
Step: The phoenix can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions. Free boar 奔猪 honcho ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
─
─
─
／ 猪
／
─
─
─
＼
／
＼
／
•
＼
Range: The free boar can range any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonal directions, or directly to either side, giving it six directions of movement. Side mover 横行 ōgyō
○ ─
─
─
横
─
─
─
○
• •
Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square directly forward or backward. Copper general 銅将 dōshō
Tenjiku shogi
467
○
○
○
銅 ○
•
Step: The copper general can move one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four directions of movement. Multi general 雜将 suishō │ │ │ 雜 ／
＼
／
＼
／
＼
• Range: The multi general can move any number of free squares directly forward or diagonally backward, giving it three directions of movement. Dog 犬 inu
○ 犬 ○
•
○
Step: The dog can move one square directly forward, or diagonally backward, giving it three directions of movement. White horse 白駒 hokku │
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
駒 │ │ │
•
Range: The white horse can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward, giving it four directions of movement. Lance 香車 kyōsha
Tenjiku shogi
468
│ │ │ 香
•
Range: The lance can move any number of free squares directly forward, giving it only one direction of movement. Since a lance cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it reaches the far rank. Crown prince 太子 taishi
○
•
○
○
○ 子
○
○
○
○
Step: The crown prince can move one square in any direction. Note: The crown prince can move into check at any time. Drunk elephant 酔象 suizō
○
•
○
○
○ 象
○
○
○
Step: The drunken elephant can move one square in any direction except directly backward, giving it seven directions of movement. Great general 大将 taishō │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／ ／
•
／ ／
＼
│
／
─
奔
─
／
│
＼
│ │
─
─
＼ ＼
Range jump: When making a capture, the great general can jump any number of lower-ranking pieces in any one of the eight directions. Otherwise it ranges without jumping. It cannot jump a king, crown prince, or another great general. Rook general 飛将 hishō
Tenjiku shogi
469
│ │ │ ─
─
─
炮
─
─
─
│ │ │
•
Range jump: When making a capture, the rook general can jump any number of lower-ranking pieces along any orthogonal. Otherwise it ranges without jumping. It cannot jump a king, crown prince, or another range-jumping general. Soaring eagle 飛鷲 hijū │ ☆
─
─
│ !
│
!
─
鷲
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
─
＼
│
／
• •
☆
＼
Range: The soaring eagle can move any number of free squares in any direction except diagonally forward. Lion move: It can step twice, or jump two squares, diagonally forward, capturing up to two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"). Dragon king 龍王 ryūō The dragon king moves as either a rook or a king. │ │
─
─
○
│
○
─
龍
─
○
│
○
─
─
│ │
• •
Range: It can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction. Rook 飛車 hisha
Tenjiku shogi
470
│ │ │ ─
─
─
飛
─
─
─
│ │ │
•
Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Gold general 金将 kinshō
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
•
Step: The gold general can step one square in the four orthogonal directions, or diagonally forward, giving it six directions of movement. It cannot move diagonally backward. Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō
○ 歩
•
Step: A pawn can step one square directly forward. Since a pawn cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it reaches the far rank. However, in practice, pawns are promoted whenever possible. Heavenly tetrarch 四天王shitennō The tetrarch cannot move to any adjacent square, and is not blocked from moving by pieces on those squares, but it can capture such pieces without moving. │
＼ ☆
☆ !
○
!
／
• • •
!
☆ ! 四
☆
／
! ☆ │
☆ ! ! ☆
○
! ☆ ＼
Igui: It can capture a piece on any adjacent square without moving. (See "Lion" above.) Range: It can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonals or along the orthogonal file, skipping any intervening piece on the adjacent square. (It is not a range jumper and cannot jump any other piece.) Limited range: It can move two or three squares orthogonally sideways. Although it skips any intervening piece on the first square, it cannot jump a piece on the second square. If it captures on the second square, it must stop
Tenjiku shogi
471 there. Note: Western sources do not have the orthogonal range move.
In English this piece is usually pluralized as 'Heavenly Tetrarchs', though this could refer to all four tetrarchs (the Four Heavenly Kings). Chariot soldier 車兵 shahei │
＼
│
＼
○
│
／
○
車
○
／
│
＼
│
○
＼
│
／
•
／
＼
／
•
／
＼
Range: The chariot soldier can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward or backward. Limited range: It can move one or two squares sideways. Vertical soldier 竪兵 shuhei │ │ │ ○ ○ 竪兵 ○ ○ ○
• • •
Range: The vertical soldier can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward. Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can move one square directly backward. Iron general 鉄将 tesshō
○
○
○
鉄
•
Step: The iron general can move one square forward, either orthogonally or diagonally, giving it three directions of movement. Since an iron general cannot move backward or to the sides, it must promote when it reaches the far rank. Lion hawk 獅鷹 shiō The lion hawk can either move as a bishop, or "like" a lion. There is disagreement as to how like a lion it was intended to be. According to Japanese Wikipedia, and "Modern" Western move:
Tenjiku shogi
472
＼
／ ☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ! 獅鷹 ! ☆ ☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
／
• •
＼
Range: The lion hawk can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions. Lion move: It can move as a lion, with the jump, igui, and multiple-capture abilities. (See below for details.) Move according to TSA rules: ＼
／ ● ●
●
● ●
● ●
●
● ●
● ● 獅鷹 ● ● ● ●
●
● ●
● ●
●
● ●
／
• •
＼
Range: The lion hawk can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions. Area move: It can step in any direction up to twice per turn. That is, it can change directions after its first step, and it need not take both steps. This allows it to "skip" a turn. However, it must stop when it captures, and cannot take a second piece, nor may it jump. Lion 獅子 shishi The lion has a special movement ability commonly called a 'lion move' or 'lion power'. It is shown here in two diagrams for clarity. ● ●
●
● ●
● ●
●
● ●
● ● 獅
● ●
● ●
●
● ●
● ●
●
● ●
Tenjiku shogi
•
473
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ! 獅
! ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
Double move: The lion can step in any direction, and capture, up to twice in a turn. This move is equivalent to two turns for a king. •
Unlike area movers, the lion can continue after a capture on the first step, capturing up to two pieces on each turn. • By moving back to its starting square, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". • It can also do the same to an empty square, without capturing anything. This is traditionally indicated by tapping the lion and leaving it in place. • A lion next to the promotion zone can make a similar move into and out of the zone, promoting without appearing to move. • Jump: A lion can jump anywhere within a distance of two squares: That is, anywhere it could reach in two step moves on an empty board, though of course it cannot land on a square occupied by a friendly piece. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess, or, Note: The restrictions when capturing a lion in chu shogi do not apply in tenjiku shogi. Kirin 麒麟 kirin ☆ ○ ☆
○ ☆
麒 ○
○ ☆
• •
Step: The kirin can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Note: Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted kirin can only reach half the squares on the board. Flying ox 飛牛 higyū
Tenjiku shogi
474
│
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
牛 ／
＼
│
／
＼
│
／
•
│
＼
Range: The flying ox can move any number of free squares along any one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward or backward, giving it six directions of movement. Vertical mover 竪行 shugyō │ │ │ ○ 竪
○
│ │ │
• •
Range: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways. Silver general 銀将 ginshō
○
○
○
銀 ○
•
○
Step: The silver general can move one square in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward, giving it five directions of movement. Flying stag 飛鹿 hiroku │ │ ○ │
○
○ 鹿
○
○ │
○
│ │
• •
Range: The flying stag can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can move one square in any direction. Blind tiger 盲虎 mōko
Tenjiku shogi
•
475
○
○
○ 虎
○
○
○
○
Step: The blind tiger can move one square in any direction except directly forward, giving it seven directions of movement. Whale 鯨鯢 keigei │ │ │ 鯨 ／ ／ ／
•
│ │ │
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The whale can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally backward, giving it four directions of movement. Reverse chariot 反車 hensha │ │ │ 反 │ │ │
• Range: The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward, giving it two directions of movement.
Check and mate When a player makes a move, such that the opponent's only remaining king or crown prince could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check; the king or crown prince is said to be in check. If a player's last king or crown prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check in tenjiku shogi, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one royal may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check to the sole objective piece.
Tenjiku shogi
Game end A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining king or crown prince wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will typically resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Repetition (千日手 sennichite) is not allowed. The game reaches an impasse (持将棋 jishōgi) if all kings and crown princes have advanced into their respective promotion zones and neither player can hope to mate the other or to gain any further material.
Handicaps Games between players of disparate strength are often played with handicaps. In a handicap game, one or more of White's pieces is removed before the start of play, and White plays the first move of the game. Alternatively, a strong piece of one player may be removed in exchange for one or more of the other player’s weaker pieces.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but modifications have been made for tenjiku shogi. A typical example is P-8g. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. e.g., +P for a promoted pawn. The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 16p being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a lion, horned falcon, soaring eagle or Heavenly Tetrarch captures by igui, or the fire demon burns, the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol !. A piece moving next to a fire demon (suicide move) is followed by a *. If a double or triple capture is made, than subsequent captures are added after the first capture. If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, Nx7d= indicates a knight capturing on 7d without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess. In handicap games White plays first, so Black's move 1 is replaced by an ellipsis.
Notes on disputed moves • Lion hawk The Shogi Association (TSA) rules interpreted "like a lion" to mean that the lion hawk did not have the full lion powers of jump and double capture, but only a two-step area move. This interpretation was never made on Japanese sites, and has largely been abandoned in the West as well. Giving the lion hawk full lion powers brings the piece more into line with the rest of the game, though both versions are playable. • Free eagle
476
Tenjiku shogi Western sources give the free eagle the move of a free king plus the ability to jump to the second square along an orthogonal. Japanese Wikipedia states 斜めの場合は飛び越えては行けないが、縦横の場合は駒を飛び越えて行ける "it cannot jump on the diagonals, but can jump pieces on the orthogonals." The diagram shows an orthogonal range jump, but the free eagle does not appear in the ranking list of range-jumping pieces. However, the Edo-era Sho Shōgi Zushiki states that it moves 如奔王亦猫刄再度歩兼二行 "as a free king or two times as a cat sword in two directions", which could be taken as requiring the piece to finish on one of the orthogonals, if not exactly a jump; while elsewhere in the Sho Shōgi Zushiki and in the Shōgi Zushiki it says that 奔王の動きに加えて、猫刄の動き（斜め四方向に1マス動く）を2度できる "in addition to moving as a free king, it can make a cat-sword move (one square in one of the four diagonals) twice", which has no such implication, but which Japanese Wikipedia says is thought to mean a jump. • Fire demon TSA rules state that if you move your fire demon next to an opposing fire demon, only your fire demon is immolated; all other adjacent pieces survive. A few computer programs and books stipulate that other adjacent pieces are immolated as well, with only the opposing fire demon surviving, but this interpretation is not widely followed. Both variants are playable. Japanese Wikipedia states only that 火鬼が火鬼の隣に移動したときは、動いた方が焼かれる "When a fire demon moves next to a fire demon, the moving piece is burnt," without mentioning the fate of surrounding pieces. Edo-era sources differ in whether the orthogonal ranging move is along the rank or the file of the board. Western sources have it move along the file, but moving along the rank would be more in keeping with the fire demon being a promoted water buffalo. • Heavenly tetrarch Western sources do not have the ranging move along the orthogonal. However, the Sho Shōgi Zushiki states it moves 如車兵亦近八方不行其外周二三要用歩 "as a chariot soldier, also the eight neighboring squares without moving and taking two or three steps outside the periphery", and this is consistent with it being a promoted chariot soldier. • Range-jumping generals TSA rules state that the range-jumping generals cannot capture an equal or higher-ranking piece, not just that they cannot jump over them. This gives a huge advantage to Black, so that Black can win every game if played right, but is not supported by Japanese sites and has been largely abandoned in the West as unplayable.
External links • • • • • • •
Shogi Net [2] CP Adams's book on tenjiku tactics [1] CP Adams's Tenjiku shogi wiki [2] Gamerz.net/tenjiku shogi [3] History.chess/tenjiku shogi [4] Tenjiku shogi games and problems [5] 21. Century Tenjiku shogi [6] (Dead!)
477
Tenjiku shogi
478
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
http:/ / www. colina. demon. co. uk/ tenjiku. pdf http:/ / colina. demon. co. uk:5001 http:/ / www. gamerz. net/ pbmserv/ tenjikushogi. html http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ tenjikushogi. htm http:/ / www. luckydog. pwp. blueyonder. co. uk/ games/ tenjiku/ http:/ / www. iget. me. uk/ tenjiku/ index. htm
Dai dai shogi Daidai shōgi (大大将棋 'huge chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on the earlier Dai shogi. Apart from its size, the major difference is in the range of the pieces and the “promotion by capture” rule. It is the smallest board variant to use this rule.
Rules of the game Objective The objective is to capture the opponent's king. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after being captured.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or sente and gōte), play on a board composed of squares in a grid of 17 ranks (rows) by 17 files (columns) with a total of 289 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 96 wedge-shaped pieces of 64 different types. In all, the players must remember 68 different moves. The pieces are of slightly different sizes, from largest to smallest (or roughly most to least powerful) they are: •
1 King (King general/Jeweled general) •
1 Blue dragon
•
1 Neighboring king
•
1 Free king
•
1 White tiger
•
1 Blind monkey
•
1 Rushing bird
•
1 Right chariot
•
2 Ferocious leopards
•
1 Free demon
•
1 Left chariot
•
2 Evil Wolves
•
1 Free dream-eater
•
1 Phoenix
•
2 Violent bears
•
1 Water buffalo
•
1 Kirin
•
1 Right general
•
1 Dragon king
•
1 Poisonous snake
•
1 Left general
•
1 Dragon horse
•
1 Old kite
•
2 Gold generals
•
1 Square mover
•
2 Violent oxen
•
2 Silver generals
•
1 Racing chariot
•
1 Flying dragon
•
2 Copper generals
•
1 Rook
•
1 Enchanted fox
•
2 Iron generals
•
1 Bishop
•
1 Old rat
•
2 Wood generals
•
1 Golden bird
•
1 Enchanted badger
•
2 Stone generals
•
1 Great dragon
•
1 Flying horse
•
2 Angry boars
•
1 Standard bearer
•
1 Prancing stag
•
1 Cat sword
•
1 Fragrant elephant
•
2 Savage tigers
•
2 Reverse chariots
•
1 White elephant
•
1 Hook mover
•
2 Lances
•
1 Lion
•
1 Long-nosed goblin •
2 Side movers
•
1 Lion dog
•
1 Northern barbarian •
1 Vertical mover
•
1 Dove
•
1 Southern barbarian •
2 Howling Dogs
•
1 She-devil
•
1 Eastern barbarian
17 Pawns
•
Dai dai shogi
479 •
1 Western barbarian
Many of the English-language names are chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in Western chess, not necessarily as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two Japanese characters marked on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are one or two other characters, often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black); this reverse side is used to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to. Table of pieces Relatively few pieces promote (or demote) in dai dai shogi. A few pieces (*asterisked) only appear upon promotion. Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Abbrev.
Promotes to
Jeweled general
玉将
gyokushō K
玉
—
King general
王将
ōshō
K
王
—
Angry boar
嗔猪
shincho
AB
猪
—
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
B
角
—
Blind monkey
盲猿
mōen
BM
猿
mountain witch
Blue dragon
青龍
seiryū
BD
青
—
Cat sword
猫刄
myōjin
CS
猫
dragon horse
Copper general
銅将
dōshō
C
銅
—
Dove
鳩槃
kyūhan
Do
鳩
—
Dragon horse
龍馬
ryūme
DH
馬
—
Dragon king
龍王
ryūō
DK
竜
—
Eastern barbarian
東夷
tōi
Ea
東
lion
Enchanted badger
変狸
henri
EB
狸
dove
Enchanted fox
変狐
henko
EF
狐
she-devil
Evil wolf
悪狼
akurō
EW
狼
—
Ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
FL
豹
—
Flying dragon
飛龍
hiryū
FD
龍
dragon king
Flying horse
馬麟
barin
FH
麟
free king
Fragrant elephant
香象
kōzō
FE
象
—
Free demon
奔鬼
honki
Fr
鬼
—
Free king
奔王
honnō
FK
–
—
Free dream-eater
奔獏
honbaku
FT
獏
—
*Furious fiend
奮迅
funjin
FF
迅
—
Gold general
金将
kinshō
G
金
—
Golden bird
金翅
kinshi
GB
翅
—
Great dragon
大龍
dairyū
GD
大
—
*Great elephant
大象
taizō
GE
–
—
Dai dai shogi
480 Hook mover
鉤行
kōgyō
HM 行
—
Howling dog
࠵犬 † kiken
HD
࠵
—
Iron general
鉄将
tesshō
I
鐵
—
Kirin
麒麟
kirin
Kr
麒
great dragon
Lance
香車
kyōsha
L
香
—
Left chariot
左車
sasha
LC
–
—
Left general
左将
sashō
LG
–
—
Lion
獅子
shishi
Ln
獅
furious fiend
Lion dog
狛犬
komainu
LD
狛
great elephant
Long-nosed goblin 天狗
tengu
Lo
天
—
*Mountain witch
山母
sambo
MW 母
—
Neighboring king
近王
kinnō
NK
近
standard bearer
Northern barbarian 北狄
hokuteki
No
北
fragrant elephant
Old kite
古鵄
kotetsu
OK
古
long-nosed goblin
Old rat
老鼠
rōso
OR
鼠
wizard stork
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
p
歩
—
Phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
Ph
鳳
golden bird
Poisonous snake
毒蛇
dokuja
Po
蛇
hook mover
Prancing stag
踊鹿
yōroku
PS
鹿
square mover
Racing chariot
走車
sōsha
Ra
走
—
Reverse chariot
反車
hensha
Rv
反
—
Right chariot
右車
usha
RC
–
—
Right general
右将
ushō
RG
–
—
Rook
飛車
hisha
R
飛
—
Rushing bird
行鳥
gyōchō
RB
鳥
free demon
Savage tiger
猛虎
mōko
ST
虎
—
She-devil
夜叉
yasha
SD
叉
—
Side mover
横行
ōgyō
SM
横
—
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
S
銀
—
Southern barbarian 南蛮
namban
So
南
white elephant
Square mover
方行
hōgyō
Sq
方
—
Standard bearer
前旗
zenki
SB
前
—
Stone general
石将
sekishō
St
石
—
Vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
VM 竪
—
Violent bear
猛熊
mōyū
VB
熊
—
Violent ox
猛牛
mōgyū
VO
牛
—
Water buffalo
水牛
suigyū
WB 水
free dream-eater
Western barbarian
西戎
seijū
We
西
lion dog
White elephant
白象
hakuzō
WE
–
—
Dai dai shogi
481 White tiger
白虎
byakko
WT
–
—
*Wizard stork
仙鶴
senkaku
WS
仙
—
Wood general
木将
mokushō W
木
—
† The first kanji of Howling Dog is not supported by Unicode. It is a combined 口 and 奇.
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of one player's pieces. The way one player sees their own pieces is the same way the opposing player will see their pieces. Board layout HD p
p
p
p
p
p
HD p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
p
LC SM VO AB EW VB FL ST SB ST FL VB EW AB VO SM RC BD FE
No We
VM
EF
WB
Rv OK
Ln OR PS
CS
Ph
L
SD Ra DH
Fr
FK LG
Lo
W
St
I
C
GB
C
S
GD
S
G
NK
G
K
I
St
W
FH
Ea
So WE WT
EB
B
Kr RB FD BM LD
RG FT DK
Sq
R
Po
Rv
Dv HM
L
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally correct.) A move consists of moving a piece on the board and potentially promoting the piece. Each of these options is detailed below.
Promotion Unusually for a large-board shogi variant, only a minority of pieces (20 of 64) are able to promote. The rule for promotion in these larger games is different from smaller board variants. A piece promotes at the end of its first move to make a capture. Promotion has the effect of changing how the piece moves (see the table above for what each piece promotes to), and is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion for pieces able to do so is both compulsory and permanent. This is very different from smaller shogi variants, where pieces promote when they cross a promotion zone (the enemy camp), and where promotion is optional. The dots on the dai dai shogi board that would represent promotion zones in other games only function as placement guides for the initial setup of the two camps. Most promoting pieces promote to a piece that exists in the initial setup of the board. However, such a promoted piece cannot then promote a second time as its namesake does. For example, a lion promotes to a furious fiend. However, while an eastern barbarian promotes to a lion on its first capturing move, it does not further promote to a furious fiend on its second. Rather, it remains a lion for the rest of the game. This should be obvious from the game pieces, which only have two sides. If a piece which is only able to move forward (a pawn, lance, stone general, wood general, or iron general) reaches the far rank, it is unable to move further and must remain there until captured.
Dai dai shogi
Movement and capture An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The lion, lion dog, and furious fiend are exceptions, in that they do not move, or are not required to move, in a straight line. If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must remain there until captured. This applies to the pawn, lance, stone general, wood general, and iron general. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) Limited ranging pieces Some pieces can move along a limited number (2, 3, or 5) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces (see below). Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the lion, kirin, phoenix, and possibly the poisonous snake. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. Hook moves (changing tack) The hook mover and long-nosed goblin (tengu) can move any number of squares along a straight line, as a normal ranging piece, but may also abruptly change tack left or right by 90° at any one place along the route, and then continue as a ranging piece. Turning a corner like this is optional. The range covered by a hook move is the equivalent of two moves by a rook, or two moves by a bishop, depending the piece. However, a hook move is functionally a single move: The piece cannot capture twice in one move, nor may it capture and then move on. It must stop before an intervening piece (unless it first changes direction to avoid it), and must stop when it captures, just like any other ranging piece. It can only change direction once per move.
482
Dai dai shogi
483
Lion moves (multiple captures) The lion, lion dog, and furious fiend have sequential multiple-capture abilities, called "lion moves". The details of these powerful moves are described for the lion, below.
Individual pieces In the diagrams below, the different types of moves are coded by symbol and by color: Blue for step moves, yellow for jumps, green for multiple capture, and gray for range moves, as follows: Notation ○
Steps a limited number of squares along a straight line.
☆
Jumps to this square, bypassing any intervening piece.
!
Igui (capture without moving). Counts as two steps.
☆
May jump directly to this square, or reach it through a multiple-step move.
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares
─ ＼ ／ ✕
May turn 90° at this square.
┼
Piece names with a grey background are present at the start of the game; the four with a blue background only appear with promotion. King (challenging) 玉将 gyokushō
○
•
○
○
○ 玉
○
○
○
○
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Promoting piecesLong-nosed goblin 天狗 tengu ✕
✕ ✕
✕ ✕
✕ ✕
•
○
✕
○ 天
○
✕
✕
○
✕ ✕
Hook move: The tengu can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, then (optionally) make a 90° turn and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular diagonal direction. It may only change directions once per move.
•
Step: It can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions.
Dai dai shogi
484 Old kite 古鵄 kotetsu Two different movements claimed for the old kite ○ ○
○
○ ○ 古
○ ○ ○
○ ○
English sources This is how Japanese describes the move in tai shogi. The two games normally have the same moves. • •
Limited range: The old kite can step one or two squares in one of the four orthogonals. Step: It can step one square diagonally forward. ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
○
○
／ 古
○
○
Japanese Wikipedia • •
Range: The old kite can move any number of free squares diagonally forward. Limited range: It can step one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Either way, the old kite promotes to a tengu (above). Great elephant 大象 taizō │ ○
─
─
／ ／
│
○
○
│
─
大象
─
／
│
＼
│ │
○ ─
─
＼ ＼
Japanese Wikipedia • •
Range: The great elephant can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions, or diagonally backward. Limited range: It can move up to two free squares along either of the forward diagonals.
Dai dai shogi
485
○
○ ○
○
○ ○
○
○
○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 大象 ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
English-language sources • First limited range: The great elephant can move up to five free squares directly sideways or diagonally backward. • Second limited range: It can move up to three free squares directly forward or backward, or diagonally forward. The great elephant does not exist except as a promoted lion dog (below). Lion dog 狛犬 komainu ☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
☆ ☆ ! 狛 ! ☆ ☆
☆
! ☆ ☆
☆ ! ! ☆ ☆ ! ☆ ☆
Japanese Wikipedia •
Lion move/triple capture: The lion dog can make a three-step lion move along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. That is, unlike the lion itself, but like the soaring eagle and horned falcon, it is restricted to moving along a straight line and cannot move to the in-between squares. This lion power includes jumping, igui, and skipping a turn. • •
A piece may be captured on all three steps. The lion dog may capture a piece on the first and second square, and then retreat to the first square. Or it may snatch a piece off the first square as in normal igui. (Note however that it may not then continue in the opposite direction: it is restricted to one orthogonal or diagonal.) • It may jump to the second square, and then continue to the third square, capturing up to two pieces. Or it may jump directly to the third square. • It is not required to take all three steps. As it finishes a capturing move, the lion dog promotes to a great elephant (above).
Dai dai shogi
486
○
○ ○
○
○ ○
○
○ ○ ○ 狛 ○ ○
○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○
○
○
○
○
English-language sources •
Limited range: The lion dog may move up to three squares in any direction. (This makes the promotion to great elephant beneficial, rather than a demotion as it is in the version above.) As it finishes a capturing move, the lion dog promotes to a great elephant (above). Western barbarian 西戎 seijū
○
○
○ ○ 西
○ ○ ○
○
• •
Limited range: The western barbarian can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Step: It can step one square directly forward or backward, or diagonally forward. The western barbarian promotes to a lion dog (above). Fragrant elephant 香象 kōzō ＼
／ ○
＼
○
○
• •
／
＼
○
／
○
象
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
Range: The fragrant elephant can move any number of free squares along either of the forward diagonals. Limited range: It can move one or two squares along any of the other directions (orthogonally, or diagonally backwards). Northern barbarian 北狄 hokuteki
Dai dai shogi
487
○
• •
○ ○
○
○ 北
○
○
○
Limited range: The northern barbarian can move one or two squares diagonally forward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. The northern barbarian promotes to a fragrant elephant (above). Free dream-eater 奔獏 honbaku │
＼
│
＼
○
○
／
│
＼
○
／
│
＼
○
／
／
＼
│
／
○
獏
○
?
│
?
?
│
?
○
○
?
│
?
○
?
│
?
○
?
│
?
Japanese Wikipedia • •
Range: The free dream-eater can move any number of free squares in the two forward diagonal directions, directly forward, or directly backward. Limited range: It can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways.
English-language sources English-language sources show ranging moves along all four diagonals. Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi, which generally has different movements from dai-dai shogi. Water buffalo 水牛 suigyū ＼
／ ○
＼
─
─
／ ／
• •
／
＼
○
／
─
水
─
／
○
＼
○
─
─
＼ ＼
Range: The water buffalo can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions, or orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward.
Dai dai shogi
488 The water buffalo promotes to a free dream-eater (above). Free king 奔王 honnō The free king moves like a queen in Western chess. │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／
＼
│
／
─
奔王
─
／
│
＼
─
│
／
─
＼
│
／
•
／
＼
Range: The free king can move any number of free squares in any of the eight directions, orthogonal or diagonal. Flying horse 馬麟 barin ○
○ ○
○
○
○ 麟
○
○
• •
Limited range: The flying horse can step one or two squares diagonally forward. Step: It can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. The flying horse promotes to a free king (above). Mountain witch 山母 sambo ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
○
／
母 ／ ／ ／
• •
│ │ │
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The mountain witch can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or directly backward; or, Step: It can step one square directly forward. The mountain witch does not exist except as a promoted blind monkey (below). Blind monkey 盲猿 mōen
Dai dai shogi
•
489
○
○
○ 猿
○
○
○
Step: The blind monkey can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions or either orthogonal sideways. The blind monkey promotes to a mountain witch (above). Dove 鳩槃 kyūhan ○
○ ○
○ ○
○ ○
○ ○
○
○ ○ 鳩 ○ ○
○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○
○
○
○
○
• •
○
First limited range: The dove can move one to five squares in one of the four diagonal directions. Second limited range: It can step one or two squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. Enchanted badger 変狸 henri ○ ○ ○ ○ 狸
•
○ ○
Limited range: The enchanted badger can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or sideways. The enchanted badger promotes to a dove (above). Dragon horse 龍馬 ryūme The dragon horse moves as either a bishop or a king.
Dai dai shogi
490
＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
○
／
○
馬
○
／
○
＼
／
＼
／
• •
＼
Range: The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can step one square in any diagonal direction. Cat sword 猫刄 myōjin
○
○ 猫
○
•
○
Step: The cat sword can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted cat sword can only reach half the squares on the board. The cat sword promotes to a dragon horse (above). Racing chariot 走車 sōsha │ │ │ ─
─
─
走
─
○
│
○
─
─
│ │
• •
Range: The racing chariot can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can step one square diagonally behind. Nothing promotes into a racing chariot, but it was included here due to the symmetry of its move with that of the square mover (right). In several English sources the name of this piece is mistranslated as "side chariot". Golden bird 金翅 kinshi
Dai dai shogi
491
○
│ ○
│ ○ │
○ ○ 翅 ○ │ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
│
○
• • •
○
○
│
○
Range: The golden bird can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. 1st limited range: It can move one to three squares along any one of the four diagonals. 2nd limited range: It can move one or two squares directly sideways. Phoenix 鳳凰 hōō ☆
☆ ○ ○ 鳳
○
○ ☆
• •
☆
Step: The phoenix can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions. The phoenix promotes to a golden bird (above). Non-promoting piecesBishop 角行 kakugyō ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
／ 角
／ ／ ／
•
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally or promote, a bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. Left chariot 左車 sasha
Dai dai shogi
492
│
＼
│
＼
│
＼
左車 ○
＼ ＼ ＼
• •
Range: The left chariot can move any number of free squares straight forward, or along the forward left or rear right diagonals. Step: It can step one square directly backward. White tiger 白虎 byakko │
＼
│
＼
○
＼
│
○
白虎
○ ○ ○
│ │ │
• • •
Range: The white tiger can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward, or along the forward left diagonal. Limited range: It can step one or two squares directly sideways. Step: It can step one square diagonally forward to the right. Side mover 横行 ōgyō
○ ─
─
─
横
─
─
─
○
• •
Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares directly sideways. Step: It can move one square directly forward or backward. Howling Dog ࠵犬 kiken
Dai dai shogi
493
│ │ │ ࠵ ○
• •
Range: The howling dog can move any number of free squares directly forward. Step: It can step one square directly backwards. Violent ox 猛牛 mōgyū ○ ○ ○ ○ 牛
○ ○
○ ○
•
Limited range: The violent ox can move one or two squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. Angry boar 嗔猪 shincho
○ ○ 猪
○
○
•
Step: The angry boar can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Left general 左将 sashō
○
○
•
○
○
左将
○
○
○
Step: The left general can move one square in any direction except directly left. It is called the left general because it guards the left side of the board. Gold general 金将 kinshō
Dai dai shogi
494
○
○
○
○ 金
○
○
•
Step: The gold general can step one square in the four orthogonal directions, or diagonally forward, giving it six directions of movement. It cannot move diagonally backward. Silver general 銀将 ginshō
○
○
○
銀 ○
•
○
Step: The silver general can move one square in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward, giving it five directions of movement. Copper general 銅将 dōshō
○
○
○
銅 ○
•
Step: The copper general can move one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four directions of movement. Iron general 鉄将 tesshō
○
○
○
鐵
•
Step: The iron general can move one square forward, either orthogonally or diagonally, giving it three directions of movement. An iron general that reaches the far rank is trapped. Stone general 石将 sekishō
Dai dai shogi
495
○
○ 石
•
Step: The stone general can step one square diagonally forward, giving it two possibilities. A stone general that reaches the far rank is trapped. King (reigning) 王将 ōshō
○
•
○
○
○ 王
○
○
○
○
Step: The king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Hook mover 鉤行 kōgyō ┼ ┼ ┼ ┼
┼
┼
行
┼
┼
┼
┼ ┼ ┼
•
Hook move: The hook mover can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions, then (optionally) make a 90° turn and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular orthogonal direction. It may only change directions once per move. Poisonous snake 毒蛇 dokuja Two different movements claimed for the poison snake ☆ ○ 蛇 ☆
○ ☆
English sources • •
Jump: The poisonous snake can jump to the second square directly forward or diagonally backward. Step: It can step one square to either side.
Dai dai shogi
496
○ ○
○
○ ○ 蛇
○ ○ ○
○
Japanese Wikipedia Japanese Wikipedia gives the same move for this piece in both daidai shogi and tai shogi, unlike the old kite. • •
Limited range: The poisonous snake can step one or two squares directly forward or to either side. Step: It can step one square diagonally forward or directly backward. Either way, the poisonous snake promotes to a hook mover (above). Furious fiend 奮迅 funjin ○
○
○
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
○ ☆ !
迅
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
○
! ☆ ○
○
○
• Lion move: The furious fiend can move as a lion anywhere within a two-square distance, including jumps, double capture, igui, and passing a turn. • Limited range: It can move (but not jump) up to three free squares along one of the eight diagonals or orthogonals. The furious fiend does not exist except as a promoted lion (below). Lion 獅子 shishi
•
☆
☆ ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ! 獅
! ☆
☆ !
!
! ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
Double move: The lion can step in any direction, and capture, up to twice a turn. The two steps do not need to be in the same direction, so this move is equivalent to two turns of a king. As a piece does not promote until its turn ends, an unpromoted lion has a chance for a double capture. •
•
☆ ☆
By moving back to its starting square, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". Jump: A lion can jump anywhere within a distance of two squares: That is, anywhere it could reach in two step-moves on an empty board, though of course it cannot land on a square occupied by a friendly piece. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess.
Dai dai shogi •
497 A jump can be made in place, effectively passing a turn without moving. This is traditionally indicated by tapping the lion and leaving it in place. As it finishes a capturing move, the lion promotes to a furious fiend (above). Eastern barbarian 東夷 tōi ○ ?
○
?
? 東
○
○ ○
English-language sources • •
Limited range: The eastern barbarian can move one or two squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. (Japanese Wikipedia only attributes this move to the piece in taikyoku shogi, which generally has different moves from dai-dai shogi.)
Japanese Wikipedia • •
Limited range: The eastern barbarian can move one or two squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can step one square directly to the right. (This makes the eastern and western barbarians asymmetrical, unlike the symmetrical northern and southern barbarians. However, ) The eastern barbarian promotes to a lion (above). White elephant 白象 hakuzō ○
○
／ ／
• •
○
○
○
○
○
○
白象
○
／
○
＼
○
○
＼ ＼
Range: The white elephant can move any number of free squares diagonally backward. Limited range: It can move one or two square in one of the other six diagonal or orthogonal directions. Southern barbarian 南蛮 namban
Dai dai shogi
498
○
○
○ 南
○
○
○
○
• •
○
Limited range: The southern barbarian can move one or two squares diagonally backward. Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. The southern barbarian promotes to a white elephant (above). Free demon 奔鬼 honki ○
＼
○
＼
─
─
／
○
＼
─
／
○
＼
─
／
／
＼
○
／
─
鬼
─
?
○
?
?
○
?
─
─
?
○
?
─
?
○
?
─
?
○
?
Japanese Wikipedia • •
Range: The free demon can move any number of free squares in the two forward diagonal directions, or directly sideways. Limited range: It can move one to five squares directly forward or backward.
English-language sources English-language sources show ranging moves along all four diagonals. Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi, which generally has different movements from dai-dai shogi. Rushing bird 行鳥 gyōchō │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／
•
／
＼
│
／
─
鳥
─
／ ／
／
─
─
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The rushing bird can move any number of free squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backwards.
Dai dai shogi
499 The rushing bird promotes to a free demon (above). Standard bearer 前旗 zenki │
＼
│
＼
○
／ ／
＼
│
／
○
前
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
○
•
Range: The standard bearer can move any number of free squares along any of the three forward directions (diagonal or orthogonal). • Limited range: It can step one or two squares along any of the other directions (orthogonally sideways, diagonally backwards, or directly backwards). Neighboring king 近王 kinnō
○
•
○
○
○ 近
○
○
○
?
Step: The neighbor king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal [except directly backwards?]. Note: English-language sources state that the neighbor king can step in any direction except directly backward, like the drunk elephant in other shogi variants. However, Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi, which generally has different movements from dai-dai shogi. The neighboring king promotes to a standard bearer (above). Wizard stork 仙鶴 senkaku │
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
?
／ ／
仙 ／ ／
○
＼ ＼
／
• •
＼
Range: The wizard stork can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward; or, Step: It can step one square directly backward. The wizard stork does not exist except as a promoted old rat (below). Note: Japanese Wikipedia does not show the forward move for this piece in dai dai shogi, though it does have it in other versions of the game. This may be an error, as it would be unsymmetrical with the mountain witch, and it would make this the only piece that moves differently in dai dai and maka dai dai shogi. Old rat老鼠 rōso
Dai dai shogi
500
○
○ ○
○ 鼠 ○ ○
• Limited range: The old rat can move one or two squares along a forward diagonal or the rear orthogonal, giving it three directions of movement. The old rat has the same move as the enchanted fox (see below), but the old rat promotes to a wizard stork (above). She-devil 夜叉 yasha ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○
○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 叉 ○ ○
○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○
○
○ ○ ○
• •
First limited range: The she-devil can move one to five squares along one of the four orthogonal directions. Second limited range: It can step one or two squares along one of the four diagonal directions. Enchanted fox 変狐 henko ○
○ ○
○ 狐 ○ ○
•
Limited range: The enchanted fox can move one or two squares along a forward diagonal or the rear orthogonal, giving it three directions of movement. This is the same move as the old rat (see above), but the enchanted fox promotes to a she-devil (above). Dragon king 龍王 ryūō The dragon king moves as either a rook or a king.
Dai dai shogi
501
│ │
─
─
○
│
○
─
竜
─
○
│
○
─
─
│ │
• •
Range: The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Step: It can step one square in any orthogonal direction. Flying dragon 飛龍 hiryū ○
○ ○
○ 龍
○
○
○
•
○
Step: The flying dragon can move one or two squares along one of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted flying dragon can only reach half the squares on the board. The flying dragon promotes to a dragon king (above). Square mover 方行 hōgyō │ │
─
─
○
│
○
─
方
─
─
─
│ │ │
• •
Range: The square mover can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions. Step: It can step one square on either forward diagonal. Prancing stag 踊鹿 yōroku
Dai dai shogi
502
○
○
○ ○ 鹿 ○
• •
○ ○ ○ ○
Limited range: The prancing stag can move one or two squares directly sideways. Step: It can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward. It cannot move directly backwards. The prancing stag promotes to a square mover (above). Great dragon 大龍 dairyū ○
○ ○
─
─
○
○
○
○
○
─
大
─
○
○
○
○
○
─
○
○
• • •
─
○
Range: The great dragon can move any number of free squares directly to the side. 1st limited range: It can move one to three squares along any one of the four diagonals. 2nd limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward. This is the description in English-language sources and also how Japanese Wikipedia describes the great dragon as a promoted kirin. However, Japanese Wikipedia describes the starting great dragon as moving as shown in tai shogi. Promoted pieces move the same as their unpromoted namesakes, so one of these is in error. The weight of the evidence—the English-language sources, half of Japanese Wikipedia descriptions, and symmetry with the golden bird—point to the description given here. Kirin 麒麟 kirin ☆ ○ ☆
○ ☆
麒 ○
○ ☆
• •
Step: The kirin can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted kirin can only reach half the squares on the board. The kirin promotes to a great dragon (above). Rook 飛車 hisha
Dai dai shogi
503
│ │ │ ─
─
─
飛
─
─
─
│ │ │
•
Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Right chariot 右車 usha │
／
│
／
│
／
右車 ／
○
／ ／
• Range: The right chariot can move any number of free squares straight forward, or along the forward right or rear left diagonals. • Step: It can step one square directly backward. Blue dragon 青龍 seiryū ／ ○
─
─
／
○
○
／
─
青
─
─
─
○ ○
• • •
Range: The blue dragon can move any number of free squares directly to either side, or along the forward right diagonal. Limited range: It can step one or two squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can step one square diagonally forward to the left. Vertical mover 竪行 shugyō
Dai dai shogi
504
│ │ │ ○ 竪
○
│ │ │
• •
Range: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Step: It can move one square directly sideways. Reverse chariot 反車 hensha │ │ │ 反 │ │ │
•
Range: The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward, giving it two directions of movement. Lance 香車 kyōsha │ │ │ 香
•
Range: The lance can move any number of free squares directly forward, giving it only one direction of movement. A lance that reaches the far rank is trapped. Violent bear 猛熊 mōyū
Dai dai shogi
505
○
• •
○ ○
○
○ 熊
○
Limited range: The violent bear can move one or two squares diagonally forward, or, Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways. Right general 右将 ushō
○
○
○
○ 右将 ○
•
○
○
Step: The right general can step one square in any direction except directly right. It is called the right general because it guards the right side of the board. Ferocious leopard 猛豹 mōhyō
○
○
○
豹 ○
•
○
○
Step: The leopard can step one square in the four diagonal directions, or directly forward or backward, giving it six directions of movement. That is, it can move to any of the six adjacent squares ahead or behind it. Evil wolf 悪狼 akurō
○
•
○
○
○ 狼
○
Step: The evil wolf can step one square orthogonally sideways or forward, or diagonally forward. Savage tiger 猛虎 mōko ?
○ ○
○
? ○
虎 ○ ○
English-language sources • •
Limited range: The savage tiger can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward Step: It can step one square diagonally forward.
Japanese Wikipedia •
Limited range: The savage tiger can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward.
Dai dai shogi
506 Wood general 木将 mokushō ○
○ ○
○ 木
•
Limited range: The wood general can move one or two squares along a forward diagonal. A wood general that reaches the far rank is trapped. Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō
○ 歩
•
Step: A pawn can step one square directly forward. A pawn that reaches the far rank is trapped.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king; the king is said to be in check. If a player's king is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king out of check, the checking move is also a mate, and effectively wins the game. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king wins the game. In practice this rarely happens; a player will resign when loss is inevitable and the king will be taken on the opponent's next move (as in International Chess) because of the tradition that it is seen as an embarrassment to lose. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play (sennichite), then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.)
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for dai dai shogi. A typical example is P-8g. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. (e.g., +BM for a mountain witch (promoted blind monkey). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 17q being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a lion captures by 'igūi’, the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol '!'. If a double capture is made, than it is added after the first capture.
Dai dai shogi If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, CSx7c= indicates a cat sword capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
Notes • 'Sho Shogi Zushiki', Nishzawa Teijin, 1694
External links • Shogi Net (http://www.shogi.net/shogi.html) • history.chess/Daidai shōgi (http://history.chess.free.fr/daidaishogi.htm) • DaiDai Shogi games and strategy. (http://www.luckydog.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/games/shogi/daidai.htm)
Maka dai dai shogi Warning: This article is based on Western descriptions, which contain many errors. Eventually it should be verified with Japanese Wikipedia, which references the Edo-era sources. Maka daidai shōgi (摩訶大大将棋 or 摩大大象戯 'ultra-huge chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates back to the 15th century and is based on dai dai shogi and the earlier dai shogi. The three Edo-era sources are not congruent in their descriptions of the pieces not found in smaller games. Apart from its size and number of pieces, the major difference from these smaller games is the "promotion by capture" rule. A more compact modern proposal for the game is called hishigata shogi.
Rules of the game Objective The objective is to capture the opponent's king or emperor. If a prince is in play, it too must be captured. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after being captured.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or sente and gote), play on a board composed of squares in a grid of 19 ranks (rows) by 19 files (columns) with a total of 361 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 96 wedge-shaped pieces of 50 different types. In all, the players must remember 74 different moves. The pieces are of slightly different sizes, from largest to smallest (or roughly most to least powerful) they are:
507
Maka dai dai shogi
508
•
1 King
•
2 Old rats
•
2 Evil Wolves
•
1 Hook mover
•
1 Right chariot
•
2 Iron generals
•
1 Capricorn
•
1 Left chariot
•
2 Stone generals
•
1 Free king
•
2 Vertical movers
•
2 Reverse chariots
•
2 Dragon kings
•
2 Side movers
•
2 Lances
•
2 Dragon horses
•
1 Phoenix
•
2 Earth generals
•
2 Rooks
•
1 Kirin
•
2 Go betweens
•
2 Bishops
•
2 Donkeys
•
2 Blind bears
•
2 Side fliers
•
2 Knights
•
1 Chinese cock
•
1 Lion
•
1 Drunken elephant
•
1 Old monkey
•
1 Lion dog
•
2 Blind tigers
•
2 Angry boars
•
1 She-devil
•
2 Ferocious leopards •
2 Cat swords
•
1 Wrestler
•
1 Reclining dragon
•
1 Coiled serpent
•
1 Guardian of the Gods •
2 Gold generals
•
1 Dark spirit
•
1 Buddhist devil
•
2 Silver generals
•
1 Deva
•
2 Violent oxen
•
2 Copper generals
•
19 Pawns
•
2 Flying dragons
•
2 Tile generals
Many of the English-language names are chosen to correspond to their rough equivalents in Western chess, not necessarily as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two Japanese characters marked on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are one or two other characters, often in a different color (e.g., red instead of black); this reverse side is used to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to. Of the 50 kinds of pieces, 21 promote to gold, 26 promote to new pieces (though some move like starting pieces, e.g. the free cat moves like a bishop, the free iron & gopher like a reverse chariot); and 3 do not promote (free king, dragon king, and dragon horse).
Maka dai dai pieces (arranged by setup position) Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Promotes to
King
玉将
gyokushō *Emperor
自在天王
jizai tennō
Deva
提婆
daiba
*Teaching king
教王
kyōō
Dark spirit
無明
mumyō
*Buddhist spirit
法性
hōsei
Gold general
金将
kinshō
*Free gold
奔金
honkin
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
*Free silver
奔銀
hongin
Copper general
銅将
dōshō
*Free copper
奔銅
hondō
Iron general
鉄将
tesshō
*Free iron
奔鉄
hontetsu
Tile general
瓦将
gashō
*Free tile
奔瓦
honga
Stone general
石将
sekishō
*Free stone
奔石
honseki
Earth general
土将
doshō
*Free earth
奔土
hondo
Lance
香車
kyōsha
Gold
Maka dai dai shogi
509 Drunken elephant
酔象
suizō
*Prince
王子
ōji
Blind tiger
盲虎
mōko
*Free tiger
奔虎
honko
Ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
*Free leopard
奔豹
honpyō
Coiled serpent
蟠蛇
banja
*Free serpent
奔蛇
honja
Reclining dragon
臥龍
garyū
*Free dragon
奔龍
honryū
Chinese cock
淮鶏
waikei
*Wizard stork
仙鶴
senkaku
Old monkey
古猿
koen
*Mountain witch 山母
sambo
Cat sword
猫刄
myōjin
*Free cat
奔猫
honmyō
Reverse chariot
反車
hensha
Gold
Lion
獅子
shishi
*Furious fiend
奮迅
funshin
Kirin
麒麟
kirin
*Great dragon
大龍
dairyū
Phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
*Golden bird
金翅
kinshi
Evil wolf
悪狼
akurō
*Free wolf
奔狼
honrō
Blind bear
盲熊
mōyū
*Free bear
奔熊
honyū
Angry boar
嗔猪
shincho
*Free boar
奔猪
honcho
Old rat
老鼠
rōso
*Bat
蝙蝠
kōmori
Lion dog
狛犬
komainu
Gold
Wrestler
力士
rikishi
Gold
Guardian of the Gods 金剛
kongō
Gold
Buddhist devil
羅刹
rasetsu
Gold
She-devil
夜叉
yasha
Gold
Flying dragon
飛龍
hiryū
Gold
Violent ox
猛牛
mōgyū
Gold
Knight
桂馬
keima
Gold
Donkey
驢馬
roba
Gold
Free king
奔王
hōnnō
—
Capricorn
摩羯
makatsu
Gold
Hook mover
鉤行
kōgyō
Gold
Dragon king
龍王
ryūō
—
Dragon horse
龍馬
ryūme
—
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
Gold
Vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
Gold
Side flier
横飛
ōhi
Gold
Side mover
横行
ōgyō
Gold
Left chariot
左車
sasha
Gold
Right chariot
右車
usha
Gold
Rook
飛車
hisha
Gold
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
Gold
Maka dai dai shogi
510 Go between
仲人
chūnin
*Free goer
honnin
奔人
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of one player's pieces. The way one player sees their own pieces is the same way the opposing player will see their pieces. Board layout
仲 歩
歩
歩
歩
歩
飛 左 横 横飛 竪 驢
桂 鼠
反
歩
歩
歩
角
馬
龍 摩 奔
牛 猪
猫
香 土 石
仲
熊
鉄
歩
飛龍 羅 力 狛
鶏 瓦
歩
銅
歩
歩
鉤 龍
歩
歩
歩
馬
角
竪 横飛 横 右 飛
剛 叉 飛龍
狼 麒 獅
鳳 狼
蛇
豹 虎 象
虎 豹
臥
銀
金 提 玉
無 金
銀
歩
歩
牛
歩
桂
熊
猪
驢 鼠
猿 銅
歩
猫
鉄
瓦
反
石 土 香
Board layout
GB p R
p
p
p
LC SM SF VM
Dn
N
RV
AB CS
E
St
p B
p
BB
I
p
FD BD
CC T
p
p
p
p
p
p
DH DK Ca FK HM DK DH
VO
OR
L
p
GB
W LD GG SD FD
EW Kr Ln Co
C
S
B
Ph
EW FL RD
G
G
K
DS
S
p
p
VO
Dn
N AB
I
OR CS
T
Legend AB: Angry Boar
B: Bishop
BB: Blind Bear
BD: Buddhist Devil
BT: Blind Tiger
C: Copper General
Ca: Capricorn
CC: Chinese Cock
Co: Coiled Serpent
CS: Cat Sword
Dv: Deva
DE: Drunk Elephant
DH: Dragon Horse
DK: Dragon King
Dn: Donkey
DS: Dark Spirit
E: Earth General
EW: Evil Wolf
FD: Flying Dragon
FK: Free King
FL: Ferocious Leopard
G: Gold General
GB: Go-between
GG: Guardian of the Gods
HM: Hook Mover
I: Iron General
K: King
Kr: Kirin
L: Lance
LC: Left Chariot
LD: Lion Dog
Ln: Lion
N: Knight
OM: Old Monkey
OR: Old Rat
p: Pawn
Ph: Phoenix
R: Rook
RC: Right Chariot
RD: Reclining Dragon RV: Reverse Chariot
p
R
OM C
p
VM SF SM RC
BB
FL BT DE BT Dv
p
S: Silver General
St
RV E
L
Maka dai dai shogi
511 SD: She-devil
SF: Side Flier
St: Stone General
SM: Side Mover
T: Tile General
VM: Vertical Mover
VO: Violent Ox
W: Wrestler
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are not literally correct.) A move consists of moving a piece on the board and potentially promoting the piece. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture Most pieces in the game move in a unique manner. The kings, drunken elephants, blind tigers, ferocious leopards, reclining dragons, Chinese cocks, old monkeys, evil wolves, generals, angry boars, cat swords, coiled serpents, dark spirits, Devas, go betweens and pawns only move one square at a time. If an opponent's piece occupies a square that is a possible destination for the moving piece, the opponent's piece may be captured by placing the moving piece on that square, and removing the opponent's piece from the board. If a friendly piece (that is, a piece controlled by the same player) occupies the square, the moving piece may not move in that direction. The lion dog, she-devil, wrestler, guardian of the Gods, Buddhist devil, violent ox, flying dragon and old rat can move along a limited number of free squares in certain directions. The lion, kirin, phoenix, donkey and knight jump, that is, they can move over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe. The free king, dragon king, dragon horse, chariots, rook, bishop, side flier, movers and lance can move any number of squares along a straight line, limited by the edge of the board. If an opponent's piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square, and removing it from the board. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The hook mover and Capricorn can move any number of squares along a straight line, then any number of squares along a perpendicular straight line limited by the edge of the board. If an opponent's piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square, and removing it from the board. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. Although they have the ability to move in two directions in one move, they are not required to. These pieces cannot move unless they make a capture. The pawn, lance, stone general, iron general, and knight can only move forward. Therefore if one reaches the furthest rank (or the furthest two ranks in the case of the knight), it is unable to move further, it must remain there until captured. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, or to the side, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The lion and knight are exceptions.
Maka dai dai shogi First rank • King 玉将 • The king can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • Deva 提婆[1] • The Deva can move one square orthogonally left. • It can move one square diagonally forward. • It can move one square diagonally backward to the right. • Dark spirit 無明[2] • The dark spirit can move one square orthogonally right. • It can move one square diagonally forward. • It can move one square diagonally backward to the left. • Gold general 金将 • A gold general can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or • One square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities. • It cannot move diagonally backward. • Silver general 銀将 • A silver general can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or • One square straight forward, giving it five possibilities. • Copper general 銅将 • The copper general can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or • It can move one square diagonally forward. • Iron general 鉄将 • The iron general can move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally. • Tile general 瓦将 • The tile general can move one square diagonally forward or orthogonally backward. • Stone general 石将 • The stone general can move one square diagonally forward. • Because it cannot move orthogonally or backward, a stone general can only reach less than half the squares on the board. • Earth general 土将 and go-between 仲人 • The earth general and go-between can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • These pieces and their promotions have the same range of movement, thus it is unnecessary to give them separate names. The only differences are the names and placement on the starting setup. • Lance 香車 • A lance can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward.
512
Maka dai dai shogi Second rank • Drunken elephant 醉象 • The drunken elephant can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except orthogonally backward. • Blind tiger 盲虎 • The blind tiger can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except orthogonally forward. • Ferocious leopard 猛豹 • The ferocious leopard can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or • It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Coiled serpent 蟠蛇[3] • The coiled serpent can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally backward. • Reclining dragon 臥龍[4] • The reclining dragon can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions or diagonally backward. • Chinese cock 准鶏[5] • The Chinese cock can move one square orthogonally sideways or backward; or diagonally forward. • Old monkey 古猿[6] • The old monkey can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions or orthogonally backward. • Cat sword 猫刄 • The cat sword can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. • Because it cannot move orthogonally, a cat sword can only reach half the squares on the board. • Reverse Chariot 反車 • The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. Third rank • Lion 獅子 • The lion can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal; one or two times in one turn. That is, it can move in another direction after its first move. • It can capture on each move. • It can return to the square it started from after its first move, allowing the player to "skip" a turn. • It can capture one piece on any adjacent square without moving ("igūi") during a turn. • It can jump over an adjacent square and onto the second square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • It can also jump at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal; amounting to one square orthogonally forward, sideways or backward plus one square diagonally in that direction, in a single motion. • The restrictions for capturing a lion in chu shogi do not apply in maka dai dai shogi. • Kirin 麒麟 • A Kirin can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or • It can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. • Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted Kirin can only reach half the squares on the board. • Phoenix 鳳凰 • The phoenix can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or • It can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions. • Evil Wolf 悪狼
513
Maka dai dai shogi • The evil wolf can move one square orthogonally sideways or forward; or diagonally forward. • Blind bear 盲熊[7] • The blind bear can move any number of free squares orthogonally backward; or • It can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. • Angry boar 嗔猪 • The angry boar can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. • Old rat 老鼠[8] • The old rat may have moved one or two squares diagonally forward or orthogonally backward. Fourth rank • Lion dog 狛犬 • The lion dog has a triple-step move in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. However, unlike the lion, it is constrained to one of these directions. It can jump, and need not take all three steps: • It can move one, two, or three squares in any one direction, potentially capturing pieces on each square. • It can snatch a piece from an adjacent square without moving (or, equivalently, move to an adjacent square and return) (igui). • It can jump an adjacent square, and optionally continue to the third square in that direction, potentially capturing twice. • It can jump two squares, landing on the third in that direction. • Wrestler 力士[9] • The wrestler can move up to three squares in one of the four diagonal directions, or • It can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Guardian of the Gods 金剛 • The guardian of the Gods can move up to three squares in one of the four orthogonal directions; or • It can move one square diagonally forward. • Buddhist devil 羅刹[10] • The Buddhist devil can move up to three squares diagonally forward; or • It can move one square orthogonally sideways or backward. • She-devil 夜叉[11] • The she-devil can move one or two squares in one of the four diagonal directions; or • It can move up to five squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. • Flying dragon 飛龍 • The flying dragon can move one or two squares in one of the four diagonal directions. • Because it cannot move orthogonally, a flying dragon can only reach half the squares on the board. • Violent ox 猛牛 • The violent ox can move one or two squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. • Knight 桂馬 • A knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. • The knight ignores intervening pieces on the way to its destination, though its destination square must of course be either empty, or occupied by an opponent's piece (in which case the opponent's piece is captured), just as with any other moving piece. • Donkey 驢馬[12]
514
Maka dai dai shogi • The donkey can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or • It can jump to the second square orthogonally forward or backward. Fifth rank • Free king 奔王 • The free king can move any number of free squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • Capricorn 摩羯 (摩ĩ • The Capricorn can make the equivalent of two moves of a bishop: It can move any number of free squares in one of the four diagonal directions, then any number of free squares in a perpendicular direction. • It is not required to make a perpendicular move. • It cannot move unless it makes a capture. • It may only capture once, and cannot continue after capturing.[13] • Hook mover 鉤行 (釣行, 鈎行) • The hook mover can make the equivalent of two moves of a rook: It can move any number of free squares in one of the four orthogonal directions, then any number of free squares in a perpendicular direction. • It is not required to make a perpendicular move. • It cannot move unless it makes a capture. • It may only capture once, and cannot continue after capturing.[13] • Dragon king 龍王, 竜王 ryūō • A dragon king can move any number of free squares in one of the four orthogonal directions; or • It can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. • Dragon horse 龍馬, 竜馬 ryūma, ryōma, ryūme • A dragon horse can move any number of free squares in one of the four diagonal directions; or • It can move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. • Bishop 角行 • A bishop can move any number of free squares in one of the four diagonal directions. • Because it cannot move orthogonally, a bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. • Vertical mover 竪行 • The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward; or • It can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Side flier 横飛[14] • The side flier can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or • It can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. • Side mover 横行 • The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or • It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Left chariot 左車 • • • •
The left chariot can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward. It can move any number of free squares diagonally forward to the left. It can move any number of free squares diagonally backward to the right. It can move one square orthogonally backward.
• Right chariot 右車 • The right chariot can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward.
515
Maka dai dai shogi • It can move any number of free squares diagonally forward to the right. • It can move any number of free squares diagonally backward to the left. • It can move one square orthogonally backward. • Rook 飛車 • The rook can move any number of free squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. Front ranks • Pawn • The pawn can move one square forward. • Go between 仲人 • The go between is identical to the earth general: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward.
Promotion Pieces that can promote only have the option to promote when they capture an unpromoted enemy piece. If a piece captures a promoted piece, it must promote if able. Promotion is indicated by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the character for the promoted piece. There are no promotion zones; dots on the board that usually represent promotion zones are present after the sixth rank only as a placement guide for initial setup. Promoting a piece has the effect of changing how that piece moves. (See above for what each piece promotes to.) Pieces which are already promoted cannot promote again, except as follows: Any piece, promoted or not, that captures a Deva or Teaching king (a promoted Deva) promotes to a Teaching king. This is effected by replacing it on the board with the captured piece. Similarly, any piece that captures a Dark spirit or Buddhist spirit (a promoted Dark spirit) promotes to a Buddhist spirit. Pieces on the 4th, 5th, and 6th ranks which promote, as well as the outside pieces of the 1st and 2nd ranks, promote (or perhaps demote) to Gold. New powers that appear as a result of promotion of the other pieces are as follows: • Twelve of the pieces in the first and second ranks, as well as the go-between, become "free" when promoted, meaning that they move in the same directions as in their unpromoted state, but are free to move an unlimited number of squares in those directions. They are: • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Free gold 奔金 Free silver 奔銀 Free copper 奔銅 Free iron 奔鉄 Free tile 奔瓦 Free stone 奔石 Free earth 奔土 Free tiger 奔虎 Free leopard 奔豹 Free serpent 奔蛇 Free (reclining) dragon 奔龍 ?[15] Free cat 奔猫 Free goer/gopher 奔人
Pieces with entirely new powers are: • Emperor 自在天王[16] • The emperor can jump to any unprotected square on the board. • It can jump to a protected square if a prince is in play (not recommended).
516
Maka dai dai shogi • It cannot capture a protected piece, (e.g., placing it in check with a capture, whether or not a prince is in play) even if this move will win the game. • If a prince is not in play and both players have an emperor, then the emperor cannot move to a square that is not protected by a friendly piece. That is, the emperor must be protected from the other emperor at all times. • Teaching king 教王 • The teaching king can move as either a lion dog or as a free king.[17] However, in Western descriptions, this has been said to be a modern innovation,[18] with the traditional move said to simply be that of a free king. • It can move as a free king, free-ranging in any one direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • It has a triple-capture move in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • Buddhist spirit 法性 • The Buddhist spirit can move as a lion or as a free king.[19] • It can move as a free king, free-ranging in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • It has a double-capture move in any combination of directions, orthogonal or diagonal. • Prince 王子, 太子 • The prince can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • If a king or emperor is in play, it may move into check (not recommended). • Wizard stork 仙鶴 • The wizard stork can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally forward; or • It can move one square orthogonally backward. • Mountain witch 山母 • The mountain witch can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally backward; or • It can move one square orthogonally forward.[20] • Furious fiend 奮迅 • The furious fiend can move as a lion or as a lion dog.[21] • Great dragon 大龍 • The great dragon can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways. • It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward. • It can move one, two or three squares in the four diagonal directions. • Golden bird 金翅 • The golden bird can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. • It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • It can move one, two or three squares in the four diagonal directions. • Free wolf 奔狼[22] • The move of the free wolf is uncertain. • Free bear 奔熊[23] • The free bear can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally sideways; or • It can jump two squares diagonally forward. • Free boar 奔猪[24] • The free boar can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally sideways.
517
Maka dai dai shogi • Bat 蝙蝠 kōmori (rarely Sino-Japanese hempuku) • The bat can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or diagonally backward.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's king, emperor or prince (sole one in play) could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king, emperor or prince; the king, emperor or prince is said to be in check. If a player's king, emperor or prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king, emperor or prince out of check, the checking move is also a mate, and effectively wins the game. If a player has both a king (or emperor) and prince in play, then the player need not move only one out of check. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check to the sole objective piece.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's king (or emperor, which is a promoted king) or prince (when the other is already gone) wins the game. In practice this rarely happens; a player will resign when loss is inevitable and the king (emperor) or prince will be taken on the opponent's next move (as in International Chess) because of the tradition that it is seen as an embarrassment to lose. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Another possible (but fairly uncommon) way for a game to end is repetition (sennichite). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. (Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.)
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for maka dai dai shogi. A typical example is P-8g. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. (e.g., +OM for a mountain witch (promoted old monkey). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 19s being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a lion captures by 'igūi’, the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol '!'. If a double or triple capture is made, then it is added after the first capture. If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, CSx7c= indicates a cat sword capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
518
Maka dai dai shogi
519
Hishigata shogi Sean Humby created a variant of Maka daidai shogi called Hishigata shogi. (See the external link below.) It was motivated by criticisms that maka dai-dai takes a very long time to finish, and that the more interesting pieces have little opportunity for play. The only difference is in the setup, which places the opposing pieces close together and leaves the armies' rear flanks exposed, though Humby recommends that the teaching king be played as the weaker Western variant (as a free king).
Setup In the hishigata setup, only one rank is left empty between the opposing armies. This is indicated with a darker shading in the diagram below. 横
左
猪
鉄
蛇
鉄
猪
右
銀
桂
狼
行
狼
桂
銀
金
麒
玉
鳳
金
熊
象
熊
横
力
角
摩
角
提
奔
無
SM LC AB
I
Co
I
S
N
EW
R
EW
N
G
Kr
K
Ph
G
AB RC SM S
BB DE BB W
B
Ca
B
Dv FK DS
Legend AB: Angry Boar
B: Bishop
BB: Blind Bear
Ca: Capricorn
Co: Coiled Serpent
Dv: Deva
DE: Drunk Elephant
DS: Dark Spirit
EW: Evil Wolf
FK: Free King
G: Gold General
I: Iron General
K: King
Kr: Kirin
LC: Left Chariot
N: Knight
Ph: Phoenix
R: Rook
RC: Right Chariot
S: Silver General
SM: Side Mover
W: Wrestler
Maka dai dai shogi
Notes on pieces with conflicting descriptions These descriptions are taken from Japanese Wikipedia, which references the Edo-era publications 象戯図式 Shōgi Zushiki (SZ), 諸象戯図式 Sho Shōgi Zushiki (SSZ), and 象棋六種之図式 Shōgi Rokushu no Zushiki (SRZ). The first two are generally though not always in agreement, but the third differs in the case of most pieces which are not found in smaller shogi variants. [1] This is the description of the deva found in the SSZ. However, the SZ has the backward diagonal to the left rather than to the right, while the SRZ shows a step in all four orthogonals and the two left-hand diagonals. [2] This is the description of the dark spirit in the SSZ. However, the SZ has the backward diagonal to the right rather than to the left, and the SRZ has it step in all four orthogonals and the two right-hand diagonals. [3] This is the description of the coiled serpent in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ omits the backward orthogonal. This may be a copying error, as the free serpent moves directly backward in all three sources. [4] This is the description of the reclining dragon found in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ describes it as moving like a silver general. [5] This is the description of the Chinese cock found in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ describes it moving in any diagonal or directly backwards, but not to the sides. [6] This is the description of the old monkey in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ has the reverse, describing it as moving like a silver general. [7] This is the description of the blind bear in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ has a move of one square in all directions. [8] The movement of the old rat is not described in SZ or SSZ. The movement given here is its power in dai dai shogi. [9] This is the description in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ says the wrestler may move up to three squares diagonally or one square orthogonally, without restricting the latter to the sides. [10] Japanese Wikipedia shows only forward diagonal moves for the Buddhist devil, but the wording is simply that the it may move diagonally up to three squares. [11] This is the description of the she-devil in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ does not mention the orthogonal move, only the one-to-two-step diagonal move. [12] This is the description of the donkey in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ says 「上下踊り二目、踊らざれば一目、猛牛のごとし」, suggesting that it cannot jump a violent ox. [13] Although these rules are found in Western descriptions, the Edo-era rules appear to say only that the capricorn and hook mover move two times as a bishop or rook, implying that they may capture twice. There also appears to be no mention of needing to capture in order to move. [14] This is the description of the side flier found in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ describes the diagonal step only in the forward directions. [15] In the SZ and SSZ, the free dragon is described as ranging forward and stepping backward, in both cases either orthogonally or diagonally. In the SRZ it is described as ranging orthogonally forward or to the sides, and stepping backward orthogonally or diagonally, which retains the directions of the unpromoted piece in the SZ and SSZ, but not in its own description. Japanese Wikipedia notes this but illustrates it as moving simply as the free version of a reclining dragon. [16] A parenthetical note on Japanese Wikipedia states that there are also records describing the power of the Emperor as that of a lion plus free king, like the Buddhist spirit. [17] In the SZ and SSZ, the power of the teaching king is described as 狛犬と奔王をあわせた動き "the combined movement of a lion-dog and a free king". [18] Or various variations of this, such as the power of a lion and a vice general from tenjiku shogi. [19] In the SZ and SSZ, the power of the Buddhist spirit is described as 獅子と奔王をあわせた動き "the combined movement of a lion and a free king". [20] This is the description in the SZ and SSZ. However, the SRZ describes the mountain witch as moving like a bishop. [21] 「獅子に白犬の動きを兼ねたもの」 per the SZ and SSZ. The only advantage this confers is moving to a third square in any one direction. [22] The SZ says it can move any number of squares in any direction but orthogonally sideways, where it is restricted to move (not jump) up to five squares; the SSZ says that it can move up to five squares orthogonally sideways and makes no mention of any other direction; and the SRZ says that it can move any number of squares in the five directions of diagonally forward or orthogonally sideways or backwards. Japanese Wikipedia notes this but illustrates it as simply the free version of the unpromoted piece, which matches none of these. [23] The SZ and SSZ have the jumping move, but this is not mentioned in the SRZ. It is not clear if the free bear can clear two pieces, if it can only clear one but then continue on as a ranging piece, or if it has a range-jumping move, clearing any number of pieces, as in tenjiku shogi. [24] This is the description of the free boar in the SZ and SSZ. However, in the SRZ it instead has ranging moves in the forward directions, orthogonal and diagonal.
520
Maka dai dai shogi
521
External links • • • •
Shogi Net (http://www.shogi.net/shogi.html) history.chess/Maka dai dai shogi (http://history.chess.free.fr/makadaidaishogi.htm) YouTube Maka Dai Dai Shogi Video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_qXnjQmAD7c) Hishigata shogi (http://www.chessvariants.org/shogivariants.dir/hishigata.html)
Ko shogi Kō shōgi (廣将棋 or 廣象棋 'wide (elephant) chess') is a large-board variant of shogi, or Japanese chess. The game dates back to the turn of the 18th century and is based on xiangqi and go as well as shogi. Credit for its invention has been given to Confucian scholar Ogyū Sorai.
Rules of the game Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after being captured. Promotion rules are complex, and the fates of several pieces are interdependent.
Objective The objective is to capture the opponent's commanding pieces: The general, plus the governor if present, or either the banner or middle army if not.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White, play on a go board ruled into a grid of 19 ranks (rows) by 19 files (columns) with a total of 361 intersections. Each player has a set of 90 pieces of 34 different types. The pieces are round and flattened like go stones. In all, the players must remember 65 different moves. The pieces are generally of the same size, though black pieces may be slightly larger than white pieces. •
1 General
•
1 Middle troop
•
4 Crossbows
•
1 Clerk
•
1 Drum
•
4 Cannons
•
1 Staff officer
•
1 Banner
•
8 Cavalrymen
•
2 Aids de camp
•
2 Sentries
•
2 Cavalry
•
2 Sumo wrestlers
•
2 Millenaries
•
7 Pawns
•
2 Aides
•
2 Quartermasters •
2 Patrol units
•
2 Staff
•
2 Centuriae
•
7 Shields
•
2 Chiefs of staff
•
2 Rear guards
•
2 Shield units
•
2 Engineers
•
1 Gatling gun
•
8 Chariots
•
1 Taoist Priest
•
6 Elephants
•
2 Chariot units
•
1 Spiritual monk
•
4 Long bows
•
1 Vanguard
•
2 Advance guards
Each piece has its name in the form of one or two Japanese characters marked on its face, in white on black stones and in black on white stones. On the reverse side of most pieces are other characters in red; this side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play.
Ko shogi
522
Table of pieces Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to. *Pieces marked with asterisks are not found at setup, and only appear with promotion. Many of the translations into English are suggestions only. Piece
Kanji
rōmaji
Promotes to
Kanji
Rōmaji
General
将
shō
—
Clerk
記室
kishitsu
*Master at arms
軍師
gunshi
Staff officer
参謀
sambō
*Banner and drums
旗鼓
kiko
Aid de camp
親兵
shimpei
Quartermaster
Sumo wrestler
力士
rikishi
—
Aide
舎人
toneri
*Town brigade
千戸
senko
Staff
舎餘
shayo
*Village brigade
百戸
hyakko
Chief of staff
軍吏
gunri
*Vice commander
副司
fukushi
Engineer
軍匠
gunshō
*Poison flame
毒火
dokka
Taoist Priest
高道
takamichi ? *Twelve-mile fog
五里霧
gorimu
Spiritual monk 神僧
shinzō
*Immaculate light ?
聖燈
seitō
Advance guard 前衛
zen’ei
*Heaven’s vengeance
天網
temmō
Middle troop
中軍
chūgun
*Governor
帥
sochi
Drum
鼓
tsuzumi
*Thunderclap
霹靂
hekireki
Banner
旗
hata
*Roaming assault
招揺
shōyō
Sentry
護兵
gohei
Centuria
Millenary
千総
sensō
*Dragon ascending
龍驤
ryūjō
Quartermaster
把総
wasō
*Tiger wing
虎翼
koyoku
Centuria
百総
hyakusō
*War hawk
鷹揚
yōyō
Rear guard
後衛
kōei
*Earth’s vengeance ?
地網
chimō
Gatling gun ?
佛狼機
butsurōki
*Chariot of the Gods ?
神機車
shinkisha
Elephant
象
zō
—
Long bow
弓
yumi
*Longbow cavalryman 廣弓騎
kōkyūki
Crossbow
弩
ishiyumi
*Crossbow cavalryman 弩騎
doki
Cannon
砲
hō
*Gun carriage
砲車
hōsha
Cavalryman
馬兵
bahei
Cavalry
Cavalry
騎総
kisō
*Winged horse
天馬
temba
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
Patrol unit
Patrol unit
歩総
fusō
*Commissar ?
都司
toshi
Shield
牌
hai
Shield unit
Shield unit
牌総
haisō
*Imperial base ?
天塁
tenrui
Chariot
車
kuruma
Chariot unit
Chariot unit
車総
shasō
Millenary
Vanguard
先鋒
sempō
*Commissar ?
都司
toshi
Ko shogi
523
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of one player's pieces. The pieces are placed on the intersecting lines of the board and not in the squares. The way one player sees their own pieces is the same way the opposing player will see their pieces.
Board layout +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
VA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
CU SU CH SP CH SP
CH SP CH SU CH SP CH
SP CH SP CH SU CU
+
P
+
P
+
P
+
P
+
PU
+
P
+
P
+
P
+
PU
+
CA
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
HS
+
CA
E
C
SB LB
E
C
SB LB
E
FW
E
LB SB
C
E
LB SB
C
E
R
FH
+
DU
SN
D
MA
B
SN
DU
+
Q
FH
R
A
SC
G
PL
A
+
Q
+
FD SM EN CS GH SR WR
+
+
WR SR GH CS EN TB FD
Legend A - Aide de Camp
B - Banner
C - Cannon
CA - Cavalry
CH - Chariot
CS - Chief of Staff
CU - Chariot Unit
D - Drum
DU - Millenary
E - Elephant
EN - Engineer
FD - Advance Guard
FH - Centuria
FW - Gatling Gun
G - General
GH - Staff
HS - Cavalryman
LB - Long Bow
MA - Middle Troop
P - Pawn
PL - Staff Officer
PU - Patrol Unit
Q - Quartermaster
R - Rear Guard
SB - Crossbow
SC - Clerk
SM - Spiritual Monk
SN - Sentry
SP - Shield
SR - Aide
SU - Shield Unit
TB - Taoist Priest
VA - Vanguard
WR - Sumo wrestler
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. A move consists of moving a piece on the board and potentially capturing a piece or pieces and promoting a piece or pieces. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture An opposing piece is generally captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to an intersection occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to an intersection occupied by a friendly piece (that is, a piece controlled by the same player). However, some shooting pieces are unable to capture by displacement, and therefore cannot move to an intersection occupied by an opposing piece. Each piece in the game moves in a unique manner. Most pieces move in one of eight prime directions, either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, or to the side, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). At the beginning of the game the horse
Ko shogi soldier is an exception in that it does not move in a prime direction. (The banner and drums, dragon ascending, war hawk, winged horse, and several other pieces are similar, but they only appear with promotion.) Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement usually depending on the direction in which they move. The most common kinds of moves are step, range, shoot, and jump. Step movers Some pieces can move only one intersection at a time. (If a friendly piece, and sometimes an enemy piece, occupies an adjacent intersection, the moving piece may not move in that direction. Unlike in Go, 'adjacent' means any of eight intersections.) The step movers at the beginning of the game are the general, aid de camp, aide, staff, chief of staff, engineer, middle troop, drum, banner, sentry, gatling gun, long bow, crossbow, shield, and pawn. Limited range pieces Some pieces can move along a limited number of free intersections along a straight line. Other than the limited distance, they move like range pieces (see below). The limited range pieces at the beginning of the game are the chariot and the vanguard. Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over an intervening piece, whether friend or foe. At the beginning of the game these are the clerk, staff officer, highway, spiritual monk, and cavalryman. Range pieces Many pieces can move any number of free intersections along a straight line, limited by the edge of the board. If an opponent's piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that intersection, and removing it from the board. A range piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The range pieces at the beginning of the game are the advance guard, millenary, quartermaster, centuria, rear guard, elephant, patrol unit, shield unit, and chariot unit. Shooting pieces Some pieces can shoot, that is, they can remove a piece from the board a limited distance from their location. Except for the cannon, they cannot shoot an enemy piece if another piece stands between the shooter and its target. The cannon, however, can shoot over such intervening pieces. It is not clear if a piece must move in order to shoot. The shooting pieces are the highway, spiritual monk, gatling gun, long bow, crossbow, and cannon.
524
Ko shogi
525
Burn Wherever a burning piece arrives at an intersection, all adjacent enemy pieces are removed from the board, as described below. The only burning piece is the poison flame, which only appears with promotion. Multiple capture The sumo wrestler and cavalry have double-move with double-capture abilities, similar to the 'lion move' in chu shogi. Unlike the lion, they are truly double-move pieces and do not have the ability to bypass a friendly piece occupying the first landing point. Unless stated otherwise below, the multiple moves do not need to be in the same direction and need not all be taken. A second or later move may return a piece to its starting location. Among the promoted pieces, the master at arms, banner and drums, twelve-mile fog, thunderclap, roaming assault, dragon ascending, tiger wing, war hawk, and winged horse have multiple-capture abilities. The gatling gun has a double-kill ability when it shoots. Movement diagrams In the diagrams below, the different types of moves are coded by symbol and by color: Blue for step moves, green for multiple capture, red for range moves, yellow for jumps, and orange for ranging jumps. Notation *
Jumps directly to this square and stops, bypassing any intervening piece, but may not capture with this move.
☆
Jumps directly to this square and stops, bypassing any intervening piece, and may capture.
·
Steps a limited number of squares along a straight line, but may not capture with this move.
○
Steps a limited number of squares along a straight line, and may capture. Must stop upon capture.
○
Steps a limited number of squares along a straight line, capturing more than once.
●
Steps a limited number of squares within an area, changing direction and capturing more than once.
╋
Steps a limited number of squares within an area, changing direction and capturing more than once; cannot stop until range is exhausted.
☆
Jumps a limited number of times to this square; square may also be reachable with an areal step.
!
igui (capture without moving). Counts for two steps.
│
Ranges along a straight line, crossing any number of empty squares. Must stop upon capture.
─ ＼ ／ !
Shoots the nearest piece in this direction (capture without moving).
!!
Shoots twice in this direction (double capture without moving).
*
Cannon shot at one of these squares, bypassing any intervening piece (capture without moving).
※
Burns all adjacent enemy pieces wherever it stops.
Ko shogi
526
Individual pieces Pieces are arranged in this section so that, if they promote, the promoted version is to the right. Piece names with a grey background are present at the start of the game; those with a blue background only appear with promotion. Abbreviations of Kanji names are not official, but for the sake of Layout. General 将 shō, Middle Troop 中軍 chūgun
•
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
○
○
○ ╋
╋
╋
╋
○ 将
○ ╋
╋
╋
╋
○
○
○ ╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
Step: The general and middle troop can step one intersection in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Clerk 記室 kishitsu ☆ ○ ☆
○ ☆
記 ○
○ ☆
• •
Step: The clerk can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second intersection orthogonally. This is the move of the kirin in other shogi variants. Staff officer 参謀 sambō ☆
☆ ○ ○ 参
○
○ ☆
• •
☆
Step: The staff officer can step one intersection in one of the four orthogonal directions. Jump: It can jump to the second intersection diagonally. This is the move of the phoenix in other shogi variants. Aid de camp 親兵 shimpei
Ko shogi
527
○
•
○
○
○ 親
○
○
○
Step: The aid de camp can step one intersection in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward. This is equivalent to the drunk elephant in other shogi variants. However, it does not promote to a prince. Sumo wrestler 力士 rikishi
•
● ●
●
● ●
● !
!
! ●
● ! 力
! ●
● !
!
! ●
● ●
●
● ●
Area move with double capture: The sumo wrestler can move in one turn as a general does in two. • • •
That is, it steps one intersection in any direction once or twice, potentially capturing two pieces per turn. By changing directions after its first step, so it can reach the intersections that a knight jumps to in Western chess. By moving back to its starting intersection, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent intersection without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". A similar move without capturing leaves the board unchanged, which is a way to pass a turn. The sumo wrestler cannot jump over an intervening friendly piece as a "lion" can in other shogi variants. Aide 舎人 toneri
○ ○ ○ ○ 舎
○
○
•
Step: The aide can step one intersection in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, •
One intersection diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities. This is the move of the gold general in other shogi variants. Staff 舎餘 shayo
Ko shogi
528
○ ○ ○ 舎 ○
•
○
Step: The staff can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions; or, •
One intersection straight forward, giving it five possibilities. This is the move of the silver general in other shogi variants. Chief of staff 軍吏 gunri
○
○
○
軍 ○
•
○
○
Step: The chief of staff can move one intersection in the four diagonal directions; or, •
It can move one intersection orthogonally forward or backward. This is the move of the leopard in other shogi variants. Engineer 軍匠 gunshō
○
○
○
軍 ○
• Step: The engineer can step one intersection directly forward or backward, or one intersection diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities. This is the move of the copper general in other shogi variants. Taoist priest 高道 takamichi ? and Spiritual monk 神僧 shinzō ☆
☆
☆
☆ 高
☆
☆
☆
☆
then
Ko shogi
529
!
•
!
! 高
!
!
!
!
Jump: The Taoist priest and spiritual monk can jump to the second intersection in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. •
•
!
However, they can only capture an enemy priest or monk with such a jump. Shot: They can shoot any one enemy piece on any intersection adjacent to their arrival point. These two pieces move and promote the same, but only the loss of the priest prevents or reverts promotion of the banner and drum. Advance guard 前衛 zen’ei │ │ │ 前 ○
• •
Range: The advance guard can move any number of free intersections directly forward. Step: It can step one intersection directly backwards. This piece promotes if its clerk promotes. Middle troop 中軍 chūgun
○
•
○
○
○ 中
○
○
○
○
Step: The middle troop can step one intersection in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Drum 鼓 tsuzumi
•
○
○
○ 鼓
○
○
○
Step: The drum, like the banner, can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions or either orthogonal sideways. That is, anywhere except directly forwards or backwards. If the drum is killed, the pawns may no longer move forward. Banner 旗 hata
Ko shogi
•
530
○
○
○ 旗
○
○
○
Step: The banner, like the drum, can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions or either orthogonal sideways. That is, anywhere except directly forwards or backwards. Sentry 護兵 gohei
•
○
○
○ 護
○
○
○
○
Step: The sentry can step one intersection in any direction except orthogonally forward. This is the move of the blind tiger in other shogi variants. Millenary 千総 sensō │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／
＼
│
／
─
千
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
─
＼
│
／
•
／
＼
Range: The millenary can move any number of free intersections along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. This is the move of the free king in other shogi variants. Quartermaster 把総 wasō │ │
─
─
○
│
○
─
把
─
○
│
○
─
─
│ │
• •
Range: The quartermaster can move any number of free intersections along any of the four orthogonal directions; or, Step: It can move one intersection in any diagonal direction. This is the move of the dragon king in other shogi variants. Centuria 百総 hyakusō
Ko shogi
531
＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
○
／
○
百
○
／
○
＼
／
＼
／
• •
＼
Range: The centuria can move any number of free intersections along any of the four diagonal directions; or, Step: It can move one intersection in any orthogonal direction. This is the move of the dragon horse in other shogi variants. Rear guard 後衛 kōei
○ 後 │ │ │
• •
Range: The rear guard can move any number of free intersections directly backward; or, Step: It can step one intersection directly forwards. This piece promotes if its clerk promotes. Gatling gun 佛狼機 butsurōki
·
· 佛
·
·
then !!
!! !!
!!
!! !!
!!
!! !!
!! !!
!!
!! !! !! !! !! !! !! 佛 !! !!
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
!! !! !! !!
!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
Ko shogi
532 !!
!!
!!
!!
!!
•
!! !!
!!
!!
Step: The gatling gun can move one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. It cannot capture by making such a move. Double shot: It can shoot two enemy pieces up to 7 free intersections from its landing point in any of the eight prime directions.
• •
It may shoot in different directions, or it may shoot one piece, and then shoot a second piece that had been blocked by the first.
• It cannot shoot a shield unit 牌総 or an imperial base 天塁. It can only shoot at a twelve-mile fog 五里霧 that is at least six intersections away. Elephant 象 zō ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
／ 象
／
＼
／
＼
／
•
＼
Range: The elephant can move any number of free intersections along any of the four diagonal directions. This is the move of the bishop in other shogi variants. Long bow 弓 yumi
·
· 弓
·
·
then !
! !
! !
!
! ! ! 弓 ! ! !
!
! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
•
Step: The long bow can move one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. It cannot capture by making such a move.
•
Shot: It can shoot one enemy piece up to three free intersections from its landing point, in any of the eight prime directions.
Ko shogi
533 It cannot shoot an imperial base 天塁, shield 牌, shield unit 牌総, chariot 車, chariot unit 車総, gun carriage 砲車, or twelve-mile fog 五里霧. Crossbow 弩 yumi
·
· 弩
·
·
then !
! !
! !
!
! !
!
! !
!
! ! ! ! ! 弩 ! !
!
! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
•
!
!
!
!
The crossbow is identical to the long bow, except that it can shoot up to five free intersections away. Cannon 砲 hō
·
· 砲
·
·
then *
* *
* *
*
* * * * * 砲 * *
*
*
* *
*
*
* *
*
*
* * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Ko shogi • •
534
Step: The cannon can move one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. It cannot capture by making such a move. Shot: It can shoot one enemy piece up to five free or occupied intersections away from its landing point in any of the eight prime directions. •
It cannot shoot an imperial base 天塁, shield unit 牌総, or twelve-mile fog 五里霧. Cavalryman 馬兵 bahei ☆
☆
☆
☆ 馬
☆
☆ ☆
•
☆
Jump: The cavalryman jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one intersection orthogonally plus one intersection diagonally, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of eight destinations. This is the move of the knight in Western chess. The cavalryman promotes if it captures a gatling gun. Cavalry 騎総 kisō ☆ ☆
☆ !
☆ !
!
!
☆
☆
騎 !
☆
! !
☆
•
☆
! ☆
☆ ☆
Double jump with double capture: The cavalry jumps once or twice as a cavalryman in a single turn, potentially capturing two pieces. •
If it jumps twice, both jumps must be in the same orthogonal direction (both forwards, backwards, to the left, or to the right). That is, after the cavalry makes its first jump, it is restricted to only two landing squares for its second jump, similar to the restriction of a knight in other shogi variants. Or, • For its second jump, it may return to its starting point. This gives the cavalry a power of igui and passing a turn similar to that of the sumo wrestler. Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō
Ko shogi
535
○ ○ 歩
○
○
•
Step: The pawn can step one intersection in one of the four orthogonal directions. This is the move of the angry boar in other shogi variants. If the drum is captured, the pawns can no longer move in the forward direction. Patrol unit 歩総 fusō │ │ │ ○ 歩
○
│ │ │
• •
Range: The patrol unit can move any number of free intersections orthogonally forward or backward; or, Step: It can step one intersection orthogonally sideways. This is the move of the vertical mover in other shogi variants. Shield 牌 hai
○
○ 牌
○
•
○
Step: The shield can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. The shield is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩). This is the move of the cat sword in dai shogi. Shield unit 牌総 haisō
○ ─
─
─ ○
• •
○ 牌
─
─
─
○
Range: The shield unit can move any number of free intersections orthogonally to either side. Step: It can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. The shield unit is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩) or the guns (砲,佛狼機). Chariot 車 kuruma
Ko shogi
536
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 車
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
•
Limited range: The chariot can move one to five free intersections in one of the four orthogonal directions. It cannot capture the imperial base 天塁. The chariot unit is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩). Chariot unit 車総 shasō │ │ │ ─
─
─
車
─
─
─
│ │ │
•
Range: The chariot unit can move any number of free intersections along any of the four orthogonal directions. This is the move of the rook in other shogi variants. It cannot capture the imperial base 天塁. The chariot unit is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩). Vanguard 先鋒 sempō ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 先
•
Limited range: The vanguard can move one to five free intersections directly forward. The General and Middle Troop do not promote. Master at arms 軍師 gunshi
Ko shogi
537
☆ ☆ ☆
!
☆ ☆
☆
! !
☆ ! !
軍
☆
! ☆
☆
! !
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
•
Double move: Upon promotion, the clerk gains the power to move twice per turn. This is like a double kirin move in chu shogi and other shogi variants. Banner and drums 旗鼓 kiko ☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆ ! ☆
●
☆ ! ☆
☆ ●
!
● ☆
☆
●
! 旗
!
☆
☆ ●
!
● ☆
☆ ! ☆
●
☆ ! ☆
☆
☆
☆
•
●
☆
☆
Double move: Upon promotion, the staff officer gains the power to move twice per turn. This is like a double phoenix move in other shogi variants. Quartermaster 把総 wasō │ │
─
─
○
│
○
─
把
─
○
│
○
─
─
│ │
• •
Range: The quartermaster can move any number of free intersections along any of the four orthogonal directions; or, Step: It can move one intersection in any diagonal direction. This is the move of the dragon king in other shogi variants. The Sumo wrestler does not promote Town brigade 千戸 senko
Ko shogi
538
│ │ ○ │
○
○ 千
○
○ │
○
│ │
• •
Range: The town brigade can move any number of free intersections directly forward or backward. Step: It can step one intersection in any direction. This is the move of the flying stag in chu shogi. Village brigade 百戸 hyakko
─
• •
─
○
○
○
─
百
─
○
○
○
─
─
Range: The village brigade can move any number of free intersections directly to either side. Step: It can step one intersection in any direction. Vice commander 副司 fukushi │
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
副 ／ ／ ／
＼ ＼ ＼
• Range: The vice commander can move any number of free intersections along one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward. This is the move of the free silver in other shogi variants. Poison flame 毒火 dokka
Ko shogi
539
※
• •
※
※
※ 毒
※
※
※
※
Step: When it promotes, the engineer does not change how it moves, and it remains a step mover. However, Burn: Wherever it lands, all adjacent enemy pieces are 'burned' and removed from the board. It is not clear what happens when two opposing poison flames meet. Nor what happens if any other opposing piece lands next to a poison flame. See the fire demon in tenjiku shogi for some possibilities. Twelve-mile fog 五里霧 gorimu and Immaculate light 聖燈 seitō ☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆ 五
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
☆ ☆
after each jump
!
!
!
! 五
!
!
!
!
•
Double move: When they promote, the priest and monk gain the power to move twice per turn, including the option of shooting one adjacent piece after each move, and are still restricted from capturing by displacement.
•
If a twelve-mile fog and immaculate light ever find themselves within 5 intersections of each other, the fog immediately reverts to a highway. The fog cannot be shot from within a distance of five intersections. It can only be shot (by the gatling gun 佛狼機) from a distance of six intersections or more. Heaven’s vengeance (or 'Skyward net') 天網 temmō ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
─
─
─
／ 天
─
─
─
○
• •
Range: The heaven’s vengeance can move any number of free intersections along either of the forward diagonals, or directly to either side. Step: It can step one intersection directly backward. Governor 帥 sochi
Ko shogi
540
○
•
○
○
○ 帥
○
○
○
○
Step: The governor can step one intersection in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. The governor functions as a second general. Thunderclap 霹靂 hekireki ● ┏
╋
┓
┏
╋
╋
╋
╋
┏
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
┓
┏
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
┓
● ╋
╋
╋
╋
霹
╋
╋
╋
╋
┗
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
┛
┗
╋
╋
╋
╋
╋
┛
┗
╋
╋
╋
┛
┗
╋
┛
●
●
•
Areal quintuple move: The thunderclap steps five times per turn in an orthogonal direction, with the choice of changing directions after each step, potentially capturing up to five pieces. •
Unlike other multiple-move pieces, it must take all five steps. If the allied priest 高道 is killed, the thunderclap reverts to a drum. Roaming assault 招揺 shōyō ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 招
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
•
Limited-range quintuple move: The roaming assault can step up to five times per turn in any one orthogonal direction, potentially capturing up to five pieces. •
It cannot change direction while moving. If the allied priest 高道 is killed, the roaming assault reverts to a banner.
Ko shogi
541 Centuria 百総 hyakusō ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
○
／
○
百
○
／
○
＼
／
＼
／
• •
＼
Range: The centuria can move any number of free intersections along any of the four diagonal directions; or, Step: It can move one intersection in any orthogonal direction. This is the move of the dragon horse in other shogi variants. Dragon ascending 龍驤 ryūjō │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／ ／
＼
│
／
─
龍
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
＼
│
／
─
＼
or ● ●
●
● ●
● !
!
! ●
● ! 龍
! ●
● !
!
! ●
● ●
●
● ●
The dragon arising adds the moves of the sumo wrestler 力士 to those of the millenary. • •
Range: It can move any number of free intersections along any of the eight directions. Double move: As the sumo wrestler, above. Tiger wing 虎翼 koyoku
Ko shogi
542
●
● !
●
! ●
虎 !
●
•
●
! ●
●
Double move: The tiger wing moves like a shield (one step diagonally) once or twice per turn. War hawk 鷹揚 yōyō ＼
／ ●
＼ ●
／
!
●
! 鷹
!
●
●
●
! ●
／
●
＼
／
＼
• Double move: The war hawk can step one or two intersections in any orthogonal direction, potentially capturing a piece with each step. Or, • Range: It can move any number of free intersections along any of the four diagonal directions. Earth’s vengeance (or 'Earthward net') 地網 chimō
○ ─
─
─ ／
／ ／
• •
地
─
─
─
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The earth’s vengeance can move any number of free intersections along either of the rear diagonals, or directly to either side; or, Step: It can step one intersection directly forward. Chariot of the gods 神機車 shinkisha
Ko shogi
543
·
· ·
· ·
· ·
· ·
· 神
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
then !!
!! !!
!! !!
!!
!! !! !! !! !! !! !! 神 !! !!
!!
•
!! !! !! !! !! !! !!
!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
Limited range: The chariot of the gods can move up to five free intersections along one of the four orthogonal directions. •
•
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
!! !!
!!
!!
However, it cannot capture this way (that is, by displacement). Double shot: It retains the attack of the gatling gun: two pieces up to seven intersections away. The Elephant does not promote Longbow cavalryman 廣弓騎 kōkyūki
Ko shogi
544
*
*
*
* 廣
*
* *
*
then !
! !
!
! !
!
! ! ! 廣 ! !
!
! ! ! ! ! !
!
!
!
!
!
The long bow cavalryman combines the move of the cavalryman with the attack of the long bow. •
Jump: It can jump as a cavalryman to any of its eight destinations. •
•
However, it cannot capture a piece this way. Shot: It can shoot one enemy piece up to three free intersections away from its landing point in any prime direction. Crossbow cavalryman 弩騎 kōkyūki *
*
*
* 弩
*
* *
*
then !
! !
! !
!
! ! ! ! ! 弩 ! !
!
!
! !
!
!
! !
!
!
! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Ko shogi
545 The crossbow cavalryman combines the move of the cavalryman with the attack of the crossbow.
•
Jump: It can jump as a cavalryman to any of its eight destinations. •
•
However, it cannot capture a piece this way. Shot: It can shoot one enemy piece up to five free intersections away from its landing point in any prime direction. Gun carriage 砲車 hōsha · · · · · · · · · · 砲
· · · · ·
· · · · ·
then *
* *
* *
*
* * * * * 砲 * *
*
•
* * *
* * * * * * * * * *
* *
* *
Limited range: The gun carriage can move up to five free intersections along one of the four orthogonal directions; •
• • • •
*
* *
*
*
* *
*
*
however, it cannot capture by displacement. Also, Shot: It can shoot as a cannon: One enemy piece up to five intersections away from its arrival point in any of the eight prime directions. Like a cannon, it can shoot over intervening pieces. The gun carriage cannot shoot an imperial base. It cannot be shot by a long bow or crossbow. Cavalry 騎総 kisō
Ko shogi
546
☆ ☆
☆ !
☆ !
!
!
☆
☆
騎 !
☆
! !
☆
•
☆
! ☆
☆ ☆
Double jump with double capture: The cavalry jumps once or twice as a cavalryman in a single turn, potentially capturing two pieces. •
If it jumps twice, both jumps must be in the same orthogonal direction (both forwards, backwards, to the left, or to the right). That is, after the cavalry makes its first jump, it is restricted to only two landing squares for its second jump, similar to the restriction of a knight in other shogi variants. Or, • For its second jump, it may return to its starting point. This gives the cavalry a power of igui and passing a turn similar to that of the sumo wrestler. Winged horse 天馬 temba ☆ ☆
☆ ☆
☆
!
☆ ☆
☆ ! ☆ ☆
☆
☆
•
☆
☆
☆
☆ ! ☆ ☆
☆ ☆
!
天
!
☆
☆ ! ☆
☆ ! ☆ ☆
☆
!
☆
☆ ☆
☆ ☆
Double move: The winged horse moves as a cavalry, but without any restriction on the direction of the second jump. That is, it moves twice like a knight in Western chess. Patrol unit 歩総 fusō │ │ │ ○ 歩
○
│ │ │
•
Range: The patrol unit can move any number of free intersections orthogonally forward or backward; or,
•
Step: It can step one intersection orthogonally sideways. This is the move of the vertical mover in other shogi variants.
Ko shogi
547 Commissar 都司 toshi │
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
都 ／
＼
│
／
＼
│
／
•
│
＼
Range: The commissar can move any number of free intersections along one of the four diagonals; or, •
It can move any number of free intersections orthogonally forward or backward. This is the move of the flying ox in chu shogi. Shield unit 牌総 haisō
○ ─
─
─
○ 牌
○
• •
─
─
─
○
Range: The shield unit can move any number of free intersections orthogonally to either side. Step: It can step one intersection in one of the four diagonal directions. The shield unit is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩) or the guns (砲,佛狼機). Imperial base 天塁 tenrui ＼
／ ＼
／ ＼
─
─
─ ／
／ ／
／ 天
─
─
─
＼ ＼ ＼
• Range: The imperial base can move any number of free intersections in the four diagonal directions, or directly to either side. This is the move of the free boar in chu shogi. The imperial base cannot be shot by the long bow 弓, crossbow 弩, cannon 砲, gun carriage 砲車, gatling gun 佛狼機, or chariot of the gods 神機車, nor can it be killed by the chariot 車 or chariot unit 車総. Chariot unit 車総 shasō
Ko shogi
548
│ │ │ ─
─
─
車
─
─
─
│ │ │
•
Range: The chariot unit can move any number of free intersections along any of the four orthogonal directions. This is the move of the rook in other chess variants. It cannot capture the imperial base 天塁. The chariot unit is unaffected by the bows (弓,弩). Millenary 千総 sensō │
＼
│
＼
─
─
／
＼
│
／
─
千
─
／
│
＼
│
／
─
─
＼
│
／
•
／
＼
Range: The millenary can move any number of free intersections along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. This is the move of the free king in other shogi variants.. Commissar 都司 toshi │
＼
／
│
＼ ＼
│
／ ／
都 ／ ／ ／
•
│ │ │
＼ ＼ ＼
Range: The commissar can move any number of free intersections along one of the four diagonals; or, •
It can move any number of free intersections orthogonally forward or backward. This is the move of the flying ox in chu shogi.
Ko shogi
Promotion Ko shogi has the most complex promotion rules of any shogi variant. A player's promotion zone is the enemy camp, consisting of the six farthest ranks that comprise the opponent's territory at setup (the original line of the opponent's chariots and beyond). If a piece moves within this promotion zone, including moves into, out of, or wholly within the zone, then that player may promote the piece at the end of the turn. (The general, sumo wrestler, and elephant do not promote, nor do pieces which have already promoted.) Promotion has the effect of changing how a piece moves. See the table above for what each piece promotes to. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over, revealing the name of its promoted rank. However, there are other ways of promoting than entering the enemy camp: • A piece that captures a commanding piece (the general 将, governor 帥, middle troop 中軍, or banner 旗) promotes on the spot. • A step mover (that is, a piece which can only move one step at a time) which captures a sumo wrestler 力士, dragon ascending 龍驤, roaming assault 招揺, or thunderclap 霹靂, promotes on the spot. • The cavalryman 馬兵 promotes if it captures a gatling gun 佛狼機. • When the clerk 記室 promotes to master at arms 軍師, the allied advance and rear guards 前衛, 後衛 promote as well, while any enemy poison flame 毒火 dies. However, while the clerk promotes as usual upon capturing a commanding piece, it cannot promote by entering or moving within the promotion zone unless the advance and rear guards have already entered the zone. There are other circumstances that may prevent or revert promotion: • If the Taoist priest 高道 is captured, the drum 鼓 and banner 旗 can no longer promote, and if either or both have already promoted (to roaming assault 招揺 or thunderclap 霹靂), then they immediately revert to drum or banner. • Whenever the immaculate light 聖燈 is within 5 intersections of the twelve-mile fog 五里霧 along one of the eight prime directions, the fog reverts back to a Taoist priest 高道. Many pieces only appear as a result of promotion. They are marked with a blue background in the movement diagrams above.
Check and mate Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one commanding piece (general or governor) may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check to the sole objective piece.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's general 将 and either the middle troop 中軍 or the banner 旗 wins the game. However, if the opponent's middle army has promoted to governor 帥, and the player captures the general and banner, then the governor takes command in place of the general and the game continues until it too is captured. That is, a player can continue the game with either the general, or the governor, or with both the middle troop and the banner together. In practice the final capture rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Another possible, if rather uncommon, way for a game to end is repetition (sennichite). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. Recall, however, the prohibition against
549
Ko shogi perpetual check.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for kō shogi. A typical example is P-8h. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. (e.g., +MA for a governor (promoted middle troop). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the intersection on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 25s being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating intersections is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the intersection 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a piece captures by 'igui’ (possibilities are the sumo wrestler, dragon ascending, tiger wing, cavalry, winged horse, twelve-mile fog, immaculate light, banner and drums, or master at arms), the intersection of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination intersection, and it is preceded by the symbol '!'. If a second or later capture is made, then it is added after the preceding capture. If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, MAx7c= indicates a middle troop capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous as to which piece is meant, the designation of the starting intersection is added after the designation for the piece. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
External links • Shogi Net [2] • History.chess/Ko shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ koshogi. htm
550
Tai shogi
551
Tai shogi Tai shogi (泰将棋 tai shōgi or 無上泰将棋 mujō tai shōgi "grand chess", renamed from 無上大将棋 mujō dai shōgi "supreme chess" to avoid confusion with 大将棋 dai shōgi) is a large-board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game dates to the 15th century and is based on earlier largeboard shogi games. Before the discovery of taikyoku shogi in 1997, tai shogi was believed to be the largest playable chess variant, if not board game, ever. One game may be played over several long sessions and require each player to make over a thousand moves. It was never a popular game; indeed, a single production of half a dozen game sets in the early 17th century was a notable event. Like other large-board variants, but unlike standard shogi, the game is played without drops, and uses a promotion-by-capture rule.
Rules of the game Tai shogi is very similar to other large-board shogi variants: dai dai shogi, maka dai dai shogi, and tenjiku shogi. Where the same pieces are found, they move the same way. The only difference is in how these pieces promote, which is distinct for each shogi variant. The one variant which is an exception to this generalization is the largest, taikyoku shogi, where the moves differ as well.
Objective The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's emperor and crown prince (or princes). When the last of these is captured, the game ends. There are no rules for check or checkmate; however, in practice a player resigns when checkmated.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 25 ranks (rows) and 25 files (columns), for a total of 625 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 177 wedge-shaped pieces of 93 types. In all, the players must remember 99 moves for these pieces. The pieces are of slightly different sizes. From largest to smallest (or roughly most to least powerful) they are: •
1 Emperor
•
2 Side dragons
•
2 Blind bears
•
1 Crown prince
•
2 Doves
•
1 Drunken elephant
•
1 Hook mover
•
1 She-devil
•
1 Neighbor king
•
2 Long-nosed goblins •
1 Golden bird
•
2 Blind tigers
•
1 Capricorn
•
1 Great dragon
•
2 Blind monkeys
•
2 Peacocks
•
2 White elephants
•
2 Ferocious leopards
•
2 Soaring eagles
•
1 Lion dog
•
2 Reclining dragons
•
2 Horned falcons
•
1 Wrestler
•
2 Chinese cocks
•
2 Free kings
•
1 Guardian of the Gods •
2 Old monkeys
•
1 Rushing bird
•
1 Buddhist devil
•
2 Evil Wolves
•
2 Free demons
•
2 Golden deer
•
2 Angry boars
•
2 Free dream-eaters
•
2 Silver hares
•
2 Cat swords
•
2 Water buffalos
•
2 Fierce eagles
•
2 Coiled serpents
•
2 Flying oxen
•
1 Old kite
•
1 Deva
•
2 Soldiers
•
2 Violent oxen
•
1 Dark spirit
•
2 Dragon kings
•
2 Flying dragons
•
1 Right general
•
2 Dragon horses
•
2 Old rats
•
1 Left general
•
1 Lion
•
2 Enchanted badgers
•
2 Gold generals
Tai shogi
552 •
2 Side chariots
•
2 Flying horses
•
2 Silver generals
•
2 Rooks
•
2 Prancing stags
•
2 Copper generals
•
2 Bishops
•
2 Violent bears
•
2 Tile generals
•
2 White horses
•
2 Side movers
•
2 Iron generals
•
2 Whales
•
2 Vertical movers
•
2 Wood generals
•
2 Standard bearers
•
2 Reverse chariots
•
2 Stone generals
•
1 Vermillion sparrow •
1 Phoenix
•
2 Earth generals
•
1 Turtle-snake
•
1 Kirin
•
2 Go betweens
•
1 Blue dragon
•
2 Poison snakes
•
2 Knights
•
1 White tiger
•
1 Northern barbarian
•
2 Howling dogs
•
1 Right chariot
•
1 Southern barbarian
•
2 Donkeys
•
1 Left chariot
•
1 Eastern barbarian
•
2 Ram’s-head soldiers
•
1 Western barbarian
•
2 Lances
•
25 Pawns
Several of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are one or two other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is turned up to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Table of pieces Listed here are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to. Piece (*promoted piece only)
Kanji
Rōmaji
Promotes to ("G" = gold general)
Emperor
(自在)天王 (jizai) tennō —
Crown prince
太子
taishi
—
Hook mover
鉤行
kōgyō
G
Long-nosed goblin
天狗
tengu
G
Capricorn
*摩Ĩ羯)
makatsu
G
Peacock
孔雀
kujaku
G
Soaring eagle
飛鷲
hijū
G
Horned falcon
角鷹
kakuō
G
Free king
奔王
honnō
—
Rushing bird
行鳥††
gyōchō
free demon [or G?]††
Free demon (oni)
奔鬼
honki
G
Free dream-eater (baku)
奔獏
honbaku
G
Water buffalo
水牛
suigyū
free dream-eater
Flying ox
飛牛
higyū
G
Soldier
兵士
heishi
G
Dragon king
龍王
ryūō
—
Dragon horse
龍馬
ryūme
—
Lion
獅子
shishi
furious fiend
Tai shogi
553 *Furious fiend
奮迅
funjin
—
Side chariot
走車
sōsha
G
Rook
飛車
hisha
G
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
G
White horse
白駒
hokku
G
Whale
鯨鯢
keigei
G
Standard bearer
前旗
zenki
G
Vermillion sparrow
朱雀
suzaku
G
Turtle-snake
玄武
genbu
G
Blue dragon
青龍
seiryū
G
White tiger
白虎
byakko
G
Right chariot
右車
usha
G
Left chariot
左車
sasha
G
Side dragon
横龍
ōryū
G
Dove
鳩槃
kyūhan
G
She-devil
夜叉
yasha
G
Golden bird
金翅
kinshi
G
Great dragon
大龍
dairyū
G
White elephant
白象
hakuzō
G
Lion dog
狛犬
komainu
G [or great elephant?]†
*Great elephant
大象
taizō
— [not used?]†
Wrestler
力士
rikishi
G
Guardian of the Gods
金剛
kongō
G
Buddhist devil
羅刹
rasetsu
G
Golden deer
金鹿
konroku
G
Silver hare
銀兎
ginto
G
Fierce eagle
猛鷲
mōjū
G
Old kite
古鵄
kotetsu
long-nosed goblin
Violent ox
猛牛
mōgyū
G
Flying dragon
飛龍
hiryū
G
Old rat
老鼠
rōso
bat
*Bat
蝙蝠
kōmori
—
Enchanted badger
変狸
henri
dove
Flying horse
馬麟
barin
free king
Prancing stag
踊鹿
yōroku
square mover
*Square mover
方行
hōgyō
—
Violent bear
猛熊
mōyū
G
Side mover
横行
ōgyō
G
Vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
G
Tai shogi
554 Reverse chariot
反車
hensha
G
Phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
golden bird
Kirin
麒麟
kirin
great dragon
Poisonous snake
毒蛇
dokuja
hook mover
Northern barbarian
北狄
hokuteki
fragrant elephant [or G?]**
*Fragrant elephant
香象
kōzō
— [not used?]**
Southern barbarian
南蛮
nanban
white elephant [or G?]**
Eastern barbarian
東夷
tōi
lion
Western barbarian
西戎
seijū
lion dog
Blind bear
盲熊
mōyū
奔熊 honyū Free bear
Drunken elephant
醉象
suizō
crown prince
Neighboring king
近王
kinnō
standard bearer
Blind tiger
盲虎
mōko
奔虎 honko Free tiger ※
Blind monkey
盲猿
mōen
G‡
Ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
奔豹 honpyō Free leopard ※
Reclining dragon
臥龍
garyū
奔龍 honryū Free dragon ※
Chinese cock
淮鶏
waikei
wizard stork
*Wizard stork
*仙鶴
senkaku
—
Old monkey
古猿
koen
mountain witch‡
*Mountain witch
山母
sambo
—
Evil wolf
悪狼
akurō
奔狼 honrō Free wolf ※
Angry boar
嗔猪
shincho
奔猪 honcho Free boar
Cat sword
猫刄
myōjin
奔猫 honmyō Free cat ※
Coiled serpent
蟠蛇
banja
奔蛇 honja Free snake ※
Deva
提婆
daiba
teaching king
*Teaching king
教王
kyōō
—
Dark spirit
無明
mumyō
Buddhist spirit
*Buddhist spirit
法性
hōsei
—
Right general
右将
ushō
G
Left general
左将
sashō
G
Gold general
金将
kinshō
奔金 honkin Free gold ※
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
奔銀 hongin Free silver ※
Copper general
銅将
dōshō
奔銅 hondō Free copper ※
Tile general
瓦将
gashō
奔瓦 honga Free tile ※
Iron general
鉄将
tesshō
奔鉄 hontetsu Free iron ※
Wood general
木将
mokushō
G
Stone general
石将
sekishō
奔石 honseki Free stone ※
Earth general
土将
doshō
奔土 hondo Free earth ※
Go-between
仲人
chūnin
奔人 honnin Free go-between ※
Tai shogi
555 Knight
桂馬
keima
G
Howling dog
*࠵Ǩ口奇)犬
kiken
G
Donkey
驢馬
roba
G
Ram’s-head soldier
羊兵
yōhei
G
Lance
香車
kyōsha
G
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
G
※ "Free" pieces move like their unpromoted namesakes, except that their range is unlimited. For example, a "free king" moves like a queen, a "free cat" like a bishop. (The free bear and free boar are exceptions.) * The first kanji in 'howling' dog, ࠵[1], is not supported by many fonts, and so is created here with the help of an ad hoc superscript 口 . Likewise, the second character in 'Capricorn' should be composed of 魚+曷 ([2]), and the second character in 'wizard stork' should be 而 atop 鷦 (?). ** The fragrant and white elephants are the promotions in dai dai shogi and, in Steve Evans' Shogi Variants software, for tai shogi as well. (See link below.) The Japanese Wikipedia articles are confused. One states that both the northern and southern barbarians demote to gold. A second states that the northern demotes to gold and the southern promotes to white elephant. The fragrant elephant article states that this piece occurs in tai shogi, but provides no piece to promote into it. †
In Evans' software, this promotes to a great elephant. However, while Japanese Wikipedia states that this promotion occurs in other large-board shogi variants, it says that it demote to gold in tai shogi. ‡
There is some confusion in the Japanese Wikipedia articles over which monkey promotes to mountain witch and which promotes to gold. One article, and the internal pattern of promotions, suggests the choice we have here. The individual game-piece articles claim both promote to mountain witch, but this would be unusual, as no other two pieces share a promotion other than the ubiquitous gold. Evans' software has the opposite promotions to those shown here. ††
The 行鳥 rushing bird is also called the 行馬 gyōme 'rushing horse' in Japanese, especially in older sources. This may be a scribal error. The Japanese Wikipedia articles do not agree on its promotion.
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of one player's pieces. The way one player sees their own pieces is the same way the opposing player will see their pieces. Board layout GB P
P
P
P
GB
P
P
P
HD
FH
EN
LC
BD
WO EA SG
SO
WB
FL
WS EB CC
HF
OM OK
SC
WH
RS
VO CS BB
SV
GL
BM BT BU WR NK GG
RV
SI
SE
N
PS
FT
B
FE
WE FR
S
LG
CP
L
TS
W
FD LO
D
R
DH
DK
G
DV
E
DO FO SM VM T
I
P
P
VB
SB
C
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
PR AB EW LD EW AB PR
OR CO RD PC GD
FK
P
P
SB
VB
CA
DE HM RD CO OR
KR
LN
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
EN
FH
HD
SG EA WO
VS
RC
VM SM FO DO
C
I
RB
OM
HF
CC SU NB
FL
WB
SO
SD
BT BM
GL
SV
BB CS VO
RS
WH
SC
RG
S
FR WE
FE
B
FT
PS
N
SE
SI
RV
DS
G
FK
DH
R
D
LO FD
W
WT
L
PH
GO PC
DK
T
Tai shogi
556
Legend AB - Angry Boar
B - Bishop
BB - Blind Bear
BD - Blue Dragon
BU - Buddhist Devil
BM - Blind Monkey
BT - Blind Tiger
C - Copp. General
CA - Capricorn
CC - Chinese Cock
CO - Coiled Serpent
CP - Crown Prince
CS - Cat Sword
D - Dove
DE - Drunken Elephant
DH - Dragon Horse
DK - Dragon King
DO - Donkey
DS - Dark Spirit
DV - Deva
E - Emperor
EA - Earth General
EB - Eastern Barbarian
EN - Enchanted Badger
EW - Evil Wolf
FD - Flying Dragon
FE - Fierce Eagle
FH - Flying Horse
FK - Free King
FL - Fer. Leopard
FO - Flying Ox
FR - Free Demon
FT - Free Dream-Eater
G - Gold General
GB - Go Between
GD - Great Dragon
GG - Guardian of the Gods
GL - Golden Deer
GO - Golden Bird
HD - Howling Dog
HF - Horned Falcon
HM - Hook Mover
I - Iron General
KR - Kirin
L - Lance
LC - Left Chariot
LD - Lion Dog
LG - Left General
LN - Lion
LO - Long-nosed Goblin
N - Knight
NB - Northern Barbarian
NK - Neighbor King
OK - Old Kite
OM - Old Monkey
OR - Old Rat
P - Pawn
PC - Peacock
PH - Phoenix
PR - Prancing Stag
PS - Poison Snake
R - Rook
RB - Rushing Bird
RC - Right Chariot
RD - Reclining Dragon
RG - Right General
RS - Ram’s-head Soldier
RV - Reverse Chariot
S - Silver General
SB - Standard Bearer
SC - Side Chariot
SD - She-devil
SE - Soaring Eagle
SG - Stone General
SI - Side Dragon
SM - Side Mover
SO - Soldier
SU - Southern Barbarian
SV - Silver Hare
T - Tile General
TS - Turtle-snake
VB - Violent Bear
VM - Vert. Mover
VO - Violent Ox
VS - Vermillion Sparrow
W - Whale
WB - Water Buffalo
WE - White Elephant
WH - White Horse
WO - Wood General
WR - Wrestler
WS - Western Barbarian
WT - White Tiger
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece or displacing (capturing) an opposing piece. Each of these options is detailed below.
Movement and capture When the same piece occurs in tai shogi and maka dai dai shogi, it moves and promotes the same way in both. The only exception is the (crown) prince, and the only difference there is its name. An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of
Tai shogi the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The emperor, lion, and knight are exceptions at the beginning of the game, in that they do not move, or are not required to move, in a straight line. (The Buddhist spirit and furious fiend are similar, but they only appear as pieces promote.) If a piece that cannot retreat or move aside advances across the board until it can no longer move, it must remain there until captured. This applies to the pawn, lance, ram’s-head soldier, stone general, wood general, and iron general upon reaching the farthest rank, and to the knight upon reaching either of the two farthest ranks. Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the crown prince, drunk elephant, neighbor king, blind tiger, blind monkey, ferocious leopard, reclining dragon, Chinese cock, old monkey, evil wolf, the generals (except the wood general), angry boar, cat sword, coiled serpent, deva, dark spirit, go between, and the 25 pawns on each side. Limited ranging pieces Some pieces can move along a limited number (2, 3, or 5) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces (see below). These pieces are the water buffalo, standard bearer, vermillion sparrow, turtle-snake, blue dragon, white tiger, dove, she-devil, golden bird, great dragon, white elephant, lion dog, wrestler, Guardian of the Gods, Buddhist devil, golden deer, silver hare, fierce eagle, old kite, violent ox, flying dragon, old rat, enchanted badger, flying horse, prancing stag, violent bear, the barbarians, and the wood general. Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. These are the lion, kirin, phoenix, poison snake, donkey, and knight. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the soaring eagle, horned falcon, free king, rushing bird, the demons, free dream-eater, water buffalo, flying ox, soldier, dragon king, dragon horse, the chariots, rook, bishop, white horse, whale, standard bearer, vermillion sparrow, turtle-snake, blue dragon, white tiger, side dragon, golden bird, great dragon, white elephant, golden dear, movers, howling dog, ram’s-head solder and lance.
557
Tai shogi
558
Hook moves (changing tack) The hook mover, long-nosed goblin, Capricorn, and peacock can move any number of squares along a straight line, as a normal ranging piece, but may also abruptly change tack left or right by 90° at any one place along the route, and then continue as a ranging piece. Turning a corner like this is optional. The range covered by a hook move is the equivalent of two moves by a rook, or two moves by a bishop, depending the piece. However, a hook move is functionally a single move: The piece cannot capture twice in one move, nor may it capture and then move on. It must stop before an intervening piece (unless it first changes direction to avoid it), and must stop when it captures, just like any other ranging piece. It can only change direction once per move. Lion moves (multiple captures) The lion, lion dog, soaring eagle, and horned falcon have sequential multiple-capture abilities, called "lion moves". Among the pieces that only appear with promotion, so do the teaching king, buddhist spirit, and furious fiend. The details of these powerful moves are described for the lion, below. Individual pieces When a piece occurs in both tai shogi and maka dai dai shogi, it moves and promotes the same way. Emperor (自在)天王 (jizai) tennō • Ranging jump: The emperor can jump to any empty square anywhere on the board. • However, it can capture a piece only if that piece is unprotected (this rule prevents the game from starting with checkmate). Note that since the opposing emperor protects all other opposing pieces on the board, an emperor can only capture after the opposing emperor has been removed from play—unless the opposing emperor moves to an unprotected square, putting itself in check. Crown prince 太子 taishi • Step: The crown prince can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. It may move into or remain in check (not recommended). Hook mover 鉤行 kōgyō • Hook move: The hook mover can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular orthogonal direction. Long-nosed goblin 天狗 tengu • Hook move: The tengu can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular diagonal direction; or, • Step: It can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Capricorn 摩Ġmakatsu • Hook move: The Capricorn can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares along a perpendicular diagonal direction. This means the Capricorn can only reach half the squares on the board. Peacock 孔雀 kujaku • Hook move: The peacock can move any number of free squares along one of the two forward diagonals, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular diagonal direction; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares in one of the two rearward diagonals. Soaring eagle 飛鷲 hijū
Tai shogi
559
• Range: The soaring eagle can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction except the forward diagonals; or, • Lion move: It can move or jump one or two squares along either forward diagonal, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the diagonal. Horned falcon 角鷹 kakuō • Range: The horned falcon can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction except directly forwards; or, • Lion move: It can move or jump one or two squares along a line directly forward, potentially capturing two pieces. This power includes igui and skipping a turn (see "Lion"), but not moving off the orthogonal. Free king 奔王 honnō • Range: The free king can move any number of free squares along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. Rushing bird 行鳥 gyōchō • Range: The rushing bird can move any number of free squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backwards. Free demon 奔鬼 honki • Range: The free demon can move any number of free squares in the two forward diagonal directions; or, • It can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Limited range: It can move one to five squares directly forward or backward. Note: English language sources show ranging moves along all four diagonals, but Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi. Free dream-eater 奔獏 honbaku • Range: The free dream-eater can move any number of free squares in the two forward diagonal directions; or, • It can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, • Limited range: It can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways. Note: English language sources show ranging moves along all four diagonals, but Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi. Water buffalo 水牛 suigyū • Range: The water buffalo can move any number of free squares in the four diagonal directions; or, • It can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward. Flying Ox 飛牛 higyū • Range: The flying ox can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions; or, • It can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward. Soldier 兵士 heishi • Range: The soldier can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonals; or, • It can move any number of free squares along a rear diagonal. Dragon king 龍王 ryūō • Range: The dragon king can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions; or, • Step: It can move one square in any diagonal direction. Dragon horse 龍馬 ryūme • Range: The dragon horse can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions; or,
Tai shogi
560
• Step: It can move one square in any orthogonal direction. Side chariot 走車 sōsha • Range: The side chariot can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions; or, • Step: It can move one square diagonally behind. Rook 飛車 hisha • Range: The rook can move any number of free squares along any of the four orthogonal directions. Bishop 角行 kakugyō • Range: The bishop can move any number of free squares along any of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, an unpromoted bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. Lion 獅子 shishi • Area move/double capture: The lion can step one square in any direction up to twice in a turn. It can change directions after its first step, and is not restricted to following one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. That is, it can also step to one of the in-between squares that a knight jumps to in Western chess. • Unlike the hook movers, it can continue after a capture on the first step, potentially capturing two pieces on each turn. • By moving back to its starting square, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". • A similar move without capturing leaves the board unchanged, which is a way to pass a turn. This can be done even when there are no empty adjacent squares. Or, • Jump: The lion can jump anywhere within two squares. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess. Note: The restrictions when capturing a lion in chu shogi do not apply in tai shogi. White horse 白駒 hokku • Range: The white horse can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, • It can move any number of free squares diagonally forward. Whale 鯨鯢 keigei • Range: The whale can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or; • It can move any number of free squares diagonally backward. Standard bearer 前旗 zenki • Range: The standard bearer can move any number of free squares along any of the forward directions (diagonal or orthogonal); or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares along any of the other directions (orthogonally sideways, diagonally backwards, or directly backwards). Vermillion sparrow 朱雀 suzaku There are two completely different claims for the movement of the sparrow. • Japanese Wikipedia: • Range: The vermillion sparrow can move any number of free squares along the forward right or rear left diagonals; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally or on the rear right diagonal. It has no move along the fore left diagonal. • English-language sources:
Tai shogi
561
• Range: The vermillion sparrow can move any number of free squares diagonally or orthogonally forward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally backward; or, • Step: It can move one square directly backward. Turtle-snake 玄武 genbu There are two different movement options claimed for the turtle-snake: • English-language sources: • Range: It can move any number of free squares diagonally forward or directly backward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally backward; or, • Step: It can step one square directly backward. • Japanese Wikipedia: • Range: The turtle-snake can move any number of free squares diagonally forward to the right or diagonally backward to the left; or, • Step: It can step one square in any direction. Note: Since Japanese Wikipedia also describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi, which often has unique movements for its pieces, this may be an error. One might expect the move to be the mirror image of the vermillion sparrow above. Blue dragon 青龍 seiryū • Range: The blue dragon can move any number of free squares along the side orthogonals or the forward right diagonal; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward; or, • Step: It can move one square diagonally forward to the left. White tiger 白虎 byakko • Range: The white tiger can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, • diagonally forward to the left; or, • Step: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways; or, • It can step one square diagonally forward to the right. Right chariot 右車 usha • Range: The right chariot can move any number of free squares straight forward; or, • It can move any number of free squares along the forward right or rear left diagonals; or, • Step: It can move one square directly backward. Left chariot 左車 sasha • Range: The left chariot can move any number of free squares straight forward; or, • It can move any number of free squares along the forward left or rear right diagonals; or, • Step: It can move one square directly backward. Side dragon 横龍 ōryū • Range: The side dragon can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or sideways; or, • Step: It can move one square directly backward. Dove 鳩槃 kyūhan • Limited range: The dove can move one or two squares in one of the four orthogonal directions; or' • It can move one to five squares in one of the four diagonal directions. She-devil 夜叉 yasha • Limited range: The she-devil can move one or two squares along one of the four diagonal directions; or,
Tai shogi
562
• It can move one to five squares along one of the four orthogonal directions. Golden bird 金翅 kinshi • Range: The golden bird can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward; or, • 1st limited range: It can move one or two squares sideways; or, • 2nd limited range: It can move one to three squares along one of the four diagonals. Great dragon 大龍 dairyū There are two descriptions of the move of this piece. The main Japanese Wikipedia entry gives it as, • • • •
Range: The great dragon can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or, Jump: It can jump to the second or third square orthogonally sideways; or, 1st limited range: It can move one or two squares directly forward or backward; or, 2nd limited range: It can move one to three squares along either of the rear diagonals.
○ ○ ─
☆ ☆ ─ ○ ○ ○
大
─
○
○
○
☆ ☆ ─
○ ○
However, a second description is found in the kirin article, as the kirin promotes to great dragon. In that description, the piece moves as described in dai dai shogi: no jumps to the side, and three steps in any of the four diagonals. White elephant 白象 hakuzō • Range: The white elephant can move any number of free squares diagonally backward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two square in one of the other six diagonal or orthogonal directions. Note: English language sources have the reverse, with ranging in all directions except along the back diagonals, which are limited to two squares. However, the Japanese Wikipedia version listed here makes this piece symmetrical with the fragrant elephant in dai dai shogi. Lion dog 狛犬 komainu • Lion move/triple capture: The lion dog can make a three-step lion move along any one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. That is, unlike the lion itself, but like the soaring eagle and horned falcon, it is restricted to moving along a straight line and cannot move to the in-between squares. This power includes jumping, igui, and skipping a turn. • A piece may be captured on all three steps. • The lion dog may capture a piece on the first and second square, and then retreat to the first square. Or it may snatch a piece off the first square as in normal igui. (Note however that it may not then continue in the opposite direction: it is restricted to one orthogonal or diagonal.) • It may jump to the second square, and then continue to the third square, capturing up to two pieces. Or it may jump directly to the third square. • It is not required to take all three steps. However, like most powerful pieces, once it makes a capturing move it "promotes" and loses its powers (unless of course it is a promoted western barbarian, in which case it cannot promote again, and its powers are permanent). Note: In English-language sources, the lion dog is described as having a 3-square limited-range move in any direction. However, this seems to be an error, as it makes the traditional description of the teaching king tautologous.
Tai shogi
563
Wrestler 力士 rikishi • Limited range: The wrestler can move one to three squares along one of the four diagonal directions; or, • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways. Guardian of the Gods 金剛 kongō • Limited range: The guardian of the gods can move one to three squares along one of the four orthogonal directions; or • Step: It can step one square diagonally [forward]. Note: according to Japanese Wikipedia, it can step in any of the four diagonals, but in English-language sources it can along step in the two forward diagonals. Buddhist devil 羅刹 rasetsu • Limited range: The Buddhist devil can move one to three squares diagonally forward; or, • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways or directly backward. Golden deer 金鹿 konroku • Range: The golden deer can move any number of free squares diagonally forward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally backward. Silver hare 銀兎 ginto • Range: The silver hare can move any number of free squares diagonally backward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally forward. Fierce eagle 猛鷲 mōjū • Limited range: The fierce eagle can move one or two squares orthogonally to either side or diagonally backwards; or, • Step: It may step one square in any of the three forward directions. Note: English language sources show the limited range in all four diagonals, and the steps orthogonally sideways. However, Japanese Wikipedia only describes this piece that way for taikyoku shogi. Old kite 古鵄 kotetsu • Limited range: The old kite can move one or two squares along one of the four orthogonal directions; or, • Step: It can move one square diagonally forward. Violent ox 猛牛 mōgyū • Limited range: The violent ox can move one or two squares in one of the four orthogonal directions. Flying dragon 飛龍 hiryū • Step: The flying dragon can move one or two squares along one of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, a flying dragon can only reach half the squares on the board. Old rat 老鼠 rōso • Limited range: The old rat can move one or two squares along a forward diagonal or the rear orthogonal. Enchanted badger 変狸 henri • Limited range: The enchanted badger can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or sideways. Flying horse 馬麟 barin • Limited range: The flying horse can move one or two squares diagonally forward; or, • Step: It can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Prancing stag 踊鹿 yōroku • Limited range: The prancing stag can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Step: It can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward.
Tai shogi
564
Violent bear 猛熊 mōyū • Limited range: The violent bear can move one or two squares diagonally forward; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways. Side mover 横行 ōgyō • Range: The side mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. Vertical mover 竪行 shugyō • Range: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares orthogonally forward or backward; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways. Phoenix 鳳凰 hōō • Step: The phoenix can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, • Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four diagonal directions. Kirin 麒麟 kirin • Step: The kirin can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, • Jump: It can jump to the second square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Because of its unusual movement, an unpromoted kirin can only reach half the squares on the board. Reverse chariot 反車 hensha • Ranging: The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares directly forward or backward. Poisonous snake 毒蛇 dokuja There are two different movement options claimed for the poison snake: • English sources: The poisonous snake can jump to the second square directly forward or diagonally backward; or it can step one square to either side; • Japanese Wikipedia: The poisonous snake can step one or two squares directly forward or to either side; or it can step one square diagonally forward or directly backward. The Japanese site only explicitly makes this claim for dai dai shogi and taikyoku shogi. The move and promotion is symmetrical with the old kite in tai shogi, and one would expect the move to be different in these three game variants. Northern barbarian 北狄 hokuteki • Limited range: The northern barbarian can move one or two squares diagonally forward; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. Southern barbarian 南蛮 namban • Limited range: The southern barbarian can move one or two squares diagonally backward; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. Eastern barbarian 東夷 tōi There contradictory claims for the moves of the eastern barbarian: • English-language sources: • Limited range: The eastern barbarian can move one or two squares directly forward or backward; or, • Step: It can step one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. (This is symmetrical with the movement of the western barbarian.) • Japanese Wikipedia: • Limited range: The eastern barbarian can move one or two squares directly forward or backward; or, • Step: It can step one square to the right.
Tai shogi
565 (Three directions are omitted compared to the English sources.)
Western barbarian 西戎 seijū • Limited range: The western barbarian can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways; or, • Step: It can step one square directly forward or backward, or diagonally forward. Blind bear 盲熊 mōyū • Range: The blind bear can move any number of free squares orthogonally backward; or, • Step: It can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Drunk elephant 醉象 suizō • Step: The drunken elephant can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except directly backward. Neighbor king 近王 kinnō • Step: The neighbor king can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal [except directly backwards?]. Note: English-language sources state that the neighbor king can step in any direction except directly backward, like the drunk elephant. However, Japanese Wikipedia only describes the piece this way for taikyoku shogi. Blind tiger 盲虎 mōko • Step: The blind tiger can step one square in any direction except orthogonally forward. Free tiger 奔虎 honko • Range: The free tiger moves in the same directions as a blind tiger, but with unlimited range. Blind monkey 盲猿 mōen • Step: The blind monkey can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions or either orthogonal sideways. Ferocious leopard 猛豹 mōhyō • Step: The leopard can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or, • It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. That is, it can move to any of the six adjacent squares ahead or behind it, but not directly to the side. Free leopard 奔豹 honpyō • Range: The free leopard moves in the same directions as a ferocious leopard, but with unlimited range. Reclining dragon 臥龍 garyū • Step: The reclining dragon can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions or diagonally backward. Free dragon 奔龍 honryū • Range: The free dragon moves in the same directions as a reclining dragon, but with unlimited range. Chinese cock 淮鶏 waikei • Step: The Chinese cock can step one square orthogonally sideways, directly backward, or diagonally forward. Old monkey 古猿 koen • Step: The old monkey can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions, or directly backward. Evil wolf 悪狼 akurō • Step: The evil wolf can step one square orthogonally sideways or forward, or diagonally forward. Free wolf 奔狼 honrō • Range: The free cat moves in the same directions as an evil wolf, but with unlimited range.
Tai shogi
566
Angry boar 嗔猪 shincho • Step: The angry boar can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions. Cat sword 猫刄 myōjin • Step: The cat sword can move one square in one of the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, a cat sword can only reach half the squares on the board. Free cat 奔猫 honmyō • Range: The free cat moves in the same directions as a cat sword, but with unlimited range. Coiled serpent 蟠蛇 banja • Step: The coiled serpent can step one square directly forward or backward, or diagonally backward. Free serpent 奔蛇 honja • Range: The free serpent moves in the same directions as a coiled serpent, but with unlimited range. Dark spirit 無明 mumyō The dark spirit has asymmetric options for movement. • Step: It can step one square diagonally forward, in either direction; or, • One square orthogonally to the right; or, • One square diagonally backward to the left. Deva 提婆 daiba The deva has asymmetric options for movement. • Step: It can step one square diagonally forward, in either direction; or, • One square orthogonally to the left; or, • One square diagonally backward to the right. Right general 右将 ushō • Step: The right general can step one square in any direction except orthogonally right. It is called the right general because it guards the right side of the board. Left general 左将 sashō • Step: The left general can move one square in any direction except orthogonally left. It is called the left general because it guards the left side of the board. Gold general 金将 kinshō • Step: The gold general can step one square in one of the four orthogonal directions; or, • One square diagonally forward, giving it six possibilities. Free gold 奔金 honkin • Range: The free gold moves in the same directions as a gold general, but with unlimited range. Silver general 銀将 ginshō • Step: The silver general can step one square in one of the four diagonal directions; or, • One square straight forward, giving it five possibilities. Free silver 奔銀 hongin • Ranging: The free silver moves in the same directions as a silver general, but with unlimited range. Copper general 銅将 dōshō • Step: The copper general can step one square directly forward or backward, or one square diagonally forward, giving it four possibilities.
Tai shogi
567
Free copper 奔銅 hondō • Range: The free copper moves in the same directions as a copper general, but with unlimited range. Tile general 瓦将 gashō • Step: The tile general can step one square diagonally forward or directly backward, giving it three possibilities. Free tile 奔瓦 honga • Range: The free tile moves in the same directions as a tile general, but with unlimited range. Iron general 鉄将 tesshō • Step: The iron general can move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally, giving it three possibilities. An unpromoted iron general that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Free iron 奔鉄 hontetsu • Range: The free iron moves in the same directions as an iron general, but with unlimited range. An unpromoted free iron that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Wood general 木将 mokushō • Limited range: The wood general can move one or two squares along a forward diagonal. An unpromoted wood general that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Stone general 石将 sekishō • Step: The stone general can step one square diagonally forward, giving it two possibilities. A stone general can only reach a fraction of the board. An unpromoted stone general that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Free stone 奔石 honseki • Range: The free stone moves in the same directions as a stone general, but with unlimited range. An unpromoted free stone that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Earth general 土将 doshō and go-between 仲人 chūnin • Step: The earth general and go between can move one square directly forward or backward. These pieces have the same range of movement and promotions. The only difference is their placement at setup. Free earth 奔土 hondo and free gofer 奔人 honnin • Range: The free earth and free gofer move in the same directions as the earth general and go-between, but with unlimited range. Knight 桂馬 keima • Jump: The knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion, ignoring any intervening piece. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. An unpromoted knight that reaches one of the two farthest ranks is trapped. Howling Dog ࠵犬 kiken • Range: The howling dog can move any number of free squares along the forward orthogonal; or, • Step: It can step one square directly backwards. Donkey 驢馬 roba • Step: The donkey can step one square orthogonally; or, • Jump: It can jump to the second square directly forward or backward. Note: English-language sources show only a jump forward or backward, and a step only sideways.
Tai shogi
568
Ram’s-head soldier 羊兵 yōhei • Range: The ram’s-head soldier can move any number of free squares along either forward diagonal. An unpromoted ram's-head soldier that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Lance 香車 kyōsha • Range: The lance can move any number of free squares straight forward. An unpromoted lance that reaches the farthest rank is trapped. Pawn 歩兵 fuhyō • Step: The pawn can step one square forward. An unpromoted pawn that reaches the farthest rank is trapped.
Promotion When a piece first makes a capture, it promotes. (If it can: a few important pieces do not promote.) Promotion has the effect of changing how a piece moves. See the table above for what each piece promotes to. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion is both compulsory and permanent. Often "demotion" would be a better word, for most powerful pieces 'promote' to a gold general, which is a weak piece. It is the weaker pieces that tend to become more powerful upon making a capture. This means that a player only gets to attack or defend with many of the original lion and hook movers once each before they lose their powers. To permanently gain such ability, certain weaker pieces must be promoted. This is all very different from smaller shogi variants, where pieces promote when they cross a promotion zone (the enemy camp), and where promotion is optional and usually a good thing. The dots on the tai shogi board that would represent promotion zones in other games are only there as placement guides for the initial setup of the two camps. Some pieces promote, or demote, to a piece that exists in the initial setup of the board. However, such a piece cannot then promote a second time as its namesake does. For example, a gold general promotes to a free gold. However, while a hook mover demotes to a gold general on its first capturing move, it does not promote to a free gold on its second. Rather, it remains a gold general for the rest of the game. This should be clear from the game equipment, for each piece only has two sides. Many of the step movers promote to free-ranging pieces but retain their directions of movement. These were listed above after the unpromoted pieces. Other pieces only appear as a result of promotion. They are as follows: Pieces that only appear with promotion These are in addition to the 'free' pieces mentioned in the previous section. Teaching king 教王 kyōō • Lion move: The teaching king can move as a lion dog (three-step lion move along any one straight line); or, • Range: It can move as a free king (range along any one straight line). Note: Medieval manuscripts simply describe its movement as "lion dog plus free king". Since English-language materials described the lion dog as a limited-range piece, this was thought to be redundant, and various new moves were proposed, with the 'traditional' movement being maintained to be simply that of a free king. However, the "lion dog plus free king" description makes sense with Japanese Wikipedia's description of the lion dog (above). Buddhist spirit 法性 hōsei • Lion move: The Buddhist spirit can move either as a lion; or, • Range: It can move as a free king. Furious fiend 奮迅 funjin
Tai shogi
569
• Lion move: The furious fiend can move as a lion anywhere within a two-square distance, including jumps, double capture, igui, and passing a turn; or, • Limited range: It can move (but not jump) up to three free squares along one of the eight diagonals and orthogonals. HOWEVER - sources describe this piece as 'lion plus lion dog'- therefore some players do just this a similar situation to the teaching king ' free king plus lion dog. both sets of move being available - a matter of choice Wizard stork 仙鶴 senkaku • Range: The wizard stork can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or directly forward; or, • Step: It can step one square directly backward. Mountain witch 山母 sambo • Range: The mountain witch can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or directly backward; or, • Step: It can step one square directly forward. Square mover 方行 hōgyō • Range: The square mover can move any number of free squares along one of the four orthogonal directions; or, • Step: It can step one square diagonally forward. Fragrant elephant 香象 kōzō • Range: The fragrant elephant can move any number of free squares diagonally forward; or, • Limited range: It can move one or two squares along one of the four orthogonal directions, or along either rear diagonal. Note: Although Japanese Wikipedia mentions in passing that the fragrant elephant is used in tai shogi, it does not describe how it moves, or which piece promotes into it, and thus it may be an error. The movement described here is taken from English-language sources, and matches the Japanese description for dai dai shogi. Great elephant 大象 taizō • Limited range 1: The great elephant can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways or along either rear diagonal; or, • Limited range 2: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward, or directly forward or backward. HOWEVER some players keep the lion power on promotion so the extra 2 steps in the E-W-SE-SW directions are just 2 extra steps with no lion power. if the great elephant steps five steps then lion power can not be usedonce again a choice of moves is offered. Note: Japanese Wikipedia states that the lion dog demotes to gold upon capture. Although it gives the great elephant as the demotion of the lion dog in dai dai shogi, it has different movement options in that game. Free bear 奔熊 honyū • Range: The free bear can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or along either orthogonal sideways; or, • Jump: It can may a knight's jump forward. Free boar 奔猪 honcho • Range: The free boar can move any number of free squares along one of the four diagonal directions, or along either orthogonal sideways. Bat 蝙蝠 kōmori • Range: The bat can move any number of free squares along either of the rear diagonals, or directly forward.
Tai shogi
Check and mate When a player makes a move, such that the opponent's sole remaining emperor or crown prince could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the emperor or prince; the emperor or prince is said to be in check. If a player's last emperor or prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get it out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one royal (emperor or prince) may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check to the sole objective piece.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining emperor or prince wins the game. In practice this rarely happens, as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Another possible, if rather uncommon, way for a game to end is repetition (sennichite). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for tai shogi. A typical example is P-8h. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. (e.g., +CC for a wizard stork (promoted Chinese cock). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 25y being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a soaring eagle, horned falcon, lion or Buddhist spirit captures by 'igui’, the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol '!'. If a double capture is made, than it is added after the first capture. If a move entitles the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken, or an = to indicate that it was declined. For example, ORx7c= indicates an old rat capturing on 7c without promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
570
Tai shogi
External links • Shogi Net [2]. Has links to Evans' free software. • history.chess/Tai shogi [3] • Roger Hare's site (2003) [4]
References [1] [2] [3] [4]
http:/ / www. unicode. org/ cgi-bin/ GetUnihanData. pl?codepoint=20D47 http:/ / www. unicode. org/ cgi-bin/ GetUnihanData. pl?codepoint=29E44 http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ taishogi. htm http:/ / www. shogi. net/ rjhare/ tai-shogi/ tai-intro. html
Taikyoku shogi Taikyoku shōgi (大局将棋 'ultimate chess') is a large board variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game was created around the mid 16th century (presumably by priests) and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the rediscovery of taikyoku shogi in 1997, tai shogi was believed to be the largest playable chess variant (if not board game) ever. It has not been shown that taikyoku shogi was ever widely played. One game may be played over several long sessions and require each player to make over a thousand moves. Because the game was found only recently after centuries of obscurity, it is difficult to say exactly what all the rules were. Several documents describing the game have been found; however, there are differences between them. Many of the pieces appear in other shogi variants but their moves may be different. The board, and likewise the pieces, were made much smaller, making archeological finds difficult to decipher. Research into this game continues for historical and cultural reasons, but also to satisfy the curious and those who wish to play what could be the most challenging chess-like game ever made. More research must be done however. This article focuses on one likely set of rules that can make the game playable in modern times but is by no means canon. These rules may change as more discoveries are made and secrets of the game unlocked.
Rules of the game Taikyoku shogi is very different from other large-board shogi variants: dai dai shogi, maka dai dai shogi, and tenjiku shogi. The most notable differences lie with the piece movements and their promotions.
Objective The objective of the game is to capture the opponent's king(s) and crown prince(s). When the last of these is captured, the game ends. There are no rules for check or checkmate; however, in practice a player resigns when checkmated. Unlike standard shogi, pieces may not be dropped back into play after being captured.
Game equipment Two players, Black and White (or 先手 sente and 後手 gote), play on a board ruled into a grid of 36 ranks (rows) by 36 files (columns) with a total of 1,296 squares. The squares are undifferentiated by marking or color. Each player has a set of 402 wedge-shaped pieces of 209 different types. In all, the players must remember 253 different moves. The pieces are of slightly different sizes with the larger pieces near the king and becoming progressively smaller for pieces further from the king, regardless of power. In general, the stronger pieces are nearer to the king.
571
Taikyoku shogi
572
Several of the English names were chosen to correspond to rough equivalents in Western chess, rather than as translations of the Japanese names. Each piece has its name in the form of two or three kanji written on its face. On the reverse side of some pieces are two or three other characters, often in a different color (commonly red instead of black); this reverse side is used to indicate that the piece has been promoted during play. The pieces of the two sides do not differ in color, but instead each piece is shaped like a wedge, and faces forward, toward the opposing side. This shows who controls the piece during play. Listed below are the pieces of the game and, if they promote, which pieces they promote to; starting with the first row. Piece
Kanji
Rōmaji
Promotes to
King
玉将
gyokushō
—
Crown prince
太子
taishi
king
Gold general
金将
kinshō
rook
Right general
右将
ushō
right army
Right army
右軍
ugun
—
Left general
左将
sashō
left army
Left army
左軍
sagun
—
Rear standard
後旗
kōki
center standard
Free king
奔王
honnō
great general
Free dream-eater
奔獏
honbaku
free king
Wooden dove
鳩槃
kyūhan
—
Ceramic dove
鳩盤
kyūban
—
Earth dragon
地龍
chiryū
rain dragon
Free demon
奔鬼
honki
free king
Running horse
走馬
sōma, sōba
free demon
Beast cadet
獣曹
jūsō
beast officer
Long-nosed goblin
天狗
tengu
—
Mountain eagle (left and right) 山鷲
sanshū
soaring eagle
Fire demon
火鬼
kaki
free fire
Free fire
奔火
honka
—
Whale
鯨鯢
keigei
great whale
Great whale
大鯨
daigei
—
Running rabbit
走兎
sōto
treacherous fox
White tiger
白虎
byakko
divine tiger
Divine tiger
神虎
shinko
—
Turtle-snake
玄武
genbu
divine turtle
Divine turtle
神亀
shinki
—
Lance
香車
kyōsha
white horse
Reverse chariot
反車
hensha
whale
Fragrant elephant
香象
kōzō
elephant king
Taikyoku shogi
573 Elephant king
象王
zōō
—
White elephant
白象
hakuzō
elephant king
Mountain dove
山鳩
sankyū
great dove
Flying swallow
飛燕
hien
rook
Captive officer
禽吏
kinri
captive bird
Captive bird
禽鳥
kinchō
—
Rain dragon
雨龍
uryū
great dragon
Forest demon
森鬼
shinki
thunder runner
Thunder runner
雷走
raisō
—
Mountain stag
山鹿
sanroku
great stag
Running pup
走狗
sōku
free leopard
Free leopard
奔豹
honpyō
—
Running serpent
走蛇
sōja
Free serpent
Free serpent
奔蛇
honja
—
Side serpent
横蛇
ōja
great shark
Great shark
大鱗
dairin
—
Great dove
大鳩
daikyū
wooden dove
Running tiger
走虎
sōko
free tiger
*Free tiger
奔虎
honko
—
Running bear
走熊
sōyū
free bear
*Free bear
奔熊
hon’yū
—
Yaksha
夜叉
yasha
Heavenly Tetrarch
Heavenly Tetrarch
四天
shiten
—
Buddhist devil
羅刹
rasetsu
Heavenly Tetrarch
Guardian of the Gods
金剛
kongō
Heavenly Tetrarch
Wrestler
力士
rikishi
Heavenly Tetrarch
Silver general
銀将
ginshō
vertical mover
Drunken elephant
酔象
suizō
crown prince
Neighboring king
近王
kinnō
front standard
Gold chariot
金車
kinsha
playful cockatoo
Playful cockatoo
遊母
yūmo
—
Side dragon
横龍
ōryū
running dragon
Running dragon
走龍
sōryū
—
Running stag
走鹿
sōroku
free stag
Free stag
奔鹿
honroku
—
Running wolf
走狼
sōrō
free wolf
Free wolf
奔狼
honrō
—
Bishop general
角将
kakushō
rain demon
Rain demon
霖鬼
rinki
—
Taikyoku shogi
574 Rook general
飛将
hishō
flying crocodile
Flying crocodile
飛鰐
higaku
—
Right tiger
右虎
uko
white tiger
Left tiger
左虎
sako
turtle-snake
Right dragon
右龍
uryū
Blue dragon
Left dragon
左龍
saryū
vermillion sparrow
Beast officer
獣吏
jūri
beast bird
Beast bird
獣鳥
jūchō
—
Wind dragon
風龍
fūryū
free dragon
Free dragon
奔龍
honryū
—
Free pup
奔狗
honku
free dog
Free dog
奔犬
honken
—
Rushing bird
行鳥
gyōchō
free demon
Old kite
古鵄
kotetsu
long-nosed goblin
Peacock
孔雀
kujaku
long-nosed goblin
Water dragon
水龍
suiryū
phoenix master
Fire dragon
火龍
karyū
kirin master
Copper general
銅将
dōshō
side mover
Phoenix master
鳳師
hōshi
—
Kirin master
麟師
rinshi
—
Silver chariot
銀車
ginsha
goose wing
Goose wing
鴻翼
kōyoko
—
Vertical bear
竪熊
shuyū
free bear
Knight
桂馬
keima
side soldier
Pig general
豚将
tonshō
free pig
Free pig
奔豚
honton
—
Chicken general
鶏将
keishō
free chicken
Free chicken
奔鶏
honkei
—
Pup general
狗将
kushō
free pup
Horse general
馬将
bashō
free horse
Free horse
奔馬
honba
—
Ox general
牛将
gyūshō
free ox
Free ox
奔牛
hongyū
—
Center standard
中旗
chūki
front standard
Side boar
横猪
ōcho
free boar
Free boar
奔猪
honcho
—
Silver rabbit
銀兎
ginto
whale
Golden deer
金鹿
konroku
white horse
Lion
獅子
shishi
furious fiend
Taikyoku shogi
575 Furious fiend
奮迅
funjin
—
Captive cadet
禽曹
kinsō
captive officer
Great stag
大鹿
dairoku
free stag
Violent dragon
猛龍
mōryū
great dragon
Woodland demon
林鬼
rinki
right phoenix
Right phoenix
右鵰
ushū
—
Vice general
副将
fukushō
great general
Great general
大将
taishō
—
Stone chariot
石車
sekisha
walking heron
Walking heron
歩振
fushin
—
Cloud eagle
雲鷲
unjū
strong eagle
Strong eagle
勁鷲
keijū
—
Bishop
角行
kakugyō
dragon horse
Rook
飛車
hisha
dragon king
Side wolf
横狼
ōrō
free wolf
Flying cat
飛猫
hibyō
rook
Mountain falcon
山鷹
san’ō
horned falcon
Vertical tiger
竪虎
shuko
free tiger
Soldier
兵士
heishi
cavalier
Cavalier
騎士
kishi
—
Little standard
小旗
shōki
rear standard
Cloud dragon
雲龍
unryū
great dragon
Copper chariot
銅車
dōsha
copper elephant
Copper elephant
銅象
dōzō
—
Running chariot
走車
sōsha
burning chariot
Burning chariot
炮車
hōsha
—
Ram’s-head soldier
羊兵
yōhei
tiger soldier
Tiger soldier
虎兵
kohei
—
Violent ox
猛牛
mōgyū
flying ox
Great dragon
大龍
dairyū
ancient dragon
Ancient dragon
元龍
genryū, ganryū —
Golden bird
金翅
kinshi
free bird
Free bird
奔翅
honshi
—
Dark spirit
無明
mumyō
Buddhist spirit
Buddhist spirit
法性
hōsei
—
Deva
提婆
daiba
teaching king
Teaching king
教王
kyōō
—
Wood chariot
木車
mokusha
wind snapping turtle
Wind snapping turtle
風鼈
fūbetsu
—
Taikyoku shogi
576 White horse
白駒
hakku
great horse
Great horse
大駒
daiku
—
Howling dog (left and right)
口
kiken
left dog, right dog
Right dog
右犬
uken
—
Left dog
左犬
saken
—
Side mover
横行
ōgyō
free boar
Prancing stag
踊鹿
yōroku
square mover
Water buffalo
水牛
suigyū
great dream-eater
Great dream-eater
大獏
daibaku
—
Ferocious leopard
猛豹
mōhyō
bishop
Fierce eagle
猛鷲
mōjū
soaring eagle
Flying dragon
飛龍
hiryū
dragon king
Poisonous snake
毒蛇
dokuja
hook mover
Flying goose
鳫飛
ganhi
swallow’s wings
Strutting crow
烏行
ukō
flying falcon
Flying falcon
飛鷹
hiyō
—
Blind dog
盲犬
mōken
violent stag
Water general
水将
suishō
vice general
Fire general
火将
kashō
great general
Phoenix
鳳凰
hōō
golden bird
Kirin
麒麟
kirin
golden bird
Hook mover
鉤行
kōgyō
—
Little turtle
小亀
shōki
treasure turtle
Treasure turtle
宝亀
hōki
—
Great turtle
大亀
daiki
spirit turtle
Spirit turtle
霊亀
reiki
—
Capricorn
摩羯
makatsu
hook mover
Tile chariot
瓦車
gasha
running tile
Running tile
走瓦
sōga
—
Vertical wolf
竪狼
shurō
running wolf
Side ox
横牛
ōgyū
flying ox
Donkey
驢馬
roba
ceramic dove
Flying horse
馬麟
barin
free king
Violent bear
猛熊
mōyū
great bear
Great bear
大熊
daiyū
—
Angry boar
嗔猪
shincho
free boar
Evil wolf
悪狼
akurō
venomous wolf
Venomous wolf
毒狼
dokurō
—
Liberated horse
風馬
fūma
heavenly horse
奇犬
Taikyoku shogi
577 Heavenly horse
天馬
temma
—
Flying cock
鶏飛
keihi
raiding falcon
Raiding falcon
延鷹
en’yō
—
Old monkey
古猿
koen
mountain witch
Mountain witch
山母
sanbo
—
Chinese cock
淮鶏
waikei
wizard stork
Wizard stork
仙鷦
senkaku
—
Northern barbarian
北狄
hokuteki
wooden dove
Southern barbarian
南蛮
nanban
golden bird
Western barbarian
西戎
seijū
lion dog
Eastern barbarian
東夷
tōi
lion
Violent stag
猛鹿
mōroku
rushing boar
Rushing boar
行猪
gyōcho
—
Violent wolf
猛狼
mōrō
bear’s eyes
Bear’s eyes
熊眼
yūgan
—
Treacherous fox
隠狐
inko, onko
mountain crane
Mountain crane
山鶻
sankotsu
—
Center master
中師
chūshi
—
Roc master
鵬師
hōshi
—
Earth chariot
土車
dosha
young bird
Young bird
*尺鳥
shakuchō
—
Vermillion sparrow
朱雀
suzaku
divine sparrow
Divine sparrow
神雀
shinjaku
—
Blue dragon
青龍
seiryū
divine dragon
Divine dragon
神龍
shinryū
—
Enchanted badger
変狸
henri
ceramic dove
Horseman
騎兵
kihei
cavalier
Swooping owl
鴟行
shigyō
cloud eagle
Climbing monkey
登猿
tōen
violent stag
Cat sword
猫刄
myōjin
dragon horse
Swallow’s wings
燕羽
en’u
gliding swallow
Gliding swallow
燕行
engyō
—
Blind monkey
盲猿
mōen
flying stag
Flying stag
飛鹿
hiroku
—
Blind tiger
盲虎
mōko
flying stag
Oxcart
牛車
gissha
plodding ox
Plodding ox
歬牛
sengyū
—
Side flier
横飛
ōhi
side dragon
Blind bear
盲熊
mōyū
flying stag
Taikyoku shogi
578 Old rat
老鼠
Bird of paradise
rōso
bird of paradise
jichō
—
Square mover
方行
hōgyō
strong chariot
Strong chariot
強車
kyōsha
—
Coiled serpent
蟠蛇
banja
coiled dragon
Coiled dragon
蟠龍
banryū
—
Reclining dragon
臥龍
garyū
great dragon
Free eagle
奔鷲
honjū
—
Lion hawk
獅鷹
shiō
—
Chariot soldier
車兵
shahei
Heavenly Tetrarch king
Heavenly Tetrarch king
四天王
shitennō
—
Side soldier
横兵
ōhei
water buffalo
Vertical soldier
竪兵
shuhei
chariot soldier
Wind general
風将
fūshō
violent wind
*Violent wind
暴風
bōfū
—
River general
川将
senshō
Chinese river
*Chinese river
淮川
waisen
—
Mountain general
山将
sanshō
peaceful mountain
*Peaceful mountain
泰山
taizan
—
Front standard
前旗
zenki
great standard
Horse soldier
馬兵
bahei
running horse
Wood general
木将
mokushō
white elephant
Ox soldier
牛兵
gyūhei
running ox
*Running ox
走牛
sōgyū
—
Earth general
土将
doshō
white elephant
Boar soldier
猪兵
chohei
running boar
*Running boar
走猪
sōcho
—
Stone general
石将
sekishō
white elephant
Leopard soldier
豹兵
hyōhei
running leopard
*Running leopard
走豹
sōhyō
—
Tile general
瓦将
gashō
white elephant
Bear soldier
熊兵
yūhei
strong bear
*Strong bear
強熊
kyōyū
—
Iron general
鉄将
tesshō
white elephant
Great standard
大旗
daiki
—
Great master
大師
daishi
—
Right chariot
右車
usha
right iron chariot
*Right iron chariot
右鉄車
utessha
—
Left chariot
左車
sasha
left iron chariot
Taikyoku shogi
579 *Left iron chariot
左鉄車
satessha
—
Side monkey
横猿
ōen
side soldier
Vertical mover
竪行
shugyō
flying ox
Flying ox
飛牛
higyū
fire ox
*Fire ox
火牛
kagyū
—
Longbow soldier
弩兵
dohei
longbow general
*Longbow general
弩将
doshō
—
Vertical pup
竪狗
shuku
leopard king
*Leopard king
豹王
hyōō
—
Vertical horse
竪馬
shuba
dragon horse
Burning soldier
炮兵
hōhei
burning general
*Burning general
炮将
hōshō
—
Dragon horse
龍馬
ryūme
horned falcon
Dragon king
龍王
ryūō
soaring eagle
Sword soldier
刀兵
tōhei
sword general
Sword general
刀将
tōshō
—
Horned falcon
角鷹
kakuō
great falcon
*Great falcon
大鷹
daiō
—
Soaring eagle
飛鷲
hijū
great eagle
*Great eagle
大鷲
daijū
—
Spear soldier
鎗兵
sōhei
spear general
*Spear general
鎗将
sōshō
—
Vertical leopard
竪豹
shuhyō
great leopard
*Great leopard
大豹
daihyō
—
Savage tiger
猛虎
mōko
great tiger
*Great tiger
大虎
daiko
—
Cross-bow soldier
弓兵
kyūhei
cross-bow general
*Cross-bow general
弓将
kyūshō
—
Roaring dog
吼犬
kōken
lion dog
Lion dog
狛犬
komainu
great elephant
*Great elephant
大象
taizō
—
Dog
犬
inu
multi general
*Multi general
雜将
suishō
—
Go between
仲人
chūnin
drunken elephant
Pawn
歩兵
fuhyō
gold general
Taikyoku shogi
580
Setup Below is a diagram showing the setup of one player's pieces. The way one player sees their own pieces is the same way the opposing player will see their pieces.
Board layout D
D
D
D
GB
P
P
P
P
LC
P
P
P
P
P
P
LB VP MK VM OX
SL CH
RE M
HS SD
FH
CI
CE
B
N
PI
FD PS
FY
SI GC
BG RN RW
FS RV WE MD
L
CO
P
T
F
PC
RP RU SS
FI
FR ED
C
WA
S WR
FT FK RS LG G CD
C
BI
ST FY PS
K
CP
G
P
P
P RC
RE
SL WN VR
FH LH EW AB VB
FD
FL
CH
EB VI
EC
SX
TC
SM HD WH WC
FC
O
H
VW
PR
R
B
CE CI
PG CG PI
N
VE SV
VT MF
GL SR SA
DO
WB
CR CL LS SO
WF
CN
RB FP OK
RI WD BO
BG TT RO
GR SS RU RP RT
SI RW RN
CO FS MS FO RA
RS FK FT RG
M SD
EG
BA GU YA
P
OX VM MK
CK OM
PC
S NK DE
HS
RH
WA
P
BM SW CS CM OW HO
LN
FI
KM PM
BA BD GR RT
CC
GS CT
P
BT OC
NB
HE
VD WL GG VG WL VD
P
VP LB
WG
VO GD GO DV DS GO GD VO
P
GN
SF
VS SU
HM PH
P
DK DH BN VH
BB
NT
CT GS
P
BS EA OS
SQ OR
GT LL
P
SG
RD SN
TF
P
HF SE
LP
BE
FE
KR CA
P
EL
HE
RB OK
P
VL SP
I
LI
F
GL LN
RA FO MS
DM ME LO BC HR
I
VS NT TF
WG
FP
TS RR W
BE
P
TG
RM MT
BI
SA SR
BO WD
P SB
RD
CR RH
LE RO LT
T
OR SQ SN
SO LS CL
CN
P
VL TG SB LD
BB
ST
O
P
GM GE
ES
MF VT
CG PG H
P
OM CC WS
EG
FC WF
SV VE
FL WB
R
SF
CK
PR
P
DG
LP
OC
VB AB EW LH
WC WH HD SM
P
BS SG
BT
DO
P
EL SP
OS EA
HO OW CM CS SW BM
SX
P
HF
GN
EC BL EB
VW
P
SE VH BN DH DK
VR WN
TC
P
GB
ED FR WO
FG MD
W HR BC LO ME DM
GC
RV
RR
L WT
Taikyoku shogi
581
Legend AB - Angry boar
B - Bishop
BA - Running Bear
BB - Blind Bear
BC - Beast Cadet
BD - Buddhist Devil
BE - Bear Soldier
BG - Bishop General
BI - Blind Dog
BL - Blue Dragon
BM - Blind Monkey
BN - Burning Soldier
BO - Beast Officer
BS - Boar Soldier
BT - Blind Tiger
C - Copper General
CA - Capricorn
CC - Chinese Cock
CD - Ceramic Dove
CE - Cloud Eagle
CG - Chicken General
CH - Chariot Soldier
CI - Stone Chariot
CK - Flying Cock
CL - Cloud Dragon
CM - Climbing Monkey
CN - Center Standard
CO - Captive Officer
CP - Crown Prince
CR - Copper Chariot
CS - Cat Sword
CT - Captive Cadet
D - Dog
DE - Drunken Elephant
DG - Roaring Dog
DH - Dragon Horse
DK - Dragon King
DO - Donkey
DM - Fire Demon
DS - Dark Spirit
DV - Deva
EA - Earth General
EB - Enchanted Badger
EC - Earth Chariot
ED - Earth Dragon
EG - Fierce Eagle
EL - Soaring Eagle
ES - Eastern Barbarian
EW - Evil Wolf
F - Fire General
FC - Flying Cat
FD - Flying Dragon
FE - Free Eagle
FG - Fragrant Elephant
FH - Flying Horse
FI - Fire Dragon
FK - Free King
FL - Ferocious Leopard
FO - Forest Demon
FP - Free Pup
FR - Free Demon
FS - Flying Swallow
FT - Free Dream-Eater
FY - Flying Goose
G - Gold General
GB - Go Between
GC - Gold Chariot
GD - Great Dragon
GE - Great Standard
GG - Great General
GL - Golden Deer
GM - Great Master
GN - Wood General
GO - Golden Bird
GR - Great Dove
GS - Great Stag
GT - Great Turtle
GU - Guardian of the Gods
H - Horse General
HD - Howling Dog
HE - Ram’s-head Soldier
HF - Horned Falcon
HM - Hook Mover
HO - Horseman
HR - Running Horse
HS - Horse Soldier
I - Iron General
K- King
KM - Kirin Master
KR - Kirin
L - Lance
LB - Longbow Soldier
LC - Left Chariot
LD - Lion Dog
LE - Left Dragon
LG - Left General
LH - Liberated Horse
LI - Lion Hawk
LL - Little Turtle
LN - Lion
LO - Long-nosed Goblin
LP - Leopard Soldier
LS - Little Standard
LT - Left Tiger
M - Mountain General
MD - Mountain Dove
ME - Mountain Eagle
MF - Mountain Falcon
MK - Side Monkey
MS - Mountain Stag
MT - Center Master
N - Knight
NB - Northern Barbarian
NK - Neighboring King
NT – Violent wolf
O - Ox General
OC - Oxcart
OK - Old Kite
OM - Old Monkey
OR - Old Rat
OS - Ox Soldier
OW - Swooping Owl
OX - Flying Ox
P - Pawn
PC - Peacock
PG - Pup General
PH - Phoenix
PI - Pig General
PM - Phoenix Master
PR - Prancing Stag
PS - Poisonous Snake
R - Rook
RA - Rain Dragon
RB - Rushing Bird
RC - Right Chariot
RD - Reclining Dragon
RE - River General
RG - Right General
RH - Running Chariot
RI - Right Dragon
RM - Roc Master
RN - Running Stag
RO - Rook General
RP - Running Pup
RR - Running Rabbit
RS - Rear Standard
RT - Running Tiger
RU - Running Serpent
RV - Reverse Chariot
RW - Running Wolf
S - Silver General
SA - Side Boar
SB - Cross-bow Soldier
SD - Front Standard
SE - Sword Soldier
SF - Side Flier
SG - Stone General
SI - Side Dragon
SL - Side Soldier
SM - Side Mover
SN - Coiled Serpent
SO - Soldier
SP - Spear Soldier
SQ - Square Mover
SR - Silver Rabbit
SS - Side Serpent
ST - Strutting Crow
SU - Southern Barbarian
SV - Silver Chariot
SW - Swallow’s Wings
SX - Side Ox
T - Tile General
TC - Tile Chariot
TF - Treacherous Fox
TG - Savage Tiger
TS - Turtle-snake
TT - Right Tiger
VB - Violent Bear
VD - Violent Dragon
VE - Vertical Bear
VG - Vice General
VH - Vertical Horse
VI - Vermillion Sparrow
VL - Vertical Leopard
VM - Vertical Mover
VO - Violent Ox
VP - Vertical Pup
VR - Vertical Soldier
VS - Violent Stag
VT - Vertical Tiger
Taikyoku shogi
582
VW - Vertical Wolf
W - Whale
WA - Water Dragon
WB - Water Buffalo
WC - Wood Chariot
WD - Wind Dragon
WE - White Elephant
WF - Side Wolf
WG - Water General
WH - White Horse
WI - Wind Soldier
WL - Woodland Demon
WN - Wind General
WO - Wooden Dove
WR - Wrestler
WS - Western Barbarian
WT - White Tiger
YA - Yaksha
Game play The players alternate making a move, with Black moving first. (The traditional terms 'black' and 'white' are used to differentiate the sides during discussion of the game, but are no longer literally descriptive.) A move consists of moving a single piece on the board and potentially promoting that piece or displacing (capturing) an opposing piece.
Movement and capture Most pieces in the game move in a unique manner. An opposing piece is captured by displacement: That is, if a piece moves to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the opposing piece is displaced and removed from the board. A piece cannot move to a square occupied by a friendly piece (meaning another piece controlled by the moving player). Each piece on the game moves in a characteristic pattern. Pieces move either orthogonally (that is, forward, backward, left, or right, in the direction of one of the arms of a plus sign, +), or diagonally (in the direction of one of the arms of a multiplication sign, ×). The lion, lion hawk and knight are exceptions at the beginning of the game, in that they do not move, or are not required to move, in a straight line. (The Buddhist spirit, teaching king, heavenly horse and furious fiend are similar, but they only appear as pieces promote.) Categories of movement Many pieces are capable of several kinds of movement, with the type of movement most often depending on the direction in which they move. The movement categories are: Step movers Some pieces move only one square at a time. (If a friendly piece occupies an adjacent square, the moving piece may not move in that direction; if an opposing piece is there, it may be displaced and captured.) The step movers are the crown prince, generals (except: bishop, rook, pig, vice, great and wood), wolves, earth dragon, running horse, running rabbit, turtle snake, mountain dove, flying swallow, rain dragon, mountain stag, running pup, running serpent, side serpent, yaksha, Buddhist devil, violent stag, drunken elephant, neighboring king, chariots (except: reverse, running and copper), right tiger, left tiger, wind dragon, free pup, rushing bird, old kite, bears (except running), side boar, cloud eagle, flying cat, little standard, cloud dragon, soldiers (except soldier and chariot), violent ox, dark spirit, deva, howling dog, side mover, prancing stag, ferocious leopard, fierce eagle, poisonous snake, flying goose, strutting crow, blind dog, Chinese cock, phoenix, kirin, side ox, angry boar, liberated horse, flying cock, monkeys, barbarians, vermillion sparrow, swooping owl, old rat, cat sword, swallow’s wings, blind tiger, side flyer, coiled serpent, reclining dragon, go between, dog, vertical mover, vertical pup, vertical horse, dragon horse, dragon king and pawn.
Taikyoku shogi Limited ranging pieces Some pieces can move along a limited number (2 to 7) of free (empty) squares along a straight line in certain directions. Other than the limited distance, they move like ranging pieces (see below). The limited ranging pieces are the king, standards, free dream-eater, wooden dove, dragons (except: rain, side, wind, cloud, flying and reclining), demons, beast cadet, mountain eagle, white tiger, ceramic dove, mountain dove, captive officer, mountain stag, side serpent, great dove, running tiger, running bear, yaksha, Buddhist devil, guardian of the Gods, wrestler, gold chariot, running stag, beast officer, free pup, rushing bird, old kite, peacock, phoenix master, kirin master, silver chariot, vertical bear, pig general, chicken general, horse general, ox general, silver rabbit, golden deer, captive cadet, great stag, stone chariot, cloud eagle, mountain falcon, vertical tiger, copper chariot, golden bird, prancing stag, water buffalo, fierce eagle, water general, mountain general, fire general, turtles, vertical wolf, donkey, enchanted badger, flying horse, angry boar, violent bear, liberated horse, barbarians, center master, roc master, horseman, soldiers (except: rook, ram’s-head, spear and sword), wing general, wind general, wood general, great master and roaring dog. Jumping pieces Several pieces can jump, that is, they can pass over any intervening piece, whether friend or foe, with no effect on either. The jumping pieces are the wooden dove, running horse, mountain eagle, phoenix master, kirin master, knight, lion, great stag, vice general, flying cat, mountain falcon, golden bird, flying dragon, poisonous snake, phoenix, kirin, turtles, treacherous fox, center master, roc master, free eagle, lion hawk, great master, horned falcon, soaring eagle, roaring dog and lion dog. Ranging pieces Many pieces can move any number of empty squares along a straight line, limited only by the edge of the board. If an opposing piece intervenes, it may be captured by moving to that square and removing it from the board. A ranging piece must stop where it captures, and cannot bypass a piece that is in its way. If a friendly piece intervenes, the moving piece is limited to a distance that stops short of the intervening piece; if the friendly piece is adjacent, it cannot move in that direction at all. The ranging pieces are the standards, free king, free dream-eater, wooden dove, dragons (except: violent, flying and reclining), demons, running horse, mountain eagle, whale, running rabbit, tigers (except blind), turtle snake, ceramic dove, lance, oxcart, chariots, flying swallow, running pup, running serpent, great dove, running bear, running stag, running wolf, free pup, phoenix master, kirin master, vertical bear, side boar, silver rabbit, golden deer, great stag, cloud eagle, bishop, rook, side wolf, mountain falcon, soldiers (except: sword, burning and cross-bow), violent ox, golden bird, white horse, howling dog, side mover, water buffalo, turtles, vertical wolf, side ox, liberated horse, treacherous fox, roc master, vermillion sparrow, horseman, swallow’s wings, side flyer, great master, side monkey, vertical mover, flying ox, vertical pup, vertical horse, dragon horse, dragon king, horned falcon, soaring eagle, roaring dog and lion dog.
583
Taikyoku shogi Hook moves (changing tack) The hook mover, long-nosed goblin, Capricorn, and peacock can move any number of squares along a straight line, as a normal ranging piece, but may also abruptly change tack left or right by 90° at any one place along the route, and then continue as a ranging piece. Turning a corner like this is optional. The range covered by a hook move is the equivalent of two moves by a rook, or two moves by a bishop, depending on the piece. However, a hook move is functionally a single move: The piece cannot capture twice in one move, nor may it capture and then move on. It must stop before an intervening piece (unless it first changes direction to avoid it), and must stop when it captures, just like any other ranging piece. It can only change direction once per move. Area movers The lion and lion hawk may take multiple (2) steps in a single turn. These do not have to be in a line, so these pieces can potentially reach every square within two or three steps of the starting square, not just squares along one of the diagonals or orthogonals. Such moves are also useful to get around obstructions. An area mover must stop where it captures. Limited range jumping pieces The golden bird and several promoted pieces have the option of jumping a limited number of squares, and then continuing on in the same direction as a ranging piece. Range jumping (flying) pieces The ancient dragon may jump over any number of pieces, friend or foe, along a straight line, but only when making a capture. Otherwise it moves as a ranging piece. Range capturing pieces The great general, vice general, rook general, bishop general, violent dragon and flying crocodile may jump over any number of pieces, friend or foe, along a diagonal or orthogonal. They capture all pieces they jump. However, they may only jump pieces of lower rank, whether friend or foe. The relevant ranking is: 1. 2. 3. 4.
King, crown prince Great general Vice general Rook general, bishop general, violent dragon, flying crocodile
Individual pieces King, fragrant elephant and white elephant • Limited range: The king, fragrant elephant and white elephant can move one or two squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • The king may move into check (not recommended). • The elephants have the same promotion. Crown prince, left general and right general • Step: The crown prince left general and right general can step one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. • A crown prince may move into check (not recommended). • The pieces have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Gold general and violent wolf • Step: The gold general and violent wolf can step one square in the four orthogonal directions or diagonally forward, giving them six possibilities.
584
Taikyoku shogi • They cannot move diagonally backward. • The pieces have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Rear standard • Limited range: The rear standard can move one or two squares diagonally. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally Free king • Ranging: The free king can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Free dream-eater • Ranging: The free dream-eater can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • Limited range: It can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways. Wooden dove • Limited range: The wooden dove can move one or two (or three?) squares in the four orthogonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions, but has the option of jumping in these directions instead of ranging. • Jump plus limited range: It can jump to the third square in the four diagonal directions, and then (optionally) move one or two squares in the same direction. Note: in Japanese Wikipedia, the diagram shows the orthogonal limited range as being limited to two squares, but the verbal description gives a range of three. Earth dragon • Step: The earth dragon can move one square orthogonally forward or diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward. The Japanese Wikipedia describes another set of movements for this piece. • Step: The earth dragon can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward. Free demon • Limited range: The free demon can move one to five squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally right. The Japanese Wikipedia describes another set of movements for this piece. • Limited range: The free demon can move one to five squares orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally sideways. Running horse • Step: The running horse can move one square orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally or diagonally forward. • Jump: It can jump to the second square diagonally backwards Beast cadet
585
Taikyoku shogi • Limited range: The beast cadet can move one or two squares orthogonally forward, sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Long-nosed goblin (tengu) • Hook move: The long-nosed goblin can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular direction. Unlike in other shogi variants, in taikyoku the tengu cannot move orthogonally, and therefore can only reach half of the squares on the board. This is the move of the capricorn, and may be an error. Mountain eagle (right) • Limited range: The right mountain eagle can move one or two squares diagonally backward to the left. • Jump: It can jump to the second square along either right diagonal. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally right, diagonally forward to the left, or in the four orthogonal directions. Mountain eagle (left) • Limited range: The left mountain eagle can move one or two squares diagonally backward to the right. • Jump: It can jump to the second square along either left diagonal. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally left, diagonally forward to the right, or in the four orthogonal directions. Fire demon • Limited range: The fire demon can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or in the four diagonal directions. It cannot burn other pieces as in tenjiku shogi.” Whale • Ranging: The whale can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally backward. Running Rabbit • Step: The running rabbit can move one square orthogonally or diagonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally or diagonally forward. White tiger • Ranging: The white tiger can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways, or diagonally forward to the left. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward. Turtle-snake • Ranging: The turtle-snake can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward to the right or backward to the left. • Step: It can move one square in any of the remaining directions. Ceramic dove • Limited range: The ceramic dove can move one or two squares in the four orthogonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions Lance, oxcart and savage tiger • Ranging: The lance, oxcart and savage tiger can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above).
586
Taikyoku shogi Reverse Chariot • Ranging: The reverse chariot can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Mountain dove • Step: The mountain dove can move one square orthogonally backward or sideways. • Limited range: It can move one to five squares diagonally forward. Flying swallow • Step: The flying swallow can move one square orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. Captive officer • Limited range: The captive officer can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or sideways; or • Limited range: It can move one to three squares in the four diagonal directions Rain dragon • Step: The rain dragon can move one square orthogonally or diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or backward; or diagonally backward. Forest demon • Limited range: The forest demon can move one to three squares orthogonally forward or sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. Mountain stag • • • •
Step: The mountain stag can move one square orthogonally forward. Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward. Limited range: It can move one to four squares orthogonally backward.
Running pup and running serpent • Step: The running pup and running serpent can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Side serpent • Step: The side serpent can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Great dove • Limited range: The great dove can move one to three squares in the four orthogonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. Running tiger and running bear • Limited range: The running tiger and running bear can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Yaksha • Step: The yaksha can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways.
587
Taikyoku shogi Buddhist devil • Limited range: The Buddhist devil can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways or backward. Guardian of the Gods • Limited range: The guardian of the Gods can move one to three squares in the four orthogonal directions. Wrestler • Limited range: The wrestler can move one to three squares in the four diagonal directions. Silver general and violent stag • Step: The silver general and violent stag can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or • One square orthogonally forward, giving them five possibilities. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Drunken elephant and neighboring king • Step: The drunken elephant and neighboring king can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except orthogonally backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Gold chariot • Step: The gold chariot can move one square in the four diagonal directions. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Side dragon • Ranging: The side dragon can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or sideways. Running stag • Limited range: The running stag can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. Running wolf • Step: The running wolf can move one square orthogonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. Bishop general • Range capture: The bishop general can fly over any number of squares along a straight line in any diagonal direction, so long as they don't contain a royal (king or crown prince) or another range capturing piece. All pieces it flies over are removed from the game. Rook general • Range capture: The rook general can fly over any number of squares along a straight line in any orthogonal direction, so long as they don't contain a royal (king or crown prince) or another range capturing piece. All pieces it flies over are removed from the game. Right tiger • Step: The right tiger can move one square diagonally right. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally left or diagonally left. Left tiger • Step: The left tiger can move one square diagonally left. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally right or diagonally right.
588
Taikyoku shogi Right dragon • Limited range: The right dragon can move one or two squares orthogonally right. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally left or diagonally left. Left dragon • Limited range: The left dragon can move one or two squares orthogonally left. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally right or diagonally right. Beast officer • Limited range: The beast officer can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally forward or in the four diagonal directions. Wind dragon • Step: The wind dragon can move one square diagonally backward to the left. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways, diagonally forward or diagonally backward to the right. Free pup • Step: The free pup can move one square diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally forward. Rushing bird • Step: The rushing bird can move one square orthogonally sideways or in the four diagonal directions. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward. Old kite (hawk) • Limited range: The old kite can move one or two squares in the four diagonal directions; or • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways. Peacock • Hook move: The peacock can move any number of free squares in a straight line along one of the two forward diagonals, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a straight line in a perpendicular diagonal direction. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares in one of the two rearward diagonals. Water dragon • Limited range: The water dragon can move one or two squares diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one to four squares diagonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. Fire dragon • Limited range: The fire dragon can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to four squares diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. Copper general • Step: The copper general can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or • diagonally forward. Phoenix master • Limited range: The phoenix master can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways.
589
Taikyoku shogi • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally or orthogonally forward or backward. • Jump: It can jump to the third square diagonally forward. Kirin master • Limited range: The Kirin master can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally or orthogonally forward or backward. • Jump: It can jump to the third square orthogonally forward or backward. Silver chariot • Step: The silver chariot can move one square diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Vertical bear • Step: The vertical bear can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Knight • Jump: A knight jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion. That is, it has a choice of two forward destinations. • The knight ignores intervening pieces on the way to its destination, though its destination square must of course be either empty, or occupied by an opponent's piece (in which case the opponent's piece is captured), just as with any other moving piece. Pig general • Limited range: The pig general can move one or two squares orthogonally backward; or • Limited range: It can move one to four squares diagonally forward. Chicken general and pup general • Step: The chicken general and pup general can move one square diagonally backward. • Limited range: They can move one to four squares orthogonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Horse general and ox general • Step: The horse general and ox general can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. • Limited range: They can move one to three squares orthogonally forward. • These pieces and their promotions have the same range of motion. Center standard and front standard • Limited range: The center standard and front standard can move one to three squares in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Uniquely, when a center standard promotes to a front standard, it gains no new abilities. Side boar • Step: The side boar can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Silver rabbit • Limited range: The silver rabbit can move one or two squares diagonally forward.
590
Taikyoku shogi • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward. Golden deer • Ranging: The golden deer can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally backward. Lion • Area move/double capture: The lion can step one square in any direction up to twice in a turn. It can change directions after its first step, and is not restricted to following one of the eight orthogonal or diagonal directions. That is, it can also step to one of the in-between squares that a knight jumps to in Western chess. • Unlike the hook movers, it can continue after a capture on the first step, potentially capturing two pieces on each turn. • By moving back to its starting square, it can effectively capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving. This is called 居喰い igui "stationary feeding". • A similar move without capturing leaves the board unchanged, which is a way to pass a turn. This can be done even when there are no empty adjacent squares. Or, • Jump: The lion can jump anywhere within two squares. This is equivalent to jumping in any of the eight diagonal or orthogonal directions, or making any of the jumps of a knight in Western chess. Note: The restrictions when capturing a lion in chu shogi do not apply in taikyoku shogi. Captive cadet • Limited range: The captive cadet can move one to three squares orthogonally forward or sideways, or in the four diagonal directions. Great stag • Limited range: The great stag can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the second square diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. Violent dragon • Limited range: The violent dragon can move one or two squares in the four orthogonal directions. • Range capture: It can fly over any number of pieces along one of the four diagonal directions, as long as they don't include a royal (king or prince) or another range-jumping piece. All pieces it flies over are removed from the game. Woodland demon • Limited range: The woodland demon can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward. Vice general • Jump: The vice general can jump to the second square in the four orthogonal directions. This is a standard jump. • Range capture: It can fly over any number of squares along one of the four diagonal directions, as long as they don't contain a royal (king or prince), great general, or another vice general. All pieces it flies over are removed from the game. Great general • Range capture: The great general can fly over any number of squares along a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally, as long as they don't contain a royal (king or prince) or another great general. All pieces it flies over are removed from the game.
591
Taikyoku shogi Stone chariot • Step: The stone chariot can move one square diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of squares orthogonally forward or backward. Cloud eagle • Step: The cloud eagle can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Bishop • Ranging: A bishop can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, a bishop can only reach half the squares on the board. Rook, soldier, running chariot and square mover • Ranging: The rook, soldier, running chariot and square mover can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. • They have the same range of motion but promote differently (see above). Side wolf • Step: The side wolf can move one square diagonally forward to the left or diagonally backward to the right. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Flying cat • Step: The flying cat can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the third square orthogonally forward or sideways, or diagonally forward. Mountain falcon • Limited range: The mountain falcon can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the second square orthogonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions or diagonally forward. Note: This is the depiction of the diagram in Japanese wiki. However, the text makes no mention of an ability to move orthogonally sideways. Vertical tiger • Limited range: The vertical tiger can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Little standard • Step: The little standard can move one square diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. Cloud dragon • Step: The cloud dragon can move one square orthogonally forward or sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally backward or in the four diagonal directions. Copper chariot • Limited range: The copper chariot can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward.
592
Taikyoku shogi Ram’s-head soldier • Ranging: The ram’s-head soldier can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally backward. Violent ox • Step: The violent ox can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. Great dragon • Limited range: The great dragon can move one to three squares orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. Golden bird • Limited range: The golden bird can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • Jump and range: It can jump up to three pieces diagonally forward, and then optionally continue any number of free squares in that direction. Dark spirit • Step: The dark spirit can move one square in any direction orthogonally or diagonally, except diagonally forward to the left. Deva • Step: The Deva can move one square in any direction orthogonally or diagonally, except diagonally forward to the right. Wood chariot • Step: The wood chariot can move one square diagonally forward to the left or diagonally backward to the right. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. White horse • Ranging: The white horse can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. Howling dog (left and right) • Step: The howling dog can move one square orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. • The left and right howling dogs have the same range of motion but promote differently (see above). Side mover • Ranging: The side mover can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. Prancing stag • Limited range: The prancing stag can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward, backward or diagonally forward. Water buffalo • Ranging: The water buffalo can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward. Ferocious leopard
593
Taikyoku shogi • Step: The ferocious leopard can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or • orthogonally forward or backward. Fierce eagle • Limited range: The fierce eagle can move one or two squares in the four diagonal directions. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally forward or sideways. Flying dragon • Jump: The flying dragon can jump to the second square in the four diagonal directions. • Because it cannot move orthogonally or to every diagonal square, a flying dragon can only reach one quarter the squares on the board. Poisonous snake • Step: The poisonous snake can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can moves one or two squares orthogonally forward or sideways. Flying goose • Step: The flying goose can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or • diagonally forward. Strutting crow • Step: The strutting crow can move one square orthogonally forward or diagonally backward. Blind dog and Chinese cock • Step: The blind dog and Chinese cock can move one square orthogonally backward or sideways. • Step: They can move one square diagonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Water general and mountain general • Step: The water general and mountain general can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Limited range: They can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Fire general • Step: The fire general can move one square diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally forward or backward. Phoenix • Step: The phoenix can move one square in the four orthogonal directions. • Jump: It can jump to the second square in the four diagonal directions. Kirin • Step: A Kirin can move one square orthogonally forward or backward, or in the four diagonal directions. • Jump: It can jump to the second square orthogonally sideways. Hook mover • Hook move: The hook mover can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular direction. Little turtle • Limited range: The little turtle can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Jump: It can jump to the second square orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or in the four diagonal directions.
594
Taikyoku shogi Great turtle • Limited range: The great turtle can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. • Jump: It can jump to the third square orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or in the four diagonal directions. Capricorn • Hook move: The Capricorn can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions, then (optionally) turn 90° and move any number of free squares in a perpendicular direction. Because the capricorn cannot move orthogonally, it can only reach half of the squares on the board. This is the move of the capricorn, and may be an error. Tile chariot • Step: The tile chariot can move one square diagonally forward to the right or diagonally backward to the left. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Vertical wolf • Step: The vertical wolf can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Side ox • Step: The side ox can move one square diagonally forward to the right or diagonally backward to the left. • Ranging: It can move any number of squares orthogonally sideways. Donkey and enchanted badger • Limited range: The donkey and enchanted badger can move one or two squares in the four orthogonal directions. • Their range of movement and promotions are the same. Flying horse • Limited range: The flying horse can move one or two squares in the four diagonal directions. Angry boar • Step: The angry boar can move one square orthogonally forward or sideways; or • Limited range: It can move one or two squares diagonally forward. Violent bear • Limited range: The violent bear can move one or two squares diagonally forward. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Step: One version of the game has the violent bear moving one square orthogonally forward; another version has it moving one square diagonally backward. Evil Wolf • Step: The evil wolf can move one square orthogonally sideways or forward; or diagonally forward. Liberated horse • Step: The liberated horse can move one square diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Flying cock • Step: The flying cock can move one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. Old monkey
595
Taikyoku shogi • Step: The old monkey can move one square in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally backward. Northern barbarian and southern barbarian • Limited range: The northern barbarian and southern barbarian can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Step: They can move one square orthogonally forward or backward or diagonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Eastern barbarian and western barbarian • Limited range: The eastern barbarian and western barbarian can move one or two squares orthogonally forward or backward. • Step: They can move one square orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Treacherous fox • Ranging: The treacherous fox can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or in the four diagonal directions. • Jump: One version of the game allows it to jump to the second or third square in those directions then move, another does not. Center master • Limited range: The center master can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the second square and then move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward. • It need not jump before moving nor move after jumping. Roc master • Limited range: The roc master can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Jump/ Ranging: It can jump to the third square and then move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • It need not jump before moving nor move after jumping. Earth chariot • Step: The earth chariot can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Vermilion sparrow • Step: The vermilion sparrow can move one square in the four orthogonal directions, or diagonally forward to the right or diagonally backward to the left. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward to the left or diagonally backward to the right. Blue dragon • Ranging: The blue dragon can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward to the right. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Horseman • Limited range: The horseman can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward, or diagonally forward.
596
Taikyoku shogi Swooping owl and old rat • Step: The swooping owl and old rat can move one square orthogonally forward or diagonally backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Climbing monkey • Step: The climbing monkey can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally forward. Cat sword • Step: The cat sword can move one square in the four diagonal directions. Because it cannot move orthogonally, a cat sword can only reach half the squares on the board. Swallow’s wings • Step: The Swallow’s wings can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Blind monkey • Step: The blind monkey can move one square in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally sideways. Blind tiger • Step: The blind tiger can move one square in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except orthogonally forward. Side flyer • Step: The side flyer can move one square in the four diagonal directions; or • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Blind bear • Step: The blind bear can move one square in the four diagonal directions or orthogonally sideways. Coiled serpent • Step: The coiled serpent can move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally backward. Reclining dragon • Step: The reclining dragon can move one square in the four orthogonal directions. Free eagle • Jump/ranging: The free eagle can jump to the second or third square, and then move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions or diagonally backward. • Jump/ranging: It can jump to the second to fourth square, and then move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. • It need not jump before moving nor move after jumping. Lion hawk • Area move/double capture/ranging: The lion hawk can move as a lion or as a bishop. • Jump/ranging: It can leap to the second square in any diagonal direction before making a bishop move in that same direction. Chariot soldier • Limited range: The chariot soldier can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, orthogonally backward or in the four diagonal directions. Side soldier • Step: The side soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways.
597
Taikyoku shogi Vertical soldier • Step: The vertical soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Wind general and river general • Step: The wind general and river general can move one square orthogonally backward or diagonally forward. • Limited range: They can move one to three squares orthogonally forward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Horse soldier and ox soldier • • • •
Step: The horse soldier and ox soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. Limited range: They can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. Ranging: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally. They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above).
Wood general • Limited range: The wood general can move one or two squares diagonally forward. Earth general and go between • Step: The earth general and go between can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Boar soldier, leopard soldier and bear soldier • Step: The boar soldier, leopard soldier and bear soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: They can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. • Ranging: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally. Stone general • Step: The stone general can move one square diagonally forward. Because it cannot move orthogonally or backward, a stone general can only reach less than half the squares on the board. Tile general and sword soldier • Step: The tile general and sword soldier can move one square diagonally forward or orthogonally backward. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Iron general and dog • Step: The iron general and dog can move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally. • They have the same range of movement but promote differently (see above). Great standard • Limited range: The great standard can move one to three squares diagonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward or in the four orthogonal directions. Great master • Limited range: The great master can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the third square forward, orthogonally or diagonally. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally, or orthogonally backward. Right chariot
598
Taikyoku shogi • • • •
Ranging: The right chariot can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward to the right. Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward to the left. Step: It can move one square orthogonally right.
Left chariot • • • •
Ranging: The left chariot can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward to the left. Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward to the right. Step: It can move one square orthogonally left.
Side monkey • Step: The side monkey can move one square diagonally forward or orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways. Vertical mover • Ranging: The vertical mover can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. • Step: It can move one square orthogonally sideways. Flying Ox • Ranging: The flying ox can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. • It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Longbow soldier • • • •
Step: The longbow soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one, two or three squares diagonally forward. Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward.
Vertical pup • Step: The vertical pup can move one square backward, orthogonally or diagonally. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Vertical horse • Step: The vertical horse can move one square diagonally forward or orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Burning soldier • • • •
Step: The burning soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one to five squares diagonally forward. Limited range: It can move one to seven squares orthogonally forward.
Dragon horse • Ranging: A dragon horse can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. • Step: It can move one square in the four orthogonal directions. Dragon king • Ranging: A dragon king can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. • Step: It can move one square in the four diagonal directions. Horned falcon • Ranging: The horned falcon can move as a free king.
599
Taikyoku shogi • Jump: It can jump to the second square orthogonally forward. Soaring eagle • Jump: The soaring eagle can jump to the second square diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. Spear soldier • Step: The spear soldier can move one square orthogonally backward or sideways. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Vertical leopard • Step: The vertical leopard can move one square orthogonally backward, sideways or diagonally forward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Cross-bow soldier • Step: The cross-bow soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. • Limited range: It can move one to five squares orthogonally forward. Roaring dog • Limited range: The roaring dog can move one to three squares diagonally backward. • Jump: It can jump to the third square diagonally forward or in the four orthogonal directions. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward or in the four orthogonal directions. Lion dog • Jump: The lion dog can jump to the third square in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. Pawn • Step: The pawn can move one square orthogonally forward.
Promotion Like other large board shogi variants, this game uses the promotion-by-capture rule. When a piece first makes a capture, it promotes. (If it can: a few important pieces do not promote.) Promotion has the effect of changing how a piece moves. See the table above for what each piece promotes to. Promotion is effected by turning the piece over after it moves, revealing the name of its promoted rank. Promotion is both compulsory and permanent. This is all very different from smaller shogi variants, where pieces promote when they cross a promotion zone (the enemy camp), and where promotion is optional. The dots on the taikyoku shogi board that would represent promotion zones in other games are only there as placement guides for the initial setup of the two camps. Some pieces promote, or demote, to a piece that exists in the initial setup of the board. However, such a piece cannot then promote a second time as its namesake does. For example, a bishop promotes to a dragon horse. However, while a ferocious leopard promotes to a bishop on its first capturing move, it does not promote to a dragon horse on its second. Rather, it remains a bishop for the rest of the game. If a Lance, oxcart, savage tiger, side dragon, running wolf, knight, angry boar, evil wolf, flying cock, wood general, stone general, iron general, dog, pawn, running leopard, free wolf or raiding falcon reaches the furthest rank; it must remain there until it captures or is captured.
600
Taikyoku shogi Individual promoted pieces New pieces that only appear as a result of promotion are as follows: Free bird • Limited range: The free bird can move one to three squares diagonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. • Jump and range: It can jump up to three pieces diagonally forward, and then optionally continue any number of free squares in that direction. Great dream-eater • Jump: The great dream-eater can jump to the third square orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. Ancient dragon • Range: The ancient dragon can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. • Ranging jump: It can jump over any number of squares orthogonally forward or backward. Heavenly Tetrarch king • Range: The Heavenly Tetrarch king can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. • Jump: It can jump to the second square before (optionally) moving on in that direction. • It can capture a piece on an adjacent square without moving (igui). Great falcon • Range: The great falcon can move any number of squares in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally. • Jump: It can jump to the second square orthogonally forward before (optionally) moving on in that direction. Great elephant • Limited range: The great elephant can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • Jump and range: It can jump up to three pieces in a straight line diagonally backward or in one of the four orthogonal directions, and then optionally continue any number of free squares in that direction. Fire ox and violent wind • Step: The fire ox and violent wind can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Range: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally backward, forward or in the four diagonal directions. Strong bear • Limited range: The strong bear can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Ranging: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Right phoenix • Limited range: The right phoenix can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. Running leopard • Range: The running leopard can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or diagonally forward. Thunder runner • Limited range: The thunder runner can move one to four squares orthogonally sideways or backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally.
601
Taikyoku shogi Rain demon • • • •
Limited range: The rain demon can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally forward. Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally backward. Range jump: It can jump any number of squares along either forward diagonal.
Free boar • Step: The free boar can move one square orthogonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or diagonally forward. Free dog • Limited range: The free dog can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, backward or diagonally forward. Running ox • Limited range: The running ox can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or diagonally forward. Great horse • Limited range/range: The great horse moves as a horseman. Cavalier and strong chariot • Range: The cavalier and strong chariot can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward or in the four orthogonal directions. Free fire • Limited range: The free fire can move one to five squares orthogonally forward or backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Burning chariot • Step: The burning chariot can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, backward or diagonally forward. Free stag and strong eagle • Range: The free stag and strong eagle move as a free king. Free dragon and free tiger • Range: The free dragon and free tiger can move any number of free squares in a straight line in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal, except orthogonally forward. Flying crocodile • Limited range: The flying crocodile can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward. • Range capture: It can jump any number of pieces in one of the four orthogonal directions, as long as these do not include a royal (king or crown prince) or another range-capturing piece. Any piece it jumps over is removed from the board. Divine tiger • Limited range: The divine tiger can move one or two squares orthogonally backward.
602
Taikyoku shogi • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways, or diagonally forward to the left. Divine dragon • Limited range: The divine dragon can move one or two squares orthogonally left. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, right, backward or diagonally forward to the right. Divine turtle • Step: The divine turtle can move one square diagonally forward to the left or in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line along either rear diagonal, or diagonally forward to the right. Divine sparrow • Step: The divine sparrow can move one square diagonally forward to the left or in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward or forward to the left. Free serpent and coiled dragon • Range: The free serpent and coiled dragon can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, backward, or diagonally backward. Free wolf • Range: The free wolf can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or diagonally forward. Great tiger • Step: The great tiger can move one square orthogonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or backward. Right dog • Step: The right dog can move one square orthogonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or diagonally backward to the left. Left dog • Step: The left dog can move one square orthogonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or diagonally backward to the right. Free bear, free leopard and great whale • Range: The free bear, free leopard and great whale move as a flying ox. Running boar • Step/range: The running boar moves as an earth chariot or vertical mover. Heavenly horse • Jump: The heavenly horse jumps at an angle intermediate between orthogonal and diagonal, amounting to one square forward plus one square diagonally forward, in a single motion; or one square backward plus one square diagonally backward, in a single motion. • It ignores intervening pieces while jumping to its destination, though its destination square must of course be either empty, or occupied by an opponent's piece (in which case the opponent's piece is captured), just as with any other moving piece. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Spear general
603
Taikyoku shogi • Limited range: The spear general can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one, two or three squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Great leopard • • • •
Step: The great leopard can move one square orthogonally backward. Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward. Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward.
Flying stag and copper elephant • Step: The flying stag and copper elephant can move one square orthogonally sideways or in the four diagonal directions. • Range: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Right army • Step: The right army can move one square orthogonally forward, backward, left or diagonally left. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line right, orthogonally or diagonally. Left army • Step: The left army can move one square orthogonally forward, backward, right or diagonally right. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line left, orthogonally or diagonally. Beast bird and captive bird • Limited range: The beast bird and captive bird can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Limited range: They can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: They can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or in the four diagonal directions. Gliding swallow • Range: The gliding swallow moves as a rook. Buddhist spirit • Area move/double capture: The Buddhist spirit can move as a lion, or • Range: It can move as a free king. Teaching king • Jump and range: The teaching king can jump up to three pieces along a straight line in any diagonal or orthogonal direction, and then optionally continue any number of free squares in that direction. Great shark • Limited range: The shark can move one or two squares diagonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to five squares diagonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four orthogonal directions. Furious fiend • Area move/double capture or jump: The furious fiend can move as a lion; or • Limited range: It can move three squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. (A normal move: it can only capture once and cannot jump when doing this.) Leopard king • Limited range: The leopard king can move one to five squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Goose wing
604
Taikyoku shogi • Step: The goose wing can move one square in the four diagonal directions. • Limited range: It can move one, two or three squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of squares orthogonally forward or backward. Left iron chariot • Step: The left iron chariot can move one square in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward to the right. Right iron chariot • Step: The right iron chariot can move one square in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally backward to the left. Plodding ox • Step: The plodding ox can move one square in the four diagonal directions. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Wind snapping turtle • Limited range: The wind snapping turtle can move one or two squares diagonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Running tile • Limited range/range: The running tile moves as a running tiger or running bear. Young bird • Limited range: The young bird can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Playful cockatoo • • • •
Limited range: The playful cockatoo can move one or two squares diagonally backward. Limited range: It can move one to three squares diagonally forward. Limited range: It can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways. Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward.
Walking heron • Limited range: The walking heron can move one or two squares orthogonally sideways or diagonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward or backward. Tiger soldier • The tiger soldier can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one or two squares orthogonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line diagonally forward. Running dragon • Limited range: The running dragon can move one to five squares orthogonally backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Heavenly Tetrarch • Limited range: The Heavenly Tetrarch can move one to four squares in any direction, orthogonal or diagonal. Elephant king • Limited range/range: The elephant king moves as a ceramic dove. Peaceful mountain • Limited range: The peaceful mountain can move one to five squares orthogonally forward or sideways.
605
Taikyoku shogi • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line in the four diagonal directions. Chinese river • Step: The Chinese river can move one square orthogonally forward or backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Free chicken • Limited range/range: The free chicken moves as a woodland demon. Free ox, free horse and free pig • Step/limited range/range: The free ox, free horse and free pig move as a free pup. Longbow general • Limited range: The longbow general can move one to five squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward, backward or diagonally forward. Burning general • Limited range: The burning general can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally. Cross-bow general • • • •
Limited range: The cross-bow general can move one or two squares orthogonally backward. Limited range: It can move one to three squares orthogonally sideways. Limited range: It can move one to five squares diagonally forward. Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward.
Mountain crane • Range: The mountain crane can move as a free king. • Jump: It can jump to the third square and (optionally) continue in that direction. Rushing boar • Step: The rushing boar can move one square orthogonally forward, sideways or in the four diagonal directions. Sword general • Step: The sword general can move one square orthogonally backward. • Limited range: It can move one to three squares forward, orthogonally or diagonally. Bird of paradise and multi general • Range: The bird of paradise and multi general move as a white horse. Bear’s eyes and venomous wolf • Step: The bear’s eyes and venomous wolf move as a crown prince. Mountain witch • Range: The mountain witch can move any number of free squares in a straight line backward, orthogonally or diagonally. • When it reaches the first rank, it must stay there until captured. Flying falcon • Step: The flying falcon can move one square orthogonally forward. • Range: It can move any number of squares in the four diagonal directions. Spirit turtle
606
Taikyoku shogi • Jump: The spirit turtle can jump to the third square in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move as a free king. Treasure turtle • Jump: The treasure turtle can jump to the second square in the four orthogonal directions. • Range: It can move as a free king. Great bear • Step: The great bear can move one square orthogonally sideways or backward. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line forward, orthogonally or diagonally. Wizard stork • Range: The wizard stork can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally sideways, backward or diagonally forward. Raiding falcon • Step: The raiding falcon can move one square diagonally forward. • Step: The raiding falcon can move one square orthogonally sideways. • Range: It can move any number of free squares in a straight line orthogonally forward. Great eagle • Range: The great eagle can move as a free king. • Jump: It can jump to the second square in any direction, orthogonally or diagonally, and (optionally) continue moving in that direction.
Check and mate When a player makes a move such that the opponent's sole remaining king or crown prince could be captured on the following move, the move is said to give check to the king or crown prince; the king or crown prince is said to be in check. If a player's last king or crown prince is in check and no legal move by that player will get the king or crown prince out of check, the checking move is also mate, and effectively wins the game. Unlike Western chess, a player need not move out of check, and indeed may even move into check. Although obviously not often a good idea, a player with more than one royal (king or crown prince) may occasionally sacrifice one of these pieces as part of a gambit. A player is not allowed to give perpetual check to the sole objective piece.
Game end A player who captures the opponent's sole remaining king or crown prince wins the game. In practice this rarely happens; as a player will resign when checkmated, as otherwise when loss is inevitable. A player who makes an illegal move loses immediately. (This rule may be relaxed in casual games.) Another possible, if rather uncommon, way for a game to end is repetition (sennichite). If the same position occurs four times with the same player to play, then the game is no contest. Recall, however, the prohibition against perpetual check.
607
Taikyoku shogi
Game notation The method used in English-language texts to express shogi moves was established by George Hodges in 1976. It is derived from the algebraic notation used for chess, but differs in several respects. Modifications have been made for taikyoku shogi. A typical example is P-12h. The first letter represents the piece moved (see above). Promoted pieces have a + added in front of the letter. (e.g., +CC for a wizard stork (promoted Chinese cock). The designation of the piece is followed by a symbol indicating the type of move: - for an ordinary move or x for a capture. Next is the designation for the square on which the piece lands. This consists of a number representing the file and a lowercase letter representing the rank, with 1a being the top right corner (as seen from Black's point of view) and 36jj being the bottom left corner. (This method of designating squares is based on Japanese convention, which, however, uses Japanese numerals instead of letters. For example, the square 2c is denoted by 2三 in Japanese.) If a lion, golden bird, heavenly tetrarch king or teaching king captures by 'igui’, the square of the piece being captured is used instead of the destination square, and this is preceded by the symbol !. If a double capture is made, than it is added after the first capture. If a move forces the player to promote the piece, then a + is added to the end to signify that the promotion was taken. For example, ORx7c+ indicates an old rat capturing on 7c and promoting. In cases where the above notation would be ambiguous, the designation of the start square is added after the designation for the piece in order to make clear which piece is meant. Moves are commonly numbered as in chess.
External links Shogi Net [2] History.chess.free/taikyoku shogi [1] Chessvariants.org/taikyoku [2] taikyokushogi.hp.infoseek.co.jp/taikyoku [3] An online flash version of the game with illustrated piece movements. No AI. • taikyoku.swf [4] Download the game here (right-click, save link as) • The previous two links are dead these days, but the .swf file can still be downloaded here ...taikyoku.swf [5] (You need to actually go to the page. Right-click, save link won't work with this link) • • • •
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ taikyokushogi. htm http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ shogivariants. dir/ taikyoku_english. html http:/ / taikyokushogi. hp. infoseek. co. jp/ taikyoku. html http:/ / taikyokushogi. hp. infoseek. co. jp/ taikyoku. swf http:/ / eye. swfchan. com/ flash. asp?id=17764& n=taikyoku. swf
608
Sannin shogi
609
Sannin shogi Sannin shōgi (三人将棋 three-person chess), or in full kokusai sannin shōgi (国際三人将棋 international three-person chess), is a three-person shogi variant invented circa 1930 by Tanigasaki Jisuke and recently revived. It is played on a hexagonal grid of border length 7 with 127 cells. Standard shogi pieces may be used, and the rules for capture, promotion, drops, etc. are mostly similar to standard shogi. (See that article for an explanation of these terms.) While piece movement differs somewhat from standard shogi, especially in the case of the powerful promoted king, the main difference in play is due to the rules for voluntary and mandatory alliance between two of the three players.
Board and setup The board is thought to have originally been in the shape of an equilateral triangle bordered by three rectangles which contained the players' home territories and promotion zones. However, in terms of movement this was equivalent to a hexagon, and the modern form of sannin shogi is played on a hexagonal board, rather like the central portion of a Chinese checkers board. The three players occupy non-adjacent sides of the board; the three ranks nearest to them are their territories and their opponents' promotion zones. The 'international' arena inside the three territories remains triangular. The board is presented here with substitutions by standard shogi pieces; for the names actually used, see below.
Setup. If the pawns were removed, the rooks could capture the bishops, and the bishops could capture each other, as could the lances.
K = king 玉, G = gold 金, S = silver 銀, L = lance 香, B = bishop 角, R = rook 飛, N = knight 桂, p = pawn 歩.
The central cell is called the Pleasure Garden and is an additional promotion zone, except for the king. It is drawn with a heavy or double border or otherwise made visually distinct. In the modern game, standard shogi pieces are used. Each player wields 18 pieces, the standard shogi set of 20 less one knight and one pawn. The pieces face away from the players: That is, they point toward the gap between the opposing players' territories. The three players represent three countries, and are called First, Middle, and Last. If two players start the game as allies, the remaining player is automatically First. Otherwise any random method may be used to determine the order of play. Play then precedes clockwise from First to Middle to Last.
Sannin shogi
610
Board notation Standard shogi notation is used, with allowance made for the shape of the board. Numbering the ranks poses no problem: They are the rows that are horizontal from the viewpoint of Middle, and are given the letters a through m from top to bottom, with g being the central and widest rank. That is, the territories of First (top right player) and Last (top left player) span ranks a through i, and that of Middle (bottom player) occupies the three ranks k, l, m. The numbered "columns" are the rows that run from top left to bottom right from the viewpoint of Middle. They are given the numbers 1 to 13 from right to left, with 7 being the central and longest column. That is, First occupies columns 1 to 3, while the territories of Middle and Last span columns 5 through 13.
The ranks are numbered a–m, and the files slanting left 1–13.
The Pleasure Garden is thus cell 7g; the corners are at 1a, 1g, 7a, 7m, 13g, 13m; and at setup the three kings occupy 1d, 10m, and 10d; and the three knights 3e, 9k, and 9e.
Movement on a hexagonal board Because each cell of a sannin shogi board is a hexagon rather than a rectangle as in other shogi variants, the pieces will necessarily move differently. Instead of four faces with adjacent squares and four corners, for eight directions total, there are six each for a total of twelve. However, except for castling and the promoted king, which is reminiscent of the queen of Western chess (indeed, it moves like the queen in Gliński's hexagonal chess), the pieces are fair analogues of their standard-shōgi counterparts. Except when castling, all pieces move in straight lines. These may be step moves, where a piece moves to the nearest cell in a particular direction, or ranging moves, where a piece may continue in a particular direction as long as it does not pass through an occupied cell. There are two kinds of paths along which pieces move: • Passing through one of the faces of the starting cell to one of the six adjacent cells, or through this adjacent cell to continue straight in that direction. These six contiguous paths are called orthogonals in this article. They are equivalent to the four orthogonal directions on a rectangular board. • Passing through one of the corners of the starting cell and between two adjacent cells to reach one of the six cells just beyond, or continuing in a straight line in that direction, alternatingly passing through and passing between the cells. These six skipping paths are called diagonals in this article. They are equivalent to the four diagonal directions on a rectangular board. A piece may travel along a diagonal even if the adjacent cells it passes between are occupied, since it doesn't actually pass through these adjacent cells, and this is not considered a jump, just as on a rectangular board. There are no jumping moves in sannin shogi except for the king when castling. These twelve directions correspond to the twelve hours on a clock: The orthogonals correspond to the odd hours (the direction of the hour hand at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 o'clock), and the diagonals correspond to the even hours (the hour hand at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 o'clock). Only the promoted king has the power to move in all twelve.
Sannin shogi
The twelve directions of movement, "orthogonal" (blue) vs "diagonal" (green). 駒 represents the moving piece. The promoted rook moves along any of the six solid blue lines, whereas the bishop moves along any of the six discontinuous green lines.
611
The twelve directions of movement and the corresponding hours on a clock face. The blue cells in the odd-hour directions are the first cells of the six orthogonals; the green cells in the even-hour directions are the nearest cells of the six diagonals. These are the twelve cells that step movers can reach.
The pieces and their moves Tanigasaki named the pieces after elements he considered basic to international affairs.[1] However, they parallel the pieces of standard shogi, which are substituted for them in modern play; since the reader is likely familiar with these already, this article will use the piece names from standard shogi.
Sannin setup with the original piece names.
Sannin shogi
612
Piece
Pron.
English
Standard equivalent
English
Prom.
Pron.
English
輿論
yoron
Public opinion
玉将
King
旭光
kyokkō Sunlight
軍教
gunkyō
Military education
飛車
Rook
竜化
ryūka
Heroism
外交
gaikō
Diplomacy
角行
Bishop
魔叉
masha
Witchcraft
金権
ginken
Financial influence 金将
Gold general
—
税関
zeikan
Customs
Knight
—
殖貿
shokubō Trade and industry 銀将
Silver general 宝
takara
Treasure
宣電
senden
Propaganda
香車
Lance
化
ka
Change
尖占
sensen
Colonist
歩兵
Pawn
弗
doru
Dollar
桂馬
Summary of the pieces and their promoted movements
Color coding for different types of movement The piece may step here, to the nearest cell (orthogonal or diagonal). The piece may range along these rows, crossing any number of empty cells. The promoted king may range in one of these directions, or illuminate (kill at a distance) in all.
The king The king (K; "public opinion" in Tanigasaki's nomenclature) may step to any adjacent (orthogonal) cell (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11 o'clock). A king may also castle on its first move, subject to certain restrictions (see below). A promoted king (+K; "rising sun") may range along any of the twelve orthogonals or diagonals. King
Promoted king
Sannin shogi
613
The king steps all directions; it's equivalent to the standard-shōgi king.
The promoted king ranges all directions; it's equivalent to Western queen with the additional power of "illumination".
A promoted king also gains the power to "kill by illumination": It may capture, without moving, any pieces that it could capture if it were to move. That is, it may capture more than one piece, but only one piece in any direction and only if they are unprotected by either opposing player. (It is not clear if it must capture all such pieces, or if it may be selective.) It cannot combine this power with a physical move. A king automatically promotes if the other two players enter into an alliance. A non-allied king (promoted or otherwise) that reaches the central cell of the board (the Pleasure Garden) wins the game.
The rook The rook (R; "military education") may range along one of the forward or side orthogonals (9, 11, 1, or 3 o'clock), or along the diagonal directly backwards (6 o'clock). A promoted rook (+R; "heroism") has a more powerful retreat: It may range along any one of the six orthogonals. Rook
Promoted rook
The rook ranges along the 1,3,6,9,11 o'clock directions. The promoted rook ranges orthogonally; it's equivalent to the standard-shōgi rook. Rooks at startup
Sannin shogi
614
With the pawns removed at startup, the rooks (white) threaten the opposing bishops (orange) while protecting their own bishop.
The bishop The bishop (B; "diplomacy") may range along any one of the six diagonals, and can reach only one-third of the board. (Compare Gliński's hexagonal chess, which has three bishops for this very reason.) A promoted bishop (+B; "witchcraft") gains the power to step to any adjacent (orthogonal) cell. That is, it may move as a bishop or as a king, and can therefore reach every cell on the board. Bishop
The bishop ranges diagonally; it's equivalent to the standard-shōgi bishop.
Bishops at startup
Promoted bishop
The promoted bishop ranges diagonally and steps orthogonally; it's equivalent to the standard-shōgi dragon horse
Sannin shogi
615
With the pawns removed at startup, the bishops (white) threaten each other. They protect the neighboring gold generals (green).
The gold general and the knight The gold general, or simply 'gold' (G; "financial influence") may step to one of the orthogonal forward or side cells (9, 11, 1, or 3 o'clock), or to the diagonal cell directly forward or backward (6 or 12 o'clock). The knight (N; "customs") may step to any side cell, orthogonal (3 or 9 o'clock) or diagonal (2, 4, 8, or 10 o'clock). Neither has the ability to promote. Gold
The gold general steps at 1,3,6,9,11,12 o'clock.
Knight
The knight steps at 2,3,4,8,9,10 o'clock.
Sannin shogi
616
The silver general The silver general, or simply 'silver' (S; "trade and industry") may step to one of the orthogonal forward or rear cells (11, 1, 5, or 7 o'clock), or to one of the forward side diagonal cells (10 or 2 o'clock). A promoted silver (+S; "treasure") gains the power to range along the forward and rear diagonals (12 and 6 o'clock). Silver
The silver general steps at 1,2,5,7,10,11 o'clock.
Promoted silver
The promoted silver general gains a ranging move at 6 or 12 o'clock.
The lance The lance (L; "propaganda") may range along either of the two forward orthogonals (11 or 1 o'clock). As a consequence, it may run out of room to move, and will thus be required to promote so that it can move further, although it is always advantageous to promote a lance. A promoted lance (+L; "transformation") gains the power to range along the rear orthogonals (5 and 7 o'clock) as well. Lance
The lance ranges at 1 or 11 o'clock; it's equivalent to the standard-shōgi lance but with the ability to attack either opposing side. Lances at startup
Promoted lance
The promoted lance ranges at 1,5,7,11 o'clock; as in standard shōgi, it acquires the ability to reverse its course.
Sannin shogi
617
With the pawns removed at startup, each lance (white) threatens the two neighboring lances. With the rook and bishop out of the way (bottom), they also threaten the rook and bishop across the board (orange), and the two lances behind them.
The pawn The pawn (p; "colonist" or "pioneer") may step to either of the two forward orthogonal cells (11 or 1 o'clock). As a consequence, it may run out of room to move, and will thus be required to promote so that it can move further, although it is always advantageous to promote a pawn. A promoted pawn (+p; "dollar") moves like a gold general. Pawn
Promoted pawn
The pawn steps at 1 or 11 o'clock; it's equivalent to the The promoted pawn moves as a gold general, as does the standard-shōgi pawn but with the ability to attack either standard-shōgi tokin. opposing side.
Sannin shogi
618
Capture Capturing is done by displacement as in standard shogi. The one exception is the power of "illumination" of the promoted king. A piece may be captured regardless of any alliance the mover may have with its owner. A castling king may capture as any other moving piece does.
Drops Captured pieces are truly captured in sannin shogi. They are retained "in hand", and can be brought back into play under the capturing player's control. On any turn, instead of moving a piece across the board, a player can take a piece he has previously captured and place it on any empty cell, facing away from himself. The piece is now part of the forces controlled by that player. This is termed dropping the piece, or just a drop. However, unlike in standard shogi (see article for examples), there being no proper files on a hexagonal board, there is no limit on the number of pawns per file. The restriction against dropping on the far rank (row a in the case of Middle) applies only to pawns and lances, as all other pieces can move from that position.
Castling On its first move only, a king may jump to any vacant or enemy-occupied cell within its territory. There are two limitations to castling: • The king must not be, or ever have been, in check. • Once an alliance is formed, no further kings may castle.
Promotion Promotion rules are similar to standard shogi, except for the larger number of promotion zones and the restriction against allied players promoting.
Castling and promotion zones. Orange cells are Middle's home territory, where the king may jump when castling. Green cells are Middle's three promotion zones. Tan cells are international territory.
There are three promotion zones: Both of the opposing player's territories, plus the Pleasure Garden (the central cell of the board). In the case of the latter, only moves into or out of the Pleasure Garden are
promotable moves: Passing through the cell does not count. Unlike standard shogi, the sannin shogi king can promote; indeed, when an alliance is formed, the non-allied king is automatically promoted. (However, a king cannot kill by illumination when it promotes. That requires an additional turn, as promotion does not take effect until the end of the promoting move.) When using standard game pieces, promotion entails turning the king blank side up.
Sannin shogi
Checkmate and winning the game A player may not move into check or remain in check, even check by an ally. Likewise, a player may not check or checkmate an ally, and each player regardless of alliance must defend against check or threat of checkmate on the next move. (That is, if Middle and Last are allies, and First places Middle in check, Middle must answer the threat, even if he knows or thinks Last will come to the rescue.) A player loses the game upon checkmate, not upon capture of the king. (That is, if Middle and Last are allied, and First checkmates Middle, the game is over, regardless of whether Last could intercede to prevent an actual capture of the king.) When mated, all the player's pieces are removed from the board and from the game: They are not captured by the mating player. Play then shifts to the mating player, regardless of whose turn it would otherwise have been. There are three ways to win sannin shogi: • If each player plays independently, the player remaining after the other two have been mated is the winner. • If there is an alliance, then the non-allied player wins by mating either opposing player, and the game ends. That is, if your partner loses, you lose. However, if the non-allied player is mated, the alliance is dissolved, and the two erstwhile allies continue the game between them. • If any player not in an alliance (whether there is one or not) moves the king or promoted king (that is, the Public Opinion or the Sunlight) to the Pleasure Garden, that player wins and the game ends. (Note that the prohibition against moving into check holds for this move as for any other.)
Other rules Repetition of board positions is not allowed. Unlike standard shogi, it is the player who starts the repetitive sequence who must vary the move. There are no rules for various rare eventualities in sannin shogi, such as draws or revealed checkmate between allies.
Alliances Two players may team up against the third, forming an alliance. They may attack each other, but not place each other in check until the third player is defeated, at which point the alliance is annulled. They may not move each other's pieces. Allies may attack each other to gain pieces-in-hand for drops, or to weaken each other in anticipation of the two-player end game. However, if either ally is checkmated by the third player, both lose, so these are dangerous tactics.
Forming an alliance An alliance may be entered voluntarily before the start of the game. However, if two players gang up on the third at any time during the game, subject to the following definitions, an alliance is automatically formed. An alliance may not be broken except by defeat of the non-allied player. There are two types of coordinated attack that force an alliance: • Discovered attack: One player moves out of the way of a second so that the second threatens the third with "material loss", and • Dual attack: Two players in turn make threats of "material loss" against separate pieces of the third player, so that the third player cannot escape both threats. Material loss is defined as any exchange that materially benefits the attacking player. This includes check, threatened checkmate on the next move, threats against undefended pieces (something for nothing), and threats by less valuable (weaker) pieces on defended but more valuable (stronger) pieces (uneven exchange).
619
Sannin shogi
620
Possible gain by the third player elsewhere is disregarded, even if this were to make up for the material loss caused by the coordinated attack. Likewise, the sequences of the moves are disregarded, even if they prove the loss of material is more apparent than real. For the purposes of calculating threats of uneven exchange, promoted values are ignored; the ranging pieces rook and bishop are considered equivalent and more valuable than the step movers gold, silver, knight, and the lance, which are in turn considered equivalent and more valuable than a pawn. Finally, check can be considered the extreme case of uneven exchange, so the value scale is, K > (R = B) > (G = S = N = L) > p. Regardless of whether the situation is a discovered or a dual attack, it does not force an alliance if any attacking move is a direct defense against a threat of material loss, as defined above. That is, if First attacks Middle, and Middle defends by moving in such a way that First now checks Last (a discovered attack), this does not force an alliance between First and Middle. Or, if Last attacks First, and First defends by checking Last, and then Middle threatens Last's rook, this does not force an alliance between First and Middle either.
Rules that change in an alliance Several rules that change or come into force when an alliance is made have been mentioned above: • Any of the three kings which has not already castled loses the ability to do so; • The non-allied king is immediately promoted; • Allied players lose the ability to promote their pieces, though any pieces already promoted remain so (it is not clear if the ability to promote returns once the alliance is dissolved); • The two allied kings lose the right to win by reaching the Pleasure Garden (it is not clear if this ability returns once the alliance is dissolved); • Neither ally may check or checkmate the other, and • Both allies lose if either is checkmated.
Sample game Here are the first six rounds of a game played at a meeting of the International Shogi Research Group on 28 May 1932. John Fairbairn describes some of the moves as "strange" considering the professional level of the players. The players were, First: Kimi Kinjiro (8-dan) Middle: Miyamatsu Kanzaburo (7-dan) Last: Yamamoto Kusuro (7-dan) The game began without an alliance. 1. P3c-4d P10k-10j P11g-10g 2. S-2d
S-9l
S-10e
3. S-2e
P7k-6j
P8d-7d
4. P-4e
R-7g+
Bx12l
(Middle rook promotes in Pleasure Garden; Last bishop captures Middle bishop)
5. G-3d
Sx12l
P-9g
(Middle captures the attacking bishop)
R-10g
(Last rook lines up with Middle king)
6. P4d-5e +R-7l
(all three players shield their kings with silvers)
Sannin shogi
621
References [1] The normal word for 宣電 senden is 宣伝, with the same pronunciation. 軍教 gunkyō is a blend of 軍備 gumbi 'military preparedness' and 教育 kyōiku 'education'; 殖貿 shokubō is a blend of 殖産 shokusan and 貿易 bōeki 'trade'; and 尖占 is short for 尖端を占領する sentan-wo senryō-suru 'capture the point'
• Article from Shogi Magazine (http://www.chessvariants.org/shogivariants.dir/3-handed_shogi.html) • Japanese page (http://www.ne.jp/asahi/tetsu/toybox/kapitan/kp040.htm)
Yonin shogi Yonin shōgi, (四人将棋, ‘four-person chess’), is a four-person variant of shogi (Japanese chess). It may be played with a dedicated yonin shogi set or with two sets of standard shogi pieces, and is played on a standard sized shogi board.
Rules of the game Objective The objective of the game is to capture your opponents’ kings as an individual or with the option of teaming up with one or two fellow players. Fast matches are common. Opening setup of yonin shogi
Game equipment Four players play on a standard 9×9 shogi board, which is commonly colored black in dedicated yonin shogi sets. Each player has a 9-piece subset of the standard shogi pieces: • • • • •
1 king 1 rook 2 gold generals 2 silver generals 3 pawns
Setup Each side places his pieces in a triangular arrangement, facing toward the player opposite him, as shown below. • In the rank nearest the player, • The king is placed in the center file; • The two gold generals are placed on either side of the king; • The two silver generals are placed next to the gold generals. The four outside files are left empty. • In the second rank, • The rook is placed in the same file as the king; • A pawn is placed on either side of the rook, in front of the gold generals.
Yonin shogi
622
• In the third rank, a pawn is placed in the same file as the king and rook.
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
銀
金
王
金
銀
歩
飛
歩
銀
2
歩
王
飛
金
歩
歩
歩
銀
歩
飛
歩
金
王
金
2
3
4
6
7
S
G K G
S
p
二
歩
銀
1 一
銀
三
S
歩
金
四
G
p
飛
王
五
K
R
歩
金
六
G
p
銀
七
S
歩
金
1
九
R
8
p
b S
p
p
p p S
R
9 a
p
八 銀
5
p
G d
R
K e
p
G f S
p
G K G
c
g h
S
i
Note: some common sets feature a black board with white pieces.
Game play The order of play may be decided by flipping four pawns and counting the number that land promoted-side up. Turns proceed clockwise from the first player. Movement and capture are identical to standard shogi, except for check and checkmate. Each player has a full three-rank promotion zone as in standard shogi. Repetition, perpetual check, and illegal moves are also dealt with as in standard shogi.
Check and mate Yonin shogi departs from standard shogi in its rules for check and checkmate, due to the complications of having four players. In yonin shogi, it is checkmate rather than forcing resignation that ends a player's game. These are not equivalent as they are in standard shogi: In yonin shogi a third player might capture the mating piece before the defeated player has a chance to resign; this is avoided by ending a player's game immediately upon checkmate. In team play, check and checkmate do not count against the other member of one's team. They are simply ignored. One player may inadvertently place a second player in check due to the movement of a third player’s piece. This is a special form of discovered check unique to multiplayer chess variants. Similarly, if one player places a second player in check, a move of a third player may result in checkmate for the second player without the third player attacking directly. In yonin shogi, it is the player who makes the move that results in checkmate that gets credit for the checkmate, not the player who makes the initial check. Once a king is in check, the threatened player immediately takes the next turn in defense and play continues clockwise from there. If two or three kings are placed in check simultaneously, the first player in the clockwise direction to defend takes the next turn.
Yonin shogi
623
Game end When a player is mated, all remaining pieces except the king are left on the board and placed under the control of the mating player. Their original direction of movement is maintained. Any pieces held in hand are given to the mating player, but can only be dropped in the original direction of the mating player. The defeated king is turned upside-down and left as an obstacle for the remaining players. It cannot be captured or removed from the board. In some descriptions of the game, the winner is the first player to checkmate twice, or to checkmate a player who has already checkmated another. In others, the winner is the last player standing. In the latter case, the first player to be checkmated is ranked fourth, the next is ranked third, and the player losing at the end is ranked second. Because of the dead kings left as obstacles, it is possible for a player to be unable to make a legal move. This also counts as a loss. It is possible to check or checkmate two or three players with a single move. A bare king may remain on the board in opposition to the other players in an effort to increase its ranking. In a timed game, a bare king can move faster than its opponent, therefore it may attempt to win the game by forcing its opponent to run out of time. Note that some league tournaments may disallow this.
Game notation Yonin game notation is the same as that of shogi, except that there are four columns instead of two.
History This version of Yonin shogi was devised in 1993 by Ota Mitsuyasu, former mayor of Hirata (present day Izumo) in Shimane Prefecture. It is a recognized variant and plastic play sets are available for as little as ¥300 (≈US$2.50). Yonin shogi sets were sold at the stand of the shogi hall. Some elementary schools even hold tournaments. It is likely that four-person shogi has been played for many decades with rules made up as players went along. A fully complete and playable set of rules first appeared in a weekly children’s magazine in February 1991. The primary differences between this and the current rules are in the pieces used (nearly a complete standard shogi set for each player) and the initial setup, which is also closer to standard shogi. In the diagram below, pieces are color coded as to the player they belong to.
9
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
香 桂 銀 金 王 金 銀 桂 香 一
L
N
S
G K G
S
N
L a
桂 角 飛
p
B
N b
p
R
S
銀
8
歩
7
歩
6
歩
5
歩
4
歩
3
2
1
歩
角 桂 二
N
B
R
歩
飛 銀 三
S
p
p
p
5
p
p
c
金
歩
歩
金 四
G
p
p
G d
王
歩
歩
王 五
K
p
p
K e
金
歩
歩
金 六
G
p
p
G f
銀 飛
歩
銀 七
S
R
p
桂 角
歩
飛 角 桂 八
N
B
p
香 桂 銀 金 王 金 銀 桂 香 九
L
N
S
歩
歩
歩
歩
歩
p
p
p
G K G
p
p
S
g
R
B
N h
S
N
L
i
Yonin shogi
Yonin shogi products Besides game sets, there are a few other products available: • 4 Nin Shōgi, a video game for the Super Famicom • The book Yonin shogi introduction to which rule and strategy et cetera of Yonin shogi have been recorded.
External links • Chess Variants - Yonin Shogi [1]
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ index/ msdisplay. php?itemid=MSyoninshogi
Edo-era shogi sources The 象戯図式 Shōgi Zushiki, 諸象戯図式 Sho Shōgi Zushiki, and 象棋六種之図式 Shōgi Rokushu no Zushiki are Edo-era publications describing various variants of Japanese chess, otherwise known as shōgi. The Shōgi Zushiki covers the setup and moves of standard shōgi, chū shōgi, dai shōgi, tenjiku shōgi, dai dai shōgi, maka dai dai shōgi, and tai shōgi. It also mentions wa shōgi, Tang shōgi, seven-person Chinese chess, ja:七国将棋 kō shōgi, and taikyoku shōgi. The Sho Shōgi Zushiki (published 1694) covers the setup and moves of sho shōgi, standard shōgi, wa shōgi, chū shōgi, dai shōgi, tenjiku shōgi, dai dai shōgi, maka dai dai shōgi, and tai shōgi. The Shōgi Rokushu no Zushiki covers the setup and moves of sho shōgi, chū shōgi, dai shōgi, dai dai shōgi, maka dai dai shōgi, and tai shōgi. The Shōgi Zushiki and Sho Shōgi Zushiki are generally though not always in agreement on the powers of the various pieces, but the Shōgi Rokushu no Zushiki differs in the descriptions of most pieces which are found only in the larger shogi variants, or which have distinctive moves in the larger variants.
Bibliography Shōgi Zushiki • 「ものと人間の文化史23 将棋」 増川宏一・法政大学出版局・1977年・ISBN 4-588-20231-6 • 「象戯図式」 松浦大六筆写・1909年 Sho Shōgi Zushiki • ? Shōgi Rokushu no Zushiki • 「ものと人間の文化史23 将棋」 増川宏一・法政大学出版局・1977年・ISBN 4-588-20231-6 • 「雑藝叢書」 国書刊行会・1915年
624
625
Other national variants Janggi Further information: Chess (disambiguation)
Janggi Hangul
장기
Hanja
將棋
Revised Romanization janggi McCune–Reischauer
changgi
Janggi
Pieces at the start of a game Players
2
Age range
Any
Setup time
< 2 minutes
Random chance
None
Skill(s) required
Tactics, strategy
Janggi (including romanizations changgi and jangki), sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategic board game popular in Korea. It derived from Xiangqi (Chinese chess), which itself is thought to be a descendent of the Indian chess game Chaturanga.[1] The game is very similar to Xiangqi, including the starting position of pieces, and the 9x10 game board, but without the Xiangqi "river" dividing the board horizontally at the middle. Janggi has some other innovations as well which make it distinct from Xiangqi. Janggi is played on a board nine lines wide by ten lines long. The game is sometimes fast-paced due to the jumping cannons and the long range elephants, but professional games most often last for over 150 moves and are thus most often slower than those of Western chess. Also, while in Western chess battle is concentrated in the middle few rows for the bulk of the game, in janggi the battle seems to be fought simultaneously all over the board. In 2009, the first world janggi tournament was held in Harbin, People's Republic of China.[2]
Janggi
626
Janggi in Korean culture One will often see older men crowding around a single Janggi board while two men play for small amounts of money. These games are played year round, especially in city parks in Seoul. Generally, Janggi is considered a gambling game. Amongst many players, Baduk (Go) seems to be considered the strategy game of choice.
Rules The board is composed of 90 intersections of 9 vertical files and 10 horizontal rows. The board is nearly the same layout as that used in Xiangqi, except that the Playing Janggi on Seoul's streets Janggi board has no "river" in the central row. The pieces consist of disks marked with an identifying character and are placed on the intersections of the lines (as in Xiangqi and go). Janggi pieces are traditionally octagonal in shape, and differ in size. The sides are green (or blue), which moves first, and red. Each side also has a palace that is 3 lines by 3 lines (i.e. 9 positions) in the center of that side against the back edge of the board. The palace also has four diagonal lines that extend outwards from the center, which form an "X" shape.
Pieces The pieces are labeled with hanja (Chinese characters). The labels on the green pieces are all written in the semi-cursive script. For instance, the green chariot or cha has a cursive version of 車, which looks something like 车 (the Simplified Chinese equivalent of the traditional character). General
The pieces that are equivalent to the kings in Western chess are actually referred to as military generals (janggun) in Korean. They are labelled with the Chinese character Han (in Chinese pinyin: Hàn; 漢) on the red side, and Cho (Chǔ; 楚) on the green side. They represent the rival states of Han and Chu that fought for power in the post-Qin Dynasty interregnum period in China (see Chu-Han contention). In North Korea, the Chu-Han setup is not used; the red general there is called jang (chang; 將, "general,") and the green general is called gwan (kwan; 官, "minister.") Janggi differs from its Chinese counterpart in that the janggi general starts the game from the central intersection of the palace, rather than from the center intersection of the back edge. The general may move one space at a time to any of the 9 positions within the palace, following the lines marked on the board. There are 4 diagonal lines in the palace connecting the center position to the corners. When the general is lost, the game is lost. The general cannot leave the palace under any circumstances. If the generals come to face each other across the board, and the player to move does not move away this is bikjang—a draw. This rule is different from that of Chinese chess where it is illegal for the generals to face. If there is no move for the general to make without getting into check or checkmate, but it is safe for it to stand still, the person may pass their turn—i.e. leave the king standing still, and have no move.
Janggi Guards
The pieces are labeled sa (士) are civilian government officials, i.e. the council members serving the commander in chief. One can call them guards, too, since they stay close to the general. They are also called assistants or mandarins. To both the left and right of the general are the guards. They move the same as the general, one space at a time along the marked lines in the palace. The guards are one of the weakest pieces because they may not leave the palace. They are valuable for protecting the general, though. Elephants
The elephants, sang (象), are located to both the left and the right of the guards. These pieces move one point horizontally or vertically, followed by two points diagonally away from their initial position, ending up on the opposite end of a 2 x 3 rectangle. (Like the Horse and its Chinese counterpart, it cannot move in a direction in which there is a piece standing in its way.) Unlike Xiangqi, which assigns its elephants a purely defensive role by confining them to one side of the board, behind the "river", janggi does not limit the movement of its elephants to the other side of the board, as there is no river. The Korean elephant is, therefore, much more of an offensive piece than its Chinese counterpart. The elephant can be transposed with the adjacent horse in the setup. Horses
Called the horse or ma (馬), this piece is very similar to the knight in international chess, except that the intersection at the "angle" of the horse's move must not be occupied, like the horse in Xiangqi. The move of the Horse is like that of the elephant, ending its move at the opposite corner of a 1 x 2 rectangle. The horse can be transposed with the adjacent elephant in the setup. Chariots
These are labelled cha (車). Like the rook in European chess, the chariot moves and captures in a straight line either horizontally or vertically. The two chariots begin the game in the corners. The Chariot may move along the diagonal lines inside either "palace", but only in a straight line. The Chariot is the most powerful piece in the game.
627
Janggi Cannons
These are labelled po (包). Each player has two Cannons. The Cannons are placed on the row behind the pawns, directly in front of the Knights (if the Knights are put on the file next to the Chariots). The cannon moves by jumping another piece horizontally or vertically. The jump can be performed over any distance provided that there is exactly one piece anywhere between the original position and the target. In order to capture a piece, there must be exactly one piece (friendly or otherwise) between the cannon and the piece to be captured. The cannon then moves to that point and captures the piece. They may also move or capture diagonally along the diagonal lines in either "palace", provided there is an intervening piece in the centre (i.e. it can only happen if the cannon is at a corner of the "palace") They are powerful at the beginning of the game when "hurdles" are plentiful, but lose value rapidly with attrition. The other piece over which the Cannon jumps may not be another cannon. In addition, a cannon may not make the first move for either player. A cannon may also not capture another cannon. Unlike Xiangqi, Janggi requires Cannons to jump in order to move, as well as capture. Soldiers
These are labelled byeong (兵) (soldiers, general term for a soldier) for red and jol (卒) (also means soldiers, usually lowest ranking soldiers) for green. Each side has 5 soldiers. They are placed on alternating points, one row back from the edge of where the river would be in Chinese chess. They move, and capture unlike Pawns in international chess, by moving one space either straight ahead or to either side. Unlike Chinese chess, soldiers do not have to be promoted to move sideways. Once they reach the end of the board they may only move sideways. Soldiers may also move one space at a time along the painted diagonals inside the enemy's "palace", but must only move forward.
Setting up In tournaments, the elder player, or the higher ranked player, conceals a soldier from each side on his/her hand, and the other player chooses one of those hands. The other player plays using the side he/she has chosen. After the side is chosen, Han first places his/her pieces, and then Cho places the other pieces. The reason that pieces cannot be placed simultaneously is because the horse and the elephant can be transposed with the adjacent elephant, thus giving some strategical advantage to the player who places the pieces last. After the pieces are placed, Cho plays first.
Ending the game Victory is obtained by checkmating the opposing General. In the western chess stalemate is achieved when no legal moves are possible. However the stalemate is not a draw in Janggi. The player must skip the turn when all the moves are impossible. If both players can't move legally, or if any player cannot win because both player does not have enough pieces, the game ends in a draw. A player may decide to make a move so that his or her General faces the other player's General unobstructed (which is called bikjang). In this situation, the second player can either call a draw, or make a move that breaks the position with two generals facing unobstructed. In many cases, the bikjang rule can be used to force the opposing player to call a draw on a losing game, by forcing the other player to sacrifice a valuable piece for breaking the bikjang position. It may not apply in some games, and more often than not the players will consent upon the validity of the rule before the game begins.
628
Janggi Check is announced by declaring janggun (將軍), meaning "general". Getting out of janggun is called meonggun, and one may declare meonggun while escaping from janggun. But there is no duty to say janggun aloud.
Miscellaneous rules In Korean janggi tournaments, according to rules set by Korean Janggi Association (http:/ / www. kja. or. kr/ ), there is no draw in any form. There is no draw by perpetual check or repetition of position. If a position is being repeated 3 times, a referee is called to determine who is at fault. Usually the referee orders the player who is losing to make a different move, so the player who is winning can press for an advantage, but sometimes it is not technically clear who is to blame, and different referees may differ as to which player must deviate, or whether repetition is mutually forced. This rule is applied because they must decide a winner and a loser during tournament game. However, both repetition and perpetual check is allowed when both players have less than 30 points worth of pieces, which results in a draw. On tournaments where draws are not allowed, draws are resolved by adding up the points of their pieces that are still on the board. Chariots: 13 points Cannons: 7 points Horses: 5 points Elephants: 3 points Guards: 3 points Soldiers: 2 points Because the blue team (cho) started, they have an advantage. To compensate for this, the red team get the 1.5 points (called 'deom (덤)' in Korean), the half-point put in place to avoid ties. So when the game starts, Blue has 72 points and Red has 73.5 points. If neither side can force a win, the person with the most points is declared the winner.
Promote Rule In Korean Janggi Association Tokyo Branch （韓国将棋協会 東京支部）Rules, A Pawn must promote on reaching the 10th rank. A Pawn can promote only to a friendly piece (except for Guards) that has been captured, and for which it is exchanged. [3]
References [1] Henry Davidson, A Short History of Chess, p. 6 [2] 제1회 세계인장기대회 할빈서 성황리에 (http:/ / www. 873k. com/ ?mid=News_TPYX& page=2& document_srl=70014) [3] 東京支部 新ローカルルール（既存公式ルールに追加）について (http:/ / www. h2. dion. ne. jp/ ~janggi/ tokyo new local rule. html)
External links • Presentation, rules,history of janggi (http://history.chess.free.fr/changgi.htm) • Janggi | Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/oriental.dir/koreanchess.html) Note: the rules from this page don't match precisely those of the wikipedia article here. • The Rules for Korean Chess (http://www.xmission.com/~gastown/afi/koreanch.htm) • Janggi applet (http://www.fungame.pe.kr/javagame/janggi/janggi.htm) • Korean Janggi Association (in Korean) (http://www.kja.or.kr/) • Essentials of Chinese Chess and of Korean Chess (http://home.att.net/~Mc-Kiernan/XiangQi/XiangQi. pdf)PDF (217 KiB) • Brain TV, a Janggi cable TV channel (in Korean) (http://www.braintv.co.kr/)
629
Makruk
630
Makruk Further information: Chess (disambiguation) a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1 a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Makruk, starting position. Makruk (Thai: หมากรุก Thai pronunciation: [màkrúk]), or Thai chess, is a board game descended from the 6th-century Indian game of chaturanga or a close relative thereof, and therefore related to chess. It is regarded as the most similar living game to this common ancestor of all chess variants.[1] Makruk is popular in Thailand and Cambodia. In these countries the game is more popular than chess. There are around two million Thais who can play Makruk, of whom about 5000 also play chess.[2] According to former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik, "Makruk Thai is more strategic than international chess. You have to plan your operations with total care since Makruk Thai can be compared to an anticipated endgame of International Chess."[3]
Rules Pieces • The pawn (called เบี้ย bia, a cowry shell, formerly used for money) moves and captures like a pawn in international chess, but cannot move two steps on the first move and, therefore, cannot capture en passant. A pawn that reaches the sixth rank is always promoted to a queen (met). ○
●
○
P
• The queen[4] [5] (called เม็ด met, seed[4] ), the weakest piece, moves one step in any diagonal direction, like the fers in Shatranj.
Makruk
631
●
● Q
●
●
• The bishop (called โคน khon or thon, nobleman[4] or mask[5] ) moves one step in any diagonal direction or one step forward, like the silver general in Shogi. ●
●
●
B ●
●
• The knight (called ม้า ma, horse) moves like a knight in Western chess: two steps in one direction and then one step perpendicular to that movement. It jumps over any pieces in the way. ●
●
●
● KT
●
● ●
●
• The rook (called เรือ rua, boat) moves like a rook in Western chess: any number of steps horizontally or vertically. │ │ ─ ─
R ─ ─ │ │
• The king (called ขุน khun, meaning either a feudal lord or a title-holder of the lowest ranks in the ancient Thai nobility) moves like a king in international chess - one step in any direction. The game ends when the king is checkmated. ●
●
●
●
K
●
●
●
●
Makruk
632
English
king(1)
queen(1) bishop(2)
knight(2) rook(2) pawn(8)
promoted pawn(queen)
Thai
ขุน
เม็ด
โคน
ม้า
เรือ
เบี้ย
เบี้ยหงาย
RTGS
khun
met
khon
ma
rua
bia
bia-ngai
boat
cowry shell Overturned Cowry Shell
Meaning feudal lord seed
nobleman/mask horse
In starting position, pawns are placed on the third and sixth ranks. Queens are placed at the right side of kings. Pawns promote (เบี้ยหงาย bia ngai, flipped cowry shell) and move like queens when they reach the sixth rank. There is no castling rule like that of international chess.
Counting rules When neither side has any pawns, the game must be completed within a certain number of moves or it is declared a draw. When a piece is captured the count starts again from scratch only if it is the last piece of one side in the game. • When neither side has any pawns left, mate must be achieved in 64 moves. The disadvantaged player does the counting, and may at any time choose to stop counting. If the disadvantaged side checkmates the advantage side and did not stop counting, the game is declared a draw. When the last piece (that is not the King) of the disadvantaged side is captured, the count may be started, or restarted from the aforementioned counting, by the weaker side, and the stronger side now has a maximum number of moves based on the pieces left: • • • • • • •
If there are two rooks left: 8 moves If there is one rook left: 16 moves If there are no rooks left, but there are two bishops: 22 moves If there are no rooks left, but there is one bishop: 44 moves If there are no rooks or bishops left, but there are two knights: 32 moves If there are no rooks or bishops left, but there is one knight: 64 moves If there are no rooks, bishops, or knights, but queens: 64 moves
The weaker side pronounces aloud the counting of his fleeing moves, starting from the number of pieces left on the board, including both kings. The stronger side has to checkmate his opponent's king before the maximum number is pronounced, otherwise the game is drawn. During this process, the count may restart if the counting side would like to stop and start counting again. For example, if White has two rooks and a knight against a lone Black king, he has three moves to checkmate his opponent (the given value of 8 minus the total number of pieces, 5). If Black captures a white rook, the count does not automatically restart, unless Black is willing to do so, at his own disadvantage. However, many players do not understand this and restart the counting while fleeing the king.
Makruk
633
References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936-317-01-9. Pritchard, D. (2000). Popular Chess Variants. Bastford Chess Books. ISBN 0-7134-8578-7. Kramnik plays Makruk Thai (http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ oriental. dir/ thaikramnik. html) by Dr. René Gralla. How to Play Thai Chess - Makruk - Mak-rook - Makrook - Xiangqi - Shogi (http:/ / ancientchess. com/ page/ play-makruk. htm) Makruk: Thai Chess (http:/ / www. chessvariants. com/ oriental. dir/ thai. html)
External links • • • • • •
How to play Thai Chess (http://www.thailandlife.com/thaichess/) How to play Thai Chess - by Ancient Chess.com (http://ancientchess.com/page/play-makruk.htm) Makruk | Chess Variant Pages (http://www.chessvariants.org/oriental.dir/thai.html) Makruk: Chess in Cambodia (http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess/makruk.htm) Mini Makruk (http://cascadiagames.com/game_minimakruk.html) Ouk Chatrang, the Cambodian Chess and Makruk, the Thai Chess (http://history.chess.free.fr/cambodian. htm) • Peace Thai Chess (http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/peacedeveloper/ downloadChess.htm&date=2009-10-25+21:16:42) • Play Thai Chess Online (http://schemingmind.com/) • Internet Makruk Server (thai. und engl.) (http://www.thaibg.com/TSOnline/index.php)
Sittuyin Further information: Chess (disambiguation) Sittuyin (Burmese: စစ်တုရင်, also known as Burmese chess), is a chess-related game direct offspring of the Indian chess game of Chaturanga which arrived in 8th century AD. Sit is the modern Burmese word for army or war, the word Sittuyin can be translated as representation of the four characteristics of army — chariot, elephant, cavalry and infantry. The game has been largely overshadowed in its native land by international chess, though it remains popular in the northwest regions.
Sittuyin, initial position.
Sittuyin
634
Board The Sittuyin board consists of 64 squares, 8 rows and 8 columns, without alternating colors. It also consists two diagonal lines across the board known as "sit-ke-myin" (general's lines). Size of the board is usually 24x24 inches, and each square is approximately 3x3 inches.
Pieces and their moves Pieces are commonly made in wood and sometimes in ivory. The length of the pieces is varied by class, traditionally 2 to 3 inches. The official colors of the pieces are red and black. Min-gyi (king) is equivalent to King; it can move one square in any direction.
General's movement
Sit-ke (general) is equivalent to Queen; it can move one step in any diagonal direction (as Fers in Shatranj). Sin (elephant) is equivalent to Bishop; it can move one step in any diagonal direction or one step forward (as silver general in Shogi). Myin (horse) is equivalent to Knight; it can jump two horizontal squares and one vertical square or two vertical squares and one horizontal square, as in western chess. Yahhta (chariot) is equivalent to Rook; it can move to any number of free squares along four orthogonal directions. Nè (feudal lord) is equivalent to Pawn; it can move one square forward and cannot retreat; it captures as in European chess. Elephant's movement
Rules Only feudal lords (pawns) are on the board in the initial position. The game starts with the red player, followed by the black player, placing their other pieces arbitrarily on their own halves of the board which is known as sit-tee or troops deployment: chariots can be put anywhere but in the last row. In official tournaments, a small curtain is used on the middle of the board to prevent the players seeing each others' deployment during the sit-tee phase. One of the possible game openings is shown on the diagram below. Feudal lords promote to general when they reach diagonal lines marked on the board. The promotion is possible only if that player's general has been captured. If the player has a feudal lord on a Sittuyin, a position after setup phase is over. promotion square and his or her general is no longer on the board, the player can (if he wishes to) promote the feudal lord to general instead of making a move. A feudal lord which passes the promotion square cannot promote anymore.
Sittuyin The goal of the game is to khwè (checkmate) the opponent's king. Placing the opponent's king into stalemate is not allowed. In the version reported in A History of Chess in 1913, a game of sittuyin had 3 stages: 1. 8 moves each: the sit-tee stage described above, but no restriction on chariot placing; Murray did not mention a curtain. Also, a player could put a piece where one of his pawns is, and in the same move put that pawn in a free square behind his row of pawns. 2. Second stage: in each move, each player moves any one of his pieces (not a pawn) to any other empty place in his own half of the board, ignoring the usual move rules. Or he can move a pawn one square forwards and this ends the second stage and the third stage starts. 3. Ordinary play, obeying the rules for piece moves.
Compare • The type of medieval European chess called the short assize
References • H.J.R. Murray (1913). A History of Chess. ISBN 0-936317-01-9. • Maung Maung Aye (1971) . Sittuyin: Traditional Myanmar Chess.
External links • Sittuyin [1], by Hans L. Bodlaender. • Sittuyin, the Burmese Chess [2], by Jean-Louis Cazaux. • Burmese traditional chess [3] by Dr. Peter Nicolaus.
References [1] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ oriental. dir/ burmese. html [2] http:/ / history. chess. free. fr/ sittuyin. htm [3] http:/ / www. chessvariants. org/ oriental. dir/ burmesechess. html
635
636
Chess variants software ChessV ChessV
Capablanca Chess in ChessV Developer(s)
Gregory Strong
Stable release
0.94 / September 27, 2009
Operating system
Windows
Type
Computer chess
License
GPL
ChessV (short for Chess Variants) is a free computer program designed to play a large number of chess variants. ChessV is an open-source, universal chess variant program with a graphical user-interface, sophisticated AI, support for opening books and other features of traditional chess programs. The developer of this program, Gregory Strong, has been adding more variants with each release of ChessV. Currently, over 50 chess variants are supported. ChessV is designed to be able to play any game that is reasonably similar to Chess. ChessV is one of only a few such programs that exist. The source code of this program is freely available for download as well as the executable program. As of ChessV 0.93, it is possible to customize the variants it supports. Of all chess variants currently supported, two of the most-played variants are probably Fischer Random Chess and Grand Chess. ChessV is currently capable of playing: • 2 variants on 6×6 squares • 17 variants on 8×8 squares • 15 variants on 10×8 squares (including 10 Capablanca Chess variants) • 15 variants on 10×10 squares • 3 variants on 12×8 squares
ChessV
637
Some of the provided variants can be customized in their details. It is also possible to create custom variants with ChessV 0.93. While the board sizes have to be 6×6, 8×8, 10×8, 10×10 or 12×8 and the pieces in a custom variant have to be chosen from a limited list, this allows ChessV to play hundreds or thousands of variants of each game it directly supports.
Engine features • Searching: Alpha-Beta Nega-Max Principal Variation search, Iterative Deepening, Null-move Forward Pruning, Static Exchange Evaluation (SEE). Search Extensions: check extension, recapture extension, null-move threat extension, PV extension, Futility Pruning and Razoring, History Heuristic, Killer-move Heuristic. • Evaluation: Piece-square tables, Pawn structure evaluation, Mobility evaluation, King Safety, King Tropism, Lazy Evaluation. • Hash Tables: Transposition Table, Pawn Structure Table, Evaluation Cache, Repetition Detection.
Current limitations • No games with more than two players are supported. • No game with a move order other than the usual white-black is supported (such as double-move chess). • No games with randomness or hidden information are supported. • No ability to edit the board mid-game is provided. This is under development.
Supported games Alapo, Almost Chess, Angels & Devils, Archchess, Berolina Chess, Bird's Chess, Cagliostro's Chess, Capablanca Chess, Capablanca Chess (Aberg variant), Capablanca Chess (Paulowich variant), Carrera's Chess, Chess, Chess480, Chess with Augmented Knights, Chess with Different Armies, Chess with Ultima Pieces, Courier Chess, Cylindrical Chess, Diagonal Chess, Diamond Chess, Embassy Chess, Emperor's Game, Eurasian Chess, Extinction Chess, Fischer Random Chess, Great Chess, Great Shatranj, Grand Chess, Grotesque Chess, Janus Chess, Janus Kamil Chess, Kinglet, Ladorean Chess, Legan's Game, Lions and Unicorns Chess, Los Alamos Chess, Modern Kamil, Modern Shatranj, Odin's Rune Chess, Opulent Chess, Polymorph Chess, Roman Chess, Royal Court, Schoolbook Chess, Shatranj, Shatranj Kamil, Shatranj Kamil (64), Sosarian Chess, Switching Chess, TenCubed Chess, Three Checks Chess, Ultima, Unicorn Chess, Unicorn Great Chess, Unicorn Grand Chess, Univers Chess.
Competitions ChessV software won third place in a 2004 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship [1] [2]
References [1] The 2004 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship by Ed Trice http:/ / www. chessville. com/ GothicChess/ ComputerWorldChampionships. htm [2] Trice E (Dec 2004). "The 2004 Gothic Chess Computer World Championship". ICGA Journal 27 (4): 249–254.
External links • ChessV download page (http://samiam.org/chessv) • site about Chess Variants, mentions ChessV in several articles (http://www.chessvariants.org)
SMIRF
638
SMIRF SMIRF
SMIRF 10x8 Frontend Developer(s)
Reinhard Scharnagl
Stable release
MS-176b / December 29, 2009
Operating system Windows Type
Computer chess
License
Shareware/Donationware
Website
[1]
The name SMIRF is an acronym for "Strategiespielprogramm mit intelligent rückkoppelnden Funktionen" (German for "Strategic Game Program With Intelligent Recursing Facilities"). It designates an appropriate innovative variant of an adaptive recursive feedback implementation. The procedure cuts the to be evaluated search tree effectively both in the depth and in the width. Thus, this approach is associated with artificial intelligence. To provide a program for the game of chess as efficient as possible is a touchstone of the artificial intelligence. The creation of such software is a goal of the SMIRF project.
Chess Variants All 960 variants upon the 8x8 board using FRC pieces and the select 12,000+ variants upon the 10x8 board using CRC pieces are supported.
Provided Games Upon The 8x8 Board • • • •
Chess Chess960 Chess480 Corner Chess
SMIRF
639
Provided Games Upon The 10x8 Board • • • • • •
Bird Chess Capablanca Chess Capablanca Random Chess Carrera Chess Embassy Chess Janus Chess
References [1] http:/ / www. 10x8. net/ Octopus/ Start. html
Article Sources and Contributors
Article Sources and Contributors Chess variant Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459281838 Contributors: 28bytes, 4, Aamma58, Abigail-II, Abyssal, Ace Class Shadow, AceVentura, Adam Lebech, Agüeybaná, Ahruman, Alansohn, Alex Holowczak, Alton, Alvestrand, Amanaplanacanalpanama, Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Andris, Angryteen, Anonymous Dissident, Anthony Appleyard, Apeloverage, Aphisherofmen, ArglebargleIV, Arvindn, Asav, Atrisco, BadSanta, Badassbuffdude, Bcrowell, Befedelbumps, BenWillard, Bjørn Enemark, Bletch, Bobo192, Boken88, Bryan Derksen, Bubba73, C.Fred, CRGreathouse, Camembert, Captain Disdain, Carlos853333, Cazaux, Cekli829, Cexycy, Charles Matthews, ChessHistorian, Chesskelvin, Chile Nose Jam, Chowbok, Chuck Smith, Cimon Avaro, CryptoDerk, Curps, Darknote, DavidJHowe, DavidWatersHC, Davidcannon, Dayabethi, Deedebee, Dejvid, Devassal thibault, Dmr2, Doctorbozzball, Dreslough, Dsma1991, Dugwiki, Dwheeler, EamonnPKeane, Eclecticology, Eequor, Efficiency576os, Emeraldcityserendipity, Emurphy42, EoGuy, Eric119, Ernest lk lam, Esprit15d, Eu-Robert, Evgeney Knyazhev, Extremo88, FadulJoseArabe, Fatboyfudd, Fbrookie, Fduniho, Fish613, Fnielsen, Frederick R, Fritzlein, Furrykef, GDallimore, GPJ, Genabum, GeraldH, Giftlite, Gnbute, Gracefool, Greatdebtor, Gregorytopov, Grenavitar, Gun Powder Ma, Gwalla, Headbomb, Hotmind, Ianji, Ihardlythinkso, InfoCheck, Infophile, Ioannes Pragensis, Iridescent, J S Ayer, JHunterJ, JadeBoco, Jafet, Jagged 85, Jakjak444, Jauclair, Jdm64, Jeremie, JiFish, Jimay333, Jimguyer, Jimp, Jisis, Jnb27, Jonathunder, JudgeDredd, Just to clarify, Kelly Martin, Kirkjobsluder, Kleptosquirrel, Koavf, Kp2345, Kyle Trite, Kyle112, LiDaobing, Lightmouse, LilHelpa, Lowellian, Luis Dantas, Macinphile, Maeth0r1, Malcolm Farmer, Marcika, Marco Bonavoglia, Matswin, Mattisse, Maximaximax, McGeddon, Mdwh, Meelar, MethaneIzKandy, Michael Devore, Middlemarch33, MoltenBoron, Moondoll, MrOllie, NJMD, Neelix, NeilN, Neoliminal, Neon white, NetguruDD, Nicoguaro, Nintendope, Ntsimp, Numuse37, Oli Filth, Oliver Pereira, OmegaMan, Ovakim, Oğuz Ergin, Panfsergey, Pegua, Pendragon521981, Peter Atwood, Peter Horn, Peterz3000, Philipum, Phillyscholar, Pip72, Pirate Thom, PirateMonkeyAlpha, Prilin, Prodego, QtheAllmighty, Quale, Quantum Person, QuixotiCfluX, R'n'B, RJaguar3, Ragnaroknike, Random Brethren, Readin, Reguiieee, Roadrunner, Robinh, RockRNC, Roleplayer, Ronhjones, Rossen4, Rrachkov, Rrburke, S8333631, SAJordan, SabreMau, Samboy, Scwlong, Secret Squïrrel, Secret ant, Sehrgut, Shawnc, Shimgray, Sibahi, Silvioq, Sjakkalle, Sobolewski, Sompm, SonicBoom95, Srn347, Stephen Gilbert, Stuart P. Bentley, SubSeven, SunCreator, Sweeces, Synesthetic, Taipan198, Tarquin, Tavix, Team.chaotix, Telamon, Teun Dings, The Anome, The Transhumanist, Theravada1, Timthelion, Tinesandbarbs, Toebbens, Totakeke423, Tox, Tracher, Tualha, Turm, Uncle G, Unforgettableid, Veinor, Vera Cruz, Vilcxjo, Voorlandt, Wernher, Whiner01, Whitepaw, Wikibina, William dagostino, Woohookitty, XJamRastafire, Xaxafrad, Xkcer Man, Yann, Yar Kramer, ZeroOne, Zundark, Zuril7, ZurilPrimo, 345 anonymous edits Displacement chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=446662126 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, BorgQueen, GeraldH, Headbomb, Kjlewis, Oli Filth, Oğuz Ergin, SunCreator, Thegeorgebush, Theravada1, Yangormatte, Zuril7, 5 anonymous edits Chess960 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=455334639 Contributors: AS, AceVentura, Alleborgo, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Anonywiki, Atlantick, Atomota, Attilios, B.d.mills, Baudouin hubert, BenWillard, Billy Button, Billymac00, Bubba73, C.Fred, Camembert, Causa sui, Cesoid, Chnv, Cobblet, Colonies Chris, Conical Johnson, Curps, Cyncynnatus29, Cyp, DO'Neil, DanielCristofani, David G Brault, David gudmundsson, DeepThought, Deli nk, Dgtprojects, Dmn, Dmr2, DoctorW, Doradus, Dr.r4ndom, DrMajorBob, Drinky Crow, Drleper, Dtuinhof, Dwheeler, Dysprosia, ENortham, Edgar181, Edoderoo, Eitch, Elroch, FHSerkland, Fduniho, François Haffner, Fredrik, Fritzlein, GFHund, GRuban, Gameking51, Gbnogkfs, Gene M, Giftlite, Gnossie, Grodd, Guldotarpit, GynusKeen, Halo 3 ODST, Hede2000, HorsePunchKid, Iamwisesun, Ihardlythinkso, J carrillo vii, Jabernal, Jasper Deng, Jcreid0098, Jeffq, Johnrpenner, Jokes Free4Me, Jp98, JudgeDredd, Kaihsu, Kellen`, Kyle112, Lcmarzulli, Lindsey8417, LokiClock, Loopus, Lord Bodak, LostLeviathan, MarSch, Marianocecowski, Martijn Hoekstra, MartinHarper, Matthew Yeager, Mbendori, Mboverload, Meeso, Mekkk, Meneth, Michael Drüing, Michael Hardy, Moab2021, Momirt, MrsHudson, Myanw, Ncsaint, Nealmcb, Neilc, Neoliminal, Nightstallion, NoToBuggyChessSites, Ohnoitsjamie, Olivier, OpenToppedBus, Oğuz Ergin, PJFry, PTSE, Perfect Proposal, Phible, Pixieandbenji, Psihrishi, Quale, RNeudorf, RedWolf, Rich Farmbrough, Richardcavell, Rjwilmsi, Robben, Robertburkhalter, RockRNC, Romanm, Ronark, Rothorpe, Roux, SJP, Samboy, Scharnagl, Seberg, SelfStudyBuddy, Sibahi, Slice12, Smjg, Snoyes, Sonjaaa, Steven J. Anderson, Stevenaaus, SubSeven, Tassedethe, Tavix, TheChessPlayer, Thibaultd, Toktok, Tombarrister, Truthflux, Tyw7, Vaazan, VinnieCool, VodkaJazz, Vonfraginoff, Voorlandt, WhisperToMe, Wik, Willkie1940, Wmahan, Zain Ebrahim111, ZeroJanvier, ZeroOne, ZincAtari, ZincBelief, Zoicon5, 286 anonymous edits Transcendental chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443812698 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, GregorB, Jafet, Matt Gies, NeonMerlin, Oli Filth, Oğuz Ergin, Peter Atwood, Quale, SunCreator, ZeroOne, 8 anonymous edits Chess handicap Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456080533 Contributors: AlbinoChocobo, Andreas Kaufmann, Boing! said Zebedee, Bubba73, BukMer, CapitalSasha, Charles Matthews, Cmdrjameson, DaQuirin, Dacxjo, Glennobrien, Ioannes Pragensis, Krakatoa, Lusanaherandraton, Mark83, MoraSique, MrsHudson, OneWeirdDude, Oğuz Ergin, Quale, Remember, Rigadoun, Rjwilmsi, SunCreator, SyG, Tassedethe, Tesscass, The Transhumanist, Voorlandt, Wfaxon, 35 anonymous edits Dunsany's chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443805439 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrei Iosifovich, AnonMoos, Babygirl2010, Bubba73, Oatmealcookiemon, Oli Filth, Oğuz Ergin, Quale, SeoR, Skysmith, SunCreator, TallNapoleon, ZeroOne, 21 anonymous edits Minichess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=451875179 Contributors: 333ES, AdamWeeden, Andreas Kaufmann, Atropos, Bubba73, Coryalantaylor, Dominus, Drmies, Eric119, Greenrd, GregorB, Headbomb, KEK, Mandarax, Nicoguaro, OwenX, ParlorGames, Quale, Rjwilmsi, Shahboor, Sibahi, Swordsmankirby, Tea with toast, Theoboyd, ZeroOne, 13 anonymous edits Los Alamos chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443809000 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, BillC, Blotwell, Conny, Elwikipedista, Enochlau, Giftlite, Goudzovski, MattGiuca, Molinari, PurpleKoopa, Quale, Savant13, Shalom Yechiel, Soyseñorsnibbles, 5 anonymous edits Grid chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443806196 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Andris, Bdesham, Calton, Camembert, Fleminra, GPJ, JudgeDredd, Quale, Ruziklan, ZeroOne, 2 anonymous edits Cylinder chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=389849705 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Cewvero, Fratrep, JakeVortex, Jimp, KnightMove, MightyWarrior, Mpntod, MrsHudson, Oğuz Ergin, Samboy, Sibahi, Stevebritgimp, SunCreator, V1adis1av, Voorlandt, WBardwin, Who ordered 137?, 14 anonymous edits Circular chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=434591112 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Antonlev, Bubba73, Cate, Cazaux, Chile Nose Jam, Dogface, DragonflySixtyseven, EPO, IslandHopper973, Kapgains, Nicoguaro, Oğuz Ergin, Panfily, Pearle, R'n'B, Sibahi, Squids and Chips, SunCreator, Tassedethe, Travelbird, TreasuryTag, Trusilver, 16 anonymous edits Alice chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456081218 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Bubba73, Camembert, Dagonet, DreamGuy, Emurphy42, Fduniho, Giftlite, Ihardlythinkso, Isotope23, JudgeDredd, Krakatoa, Malinaccier, OneWeirdDude, Quale, Sibahi, The Transhumanist, Thorsen, Tino 032, ZeroOne, 10 anonymous edits Hexagonal chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=455728722 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Antonlev, Bandit1108, Breeezee, Bubba73, Cje, DCP23, Epbr123, Euchiasmus, Exeunt, Fibonacci, Giftlite, Grzegorj, Ihardlythinkso, Intgr, JamesAM, Kf4bdy, Kinetoa, Kwamikagami, Matthew Yeager, Mild Bill Hiccup, MrsHudson, Norm mit, Oğuz Ergin, Quale, Richmond62, Rjwilmsi, Sibahi, SunCreator, SyG, The Mysterious El Willstro, UW, Updatehelper, VodkaJazz, Whiner01, Whitepaw, Łukasz M. P. Pastuszczak, 59 anonymous edits Three-dimensional chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459184021 Contributors: "Not I," said I., Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, AnonMoos, BenWillard, Betacommand, BigHairRef, Blidu, Bobamnertiopsis, Bryan Derksen, Bubba73, Canadafreakazoid, Cb6, Cornellrockey, Cyanolinguophile, CyberSkull, Cyberia23, CygnusPius, DaleMH, Darac, DavidWatersHC, Derek Ross, Dmr2, Dyfsunctional, Dylan Lake, Ekaterin, Emurphy42, Epbr123, FAThomssen, Fayenatic london, Fourthords, Furrykef, Googolplexed, Grouchy Chris, Headbomb, Helikophis, Hires an editor, Hotmind, Humbert von Gikkingen, HuntSnook, IP Singh, Ihardlythinkso, J.delanoy, J04n, Jchthys, Jermaine2000, Jimp, JudgeDredd, Kaobear, Kuralyov, Lkinkade, Macduff, Magioladitis, Mandarax, Marco, Marnanel, Morio, MrOllie, Narsil, NeonMerlin, Nicoguaro, Ohnoitsjamie, Omeganian, PG3d, Paul.h, Peter Horn, Philip Trueman, Piotrus, Prescor, Prosfilaes, Quale, Radon210, Riitoken, Roadstaa, SAJordan, SFGiants, Sam Hocevar, Secret Squïrrel, Sibahi, Simondrake, Simonpeggfan, Smjg, Spoon!, Spottedowl, Steven J. Anderson, SunCreator, TakuyaMurata, Tcncv, Ten-pint, The Anome, The Bearded One, TheJames, Thumperward, Timwi, Tmgneuguy, UltraMagnus, Vgy7ujm, Wasell, Wernher, William dagostino, Wouldcarve, Zundark, 122 anonymous edits Cubic chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=451315021 Contributors: Alai, AmyNelson, Andreas Kaufmann, Bobblewik, Chmod007, Conscious, D6, Fredrik, Ihardlythinkso, Joyous!, Koavf, Saga City, Sim man, Slowking Man, Tuesdaily, Waacstats, 8 anonymous edits Flying chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443805866 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Centrist101, Deryck Chan, Discospinster, Eeekster, Fisherjs, John mandrake iii, MoltenBoron, Philippe, Quale, 2 anonymous edits Dragonchess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459374955 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Ihardlythinkso, Introgressive, Mike Selinker, Prosfilaes, Quale, RoyBoy, SunCreator, Waza, 7 anonymous edits Antichess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456082561 Contributors: Alerante, Andrejj, Andris, Arimakat, Arvindn, Astadourian, BT, Bridgeplayer, Bubba73, Cexycy, Chowells, Cmdrjameson, Coin945, DKroot, Dch111, Dontmentionit, Elmufi, Eomund, Eric119, Georgia guy, GlazAlmaz, Gnikhil, GregorB, Haosys, Hbdragon88, Hessamnia, Introgressive, Jiekuo, Jmartinezot, JudgeDredd, Koavf, Krakatoa, M79 specialist, MLauba, Maximus Rex, MemoS77, Misza13, Na7, Nessegrev, Octane, Oliver Pereira, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, Populus,
640
Article Sources and Contributors Rabin, Schwallex, ShaneCavanaugh, Sibahi, Smjg, Tavilis, The Transhumanist, Tothwolf, UTSRelativity, Versageek, VodkaJazz, Vuvar1, XJamRastafire, Yannos, Yeknom der, 69 anonymous edits Atomic chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456085407 Contributors: 5fx5, Akako, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, BadSanta, BlankVerse, Brainhell, Bridgeplayer, Bubba73, Chris the speller, Chrish68, Conskeptical, Dcoetzee, Dmr2, Ericd, Fegor, Jan.Keromnes, JudgeDredd, Kansan, Mekkk, OmegaMan, Paul A, Plato1981, Pz-Poland, Rambam rashi, Rgoudie, Seberg, Sibahi, Stevebritgimp, SunCreator, The Transhumanist, TheEasterBunny, Twinxor, WarmasterKron, Ynhockey, ZeroOne, 64 anonymous edits Three checks chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=385022408 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Camembert, Eric119, JakeVortex, JudgeDredd, Niteowlneils, OmegaMan, Sam Hocevar, Schutz, Sjakkalle, ZeroOne, 9 anonymous edits Extinction chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=159577220 Contributors: Fduniho, Samboy, 3 anonymous edits Crazyhouse Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=431266359 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bridgeplayer, Bubba73, Causa sui, Cyncynnatus29, Evercat, Everyking, Hidro, Ishamael, Jlandahl, Jmartinezot, Jonny-mt, Kansan, Lab-oratory, MER-C, Mattisse, Percy Snoodle, Phoenixrod, SMP, Standard Deviation, Tanganator, VodkaJazz, Zagothal, 21 anonymous edits Knight relay chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443807683 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Cate, Cexycy, Quale, 1 anonymous edits Andernach chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456081324 Contributors: Alex.tan, Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Bugloaf, Camembert, Colonies Chris, Lightmouse, Quale, Ruziklan, SimonP, The Transhumanist, 6 anonymous edits Checkless chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=414400816 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Eric119, Mreagle220, Sjakkalle Circe chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=454189893 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Andris, Andycjp, Bdesham, Bubba73, Camembert, Frencheigh, Graham87, JudgeDredd, MrsHudson, Quale, Ruziklan, Smjg, Stephen Gilbert, ZeroOne, 8 anonymous edits Legan chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443808374 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Cate, IL-Kuma, Ihardlythinkso, Quale, 7 anonymous edits Madrasi chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443809794 Contributors: Alabrena, Andrejj, Andris, Binand, Bubba73, Camembert, Carcharoth, Eequor, JudgeDredd, Koavf, Lkjhgfdsa, Quale, RMHED, Ruziklan, Sibahi, Smjg, SunCreator, SyG, Voorlandt, ZeroOne, 1 anonymous edits Monochromatic chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=420881807 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Badassbuffdude, Bubba73, Me myself or I, Other-thing, Smjg, 4 anonymous edits Patrol chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443811187 Contributors: Alabrena, Andrejj, Andris, Bubba73, Camembert, Dsreyn, Jpo, JudgeDredd, Mintguy, Quale, Ruziklan, ZeroOne, 2 anonymous edits PlunderChess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=452098839 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, DavidWatersHC, Euchiasmus, Kranix, Liveste, 2 anonymous edits Kriegspiel Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443807886 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Apeloverage, Bilderbikkel, Bubba73, Causa sui, CyberSkull, DH85868993, GregorB, Kaare, LilHelpa, Marcika, Mark Foskey, MrsHudson, Percy Snoodle, Pjahr, Ploumploum1, Quale, Rpyle731, Ruziklan, Shanes, 23 anonymous edits Dark chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443805119 Contributors: AkvoD3, AlienDjinn, Andreas Kaufmann, Bilderbikkel, Bubba73, Gaius Cornelius, GregorB, HiDrNick, Jeepday, JudgeDredd, Just to clarify, PhirePhly, Quale, Richi, Schutz, Sholtar, Sibahi, SunCreator, Sverdrup, Wfaxon, Wiktor256, ZeroOne, 27 anonymous edits Penultima Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443811337 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Ashley Y, Bluap, McGeddon, Palnatoke, Psychonaut, Quale, 9 anonymous edits Dice chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458327571 Contributors: Accounting4Taste, Andreas Kaufmann, Apeloverage, Bbwinnow, Buonaparte69, Ddrehs, Frederick R, Hotmind, Iswikinumber2, Krakatoa, Ssviator, Terper, ZeroOne, 4 anonymous edits Knightmare Chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443807808 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bowmanjj, CBM, Cewvero, Chrislk02, Craw-daddy, Eyrian, Formerly the IP-Address 24.22.227.53, Ipridian, JHunterJ, JudgeDredd, Millsdavid, Percy Snoodle, Psmith, Quale, RJFJR, Rorro, Rumping, Sabbut, Timwi, Unrulyevil5, Ventifax, Wayne Miller, ZeroOne, 5 anonymous edits Marseillais chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448395329 Contributors: Abune, AceVentura, Action Jackson IV, Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Jao, Lemuel Gulliver, Neilc, PranksterTurtle, Quale, SyG, The wub, 6 anonymous edits Progressive chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=401503732 Contributors: AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Bubba73, Camembert, Catchaotica, Finnneuro, Gabodon, JudgeDredd, Molinari, OmegaMan, Smjg, VeryVerily, ZeroOne, 8 anonymous edits Avalanche chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456085933 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Anthony Appleyard, Avocado, Chuck Smith, Cookiecaper, Eric119, Iridescent, Kingturtle, Quale, SunCreator, SyG, The Transhumanist, 2 anonymous edits Monster chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457117899 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Emurphy42, Jacobolus, Lawrence King, Olivier, RetiredWikipedian789, Rlk89, Robofish, SNowwis, Salsa Shark, Taipan198, ZeroOne, 15 anonymous edits Kung-fu chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448849799 Contributors: Alyssa3467, Bubba73, Designer1993, DocSigma, Emurphy42, Imthejedi, Jimp, John of Reading, Marcur12, Morgankevinj huggle, Perfecto, Quale, R'n'B, RJFJR, Radioactive Grandpa, Ripper234, Rjwilmsi, Ryulong, Slavlin, Someone another, T.gould06, TheSpider, Thumperward, Yumsman, 57 anonymous edits Bughouse chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457894169 Contributors: Adpete, Ahoerstemeier, Alan Peakall, Alex Holowczak, Altay8, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Arvindn, Avid wiki reader, Bluecollarchessplayer, Brighterorange, BrokenSegue, Bryan Derksen, Bubba73, Buckyboy314, Caissa's DeathAngel, CambridgeBayWeather, Carders, Causa sui, Cobblet, CygnusPius, Djinn112, DrZukhar, Equinox II, Ezhiki, Farannan, Farmerchris, FetteK, Forbiddian, FrozenPurpleCube, Gereon K., Guoguo12, IanOsgood, Introgressive, Ishamael, Isotope23, Itgismyname, Jacobolus, Jchthys, Jerry, Jimfbleak, JordanSamuels, JudgeDredd, JudithSouth, KTrimble, Kate, Kent Wang, Kingturtle, Koavf, Krakatoa, Lab-oratory, Ling.Nut, LizardWizard, Matchups, Maurreen, Mike Segal, Netoholic, Netsnipe, Nghtwlkr, Nicoguaro, O2h2, Opblaaskrokodil, Phoenixrod, Ram-Man, RedWolf, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, SKAcz, Shirifan, Sibahi, Snoyes, Sozzy, Spree K, Starwiz, SubSeven, SunCreator, SyG, Tassedethe, The Hybrid, The Transhumanist, Tide rolls, Tony1, Voorlandt, WhisperToMe, ZeroOne, Zeruel21, 125 anonymous edits Three-handed chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=429346575 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, AnonMoos, Bongwarrior, Bubba73, Ianji, Ihardlythinkso, JadeBoco, Juliancolton, Logan, Pip72, Pjahr, Quadibloc, Richmond62, Rrachkov, SunCreator, Tavix, Updatehelper, Vchimpanzee, Vizziee, Yms, 18 anonymous edits Four-handed chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456617248 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Curps, DaQuirin, Dendodge, Feinoha, Ionutzmovie, La goutte de pluie, OneWeirdDude, Percy Snoodle, Pjahr, Rossumcapek, Rowan Patterson, Skittleys, Steveprutz, Tavix, Woohookitty, 17 anonymous edits Forchess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=323225075 Contributors: 4, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, BadSanta, Gadfium, JudgeDredd, Penbat, Smjg, Tox, Wechselstrom, 7 anonymous edits Djambi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458085618 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Blotwell, Bubba73, Gaius Cornelius, Improv, JIP, Jeremie, Patstuart, SunCreator, Timo Laine, Vegy08b06, Vipulcvyas, Woohookitty, 12 anonymous edits Bosworth Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456095970 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Craw-daddy, Dr.Szląchedzki, Kyle112, Rambam rashi, Saga City, The Transhumanist Enochian chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=442024324 Contributors: ***Ria777, AndrewHowse, Balmz, Charles Matthews, DenisKrivosheev, DocWatson42, DustFormsWords, Evil saltine, Gwalla, Ihcoyc, Inteligencer111, Ioannes Pragensis, Mboverload, Mordicai, Pigman, Pulsadinura, Simonm223, Smiloid, Steve-nichols.com, Thestevenichols, Zemyla, 10 anonymous edits
641
Article Sources and Contributors Fairy chess piece Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=453583115 Contributors: 28bytes, AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Andris, Anthony Appleyard, Apeloverage, Aranherunar, Badgernet, Benandorsqueaks, Bubba73, Camembert, Christopher Parham, Closedmouth, Colonies Chris, Curb Chain, Damian Yerrick, DocWatson42, Ehrenkater, Emeraldimp, Emurphy42, Equinox II, Eric119, Ernest lk lam, Errorx666, Everyking, Godsoe, GregAsche, Headbomb, IPAddressConflict, Ianji, Iglew, Ihardlythinkso, JLaTondre, Jan.Keromnes, Jaredroberts, Jauclair, Java7837, Jimfbleak, Kazvorpal, Kurando, L-Zwei, Lkjhgfdsa, Lusanaherandraton, Manicsleeper, ManoaChild, Marcos Evangelista, Matthew Yeager, MethaneIzKandy, Michaelbusch, MisterHand, Modest Genius, MrsHudson, Oatmealcookiemon, OmegaMan, PennyFarthing, Populus, PunkerMatt, Randyoo, Rich Farmbrough, RudyB, Ruziklan, Salisbury-99, Schachfee, Secret Squïrrel, Serprex, Shellreef, Sibahi, Sicherman, Siroxo, SlimVirgin, Smjg, SunCreator, Sverdrup, TemariHyuga, The Arbiter, The Eye of Timaeus, The truPrince, Thecurran, Thumperward, TimNelson, Timc, Timeroot, Tompw, VeryVerily, Voorlandt, WarFox, WinterSpw, Yann, Yekrats, Zain Ebrahim111, Zaslav, 104 anonymous edits Hippogonal Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=422534346 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Arcadian, KathrynLybarger, Lusanaherandraton, TheAllSeeingEye, 5 anonymous edits Grasshopper Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=433562429 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Carlwev, Chezmaxime, D4v1dp, Ernest lk lam, Gabodon, Jauclair, Recury, Robofish, RudyB, Ruziklan, TheAllSeeingEye, WinterSpw, Zain Ebrahim111, Zundark, 3 anonymous edits Grasshopper chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=300886913 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andrejj, Bubba73, DH85868993, Everyking, GPJ, HLwiKi, Herr Kriss, J Milburn, Sibahi, 1 anonymous edits Berolina chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456086983 Contributors: Agamemnon2, Andreas Kaufmann, Ihardlythinkso, Iridescent, Quale, Sibahi, Stevebritgimp, SunCreator, SyG, The Transhumanist, 2 anonymous edits Maharajah and the Sepoys Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459319457 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Anubhab91, Furrykef, Giftlite, Graham87, Gwalla, Hmains, Iain marcuson, Infophile, Kaze0010, MFH, Nicoguaro, Oli Filth, OneWeirdDude, Panfily, Percy Snoodle, Playshogi, Pruneau, Quale, Raistlin8r, Shashwat986, Teddym4n, Thumperward, ToastieIL, TsavdarisGeorge, Łukasz M. P. Pastuszczak, 5 anonymous edits Omega Chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=455873426 Contributors: Accelerometer, AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, AnonMoos, Bob A, BrainMagMo, Bubba73, Chuck Smith, Colonies Chris, CommonsDelinker, CzarB, Davidstrauss, Emurphy42, Eric119, Freepopcornonfridays, Furrykef, Gardrek, JudgeDredd, Kiril Simeonovski, Lusanaherandraton, Matt Yeager, MelkorDCLXVI, Moonriddengirl, MrsHudson, OmegaChessFan, OmegaMan, RedWolf, Rich Farmbrough, Samboy, Savant13, Sibahi, Smjg, Sonjaaa, Spinningspark, Tsmee, WikiRigby, XJamRastafire, ZeroOne, 17 anonymous edits Stealth Chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=452505624 Contributors: AnonMoos, Daibhid C, David Gerard, Sadads, Serendipodous, TimNelson, Yar Kramer, 5 anonymous edits Pocket mutation chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443936557 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bporopat, Bubba73, Extremo88, Jeff G., Quale, ZeroOne, 2 anonymous edits Baroque chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=456086495 Contributors: Aceman2000, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Antaeus Feldspar, ArthurDenture, Arvindn, Betacommand, BrainMagMo, Bubba73, Djcmackay, DoctorW, Ellmist, Ericd, Fduniho, Fritzlein, Iridescent, Kicior99, MTC, Oli Filth, PierreAbbat, Quale, Shoesfullofdust, Sibahi, Smjg, Sobolewski, Stevebritgimp, Stratford15, SunCreator, SyG, Tassedethe, The Transhumanist, Tualha, Wtanaka, ZeroOne, 137 anonymous edits Chess with different armies Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=442784105 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, FormicaArchonis, Headbomb, Java7837, MrsHudson, Schachfee, Shadowjams, Shirt58, Sibahi, Stevebritgimp, SunCreator, 17 anonymous edits Duell Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=426107023 Contributors: Alex9788, Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Canley, Cryptic, Dmitry123456, G026r, Mattp, Percy Snoodle, Purplepat, Runewiki777, SunCreator, Voorlandt, WVhybrid, 8 anonymous edits Gess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=363607202 Contributors: Adam1729, Andreas Kaufmann, Bennetto, Bignose, Blotwell, Bluap, Charvest, Rosiestep, 4 anonymous edits Seirawan chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448204214 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Calibwam, ChessHistorian, DavidJHowe, Lightmouse, MrsHudson, Oli Filth, Quale, Sibahi, SunCreator, TJSwoboda, Zundark, 11 anonymous edits Janus chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443806900 Contributors: AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, Clemmy, Dmr2, Emurphy42, Jmartinezot, JudgeDredd, Nulli, Poccil, Popsofctown, Quale, Sibahi, Ysangkok, ZeroOne, 4 anonymous edits Capablanca chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=447138622 Contributors: AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, BadSanta, BenWillard, Beofluff, Brittle heaven, Bubba73, Camembert, Causa sui, Colonies Chris, Dacxjo, DanielCristofani, Dante Alighieri, DavidWatersHC, Dmr2, Emhoo, Emurphy42, Ericd, Golbez, GothicChessInventor, Guitarmankev1, Headbomb, Icairns, Ihardlythinkso, InfoCheck, Infrogmation, Ingolfson, J carrillo vii, JudgeDredd, Just to clarify, Kurando, Lab-oratory, MattHucke, Mike Rosoft, Mitrius, Nate1481, Neilc, Neoliminal, No Guru, OmegaMan, Philcha, PittBill, Pjahr, Purples, Reinoutr, Rich Farmbrough, Samboy, Scharnagl, Secretlondon, Sibahi, Stephensuleeman, SunCreator, Tarquin, Tassedethe, US Chess Federation, ZeroOne, Zundark, 46 anonymous edits Capablanca random chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443803403 Contributors: AceVentura, Alucard (Dr.), Anchoress, Andreas Kaufmann, BenWillard, Bubba73, DavidWatersHC, Durova, Icairns, InfoCheck, Krest91, Marcika, Mild Bill Hiccup, Neoliminal, Oli Filth, Rjwilmsi, Scharnagl, Sibahi, Smjg, SunCreator, ZeroOne, 12 anonymous edits Gothic Chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443806043 Contributors: 28bytes, AceVentura, Agüeybaná, Andreas Kaufmann, Anonymous Dissident, BadSanta, Bdijkstra, BenWillard, Bubba73, ChessHistorian, Clark Kent, Cobblet, Crystallina, DavidWatersHC, Dmr2, DreamGuy, GDallimore, Gaius Cornelius, Gallicrow, Gfis, GothicChessInventor, GothicEnthusiast, Gparker, Hut 8.5, InfoCheck, Isotope23, J Milburn, Java7837, Just to clarify, Kylu, Luqui, MZMcBride, MaxSem, Michael Hardy, Mike Rosoft, Mosquitopsu, Neoliminal, NetguruDD, Nikai, Oli Filth, PJFry, Peter Delmonte, Pigman, Purples, Quale, ReyBrujo, Samboy, Sentriclecub, Sibahi, Smokizzy, Somekindofusername, The Gnome, Tombarrister, Voorlandt, ZeroOne, 79 anonymous edits Embassy Chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443805563 Contributors: AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann, BenWillard, ChessHistorian, DavidWatersHC, GothicChessInventor, InfoCheck, Jodi.a.schneider, Just to clarify, Neoliminal, Oğuz Ergin, Quale, RookZERO, Samboy, Sibahi, SunCreator, 1 anonymous edits Modern chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443810552 Contributors: AmericaHistory, Andreas Kaufmann, Bubba73, Headbomb, J carrillo vii, Quale, Raymondwinn, 1 anonymous edits Grand chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459305695 Contributors: AbstractZeroSum, AceVentura, Alb luque, Andreas Kaufmann, Aranel, BlueNovember, Bubba73, ChessHistorian, Dmr2, DreamGuy, Gparker, Gzornenplatz, Ihardlythinkso, InfoCheck, Jfire, JoshuaZ, Just to clarify, Lubaf, MarkGyver, MrsHudson, Neoliminal, OmegaMan, OneWeirdDude, Oğuz Ergin, Quale, RandomPrecision, Samboy, Sehrgut, Sibahi, Smjg, SunCreator, SyG, Zundark, 58 anonymous edits Arimaa Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457236330 Contributors: 333ES, 99of9, AVRS, AceVentura, Aevea, Alexthurleyratcliff, AnonMoos, Aranherunar, Atomota, Bawolff, BlueNovember, Bubba73, CWenger, Christian List, DMG413, DariuszT, Ddyer, Dennis714, Dispenser, Dissident, Dmr2, Doopokko, DrJos, Dwheeler, Fritzlein, Ghaz, Giftlite, Graham87, Gzornenplatz, Iluvcapra, JakeVortex, Janzert, Java7837, Jergen, Jhartzell42, Jonathan Schäfer, KnightMove, Kreachure, Leif, Lektu, MarSch, Mehmet Karatay, Mschribr, Norvy, Ntsimp, Papa November, Pne, Professor Ninja, Prosfilaes, RJFJR, Rbarreira, Rbonvall, Reist, Sibahi, SimonP, SlowJog, Sn0wflake, Snoyes, Spinach Dip, Taugold, Tetron76, Thol, Trafford09, Val42, Vexorian, Voorlandt, WikiLeon, XJamRastafire, ZeroOne, Zoicon5, 103 anonymous edits Icehouse pieces Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=378369270 Contributors: Aldaron, Andycjp, Basilicofresco, Deeplogic, DenisMoskowitz, DreamGuy, Ed Cormany, Inspector Brown, Jwolfe, Lambda, Logotu, MOO, McGeddon, Morganfitzp, Ocicat, Paul A, Percy Snoodle, Quadell, Qwe, Raincomplex, Rdikeman, TUF-KAT, Timwi, TonyW, Tualha, Val42, Veled, Y2kBugxp90, Zendonut, 18 anonymous edits Martian chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=397509612 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Awfulcopter, Blotwell, Craw-daddy, Dandelo (renamed), Dmr2, Jeffrey Henning, JudgeDredd, Karl Naylor, KelvSYC, Percy Snoodle, Tualha, Val42, 4 anonymous edits History of chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459563439 Contributors: Alansohn, Andonic, Annielogue, Anthony Appleyard, Arthena, Asdmaster, Audaciter, Bearcat, Bento00, Brittle heaven, Bubba73, Carl.bunderson, Cazaux, Cdk2376, Chakrashok, Chovin, Devined17, Dudelike89, Eleassar, Elideb, Eloquence, Elroch, Eluchil404, Epbr123, Erintiransom, Exxoo, FadulJoseA, FadulJoseArabe, Faithlessthewonderboy, Funandtrvl, Gfoley4, Grmagne, Gun Powder Ma, HalfShadow, Ham5108, HermanHiddema, Herostratus, Hmains, IPCTabernacle, IRP, Ian Dalziel, Isidorus Hispalis, J S Ayer, Jagged 85, Jontonn, Jtgv123, Kazvorpal, Kcwolf1234567890, Knag, Krakatoa, Kwamikagami, Kww, Laurens-af, Limsont, MC10, Magnai2011,
642
Article Sources and Contributors Maproom, Mike Rosoft, Mild Bill Hiccup, Moomooagoo, Nagash X, Naraht, Nbarth, Nlu, Noisedo, Nordisk varg, OTAVIO1981, Onesius, Orphan Wiki, Orrelly Man, PeterBFZ, Quale, R'n'B, RandomCritic, Refinnejann, Reilinger, Rjwilmsi, SMC, Schmloof, Skizzik, Sophus Bie, Spinningspark, StAnselm, Steven J. Anderson, SunCreator, Sundaramanand, Superk1a, Tassedethe, Tetron76, The Transhumanist, Thisthat2011, Thymo, Trusilver, Twas Now, Ulric1313, Voorlandt, Wafry, Wiki-uk, Wikiklrsc, Woohookitty, YUL89YYZ, Zy26, 179 anonymous edits Cox-Forbes theory Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=345978562 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Annielogue, B'er Rabbit, David Gerard, Deeptrivia, Hephaestos, Imran, Jagged 85, Morwen, Quale, Sonjaaa, Tassedethe, 3 anonymous edits Liubo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=454352547 Contributors: Ahkond, Aldis90, Andreas Kaufmann, Andycjp, BabelStone, Black Knight takes White Queen, Blotwell, Dereckson, Efficiency576os, Ezhiki, Grantb, Gtrmp, Gwalla, Imran, Jguk 2, Joefromrandb, Joostik, Kerui, Krenakarore, Kwamikagami, LairepoNite, Llywrch, Lowellian, MrJones, Olivier, PericlesofAthens, Petri Krohn, Roylee, RyanGerbil10, Sailko, Sevilledade, Shanghainese.ua, Xezbeth, Zeimusu, Zeus1234, 16 anonymous edits Chaturanga Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=450441545 Contributors: 100110100, Adamhauner, Ahangama, Alcazar84, Alexius08, Alfanje, Amcl, Andre Engels, Andreas Kaufmann, Andres, Animalia555, Ant, Anthony Appleyard, Arslan ibn Da'ud, Bharat.jat1, Blotwell, Bounce1337, Briséis, Bsskchaitanya, Bubba73, Camembert, Cazaux, Chakrashok, Charles Matthews, Commander Keane, Coolian, DataWraith, Dbachmann, Dmr2, DolphinL, Foreverknowledge, Frecklefoot, Furrykef, Gaius Cornelius, Ganesha1, Gwalla, Hadal, Imran, Inteligencer111, Jagged 85, JakeVortex, Jayantanth, Jeepday, Jesdisciple, JudgeDredd, Karl-Henner, KnowledgeHegemony, Koavf, Krishnamurthi, Laurens-af, Leeyc0, Lexw, LittleTinkerbell, Mark Dingemanse, Matthew Yeager, Meldor, Michael Devore, MrsHudson, Multisell, Munci, Mxn, Natkeeran, Nguyễn Thanh Quang, Nijgoykar, Nirax, Nogggs, OTAVIO1981, Olexa Yur, Oli Filth, OneWeirdDude, Peko, Peter Horn, Physicistjedi, Pranabnaik, Quale, Ranveig, Rashad Ullah, Redtigerxyz, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), SMcCandlish, Shoka, Shyamsunder, Slavzest, Sonjaaa, Spinningspark, Srini81, SunCreator, Tetron76, Thestevenichols, TravelingCat, Updatehelper, Vina, Voorlandt, Vssun, Wik, Wiki-uk, Woohookitty, Yas, Yekrats, YoavD, Yossarian, Ziggurat, Zoicon5, Zundark, Zzyzx11, 虞海, 114 anonymous edits Sessa Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=442502302 Contributors: Bubba73, Caiaffa, Dawynn, Docu, Ember of Light, Intwizs, Maksa, MrsHudson, PamD, Roberto Cruz, Someone the Person, SunCreator, Thepuppetmaster97, Tobias1983, Voorlandt, 1 anonymous edits Chaturaji Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=449122648 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, Anna Frodesiak, Bb222, Deeptrivia, Dmmaus, Eitch, IanOsgood, Inteligencer111, Iridescent, Jagged 85, Jashack, Java7837, Kwamikagami, Miljoshi, PerlKnitter, Playshogi, Quale, Robrecht, Sibahi, Spinningspark, Tassedethe, Voorlandt, Zy26, Zzyzx11, 6 anonymous edits Shatranj Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=453664706 Contributors: -Barry-, Abb615, AceVentura, Aciampolini, Alarob, Alfanje, Amcl, Andreas Kaufmann, Andy Dingley, Ant, Anthony Appleyard, Boing! said Zebedee, Bubba73, Camembert, Cazaux, Chakrashok, Cheerfully, DNewhall, DYShock, DavidJHowe, Demetriusss, Diannaa, DreamGuy, Eitch, Flipping Mackerel, Fratrep, Giftlite, Gsp, Gwalla, H falcon, Heavenlyblue, Humayunlalzad, IanOsgood, J S Ayer, J04n, JLaTondre, Jafargholi, Jagged 85, JakeVortex, Java7837, JudgeDredd, Klin, Koavf, Leftwing Pinko, Lorenzarius, Lowellian, Manimalfully, Manitoban204, MarkC77, MaxSem, Mekkk, Miss Madeline, MisterSheik, Mmehdi.g, Mr Adequate, MrsHudson, Mukerjee, Nocat50, Nourani, OTAVIO1981, Olivier, Oloumi, Peter Horn, PhDP, PierreAbbat, Pjahr, Purplefeltangel, Q Valda, Quale, Radak, Rich Farmbrough, Rogerb67, Sabbut, Sampi, Scythian77, Shoka, Sibahi, Sindbad behzad, Sivak, Sonjaaa, The Man in Question, Timberframe, Trekphiler, Vicki Rosenzweig, Voorlandt, Woohookitty, Yom, Zereshk, Zundark, ZxxZxxZ, 91 anonymous edits Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=436871206 Contributors: Agh.niyya, Alensha, Andreas Kaufmann, Andris, Anthony Appleyard, Arab Hafez, Avicennasis, Avraham, BhaiSaab, BillHeinemann, Bookandcoffee, Camembert, CatherineMunro, D6, DanKeshet, Derek Ross, FeanorStar7, GCarty, Imran, Ioannes Pragensis, Jontonn, Mattg82, OTAVIO1981, Q Valda, Quale, Sebleouf, Shreevatsa, Striver, TRBP, Voorlandt, WhisperToMe, XJamRastafire, 47 anonymous edits Tamerlane chess Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443809574 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, Cazaux, Drdr1989, El C, Franzose, Headbomb, Justin Bacon, Kelly Martin, Matthew Kornya, Michael Devore, Oli Filth, Quale, SWAdair, Saeed.Veradi, SunCreator, Voorlandt, 8 anonymous edits Hiashatar Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=429885038 Contributors: Loosmark, Samboy, 1 anonymous edits Senterej Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443809097 Contributors: Alexius08, Andreas Kaufmann, Anshuk, Bubba73, GregorB, Gyrofrog, J S Ayer, Kashagama, Komitsuki, Od Mishehu, Quale, Rwxrwxrwx, SunCreator, Tameamseo, Voorlandt, 6 anonymous edits Lewis chessmen Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458738653 Contributors: Adamsan, Alexius08, Andreas Kaufmann, Arthur Holland, Arwel Parry, Astor14, Audaciter, Baron Olivers, Ben MacDui, [email protected], Brianann MacAmhlaidh, Bubba73, Claritas, Cpceltic, DT29, DaQuirin, Daibhid C, Deor, Deror avi, Dylanstephens, Ecphora, Eilthireach, Epeefleche, Epierre, Ettrig, Finlay McWalter, Fæ, Ghirlandajo, Giftlite, Green Squares, Hairchrm, Hajor, Handcrafter, Hastein, Hephaestos, Ihardlythinkso, Imran, JBellis, Jack1956, Jimfbleak, John, JohnWBarber, Johnbod, Johnny-on-the-go, Jorunn, Kaare, Kakofonous, Keith-264, Lurker, MacRusgail, Mais oui!, Marnanel, Maxbeer, MrsHudson, Mutt, Neddyseagoon, Neilc, Nev1, Penfold, Pepo13, Prosweda, Pschemp, Quale, Raptornet, Renata, ShelfSkewed, Simoncursitor, Sixtytwohundred, Sjoerd visscher, Sky4t0k, Sluzzelin, Solipsist, Sonjaaa, Spanglej, Special-T, SunCreator, T34, Tarmachan, Tarquin Binary, Twas Now, Ukexpat, Voorlandt, Warofdreams, Webbma, Writtenright, 57 anonymous edits Xiangqi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458904500 Contributors: *drew, 100110100, 165.123.179.xxx, 192.146.101.xxx, 47.83.107.xxx, Aacceeggii, AaronY, Admiralaldrich, Adrian232, Aidan Elliott-McCrea, Alai, Aldis90, Alex Shih, Alfanje, Alton, Amcl, Andre Engels, Andreas Kaufmann, Andres, AnonMoos, Ansh666, Anthony Appleyard, Apesteilen, Arabani, Arne Brasseur, Asbestos, AscendantEvincar, AxelBoldt, Ayl28, BabelStone, Bcrowell, Ben Standeven, Bgpaulus, Bijee, Binadot, Black Knight takes White Queen, Blodance, Blotwell, Bobblewik, Bongwarrior, Bryan Derksen, Bubba73, Bubbleboys, Bwithh, CCHIPSS, CalamusFortis, Calv852, Camembert, Canis Lupus, Catgut, Cazaux, Chameleon, Chesscape, Chyll, Conversion script, Courcelles, Crossmr, Cynicaloptimist, DHN, Dave.Dunford, DavidJHowe, Davidmaxwaterman, Davilla, Ddyer, DeAceShooter, DeltaSalamence, Diegoami, Dizanl, Dmjones, Draco, DudleyBrown, Dudy001, Dusen189, Ebricca, Ed Poor, Eeekster, Efficiency576os, Eitch, Eleland, ElephantChess, Enochlau, Epbr123, Evil Monkey, Excirial, Extremo88, Facial, Faradayplank, Fazdeconta, Fduniho, Firsfron, Flcelloguy, Foripepe, Fritzlein, FrozenPurpleCube, Furrykef, Gaius Cornelius, Gakmo, Ghost.scream, Giftlite, Gilliam, Glenn, GoingBatty, Gordominus, GraemeL, Graham87, Grantb, GravityFong, Gus Polly, GustaveXIII, Gwalla, H.G.Muller, Hahaeater, Hahnchen, Hakanai, Happy-melon, Harryboyles, Harrygao, Heather, HexaChord, Highconclave, Hintha, HongQiGong, Hoverdrive, Howcheng, Hoxchess, Huaiwei, IanOsgood, Iceager, Ideogram, Immanuel Giel, Imran, Inductiveload, Insanephantom, Iridescent, Isaacmulhall, Ish ishwar, Ixfd64, JHunterJ, Jaardon, Jabernal, Jagged 85, JamesH, Jasper Deng, Jeltz, JohnBlackburne, JohnSeo123, Jon Harald Søby, Jonasaurus, Joseph Solis in Australia, JudgeDredd, JustAGal, KTo288, KalZion, Karatorian, KarolS, Kejinghe, KelvSYC, Kelvinc, Kennethtennyson, Kirpi, Kiwi8, Kjoonlee, Kokiri, Ksyrie, Kucing, Kwamikagami, LegolasGreenleaf, Lemuel Gulliver, Lesnail, Lessthanideal, Lexw, LilHelpa, Longngo78, Lowellian, Lundka1, Lupin, Mallocks, Mandel, MarSch, Marknau, Martin451, Master of the Oríchalcos, Materialscientist, Mcy jerry, Menchi, Mercsoft, Miborovsky, MisterSheik, Mjb1981, Mm40, Momirt, Morganfitzp, Mouselmm, MrVibrating, Mschribr, NYCDA, Nakon, Neo-Jay, Newfraferz87, Nichalp, Nikai, Nlu, Nobuts, Nuclearwinter, Officer781, Oghmoir, OhanaUnited, Oknazevad, Olivier, OmegaMan, Omegatron, OneWeirdDude, Onigame, Ottmair, Pandion auk, Paul Gard, Pentasyllabic, Percy Snoodle, PericlesofAthens, Peter Easton, Peter Horn, Ph0kin, PhysicsPat, Pomte, Portalian, Poslfit, Quadell, Quale, Raijinili, Readin, RevolverOcelotX, Rizzardi, Rjanag, Rmgustaf, Robth, Rocksandfossils, Rockvee, Romanm, Roylee, Runner5k, RyanGerbil10, Sacrifice IT, Saito Hajime, Sam Sloan, Samuelsen, Scientizzle, Sesesq, Sevilledade, Shadowjams, Shii, SidP, Sietse Snel, Sivak, Siúnrá, Sj, Skookumpete, Skoosh, SlamDiego, SlowJog, So9q, Solace098, Sonjaaa, Spencer195, Static Universe, Steelhead, Steven J. Anderson, Stratford15, Suffusion of Yellow, SunCreator, Tac ke, Tariqabjotu, Taxman, Temporaluser, TenPoundHammer, Tesseran, Tetron76, The dog2, TheObsidianFriar, Thedreamdied, Themfromspace, Thorncrag, Thumperward, Thursiya, Tkgd2007, Tomchen1989, Tonytypoon, Trongphu, Userpm, Val42, Viwawanomics, Voorlandt, Walrii, Wareware, Wclib, Wesley, WhisperToMe, Willie Chen, WorldPeace25, Wragge, Wudicgi, XJamRastafire, Xman4it, Y0u, Yas, Ydd, Yekrats, Yoshionfire123, Youngtwig, Z3ugmatic, Zhengman777, Zhudyzhu, Zhuoliang2, Zickzack, Zoz, Ztobor, Zundark, Zzyzx11, ㍐, 566 anonymous edits Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=393898398 Contributors: Call me Bubba, Peng Peng, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Shii Banqi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457628796 Contributors: Alton, Andreas Kaufmann, Aranherunar, Bibliomaniac15, Black Knight takes White Queen, Furrykef, Guinsoo, Ideogram, J.Steinbock, Joealarson, Kiwi8, Kwamikagami, Lanthanum-138, Mboverload, Perlmonger42, Playshogi, Rjwilmsi, RyanGerbil10, Salt Yeung, Suffusion of Yellow, User009, Walrii, Wjaqua, Wthrower, Xiaodai, 44 anonymous edits Giog Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=242610686 Contributors: Alton, Andreas Kaufmann, ChrisCork, Kakarukeys, TheParanoidOne, 1 anonymous edits Shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459009078 Contributors: -js-, 01011000, 207.172.11.xxx, AWWWalker, AbcXyz, Adam1729, Againme, Aidan Elliott-McCrea, Aiwendil42, Akanemoto, Alex kraemer, Andre Engels, Andreas Kaufmann, Andycjp, AnonMoos, Anss123, Anthony Appleyard, Argip, Atsutagu, AutumnSnow, AxelBoldt, BeastlyCMAN55, Benabik, Benjamin Mako Hill, Bignose, Bjarki S, BlargDragon, Blotwell, BlueNovember, Bluefoxicy, Bobo192, BrianAdler, Bryan Derksen, CJMiller, Camembert, CanbekEsen, Carlossuarez46, Charles Matthews, Chowbok, Chuck SMITH, Chuck Smith, Chunky Rice, Ciphers, Circeus, Cmdrjameson, Cogitans, Conversion script, Correnos, Da Vynci, Danaman5, Dancter, Deepviolet, Deflective, Dforest, Dposse, DrRevXyzzy, Dratman, Ds13, Dumiac, Dvorsak, Eequor, Eitch, ElephantChess, Endroit, Escape Orbit, Eveningmist, Fduniho, Fibonacci, Figure, Foosh, Frank Sölter, Furrykef, Galaxiaad, Gdr, Giftlite, Goblin princess, GregorB, Grgcox, Gw2005, Gwalla, Hadal, Happy Mask Man, Headbomb, Hede2000, Hegh, Hinohino2, Hirohiigo, Hmains, Hydao, Icetigaurus, InShaneee, Intellect Ninja, IvanLanin, J S Ayer, J04n, JHunterJ, JNW, Java7837, Jbgjbg, Jeffrollason, JiVE, Jon Harald Søby, Jonathan Hall, JudgeDredd, KTo288, Kayokimura, KelvSYC, Kelvinc, Kintetsubuffalo, Krun, Kwamikagami, Ledpup, Leucius, LokiClock, LonerXL, Lowellian, LuoShengli, MER-C, Mackeriv, Mathaytace, Maximus Rex, Meisam, Meldor, Mellonbank, Menchi, Meno25, Metricopolus, Michael Devore, Mizutofu, Mlk, Moocowsrule, Mortusar, Mschribr, Mxn, Nakon, Nanami Kamimura, Nanshu, Navarr, NickelKnowledge, Nik42, Norpan, Octahedron80, Officer781, OmegaMan, OneWeirdDude, Orange Suede Sofa, Pdfpdf, Pegua, Peter Horn, Ph0kin, Physicistjedi, Piano non troppo, Pne, Pppc88, Proud Ho, Rickknowlton,
643
Article Sources and Contributors RossF18, Roux, RoyTZ, Samboy, Scepia, Selket, Shizhao, Shogier2, Shomaekawa5116, Signalhead, Sivak, Skizzik, Snowmanradio, Sonjaaa, SunCreator, TKR101010, Tac ke, Taw, Tetron76, Thatguyflint, The Rogue Penguin, The dog2, Thesilverbail, Tobias Bergemann, Tobikko, Tomchen1989, Val42, Voorlandt, W1allen, WhisperToMe, Wstoppks, XRDoDRX, Xf95, Yoshihisa Yamada, Zundark, Zvar, Zzyzx11, 286 anonymous edits Shogi strategy and tactics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=452581243 Contributors: Kayokimura, Kwamikagami, Mild Bill Hiccup, OneWeirdDude, Sinisterczar, Versus22, かぼ, 21 anonymous edits History of shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=421074018 Contributors: B00P, Benlisquare, Cherry Blossom OK, J S Ayer, Kusunose, Kwamikagami, La Pianista, Loosmark, Mschribr, PigFlu Oink, Welsh, Xezbeth, 青鬼よし, 7 anonymous edits Meijin Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=459575393 Contributors: Calor, DAJF, Giraffedata, Hecko X, Jbgjbg, Kanabekobaton, Loosmark, Voorlandt, 7 anonymous edits Ryu-oh Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=351146741 Contributors: DAJF, Hecko X, Jbgjbg, Keahapana, Loosmark, Tac ke, Wellparp, 3 anonymous edits Computer shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458636948 Contributors: Aiken drum, Anatolnsk, BlueNovember, H.G.Muller, Hydao, Kwamikagami, Mschribr, Munci, OneWeirdDude, Rjwilmsi, Twipie, Voorlandt, Zzyzx11, 12 anonymous edits Shogi variant Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=452628752 Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, AnonMoos, Anthony Appleyard, Blotwell, Bubba73, EddEdmondson, Furrykef, Gwalla, JTTyler, Java7837, Jonpro, JudgeDredd, Krun, Kwamikagami, LeoNomis, OneWeirdDude, Samboy, Sivak, TheIncredibleEdibleOompaLoompa, Voorlandt, Yworo, Zundark, 16 anonymous edits Micro shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=434741756 Contributors: Anthony Appleyard, Blotwell, Charles Matthews, DabMachine, Headbomb, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, Rokaszil, Yann Dirson, 9 anonymous edits Minishogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=434942291 Contributors: Anthony Appleyard, Blotwell, EoGuy, Gwalla, HiDrNick, JTTyler, Java7837, Joshtythoon, Krun, Kwamikagami, Nyarpy, OneWeirdDude, Zundark, 12 anonymous edits Kyoto shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=344175216 Contributors: Akanemoto, Blotwell, EoGuy, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, Nautilator, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, Sivak, 2 anonymous edits Judkins shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=420931476 Contributors: Blotwell, DabMachine, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, Nautilator, OneWeirdDude, YUL89YYZ, 4 anonymous edits Whale shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=421376157 Contributors: Akanemoto, Blotwell, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, Mko1okm, OneWeirdDude, Sibahi, Trmx29, 18 anonymous edits Tori shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=427336681 Contributors: Blotwell, CLW, Eequor, Gwalla, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Rjwilmsi, Samboy, YUL89YYZ, Zundark, 7 anonymous edits Yari shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=421406906 Contributors: AbstractZeroSum, Blotwell, CJMiller, DreamGuy, EoGuy, Hanzimaster, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, Samboy, YUL89YYZ, 3 anonymous edits Heian shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=412062673 Contributors: Akanemoto, Blotwell, DabMachine, Eitch, EoGuy, Hooperbloob, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Zzyzx11, 3 anonymous edits Sho shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=372066857 Contributors: Blotwell, DabMachine, EoGuy, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, Razorflame, 5 anonymous edits Cannon shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=440141461 Contributors: Blotwell, EoGuy, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, PuzzleBachelorJA, YUL89YYZ, Ybosde, 3 anonymous edits Hasami shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=415322216 Contributors: 100110100, Blotwell, Bounce1337, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, Llort, Michelet, 11 anonymous edits Hand shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=446787160 Contributors: Blotwell, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, SyG, Voorlandt, WereSpielChequers, 3 anonymous edits Annan shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448884732 Contributors: Blotwell, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, Light current, OneWeirdDude, PuzzleBachelorJA, Rjwilmsi, 8 anonymous edits Unashogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=434752618 Contributors: Anthony Appleyard, Blotwell, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, 6 anonymous edits Wa shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=350291937 Contributors: Blotwell, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Pdboddy, Playshogi, WereSpielChequers, 11 anonymous edits Chu shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=421927864 Contributors: Akanemoto, Andreas Kaufmann, Ardonik, Blotwell, CommonsDelinker, Deranged bulbasaur, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Pdboddy, Playshogi, Sivak, SpaceFlight89, Stephan Leeds, TKR101010, Tobikko, 35 anonymous edits Heian dai shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=424310335 Contributors: Blotwell, Eaefremov, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Wetman, 6 anonymous edits Akuro Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=458065517 Contributors: Akata, Guocuozuoduo, Mlewan, 8 anonymous edits Dai shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=423938055 Contributors: Akanemoto, Blotwell, Cazaux, Furrykef, HexaChord, JTTyler, Java7837, Krun, Kwamikagami, Maddie!, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, YUL89YYZ, 9 anonymous edits Tenjiku shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=435425341 Contributors: Arkanemancer, Blotwell, Cazaux, Gaius Cornelius, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, RandomCritic, Rich Farmbrough, 6 anonymous edits Dai dai shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=455345113 Contributors: Blotwell, BoundaryRider, CatherineMunro, Hanzimaster, Indon, JTTyler, Java7837, Karatorian, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Samboy, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, St475353825, Tabletop, Urashimataro, 12 anonymous edits Maka dai dai shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=420211071 Contributors: Blotwell, Cazaux, Colonies Chris, Gaius Cornelius, HexaChord, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, OneWeirdDude, Onthemoon, Persian Poet Gal, Playshogi, 11 anonymous edits Ko shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=435425252 Contributors: Bendono, Blotwell, ChrisU, DuncanHill, Edward Knave, Eitch, Fg2, Furrykef, Gaius Cornelius, JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, Neelix, Nobunaga24, OneWeirdDude, Rich Farmbrough, TKR101010, YUL89YYZ, Zaph34r, 15 anonymous edits Tai shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=420846669 Contributors: Alai, Alynna Kasmira, Animum, Blotwell, CatherineMunro, Darnedfrenchman, EoGuy, Instinct, JTTyler, Java7837, Joyous!, Kwamikagami, MikeDockery, Mkeroppi, OneWeirdDude, Percy Snoodle, Playshogi, Pxma, RandomCritic, Tabletop, YUL89YYZ, 13 anonymous edits Taikyoku shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=448100182 Contributors: -Ril-, Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The, Blotwell, CatherineMunro, Cazaux, Chrismear, Covalent, Eveningmist, Gaius Cornelius, Guocuozuoduo, JTTyler, Java7837, Jonathan Drain, Keahapana, Kwamikagami, MikeDockery, OneWeirdDude, Playshogi, RandomCritic, Rich Farmbrough, Samboy, Shii, Smiles Aloud, TKR101010, TheLateDentarthurdent, Urashimataro, WereSpielChequers, YUL89YYZ, 13 anonymous edits Sannin shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=439618462 Contributors: Ambuj.Saxena, Andreas Kaufmann, Java7837, John of Reading, Kwamikagami, Mathx2, OneWeirdDude, Rjwilmsi, 3 anonymous edits
644
Article Sources and Contributors Yonin shogi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=450768829 Contributors: JTTyler, Java7837, Kwamikagami, LeoNomis, Odie5533, OneWeirdDude, Perey, Playshogi, 4 anonymous edits Edo-era shogi sources Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=349191438 Contributors: Kwamikagami Janggi Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=453317802 Contributors: 100110100, 777sms, Alfanje, Alton, Amcl, Andreas Kaufmann, Appleby, Bcrowell, Ben Ben, Benrm99, BlargDragon, Borgx, CJMiller, Calcwatch, Cazaux, Charles Matthews, ChongDae, Cipher 101, Crossmr, Davidcannon, Davilla, Eastlaw, Eitch, Elwikipedista, Firsfron, Fratrep, Giftlite, Gwalla, Iceager, Ihardlythinkso, Ihavnoid, Immanuel Giel, Isnow, Jagged 85, JeLuF, JudgeDredd, KelvSYC, Kelvinc, Kokiri, Leonard G., Mandel, Mr. Monk man, Odaesu, OmegaMan, OneWeirdDude, PC78, Peter Horn, Quantumelfmage, RekishiEJ, Sam Hocevar, Shadowjams, Sivak, SlamDiego, Some jerk on the Internet, Sonjaaa, Steamclock, SunCreator, The Vegetarian Tiger, Thelb4, Tsuchiya Hikaru, Tuiqiao, Txopi, Val42, Violetriga, Visviva, Wavelength, Wellparp, Wikimachine, Yeo123, Zundark, Zzyzx11, 110 anonymous edits Makruk Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=442861647 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, AnonMoos, Anotherkaz, Anthony Appleyard, Asoulwhoseintentionsaregood, Aydin1884, BlargDragon, Bubba73, CalamusFortis, Corriel, Cuaxdon, CzarB, DimaDorfman, Eastlaw, Eitch, Evercat, FetteK, Furrykef, Gwalla, Hiphop rap yoyo, Ifire, Isnow, J S Ayer, JeremiahClayton, Jjt71, JudgeDredd, Kelvinc, Kwamikagami, Lowellian, Manop, Mild Bill Hiccup, Nautilator, Officer781, OmegaMan, OneWeirdDude, Ottmair, Paul 012, Peter Horn, Proud Ho, Rich Farmbrough, Rjwilmsi, Tropylium, Val42, Wikibina, Wlly n Whlls, 38 anonymous edits Sittuyin Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=443809388 Contributors: Alfanje, Andreas Kaufmann, Anthony Appleyard, BlargDragon, Boedawgyi, Bonás, CalamusFortis, DimaDorfman, DolphinL, Eitch, Gwalla, Hintha, IanOsgood, J S Ayer, KelvSYC, KnightRider, MartinDK, Percy Snoodle, Peter Horn, Quale, Zoggie50, Zzyzx11, 9 anonymous edits ChessV Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457079047 Contributors: AceVentura, Alex Ruddick, Andreas Kaufmann, BadSanta, BenWillard, Bubba73, Calaschysm, Chemicalrubber, Cirt, Deeahbz, Den fjättrade ankan, Free Software Knight, GreatWhiteNortherner, GregorB, Gzornenplatz, InfoCheck, Jodi.a.schneider, Just to clarify, Kbdank71, Mage of Maple, Marasmusine, Martarius, Mild Bill Hiccup, NetguruDD, Quale, Robofish, Samboy, SkpVwls, Who, 27 anonymous edits SMIRF Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=388482625 Contributors: AceVentura, Alansohn, DavidWatersHC, GothicChessInventor, InfoCheck, Mosquitopsu, Oli Filth, Robofish, SunCreator, XXprojectXX, 9 anonymous edits
645
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Glinski Chess Setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_Chess_Setup.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Wikiborg4711, 1 anonymous edits Image:Solid white.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Solid_white.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Fibonacci Image:chess bdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess ndt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ndt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess rdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess kdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess qdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess pdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_t45.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: NikNaks93 Image:chess plt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_plt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess blt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_blt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess nlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess rlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess klt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_klt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess qlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_t45.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: NikNaks93 Image:chess_rdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_ndt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ndt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_kdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_pdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_ t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_t45.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: NikNaks93 Image:chess_sdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sdt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_ndt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: (talk) Image:chess_bdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_qdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qdt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_plt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_plt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_blt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_blt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_slt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_slt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess_qlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_rlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_nlt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nlt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:chess_klt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_klt45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett Image:Bughouse game.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bughouse_game.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Daniel Shantsev Image:Shatranj.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shatranj.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Zereshk File:Schmitt,Hans-Walter 2011 Frankfurt.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Schmitt,Hans-Walter_2011_Frankfurt.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: GFHund Image:Magnus kø.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Magnus_kø.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: Wernerkling Image:Grid chess sample position.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Grid_chess_sample_position.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Camembert, User:ZeroOne Image:Ternblad grid chess problem.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ternblad_grid_chess_problem.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Camembert, User:ZeroOne Image:Cylindrical chessboard 2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cylindrical_chessboard_2.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Photo taken by Funes; chessboard made by Emanuela Ughi. Image:chess xxt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xxt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_xxl45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess xot45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xot45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_xol45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:Toroidal chessboard.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Toroidal_chessboard.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Photo taken by Funes; chessboard made by Emanuela Ughi. Image:Rundskak foto.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rundskak_foto.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Cbigorgne, Haabet Image:Al-Muddawara board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Al-Muddawara_board.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Dogface Image:Al-Husun board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Al-Husun_board.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Dogface Image:circular board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Circular_board.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Dogface File:Aliceroom3.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Aliceroom3.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Albert kok, EurekaLott, Man vyi, Marku1988, Shakko Image:chess_ t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_t45.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: NikNaks93 Image:Glinski chess king.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_king.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Glinski chess knight.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_knight.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Glinski chess bishop.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_bishop.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Glinski chess rook.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_rook.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann, Nolanus Image:Glinski chess queen.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_queen.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Glinski chess pawn.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Glinski_chess_pawn.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:McCooey Chess Setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:McCooey_Chess_Setup.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Multichill, UW Image:McCooey Chess Pawn.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:McCooey_Chess_Pawn.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Multichill, UW Image:Shafran Chess Setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shafran_Chess_Setup.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Multichill, UW
646
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Shafran Chess Castling.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shafran_Chess_Castling.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Multichill, UW Image:chess_xxt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xxt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_xxl45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess_xot45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xot45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_xol45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) File:My Raumschach graphic.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Raumschach_graphic.PNG License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: Ihardlythinkso File:StarTrekChess.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:StarTrekChess.jpg License: Fair Use Contributors: Bubba73, Mechamind90 Image:Star trek chessboard.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Star_trek_chessboard.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: OTAVIO1981 Image:Parmen_graphic.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Parmen_graphic.jpg License: GNU General Public License Contributors: Ihardlythinkso File:V. R. Parton.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:V._R._Parton.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Ihardlythinkso File:my Cubic Chess graphic.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Cubic_Chess_graphic.png License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: Ihardlythinkso File:Alice par John Tenniel 25.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Alice_par_John_Tenniel_25.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Chti, EurekaLott, Infrogmation, JasonAQuest, Man vyi, Themightyquill, 1 anonymous edits File:Gary Gygax Gen Con 2007.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gary_Gygax_Gen_Con_2007.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Alan De Smet File:My Dragonchess graphic.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Dragonchess_graphic.png License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: Ihardlythinkso File:My Dragon init config graphic, upper board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Dragon_init_config_graphic,_upper_board.png License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Ihardlythinkso File:My Dragon init config graphic, middle board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Dragon_init_config_graphic,_middle_board.png License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Ihardlythinkso File:My Dragon init config graphic, lower board.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:My_Dragon_init_config_graphic,_lower_board.png License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Ihardlythinkso Image:Crazyhouse-chess01.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Crazyhouse-chess01.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: MathKnight Image:chess xwt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xwt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_xot45.svg: *Chess_xol45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess __t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_t45.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: NikNaks93 Image:Knightmare Chess 2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Knightmare_Chess_2.jpg License: unknown Contributors: CBM, ZeroOne Image:Knightmare Chess Demotion.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Knightmare_Chess_Demotion.jpg License: unknown Contributors: CBM, JHunterJ, ZeroOne, 1 anonymous edits Image:Bughouse game animation.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bughouse_game_animation.gif License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Voorlandt Image:3 players chessboard.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:3_players_chessboard.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Slip Image:Chess_4.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_4.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Tavix Image:Djambi 01.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Djambi_01.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User François Haffner on fr.wikipedia Image:Bosworth Battlefield Chess.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bosworth_Battlefield_Chess.gif License: Fair use Contributors: Kyle112, Rossrs, Staecker file:Chess all44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_all44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin file:Chess adl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_adl44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin file:Chess cll45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cll45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Zundark, NikNaks93, Cburnett, OmegaChessFan file:Chess cdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cdl44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin file:Chess gll45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_gll45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Ysangkok file:Chess gdl45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_gdl45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett, Ysangkok file:Chess sll45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sll45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett and User:Ysangkok file:Chess sdl45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sdl45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett, Ysangkok Image:chess slt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_slt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess x4t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x4t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x4l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x3t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x3t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x3l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x5t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x5t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x5l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x2t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x2t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x2l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x6t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x6t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x6l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x1t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x1t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x1l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:chess x7t45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_x7t45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Chess_x7l45.svg: en:User:Cburnett derivative work: NikNaks talk - gallery - w:User:NikNaks93wikipedia Image:Chess zld44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_zld44.png License: unknown Contributors: OmegaChessFan Image:Chess zdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_zdl44.png License: unknown Contributors: OmegaChessFan Image:Chess wld44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_wld44.png License: unknown Contributors: OmegaChessFan Image:Chess wdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_wdl44.png License: unknown Contributors: OmegaChessFan Image:Chess tld44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_tld44.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Mykola Dolgalov Image:Chess tdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_tdl44.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Mykol Dolgalov Image:Stealth chess.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stealth_chess.PNG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Daibhid C, Doczilla, 1 anonymous edits Image:Thud 1 cropped.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thud_1_cropped.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Matěj Baťha Image:Thud 1.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thud_1.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Matěj Baťha Image:Thud board.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thud_board.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Alan De Smet
647
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Thud koom.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Thud_koom.png License: Public Domain Contributors: MichałRadecki Image:Chess_pll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess_bll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Platonides Image:Chess_nll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Gengiskanhg, J.delanoy, Klin, Thire, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess_rll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess_sll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Sibahi, Ysangkok Image:Chess_all44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_all44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin Image:Chess_qll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess_cll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cll44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin Image:chess alt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_alt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess clt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_clt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cld44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:Gess Board.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gess_Board.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Bennetto Image:Chess cll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cll44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin Image:Chess all44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_all44.png License: unknown Contributors: Klin Image:chess_adt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_adt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_adl44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess_alt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_alt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess_cdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cdt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_clt45.svg: *Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cld44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cdd44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess_clt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_clt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cld44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess cdt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_cdt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_clt45.svg: *Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cld44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_cdd44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:chess adt45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_adt45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Chess_alt45.svg: *Chess_blt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_nlt45.svg: en:User:Cburnett Chess_all44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Chess_adl44.png: OmegaChessFan derivative work: NikNaks93 (talk) Image:Arimaa egb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_egb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa mgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_mgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa hgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_hgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa dgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_dgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa cgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_cgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa rgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_rgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:37px-Arimaa_board.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:37px-Arimaa_board.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Janzert Image:Arimaa-border.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa-border.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Janzert, Rocket000 Image:Arimaa_rsb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_rsb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_hsb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_hsb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_dsb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_dsb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_csb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_csb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_esb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_esb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_msb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_msb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_ b74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_b74.gif License: Public Domain Contributors: Bayo, Janzert, Rocket000 Image:Arimaa_hgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_hgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_dgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_dgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_cgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_cgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_mgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_mgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_egb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_egb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Arimaa_rgb74.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Arimaa_rgb74.gif License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Bayo, Janzert Image:Icehouse_pieces.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Icehouse_pieces.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Raincomplex at en.wikipedia File:Icehouse pieces paper and plastic.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Icehouse_pieces_paper_and_plastic.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Original uploader was Inky at en.wikipedia Image:Martian chess startpos.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Martian_chess_startpos.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Tualha at en.wikipedia File:Lewis Chessmen Overview.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lewis_Chessmen_Overview.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Wfm_lewis_chessmen.jpg: Finlay McWalter derivative work: HermanHiddema at en.wikipedia Image:chess_rdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Lokal Profil Image:chess_ndl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ndl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: ArséniureDeGallium, Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_bdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Lokal Profil, Nyrk Image:chess_kdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_qdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_pdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Klin, Trockennasenaffe
648
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:chess_ l44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_l44.png License: unknown Contributors: Falcorian, François Haffner, Gengiskanhg, It Is Me Here, Klin, Luinfana, Paradoctor Image:chess_pll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_rll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_nll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Gengiskanhg, J.delanoy, Klin, Thire, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_bll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Platonides Image:chess_qll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_kll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe File:Radha-Krishna chess.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Radha-Krishna_chess.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Darkness1089 at en.wikipedia Image:Persianmss14thCambassadorfromIndiabroughtchesstoPersianCourt.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Persianmss14thCambassadorfromIndiabroughtchesstoPersianCourt.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was FadulJoseA at en.wikipedia Image:Shams ud-Din Tabriz 1502-1504 BNF Paris.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shams_ud-Din_Tabriz_1502-1504_BNF_Paris.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Abhishekjoshi, Fabienkhan, Johnbod, Mattes, Popalzai, Roberto Cruz, 1 anonymous edits File:KnightsTemplarPlayingChess1283.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:KnightsTemplarPlayingChess1283.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Alphonse le Sage (Alfonso X) Image:EnxadrismoGravuras.003.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:EnxadrismoGravuras.003.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Caxton Image:Lucena1497.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lucena1497.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bubba73, Cbigorgne, Elcobbola, Kilom691, VincentPalmieri, 1 anonymous edits Image:Marguerite de Navarre.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Marguerite_de_Navarre.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Mattes, Mutter Erde, Phrood, Sir Gawain, Vassil, Wst, XIII Image:André Philidor.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:André_Philidor.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Conscious, Elcobbola, Fred J, Materialscientist, Oos, SunCreator, Väsk Image:JaquesCookStaunton.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:JaquesCookStaunton.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Photo used by permission of Frank A. Camaratta, Jr.; The House of Staunton, Inc.; houseofstaunton.com File:1991 CPA 6284.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1991_CPA_6284.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Scanned and processed by Mariluna File:Wilhelm Steinitz2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wilhelm_Steinitz2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Conscious, Dejvas, Jay32183, JuTa, Pjahr, RainerStaudte, SunCreator File:Capablanca-Lasker 1925.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Capablanca-Lasker_1925.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Alex Spade, Augiasstallputzer, Conscious, Dejvas, Miastko, 2 anonymous edits File:Viswanathan Anand 08 14 2005.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Viswanathan_Anand_08_14_2005.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: -jha-, BanyanTree, Conscious, Fred J, Nard the Bard, Stepshep, Ygrek Image:Met, Earthenware figures playing liubo, Han Dynasty.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Met,_Earthenware_figures_playing_liubo,_Han_Dynasty.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: sailko File:Eastern Han Luoyang Mural of Liubo players.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Eastern_Han_Luoyang_Mural_of_Liubo_players.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Unknown File:Pottery game players.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pottery_game_players.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Gary Lee Todd File:LiuboBoardDiagram.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:LiuboBoardDiagram.png License: Public Domain Contributors: BabelStone File:Lacquered Liubo Chess Set.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lacquered_Liubo_Chess_Set.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: drs2biz File:6 jadeite Liubo game pieces.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:6_jadeite_Liubo_game_pieces.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:BabelStone Image:Earthenware figures playing liubo, Han Dynasty 4.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Earthenware_figures_playing_liubo,_Han_Dynasty_4.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: User:PericlesofAthens File:British Museum Han TLV Mirror.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:British_Museum_Han_TLV_Mirror.jpg License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:BabelStone File:Stone sundial with Liubo markings.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stone_sundial_with_Liubo_markings.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:BabelStone File:LiuboDivinationDiagram.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:LiuboDivinationDiagram.png License: Public Domain Contributors: BabelStone File:Liubo players in pottery tower.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Liubo_players_in_pottery_tower.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:BabelStone Image:Chess kll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess kdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess qll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess qdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_qdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess rll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess rdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_rdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Lokal Profil Image:Chess bll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Platonides Image:Chess bdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_bdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Lokal Profil, Nyrk Image:Chess nll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Gengiskanhg, J.delanoy, Klin, Thire, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess ndl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ndl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: ArséniureDeGallium, Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess pll44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pll44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gengiskanhg, Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:Chess pdl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pdl44.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Klin, Trockennasenaffe Image:chess_xxl44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xxl44.png License: unknown Contributors: Gengiskanhg, It Is Me Here, Klin
649
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Radha-Krishna chess.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Radha-Krishna_chess.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Darkness1089 at en.wikipedia Image:Lahur Sessa by Thiago Cruz.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lahur_Sessa_by_Thiago_Cruz.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Thiago Cruz Image:chess syg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_syg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess pyg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pyg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess g45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_g45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess kdg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kdg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess edg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_edg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess ndg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ndg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess sdg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sdg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess nyg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nyg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess pdg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pdg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess eyg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_eyg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess kyg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kyg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess prg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_prg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess krg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_krg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess erg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_erg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess pgg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_pgg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess nrg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_nrg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess sgg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_sgg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess ngg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_ngg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess egg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_egg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess kgg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kgg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess srg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_srg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess xxg45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_xxg45.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: SpinningSpark real life identity: SHA-1 commitment ba62ca25da3fee2f8f36c101994f571c151abee7 Image:chess_ l44.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_l44.png License: unknown Contributors: Falcorian, François Haffner, Gengiskanhg, It Is Me Here, Klin, Luinfana, Paradoctor Image:Bayasanghori Shahnameh 5.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bayasanghori_Shahnameh_5.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: The Shâhnâmeh (Book of Kings) is major epic work of persian poetry "Ferdowsi Tousi". “Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh” was made in 1430 for Prince Bayasanghor (1399-1433), the grandson of the legendary Central Asian leader Timur (1336-1405). Image:Chess kll45.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess_kll45.svg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: en:User:Cburnett File:Timur-1.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Timur-1.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Jean-Louis Cazaux Cazaux (talk) 21:18, 24 December 2009 (UTC) Image:UigChessmen SelectionOfKings.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UigChessmen_SelectionOfKings.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Contributors: BrokenSegue, Cbigorgne, Editor at Large, Elcobbola, Interpretix, Neddyseagoon, Pseudomoi, Solipsist File:Beserker, Lewis Chessmen, British Museum.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Beserker,_Lewis_Chessmen,_British_Museum.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Rob Roy Image:Wfm lewis chessmen.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wfm_lewis_chessmen.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: user:Finlay McWalter Image:UigChessmen SelectionOfPieces.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UigChessmen_SelectionOfPieces.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Contributors: Cbigorgne, Dbenbenn, Neddyseagoon, Solipsist, Tsor Image:UigChessKing rightfront.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:UigChessKing_rightfront.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Contributors: Johnbod, Neddyseagoon, Nolanus, Pseudomoi, Solipsist, Umherirrender Image:Chess01.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chess01.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: BeatrixBelibaste, Fingalo, Nolanus, Pschemp, Tsor Image:lewis-chessmen08.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lewis-chessmen08.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: JMCC1, Victuallers File:Knight, Lewis Chessmen, British Museum.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Knight,_Lewis_Chessmen,_British_Museum.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Rob Roy File:Xiangqi Board.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Board.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload File:Xiangqi1.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi1.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Trongphu Image:2005-07-10 chinese chess.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:2005-07-10_chinese_chess.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Davidmaxwaterman, Fanghong, Jedudedek, Sophus Bie, Thuresson, Wst, 1 anonymous edits Image:XiangqiCheckmate.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:XiangqiCheckmate.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia File:Western pieces.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Western_pieces.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Hari Seldon Image:Xiangqi General (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_General_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload
650
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:XiangqiJiangShi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:XiangqiJiangShi.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Immanuel Giel, Mcyjerry, Millsdavid Image:Xiangqi Advisor (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Advisor_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:Xiangqi Elephant (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Elephant_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:Xiangqi Horse (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Horse_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:HorsePieceAgainstHorsePiece.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HorsePieceAgainstHorsePiece.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Image:MovementOfHorsePiece.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MovementOfHorsePiece.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Image:Xiangqi Chariot (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Chariot_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:Xiangqi Cannon (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Cannon_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:XiangqiCannonJumpToCapture.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:XiangqiCannonJumpToCapture.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Image:Xiangqi Soldier (Trad).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Soldier_(Trad).svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Inductiveload Image:Xiangqi-rdca.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rdca.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-hdst.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hdst.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-edst.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-edst.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-adstl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-adstl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-gdst.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-gdst.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-adstr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-adstr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-rdcb.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rdcb.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- sl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_sl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- md.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_md.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cde.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cde.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- sr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_sr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cda.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cda.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cdb.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cdb.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-sdsl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-sdsl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-sdmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-sdmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-clmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-clmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-sdsr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-sdsr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- ra.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_ra.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- rtp.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_rtp.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-clrtp.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-clrtp.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- rb.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_rb.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- rd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_rd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- rdn.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_rdn.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- rc.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_rc.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-slsl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-slsl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-cdmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-cdmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-slmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-slmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-slsr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-slsr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Made by w:en:User:NatalinasmpfNatalinasmpf. Image:Xiangqi- cdd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cdd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cdc.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cdc.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-rlcd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rlcd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-hlsd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hlsd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-elsd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-elsd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-alsdl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-alsdl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-glsd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-glsd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-alsdr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-alsdr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-rlcc.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rlcc.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- ca.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_ca.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- st.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_st.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- stl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_stl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- str.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_str.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cb.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cb.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-rdmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rdmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-hlrdn.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hlrdn.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- cd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- sd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_sd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-glsdl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-glsdl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- sdr.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_sdr.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi- cc.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_cc.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-rlrdn.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rlrdn.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-rdst.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rdst.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-gdmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-gdmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-gdcde.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-gdcde.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-hlmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hlmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-rlmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rlmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-clcde.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-clcde.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi- sdl.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-_sdl.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Natalinasmpf Image:Xiangqi-rlcde.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-rlcde.PNG License: unknown Contributors: -
651
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Xiangqi-hlcdb.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hlcdb.PNG License: unknown Contributors: Image:Xiangqi-hdmd.PNG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi-hdmd.PNG License: unknown Contributors: File:Song Dynasty Chinese chess set.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Song_Dynasty_Chinese_chess_set.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Contributors: Gary Lee Todd Image:BanQi.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:BanQi.jpg License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: w:w:User:Zen.Zen., wc:User:Alton Image:Ban Chi Board.SVG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ban_Chi_Board.SVG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Kiwi8 Image:Xiangqi_General.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_General.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Advisor.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Advisor.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Elephant.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Elephant.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Chariot.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Chariot.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Horse.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Horse.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Soldier.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Soldier.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. Image:Xiangqi_Cannon.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Xiangqi_Cannon.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Mcy jerry at en.wikipedia Later versions were uploaded by Michele Bini at en.wikipedia. File:Shogi.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 Generic Contributors: User:Andre Engels File:Loudspeaker.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Loudspeaker.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bayo, Gmaxwell, Husky, Iamunknown, Mirithing, Myself488, Nethac DIU, Omegatron, Rocket000, The Evil IP address, Wouterhagens, 14 anonymous edits Image:Shogi Ban Koma.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_Ban_Koma.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Blotwell, François Haffner, Krun, Tamago915 Image:Shogi Koma Ryoko.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_Koma_Ryoko.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Blotwell, François Haffner, Krun, Tamago915 Image:shogi osho.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_osho.png License: Public domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Siriudie, Thuresson, Yuval Y Image:shogi gyokusho.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_gyokusho.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi hisha.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_hisha.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi ryuo.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_ryuo.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi kakugyo.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_kakugyo.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi ryuma.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_ryuma.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi kinsho.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_kinsho.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi ginsho.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_ginsho.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi narigin.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_narigin.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi keima.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_keima.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi narikei.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_narikei.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi kyosha.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_kyosha.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi narikyo.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_narikyo.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi fuhyo.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_fuhyo.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:shogi tokin.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_tokin.png License: Public domain Contributors: en:user:Akanemoto Image:MacShogi.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MacShogi.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Ph0kin Image:Shogi king.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_king.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi rook.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_rook.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi bishop.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_bishop.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi gold.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_gold.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi silver.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_silver.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi knight.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_knight.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi lance.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_lance.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi pawn.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_pawn.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi rook p.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_rook_p.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Shogi bishop p.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Shogi_bishop_p.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Hari Seldon, Tac ke Image:Yagura castle.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Yagura_castle.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Ph0kin at en.wikipedia Image:Mino gakoi.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mino_gakoi.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Ph0kin at en.wikipedia Image:Anaguma.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Anaguma.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Ph0kin Image:Gofun maka shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gofun_maka_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 image:Minishogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Minishogi.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Original uploader was Zundark at en.wikipedia Image:55 shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:55_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 Image:Kyoto shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kyoto_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 Image:Judkin's shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Judkin's_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 Image:Yari shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Yari_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 Image:Cannon shogi.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cannon_shogi.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tamago915 File:Go w.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Go_w.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Micheletb, Sarang File:Go l.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Go_l.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Micheletb, Sarang File:Go .svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Go_.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Micheletb, Sarang File:Go r.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Go_r.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Micheletb, Sarang File:Go b.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Go_b.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Micheletb, Sarang Image:Chu shogi initial setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chu_shogi_initial_setup.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Krun File:Chinese character ji 53e4 5bfa.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chinese_character_ji_53e4_5bfa.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Tamago915 File:Chinese character chou 6642 9ce5.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chinese_character_chou_6642_9ce5.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: User:Tamago915
652
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors Image:Sannin setup.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_setup.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin setup (romanized).svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_setup_(romanized).svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin numbering.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_numbering.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin diag v orthog.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_diag_v_orthog.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin 12 directions.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_12_directions.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) File:Kokusai sannin shogi setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kokusai_sannin_shogi_setup.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: Tamago915 (talk) File:Kokusai sannin shogi movement horiz.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kokusai_sannin_shogi_movement_horiz.png License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: Kokusai_sannin_shogi_movement.png: Tamago915 (talk) derivative work: Kwamikagami (talk) Image:Sannin king.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_king.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promoted king.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promoted_king.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin rook.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_rook.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promoted rook.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promoted_rook.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin rook startup.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_rook_startup.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin bishop.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_bishop.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promoted bishop.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promoted_bishop.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin bishop startup.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_bishop_startup.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin gold.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_gold.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin knight.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_knight.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin silver.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_silver.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promoted silver.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promoted_silver.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin lance.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_lance.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promoted lance.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promoted_lance.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin lance startup.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_lance_startup.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin pawn.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_pawn.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin tokin.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_tokin.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:Sannin promj zones.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sannin_promj_zones.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: kwami (talk) Image:4nin shogi.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:4nin_shogi.svg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: 4nin_shogi.png: Tamago915 derivative work: Perey (talk) image:janggipieces.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Janggipieces.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Yeo123 Image:Janggi-seoul.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Janggi-seoul.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Txopi file:Green King.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_King.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red King.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_King.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Sa.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Sa.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Sa.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Sa.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Sang.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Sang.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Sang.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Sang.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Ma.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Ma.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Ma.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Ma.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Cha.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Cha.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Cha.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Cha.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Po.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Po.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Po.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Po.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Green Zol.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Green_Zol.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 file:Red Byung.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_Byung.png License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Yeo123 Image:Sittuyin.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sittuyin.png License: Fair use Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Sit-ke.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sit-ke.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Boedawgyi Image:Ele move.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ele_move.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: Boedawgyi Image:Sittuyin setup.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sittuyin_setup.png License: Fair use Contributors: Andreas Kaufmann Image:Chessv.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chessv.jpg License: GNU General Public License Contributors: Conti, 2 anonymous edits Image:Chessv.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chessv.png License: GNU General Public License Contributors: Original uploader was Chemicalrubber at en.wikipedia Image:SmirfPlay.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:SmirfPlay.png License: Fair use Contributors: AceVentura, Andreas Kaufmann
653
License
License Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
654
