Author: Ed Trice
Date: 12:02:19 01/07/04
Go up one level in this thread
Hello Michel, > >1) It is not written on your site ... but I also expect that a pawn can promote >to a archbishop and a chancellor. > http://www.GothicChess.org/how_to_play.html has the following: How To Play Gothic Chess If you already know how to play chess, you can learn how to play Gothic Chess in about 15 seconds. For the complete rules of the game click here. As shown above, you set up the pieces in the rectangular areas exactly the same as you would a regular chessboard. Next, place the King in the center of the board between the pieces. On the Queenside place the Chancellor and on the Kingside place the Archbishop. The Archbishop has the ability to move like a Knight or a Bishop on any turn, but an enemy King must evade both checking auras in order to successfully be considered out of check. The Chancellor has the ability to move like a Knight or a Rook on any turn, and the enemy King must likewise evade both checks if being attacked by this piece. Each of these pieces can carry their own unique brand of venom. Some deadly Archbishop themes are shown here and a nasty Chancellor deployment scenario is shown here. Pawns may now promote to not only all of the chess pieces (Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight) but also the newer pieces as well (Chancellor and Archbishop). The only other rule change involves castling, which is demonstrated below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Castling In Gothic Chess ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As shown above, black elected to castle his King. In Gothic Chess, this is accomplished by moving the King three squares horizontally (shown by the dots on the left diagram above) and then placing the Rook right beside him (as shown on the right). The only difference is that on the 8x8 chessboard, the King moves twice instead of three times. The rule also states that in order to castle, the King cannot be in check, nor can either of the squares it traverses or lands on be under attack. The King may castle to either side of the board. You can see that the white King can castle kingside or castle queenside from the position shown above. A smart player would avoid castling queenside because a deadly Archbishop checkmate can be issued immediately afterwards. You can see this demonstrated here in more detail. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Complete Rules Of Gothic Chess ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most of the rules associated with standard 8x8 chess apply to Gothic Chess as well. In the event you are not a chess player, or you need a refresher course, here are all of the rules as they apply to Gothic Chess: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Rook ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, a Rook is able to slide on the board in a horizontal or vertical direction, as many spaces as the open board allows. The Rook cannot slide past any pieces of the same color. The Rook can slide and occupy the first square that an encountered enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. The Rook also participates in a special move with the King known as castling. The castling move is described here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Bishop ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, a Bishop is able to slide on the board in a diagonal direction, as many spaces as the open board allows. The Bishop cannot slide past any pieces of the same color. The Bishop can slide and occupy the first square that an encountered enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Knight ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, a Knight is able to move two squares horizontally or vertically, then one square perpendicular to the previous motion. The Knight makes an "L-shaped" move if its path is traced on the board. The Knight may jump over both friendly and enemy pieces. The Knight can jump onto an occupied square than an enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Queen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, a Queen is able to slide on the board in a diagonal direction, like a Bishop, or horiztonally or vertically, as a Rook, as many spaces as the open board allows. The Queen can therefore move as Rook or a Bishop on any given turn. The Queen cannot slide past any pieces of the same color. The Queen can slide and occupy the first square that an encountered enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Chancellor ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, a Chancellor is able to jump on the board, like a Knight, or slide horiztonally or vertically as many spaces as the open board allows, as a Rook. The Chancellor can therefore move as Rook or a Knight on any given turn. The Chancellor cannot slide past any pieces of the same color. The Chancellor can slide and occupy the first square that an encountered enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. The Chancellor can also capture like a Knight, by jumping onto a square occupied by an enemy piece. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Archbishop ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From its present location, an Archbishop is able to jump on the board, like a Knight, or slide diagonally as many spaces as the open board allows, as a Bishop. The Archbishop can therefore move as Bishop or a Knight on any given turn. The Archbishop cannot slide past any pieces of the same color. The Archbishop can slide and occupy the first square that an encountered enemy piece resides on, and in so doing, remove the enemy piece from the board. Such a move is said to be a capture. The Archbishop can also capture like a Knight, by jumping onto a square occupied by an enemy piece. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quite surprisingly, the Pawn potentially has five different move operations available to it. Refer to the diagram above. From location (A), which is the starting location for a white Pawn, the Pawn may move twice vertically on its first move only. The Pawn may also elect to move only one square vertically on its first move. In location (B), and anywhere else other than the starting square, the Pawn may only move one square vertically on its turn. Pawns capture in directions other than the way they move, and are the only piece that behave in this fashion. From location (C), the Pawn can capture by moving diagonally one square to either the right or the left. Essentially, it captures like a Bishop with a range of only one square would capture. Because a Pawn's capturing power is able to be bypassed by an enemy pawn that moves twice on its first move, a Pawn may also execute a special capture known as the en passant capture. From location (D), a black pawn is shown "passing" the effective capture aura of the white Pawn. The white pawn may elect to capture this pawn on the next move only by treating it as if it moved only one square vertically, indicated by the dot. To execute the capture, white occupies the en passant destination square, then removes the enemy Pawn from the board. This special capture is only available immediately after the "bypassing infraction" occurs. A pawn that reaches the end of the board is also given a reward, called promotion, where it can become another piece. From location (E) the Pawn moves forward and may elect to become any piece besides another Pawn, and a King. After promoting, the Pawn is removed from the board, and the new piece is placed on the destination square. >2) By the way ... the name chancellor is difficult for foreigners ... >The name archbishop is probably funny for german speaking people ... >ever considered this? > Actually I have not given it too much thought. Since Germany's ruler is called the Chancellor in English, I thought there would certainly be European equivalents. >3) Another curious question .. you are the strongest Gothic Chess player >currently. How much is your normal chess rating actually? I have not play since about 1989. I never broke 2270, I remember that much. I did play Greg Shahade (2502) to a draw in the only game we ever played at Drexel University where we are both from. I lost a game to Sam Reshevsky in 1989 in a Najdorf Sicilian, a game he annotated with about 5 or 6 exclams (1 for me, the rest for him). I did play some blitz with a 2100 player about 3 months ago, and I got killed! I concentrate mostly on Gothic Chess now.
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