Chess Variants/Cavalier Chess

tright cd Kd ad qd Cd ad Kd cd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl cl Kl al ql Cl al Kl cl Starting position of cavalier chess Introduction Cavalier Chess is a variant themed around the knight, giving many of the pieces knight-like moves. History Cavalier chess was created in December 1998 by prolific chess variant creator Fergus Duniho, who created the game using the board game software Zillions of Games. As the name suggests, cavalier chess is chess on horseback, replacing all of the pieces (sans the queen) with new pieces which have knight-like moves. The following year Duniho created Grand Cavalier Chess, a larger version of cavalier chess played on a 10 by 10 board. It features all of the pieces from standard cavalier chess plus two cannons, and draws inspiration from grand chess, xiangqi and David Howe's variant xhess in its rules. Rules Cavalier chess is played using a standard 8 by 8 board. It can be played on a standard two-colour board, as seen at the diagram at right, but Duniho recommends using a three-colour board with the non-light squares interpolated between dark and a medium colour - this will aid in visualising the moves of certain pieces. All of the pieces sans the queen are replaced with new pieces, as follows: The cavalier (25x25px) is the counterpart of the pawn. It moves in the same L-shaped move as a standard knight - one square horizontally or vertically, followed by one square diagonally outwards. However, unlike the standard knight the cavalier cannot jump over other pieces - if a piece of either colour is horizontally or vertically adjacent to the cavalier, the cavalier cannot move past. Unlike the standard pawn, the cavalier does not get the option of a double-step on its first move (and therefore, there is no en passant). tleft oo oo oo oo Nl oo oo oo oo xo Nl Nd xo The white cavalier can move to all of the squares marked with a white dot. The black cavalier can move to either square marked with a black dot, but it cannot move up since the white cavalier blocks its path. The cavaliers can promote like standard pawns when they reach the furthest rank from their starting position. The cavalier promotes to the piece whose starting square the cavalier landed on - so for example a white cavalier landing on b8 would promote to a nightrider. There is one exception - if a cavalier lands on the starting square of the enemy knight king, it is allowed to promote to the player's choice of marshall, nightrider, paladin or queen. The marshall (25x25px) is the counterpart of the rook. It combines the movement powers of the rook and the knight, so it can either slide horizonally or vertically like a rook or jump like a knight, but not both in one turn. tleft xo xx xo xx xx xo xx xo xo xo xo cl xo xo xo xx xo xx xx xo xx xo xo The marshall may slide to any square marked with a dot, or jump to any square marked with a cross. The nightrider (25x25px) is the counterpart of the knight. It jumps in the same L-shape as the standard knight, but after it lands it may keep making consecutive knight jumps in the same direction, provided nothing gets in its way. tleft xx xx xx xx xx xx xx Kl xx The nightrider may jump to any square marked with a cross. The paladin (25x25px) is the counterpart of the bishop. It combines the movement powers of the bishop and the knight, so it can either slide diagonally like a bishop or jump like a knight, but not both in one turn. tleft xo xo xo xo xx xx xo xx xo xo xx al xx xo xo xx xo xx xx xo xo xo Empty board The queen (25x25px) moves in the same manner as standard chess. The knight king (25x25px), also known as the eques rex, is the counterpart of the king. It combines the movement powers of the king and the knight, so it can either step one square in any direction like a king or jump like a knight, but not both in one turn. The knight king is royal and subject to the same check and checkmate rules as the standard king. Therefore it may not move into check, and must move out of check if attacked. There is no castling in cavalier chess. tleft xx xx xx xo xo xo xx xo Cl xo xx xo xo xo xx xx xx The knight king may step to any square marked with a dot or jump to any square marked with a cross. Grand Cavalier Chess tright cd Kd ad qd Cd ad Kd cd md md Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nd Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl Nl ml ml cl Kl al ql Cl al Kl cl Starting position of grand cavalier chess Grand cavalier chess is played on a 10 by 10 board, with all of the standard cavalier chess pieces plus two cannons. When moving passively, the cannon (25x25px) moves in the same manner as a standard rook. However, it has a unique method of capture - in order for a cannon to capture an enemy piece, there must be a third piece of either colour, called the screen, in between the cannon and the target piece. When capturing the cannon jumps over the screen and captures the first enemy piece immediately beyond it. Note that a cannon may only jump when capturing, not when moving passively. It also cannot capture without jumping and cannot jump more than one piece in a single move. tleft xo xo xo xo xo ml xo Nl Nd xo Ad The cannon may move to any square marked with a dot or it may capture the black cavalier on h5, using the white cavalier on e5 as its screen. In addition, the promotion rules are different from standard cavalier chess - when a cavalier moves to the furthest rank from its starting position it may promote to any previously captured piece of the player's choosing. If no captured friendly pieces are available to promote to then the cavalier may not move to the last rank (but it can give check there). Sub-variants This chess variant does not not have any notable sub-variants.