Some ways in which chess variants differ from the standard game:Ĭhess on a 12 by 12 board - As its name suggests.Ĭylindrical chess - uses a cylindrical board.

Here are some ways in which chess variants differ from the standard game: Variant creators often create chess variants to fix an issue they perceive with the standard game or to create new games of interest for chess players. There are many different types of chess variants, and variants are usually created with the standard game as a starting point. This move was swiftly granted to the bishop on the 8 by 8 board to speed up the game, and in around 1475 the queen was granted her modern powers (previously, she could only move one square diagonally), creating a variant known as 'Mad Queen Chess'.īy the 15th century, a few more modifications had been made to the rules of Mad Queen Chess, such as the pawn double-step, castling and en passant, creating the game of chess as we know it today. During this time the Church remained sceptical of games, warning against devoting too much time to them, and chess was even briefly banned in France under Louis IX (St.Louis) in the 12th century as an anti-gambling measure.Īnother major development occurred in Germany, also in the 12th century, where a chess variant known as Courier Chess was created, which introduced the chess-playing world to the diagonal move used by the modern bishop (which in Courier chess was used by that game's titular piece). Some of the pieces were reinterpreted in Catholic eyes - the piece representing the Indian elephant was recast as a Catholic bishop, and coinciding with the strong female leaders arising around this time, the king's advisor was recast as a queen. Following the conquest of Persia by Islamic forces, the game spread throughout the entire Islamic world, which served as the springboard for shatranj to reach Europe by the 9th century, spreading throughout the entire continent by 1000.Īt the same time, shatranj and chaturanga were spread by trade along the Silk Road to East Asia, giving rise to chess's Asian cousins - xiangqi in China, janggi in Korea and shogi in Japan.īack in Europe, chess went through further development. Much like the modern game, the goal of chaturanga was to checkmate the enemy king, although at the time stalemate was also considered a win for the player delivering the stalemate.Īround 600 CE chaturanga spread to Sassanid Persia, where the name became shatranj. Chaturanga was a strategy game simulating a war between two Indian factions, with pieces representing the four arms of the ancient Indian army - the infantry (pawns), cavalry (knights), elephants (bishops) and chariots (rooks) - as well as two pieces for the king and his advisor. The most common theory of the origin of chess states that the game originated in India in the sixth century CE, under the name chaturanga. If one wishes to delve into the world of chess variants, it will be a good idea to understand how chess originated and evolved. The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, a chess variant catalogue created in 1994 by chess player David Pritchard, has around 2,000 chess variants listed in its catalogue and notes many more variants were considered too trivial for inclusion. There are lots of chess variants - the number is in the thousands. These variants can involve only a slight modification to the rules of chess, or can involve more drastic changes.

It had around half a million players at its prime.Ĭhess variants are a family of board games derived from chess. Introduction Gliński’s hexagonal chess is the most popular of the hexagonal chess variants.

Chess pieces with name