Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Peter Hatch.

The Elves

The Elves have less pieces than the Humans (16 instead of 20), but make up for it with two of the strongest pieces in the game. The pawns are more mobile, but unable to promote.

Starting Setup

The starting setup for black is the mirror image of that for white.

    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  3 | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  2 |   | S |   | L | K | E | M |   | S |   |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  1 |   |   |   |   | R | R |   |   |   |   |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j

The Pieces

Each piece is listed with its abbreviation in parentheses after its name, followed by the notation for its move in Ralph Betza's notation in brackets, if its move can be expressed in that notation.

Warrior (W) [mFcfW]

The Warrior moves either one square orthogonally without capturing or one square diagonally forward to capture.

Seeress (S) [W2F2]

The Seeress moves one or two squares in any direction.

Ranger (R) [NN]

The Ranger moves like a Knightrider. (It moves as a Knight, but can continue to make Knight moves in the same direction as long as each square it continues from is empty.)

Mage (M)

The Mage moves like a Griffion from Grande Acedrex. (It moves one square diagonally, and may then continue by moving any number of squares orthogonally away from its starting position.)

Loremaster (L)

The Loremaster has the combined moves of a Rook and a Mage.

Elder (E) [RBN]

The Elder moves like an Amazon. (It has the combined moves of a Rook, a Bishop, and a Knight.)

King (K) [K]

The King is identical to a King in standard Chess, except that it can not castle.


Written by Peter Hatch.
WWW page created: November 26, 2000.