Eric's Great Chess

Eric Greenwood proposed in 1998 this variant on an old historic chess variant, called Great Chess. His changes make the interaction between the players sooner: the main changes are that there are two rows less. (There are a few small other changes, making the game more look like nowadays orthodox chess.)

The board

The game is played on a board with eight rows and ten columns. The opening setup is as follows:

White:
King f1; Giraffe e1; Vizir d1; Queen g1; Rook a1, j1; Knight b1, i1; Bishop c1, h1; War engine e2, f2; Pawn a2, b2, c2, d2, e3, f3, g2, h2, i2, j2.

Black:
King e8; Giraffe f8; Vizir g8, Queen d8; Rook a8, j8; Knight b8, i8; Bishop c8, h8; War engine e7, f7; Pawn a7, b7, c7, d7, e6, f6, g7, h7, i7, j7.

Movement of pieces

Rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king move like in usual chess. Castling is permitted under the usual conditions: when castling, the king moves three steps towards the rook and the rook leaps over the king to the next square, e.g., King e8 to b8, rook a8 to c8.

The giraffe has the combined moves of queen and knight, i.e., of rook, knight and bishop.

The vizir has the combined moves of bishop and knight.

The war engine has the combined moves of rook and knight.

Pawns move as usual pawns, with the exception that the pawns on the e and f rows may not move two steps at their first move. Pawns can promote to giraffe, queen, vizir, war engine, rook, bishop, or knight, to the choice of the player owning the pawn.