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External Link: Hiashatar

Hiashatar is a medieval chess variant deriving from Mongolia. The pieces move as in orthodox chess, with the exception of the additional piece, the Bodyguard (also called 'Senior Adviser' or 'Warrior'). It slides one or two steps in any direction. The Bodyguard has about the same value as rook (my estimate). A Bodyguard cannot checkmate (or capture) the enemy king. The Bodyguard can stymie the movement of enemy pieces, except the horse. This implies that an enemy piece can only move one square at at time so long its movement occurs on the squares immediately surrounding the Bodyguard. The horse, being so important in Mongolian life, is not affected by the stymieing powers of the Bodyguard. The pawns move as in orthodox chess, inclusive of the initial double-step and 'en passant'. The pawn can also make an initial triplicate step, which means that 'en passant' can also be performed when the enemy pawn stops on the rank behind the friendly pawn. Pawns promote only to queen. Castling does not exist. The positions of white king and queen are interchanged (compared with standard chess). In Hiashatar, the restrictions for checkmating, which are characteristic of Shatar (8x8 Mongol Chess), are absent.

A Zillions program and more information is here.

External Link: http://mlwi.magix.net/bg/hiashatar.htm


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Author: M Winther.
Web page created: 2006-11-11. Web page last updated: 2006-11-11