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Hannibal Chess with Manticore and Falcon

This Game is part of a collection of six games derived from 3 inventions of Kevin Pacey. Kevin has created 3 similar games, as far as I can see, that have inspired me to create said collection. The game that has inspired this game is Hannibal Chess. I find that the original has many weak pieces without having strong pieces added, by comparisson with regular chess. I have thought about which strong pieces to add. As there are enough leapers, I went the road of bent riders. So this game also features the manticore. And to also have a rook strength piece I have also added a falcon from Falcon Chess. So now there are 6 weak pieces, 3 average strength pieces and 2 strong pieces. This seems to me a good progression pyramid of strength. Because of the increased number of pieces I have also increased the board to a 10x9 size. Pawns will still have only a double move at the beginning and the 2 new pieces will be gated like in Musketeer Chess. The other five games in the collection may be found here:

https://www.chessvariants.com/invention/frogchesswithgryphonandfalcon

https://www.chessvariants.com/invention/frogchesswithmanticoreandfalcon

https://www.chessvariants.com/invention/hannibalchesswithgryphonandfalcon

https://www.chessvariants.com/invention/wafflechesswithgryphonandfalcon

https://www.chessvariants.com/invention/wafflechesswithmanticoreandfalcon

Setup

You can play the game against the interactive diagram displayed on this page. To do so, you need first to put the pieces to be gated (Musketeer Chess style) in the rank behind the normal board. First the two white pieces, then the two black pieces. You can find them in the diagram by pressing the "here" button once. Drag and drop (or click and point) them to the desired file. The diagram accepts a king file drop, but this is against the rules because of the fact that the rook goes there when castling. After that you need to press play, choose your preferred depth of the AI's search and play as usual. When you move a piece that has a gating piece behind it, be sure to click the gating piece marked with a cyan diamond, and then move the regular piece.

files=10 ranks=11 promoChoice=NBRQMEF promoZone=2 graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG/ whitePrefix=w blackPrefix=b graphicsType=png squareSize=54 symmetry=none autoGate=1 enableAI=2 newClick=1 hole::::a1-j1,,a11-j11 pawn::::a3,b3,c3,d3,e3,f3,g3,h3,i3,j3,,a9,b9,c9,d9,e9,f9,g9,h9,i9,j9 knight:N:::b2,i2,,b10,i10 bishop::::d2,g2,,d10,g10 rook::::a2,j2,,a10,j10 queen::::e2,,e10 manticore::WyasfW:lion::1 elephant::FA:elephantferz:c2,h2,,c10,h10 falcon:::bird::1 king::KispO5::f2,,f10

Pieces

There are three non-orthodox pieces in this game:

 The modern elephant (or elephant-ferz) goes one or two squares diagonally like a bishop but may jump an interviening piece when moving to the second square.

The manticore is a bent rider. It starts its move with an orthogonal step and then it may slide diagonally outward (at 45 or -45 degree angle) like a bishop.

The falcon is borrowed from Falcon Chess. It is a multipath mover that must stop (3,1) or (3,2) squares away from the starting square.

Rules

The manticore and the falcon start in hand. The game begins by white placing each of the two behind two different non-king files. Then black does the same for himself. These two pieces enter play when the piece ahead of them vacates its back initial field, by automatically taking that spot.

Pawns must promote on the last rank to any piece except the king.

The castling rule is fast castling, meaning the king may jump sideways to any empty square on the back rank if not in check and if it has not moved yet, provided that the rook on that side is also unmoved. The rook then takes the old king square. Be aware of the fact that the king may jump over intervening pieces.

The 50 moves rule becomes the 75 moves rule.

Other rules are like in orthodox chess.

Notes

Normally I dislike fast castling quite a bit, but in this case because of the gating of pieces, the back rank is pretty full for a while. Moreover, the gated pieces cannot leap. So it would be difficult to move them from the king's path if an orthodox castling style had been employed.

I have changed the 50 moves rule to 75 moves rule, because more complicated situations may occur on a larger board with a larger number of pieces and piece types.

Thank you, Kevin Pacey for the game that has inspired this one.

Thank you, HG Muller for the interactive diagram.

Thank you, Fergus Duniho for maintaining this website.



This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By Aurelian Florea.

Last revised by Fergus Duniho.


Web page created: 2023-10-31. Web page last updated: 2024-01-08