Ultra Grand Cavalier Chess with Zebra-Queen

The idea for this game started as an homage for Fergus Duniho's Grand Cavalier chess. The name of this game includes besides the part that evokes the original Grand Cavalier chess, the name of the most powerful piece in the game- the Zebra-Queen. A twin game with this one exists featuring a Camel-Queen. I have invested a little bit of though in the game and I'm afraid the game ended up being quite different from the original. I wanted to have an Grand Cavalier chess game expanded to (initially) 12x12 board. But as piece lines in the initial position are not ok when adjacent to each other I needed white's cavaliers (the pawns of this game) on rank 5. So the game ended up being designed for a 14x14 board.

One thing I have changed is the movement of the cavaliers (the pawns). Instead of the chinese horse the cavaliers now move only forward as the chinese horse. Then they are split in two types receiving either the sideways and back wazir moves, either the back half of the ferz. This was done because I don't like the idea of pawns protecting each other. The next thing I have changed are the moves of the paladin and Marshall. They now may move knightwiselly up to twice in the same direction. The Nightrider also receives a buff. But opposed to the queen it receives Camel buff.

Moreover I have added new pieces. As I like bend riders a lot I have added two of those, each of them having a leaping enhancement, as all the pieces I have mentioned so far: a wazir-then-bishop+camel and an B2-then-rook+knight. Finally I have added three, probably minor, pieces: the assassin-ZFX and the ninja-HWXNY filling the role of pieces which (resembling the role of the knight in orthodox chess) are there to deliver powerful and surprising forks and the mammoth KADmHmG. The later has the just move enhancements because it would otherwise be quite slow.

Setup

files=14 ranks=14 promoZone=4 promoChoice=!H!LTXYSJQ2G2M2A2N2C2 maxPromote=2 graphicsDir=https://www.chessvariants.com/cgi-bin/fen2.php?s=33&l=FFFF44&d=0000AA&w=FFFF44&b=0000AA&p= whitePrefix=w blackPrefix=b graphicsType=gif squareSize=38 lightShade=#FFFFFF darkShade=#660000 oddShade=#008800 whitePrefix=w blackPrefix=b graphicsType= symmetry=mirror useMarkers=1 borders=0 captureMatrix=///////////13$.=/12$$.=/ hussar:H:fafsWraflWlafrWsbW:wideknight:c5,e5,g5,h5,j5,l5,f3,i3,,c10,e10,g10,h10,j10,l10,f12,i12 lancer:L:fafsWraflWlafrWbF:narrowknight:b5,d5,f5,i5,k5,m5,d3,k3,,b10,d10,f10,i10,k10,m10,d12,k12 equesrex:K:KN:king--knight:h1,,h14 zebra-queen:Q:ZQ:zebra--queen:g1,,g14 hunched-manticore:M:WyasfWC:lion:i1,,i14 long-neck-gryphon:G:NB2afyasfF:gryphon:f1,,f14 paladin:A:BN2:cardinal:e1,j1,,e14,j14 camel-nightrider:N:NNC:camel--nightrider:d1,k1,,d14,,k14 marshall:C:RN2:chancellor:c1,l1,,c14,l14 assasin:S:ZFX:diplomat:g3,h3,,g12,h12 ninja:J:HWXNY:cardinal1:e3,j3,,e12,j12 lightcannon:X:mRcpR:cannon--warmachine:a4,n4,,a11,n11 heavycannon:Y:pRpafcpR:cannon--greatwarmachineferz:a2,n2,,a13,n13 mammoth:T:KADmHmG:mammoth:c3,l3,,c12,l12 royal=3

Pieces

The pieces in the interactive diagram in the above chapter are movable. You may also play against the interactive diagram's AI but it is quite slow on this variant with such a large number of possible moves. Here is a detailed description of how each piece moves:

	hussar	moves forward like the chinese horse or steps one square straight backward or sideways
	lancer	moves forward like the chinese horse or steps one square diagonally backward
	equesrex	steps one square in all 8 directions, or makes a knight's jump
	zebra-queen	makes a (3,2) leap, or slides in all 8 directions
	hunched-manticore	steps one square orthogonally and from there can continue to slide diagonally outward, or makes a (3,1) leap
	long-neck-gryphon	makes a knight's jump or slides up to 2 squares diagonally, and from there can continue to slide orthogonally outward.
	paladin	slides diagonally, or makes a knight's jump up to 2 times in the same direction
	camel-nightrider	repeatedly makes a knight's jump in the same direction, or makes a (3,1) leap
	marshall	slides orthogonally, or makes a knight's jump up to 2 times in the same direction
	assasin	makes a (3,2) leap, or makes a (4,1) leap
	ninja	jumps to the 3rd or 4th square orthogonally, or makes a (4,3) leap
	lightcannon	slides orthogonally to an empty square, or jumps over the nearest piece orthogonally for capturing only
	heavycannon	The heavy cannon is the janggi cannon with the enhancement that it can also jump two pieces when capturing. It cannon capture, be captured, jump or be jumped by other cannons (light or heavy).
	mammoth	steps one square in all 8 directions, jumps to the 2nd square diagonally, jumps to the 2nd square orthogonally, jumps to the 3rd square orthogonally to an empty square, or jumps to the 3rd square diagonally to an empty square

Rules

There is no castling in this game as the eques rex is already a difficult to mate piece. The hussars and lancers don't have any special powers when unmoved.

The promotion zone consists in the furthest four ranks for each player. In the furtherst two ranks a player may promote to any piece besides the eques rex. In the previous two ranks the promotable pieces (the lancer and the hussar) may promote only to either cannon type, mamoth, assasing or ninja.

Notes

I have not kept the original cavalier move because it seemed to me that pawns (or the weakest piece in the game) protecting each other even from front to the back leads to uncounfterble to the least unbreakable at most chaines of defented pieces. The way I have chosen pawns here (husssar and lancer) they can be defended by other pawns of pieces only from the back giving the game a more "chessie" feel. They still have other moves compared to a forward xinagqi horse. These are done to that the departure from the original is not to big.

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By Aurelian Florea.

Last revised by Aurelian Florea.

Web page created: 2024-05-23. Web page last updated: 2024-05-23

Comments

Ultra Grand Cavalier Chess with Zebra-Queen. Expansion of Fergus Duniho's Grand Cavalier Chess. (14x14, Cells: 196)

🔔Notification on Tue, Jun 18 05:10 AM EDT:

The author, Aurelian Florea, has updated this page.

💡📝Aurelian Florea wrote on Thu, Jun 13 06:13 PM EDT in reply to Aurelian Florea from Mon Jun 10 11:17 AM:

So, I was saying:

This and the twin game are still works in progress. But I'd like some help from the community if someone has the time. I'm in no hurry. First and foremost the motif piece set is very good for this type of game that uses many compounds, but this piece set is very small and the allfaerie piece set does not satisfy me as the piece's pictures don't seem to work. I'm very poor with drawing pieces, so if someone has the time to invest I'd be grateful. Also I'm not happy with some of the piece names. The hussar is more a lancer type that a separate thing, but I have named two pieces differently. Any suggestions here? The same goes for the ninja and the assassin. Also, what do you think about the names of the hunched-manticore and long-neck-gryphon?

💡📝Aurelian Florea wrote on Thu, Jun 13 01:17 PM EDT in reply to Aurelian Florea from Mon Jun 10 11:17 AM:

Has anyone noticed this?

💡📝Aurelian Florea wrote on Mon, Jun 10 11:17 AM EDT: