Chess, in its recent form, dates back some 500 years. It was then, in the middle of the
renaissance, that someone cared to take a less traditionally preoccupied look at the game
of Shatranj, that had come from the Arabic world where it had been played
for over a millennium.
The unknown inventor did good work: he liberated the Bishops, that with their two-square
diagonal jump had till then led a crippled existence, and gave pawns the right to promote
to any piece, where they had been restricted to the Firzan or Minister, a piece of pathetic
weakness, able to move only one square diagonally. But he did more. He took this very
Firzan and turned it into a piece of unprecedented strength: the Queen.
This was a very bold step. We look upon the Queen as well within the boundaries of balance,
but 500 years ago her power must have seemed unbridled.
Instead of shrinking back and giving the Firzan, say, the king's move
(which would also have brought it back within the boundaries of balance),
the unknown inventor decided to go all the way and gave it the combined powers
of two of the three primary pieces (one of which he had just 'invented'). The choice
of Rook and Bishop is only natural since they follow the basic patterns of the board.
Of course he must have been aware of the other combinations.
These other combinations, Rook & Knight and
Bishop & Knight, have since then led a marginal existence throughout
Chess history. They have been described under various names in various variants
from as early as the end of the sixteenth century. Even in this
century José Raoul Capablanca and Edward Lasker tried to reintroduce the pieces in
'Lasker-Capablanca Chess' which doesn't differ all that much from Grand Chess.
What made me decide to implement the idea yet again was the fact that nobody did a
particularly good job.
In Chess as it is played today, the castling rule derives from the fact that Rooks
initially are obstructed by their own pawns and pieces. Its easy to get Bishops and
Knights out, but without castling, Rooks would be troublesome. Grand Chess was invented
a few minutes after I realized that putting all pieces except Rooks on the second rank
would solve three problems simultaneously, see diagram.
| 1. >>> | The board is square. Capablanca and Lasker experimented with a 10x8 board, keeping pawns and pieces on their regular distance. They also tried 10x10, but with pieces on the back rank. To compensate for their lengthy track, pawns were given the option to move three squares initially. Of course they needed the castling rule in both variants, with the Rooks all tucked away. |
| 2. >>> | The pawns keep their regular distance and behaviour. |
| 3. >>> | The Rooks are free from the onset. Of course there's no need for a castling rule. The King's safety would hardly constitute a plausible argument in a Chess game. |
From this point on everything followed naturally. I wanted to deviate as little as
possible from orthodox Chess, so I 'inserted' the Marshal & Cardinal in the regular
order of pieces.
The Cardinal, despite the fact that it is the weakest of the three major pieces,
is the only piece that can checkmate a cornered King without support.
GRAND CHESS © Christiaan Freeling. JAVA Applet by Ed van Zon.