Chess Variants/Tamerlane Chess

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Most common starting position of Tamerlane chess.

Introduction

Tamerlane chess is a large medieval chess variant from Central Asia.

History

Tamerlane chess, like the modern game, was derived from shatranj. The game is named after Tamerlane, the first ruler of the Timurid Empire that covered Iran, Afghanistan and large parts of Central and West Asia during the early 15th century. It is believed that he was the creator of the game.

Rules

Tamerlane chess is played on an uncheckered board of 10 by 11 squares. There are two special squares called "citadels" that protrude from the right side of each player's second rank. The citadels can only be occupied by the opposing king - the game ends in a draw if this happens. Unlike modern chess, stalemate is considered a win for the player delivering the stalemate.

The players both have an army of 28 pieces of 21 different types. There are ten different types of standard pieces, and eleven types of pawns, which each promote in their own way.

The player who moves first is decided by a dice roll.

The pieces

Each of the pieces moves as follows:

• The king (shah in Persian) moves like his modern counterpart - one square in any direction. Once per game, he is allowed to trade places with one of his own pieces to evade check(mate) or stalemate.
• The general (ferz in Persian) moves one square diagonally.
• The vizier (wazir in Persian) moves one square horizontally or vertically.
• The giraffe (zurafa in Persian) first moves one square diagonally, then a minimum of three squares horizontally or vertically.
• The picket (tali'a in Persian) moves like a modern bishop, but it must move a minimum of two squares.
• The knight (faras in Persian) moves like its modern counterpart.
• The rook (rukh in Persian) moves like its modern counterpart.
• The elephant (fil in Persian) jumps two squares diagonally and is allowed to jump over pieces.
• The camal (shutur in Persian) moves like an extended knight - rather than jumping two squares then one, it jumps three squares then one.
• The war engine (dababba in Persian) moves two squares horizontally or vertically and is allowed to jump over pieces.
• The pawns all move like their modern counterparts but with no double-step move (and by extension no en passant). There are eleven different types of pawns, each of which is associated with a type of piece. So there is a pawn of pawns, a pawn of giraffes, a pawn of war machines, and so on.

Pawn promotion

If a pawn manages to reach the other side of the board without capture or mishap, it is allowed to promote to the type of piece it is representing. So for example the pawn of rooks promotes to a rook. There are two exceptions to this rule: The pawn of kings and the pawn of pawns are promoted in special ways.

When the pawn of kings promotes, it promotes to a piece called a prince, which moves exactly like the king. Indeed, it actually is a king - if a player manages to obtain a prince alongside their king, normal checkmate and stalemate rules are temporarily suspended and instead the opponent must capture one of those pieces (king or prince) as they would a normal piece, and only then can they checkmate/stalemate the other royal piece to win.

The pawn of pawns is more complex. It must reach the end of the board three times before it may be promoted:

• The first time the pawn of pawns reaches the end of the board, it just simply sits there as an obstacle that cannot be captured.
• After that, if ever the situation arises where the opponent cannot escape losing a piece to a pawn, or a pawn can fork two opponent pieces, the pawn of pawns must be moved to the location where that action can be done. If a piece is already on that square it is removed from the board regardless of its loyalty.
• Then the pawn of pawns continues advancing up the board. Once it reaches the end of the board for the second time it is immediately moved to the starting position of the pawn of kings.
• Once the pawn of pawns reaches the end of the board for the third time it may promote

Once the pawn of pawns finally does promote, it promotes to a piece called an adventitious king. This piece moves exactly like the king, and it is also royal, so like the prince and king if the adventitious king is on the board it must be captured alongside the other royals before the opponent may claim victory.

Citadels

As already stated, the citadels (husun in Persian) are the two spaces that protrude from the right side of each player's second rank. Under normal circumstances the citadels may only be occupied by the opposing king - if the opponent manages to move their king into one's own citadel, the game ends in a draw.

The exception to the citadel rule is that if one obtains an adventitious king by promoting their pawn of pawns, that piece may occupy one's own citadel to stop the opposing king from moving in, the only piece with this honour.

If a player has a prince on the board and their king is captured, the prince takes the king's role and gains the ability to enter the opposing citadel. If the prince is captured whilst a friendly adventitious king is on the board, said adventitious king will be allowed to enter the opposing citadel.

Other rules

• If a player has multiple royal pieces they may move one into check if they want, although this is obviously a bad idea.
• There is no castling - the move had not been created yet. There is also no 50-move rule.
• Baring the opponent's king is not considered a win as said opposing could still enter your citadel.

Sub-variants

This chess variant does not have any notable sub-variants.