Grand Chess

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Grand Chess starting setup. Marshals are on f2 and f9; cardinals are on g2 and g9.

Grand Chess is a large-board chess variant invented by Dutch games designer Christian Freeling in 1984.^[1][2] It is played on a 10×10 board, with each side having two additional pawns and two new pieces: the marshal and the cardinal.

• The marshal combines the powers of the rook and knight.
• The cardinal combines the powers of the bishop and knight.

A superficial similarity exists between Grand Chess and an early version of the historic chess variant Capablanca chess because the same pieces and game board are used. But differences in initial start position, rules governing pawn moves and promotion, and castling make them significantly different games.

A series of Grand Chess Cyber World Championship matches was sponsored by the Dutch game site Mindsports. Past title holders included R. Wayne Schmittberger (1998, 1999) and John Vehre (2001). Grand Chess tournaments were held annually beginning in 1998 by the (now defunct) correspondence game club NOST.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Rules

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Mate in 2
by Pal Benko

 

Solution: 1.Qj10+ Kxj10 2.h8=C#

The white pieces are placed on the first and second ranks and the white pawns are placed on the third rank as shown in the diagram. The white rooks alone are placed on the first rank, which makes it easier for them to activate earlier in the game since they are not blocked as much by the other pieces as they are in standard chess. The black rooks are placed the same, for the same advantage. Black's pieces are placed on the ninth and tenth ranks, and the black pawns are placed on the eighth rank.

A white pawn may elect to either promote or remain a pawn upon reaching the eighth and ninth ranks, but must promote upon reaching the tenth rank. Unlike standard chess, a pawn may be promoted only to a captured piece of the same color, so it is illegal for either side to have two queens, or two marshals, or three rooks, etc. If no captured piece is available for promoting a white pawn about to reach the tenth rank, the pawn must stay on the ninth rank, but it can still give check. This is analogous in standard chess to the ability of a piece to give check even when the piece is absolutely pinned.

Similarly, a black pawn promotes optionally upon reaching the third and second ranks, but must promote in order to move to the first rank. It can still give check from the second rank to a white king on the first rank, even if it can't yet legally move to the first rank.

As in standard chess, pawns can move one or two squares on their first move, and they may also capture en passant.

As in standard chess, checkmate is a win and stalemate is a draw. There is no castling in Grand Chess.^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Sample games

Vehre vs. Schmittberger, 2001

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Final position after 29.Mxe8

Played between John Vehre and R. Wayne Schmittberger at the 2001 Grand Chess Cyber Championship Final:^[3]

1.f5 f6 2.Nh4 Nh7 3.g4 g7 4.Nc4 Nc7 5.d4 d7 6.e5 Bd8! 7.Rje1 Kd10 8.Kf1 fxe5 9.Ncxe5?! Kc9 10.Re2? Kb9 11.Kg1 Rjf10 12.Bd3 e6 13.Rf1 Mh10?! 14.Nc4 Ci10 15.Nd6 exf5 16.Bxf5 Bd5 17.Ci1 Bxh4 18.ixh4 g6? 19.Rfe1 gxf5 20.Nxf5! Qd8 21.Bxc7 Qxc7 22.Re9+ Kc10 23.Cxc7 bxc7 24.Qf4 d6 25.Qe3 Mg8 26.Me2 Nf6 27.Qe7 Nd7 28.Qe8+ Mxe8 29.Mxe8 1–0 [Annotations by Vehre]

Fool's mate

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Position after 3.Cxc8#

1.Cf4 Qd10 2.Ce6 Qf10 3.Cxc8#

Strategy

H. G. Muller suggested the following estimated piece values:^[4]

pawn	0.85
knight	2.75
bishop	3.25 (+0.5 for the bishop pair)
rook	5
cardinal	8.5
marshal	9
queen	9.5

See also

• Capablanca chess
• Embassy Chess

References

Notes

1. NOST (kNights Of the Square Table), formed in 1960 by Bob Lauzon and Jim France, held an annual convention and enjoyed several hundred active members (Pritchard 1994:210).
2. "We're so used to castling that we tend to forget that it is the weirdest move in Chess, implemented specifically to solve a problem. Chess turned out a great game despite its problem, but it needed an ad hoc fix to do so. In Grand Chess, pawns retain their usual distance and rooks are free from the onset, so the problem doesn't exist in the first place." (Freeling)

Citations

1. Bodlaender, Hans; Brown, John William. "Christian Freeling's Grand Chess". The Chess Variant Pages. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
2. Dylan Loeb McClain (2007-08-19). "Giraffes, Viziers and Wizards: Variations on the Old Game". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
3. http://www.samiam.org/grandchess/2001-VS.pdf
4. http://www.chessvariants.com/index/displaycomment.php?commentid=28113

Bibliography

• Hochberg, Burt (August 1997). "Don't be Scared, It's Still Chess". Chess Life.
• Pritchard, D. B. (2007). Beasley, John, ed. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.
• Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
• Schmittberger, R. Wayne (1992). New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 978-0471536215.

Further reading

• Beasley, John D., ed. (January 2010). "Grand Chess". Variant Chess (British Chess Variants Society) 8 (63): 142–44. ISSN 0958-8248.
• Gardner, Tony (2000–2002). Handscomb, Kerry, ed. "The Grand Chess Corner". Abstract Games (Carpe Diem Publishing) (3–12). ISSN 1492-0492.
• Horne, Malcolm (Spring 1996). Wood, Peter C., ed. "Grand Chess". Variant Chess (British Chess Variants Society) 2 (19): 181–82, 184. ISSN 0958-8248.
• Horne, Malcolm (Summer 1997). Jelliss, George P., ed. "Grand Chess: The Yerevan Games". Variant Chess (British Chess Variants Society) 3 (24): 71–72. ISSN 0958-8248.
• Vehre, John (2003). Handscomb, Kerry, ed. "The Grand Chess Corner". Abstract Games (Carpe Diem Publishing) (13–14). ISSN 1492-0492.

External links

• Official website
• 2001 Cyber World Championship game annotated by John Vehre
• Grand Chess: The Yerevan Games by Malcolm Horne
• Grand Chess at BoardGameGeek
• Grand Chess a simple program by Ed Friedlander (Java)