I've been reading through my copy of Encyclopedia of Chess Variants
by D. B. Pritchard. This is an excellent book, I
recommend it highly. I came up with a new concept that might make an interesting game. Part of the problem with new pieces is
remembering how they all move. In Letter Chess, each piece can be considered at the center of a 5x5 square. The piece can
move from the central square to any of the indicated black squares. These were the letters that looked the best, to my eyes.
Shiatzu is a form of massage, by the way.
Rules
The game is played by two players on a board of 7 by 7 squares. Rules
are as in orthodox chess, except
that pieces move as indicated by their diagram. E.g., the letter T piece
can move either one or two squares vertically or make a knight jump in
the narrow forwards directions or jump two squares diagonally forwards.
The piece with the letter A is considered to take the role of king (I
assume), i.e., mating that piece is purpose of the game. Stalemate rules
are as in orthodox chess; there is no castling or en passant capture.
Notes
The setup as given by Ed Pegg Jr. is of course not the only possible to
make with these kind of `Letter Pieces'; different setups are possible,
and perhaps some readers can think up some nice ones? E.g., are there
fair setups where players have different armies but the two words also
mean something opposite? (Would Shogi against Chess be a fair game in
this setting?)
Written by Hans Bodlaender, based on webpage of Ed Pegg Jr. (Images and
quote used with permission. Images by Ed Pegg Jr.) These kind of
diagrams already appear in the book Meta
Chess by John William Brown.
WWW page created: September 29, 1999.
