![]() | A King can move to any adjacent square, but never to a square where it can be captured. It may also jump two squares in its first move. |
![]() | The Giraffe moves like an extended Knight, i.e. like a (4,1) jumper. |
![]() | The Lion jumps three squares in an orthogonal direction. |
![]() | The Griffon begins its move by stepping one square diagonally. Then, it may slide an arbitrary number of squares orthogonally. It does not jump. |
![]() | A Rook moves any number of squares orthogonally on a rank or a file. It may not leap over other pieces. |
![]() | A Bishop moves any number of squares on a diagonal. It may not leap over other pieces. In Grande Acedrex, this piece is usually represented as a Crocodile figurine. |
![]() | The first move of the Unicorn is a non-capturing Knight move. Afterwards, the Unicorn moves as a modern Bishop. |
![]() | A Pawn can move straight ahead one square, or two squares from its starting position. A Pawn captures by moving one square ahead and diagonally. If a Pawn reaches the last rank it promotes, changing into the piece which started the game on the promotion square, or to a Griffon when promoting on the King's square. |
DescriptionGrande Acedrex, an old chess variant, is played on a 12x12 chessboard.\ Pawns promote to the piece which started on their promotion square (on King square, they promote to Griffon).Pawns do not have an initial double step. However, King and Unicorn have an initial jump. There is no castling. Three ways of winning are possible:
HistoryGrande Acedrex is a very old game. It appeared 1283 in the Libro del Acedrex. The theme of Grande Acedrex is also different from Chess; the pieces symbolize mythological animals (tropical animals were probably just as mythological to that time), and not military units.StrategyTBD.More information on Grande Acedrex can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/acedrex.html. |