A Chess Set

A Chess Set

           being

A Handful of Games

A short book by Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Merridonia

taken from

A Leap of Recreation™

also by the same author

and with reference to

Tiger’s-eye Games

by Glenn Nicholls

© Copyright Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls 2019-2020

The moral right to the author’s work herein is asserted by himself, namely Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Merridonia.

Merridonian copyright or Copyright of those of Merridonia is without limit, and those of Merridonia are those that have been accepted by the author and stated to be so accepted by the author.

Merridonian copyright requires acceptance by the author.

Trademarks herein are Merridonian trademarks of the author.

Merridonia is a private world by invitation of the author only.

With regard to Steps along the Way of Chess by the author – Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls (SAE Nicholls), as with all parts of A Leap of Recreation™ and all and any additions to them there can only ever be the granting or the agreement of or for short-term temporary permissions and never long-term or permanent rights or agreements or contracts of any kind, and interpretation of all aspects herein and related to is the reserved right of the author.

The author has full valuation and revaluation rights in all matters relevant to his work and has the right to decide what matters are relevant to his work.

A Chess Set takes place in

The Median-lands

of

Satellite-world

More often known as Merridonia

Where one’s days can be many and where Justice and Fairness have much Regard

Forward from Steps along the way of Chess

A Chess Set contains what might be thought of as the cornerstone of Steps along the way of Chess, and could perhaps be read as a stand-alone book and so is given a separate page on this site by this name.....

Introduction

The games that form A Chess Set, namely LancerChess, QiPlacements, Arabella, Meridian and Storm with their variations are very much based on, respectively, the games of Western chess, Chinese chess, Arabian chess, Mongolian chess and Capablanca chess that as said in the General Introduction form much of the basis of Steps along the Way of Chess and because of this basing I have found most all of these games (called Matched games) suitable to form standard groups of games as set out in part two of the book.....but when basing a game on such well known and long-played games it is necessary, I think, to try to introduce something that gives an impetus to the existing game and what that something may hopefully be I have, mostly, set out in the introduction to each game or in its further rules and notes section or in the game’s variation section and it is in these game variation sections that comparisons can perhaps best be made since here there is usually a direct playing of the existing base game against the steps game (called Bridge games) and this idea has been carried forward into standard groups of games.....

The Game of LancerChess

Introduction

The game of LancerChess (one word) is a basic variant of Western chess and the object of this game is to provide a few simple changes to the standard game of Western chess such that provide additional scope and some new and interesting complexities to the game whilst retaining the overall feel of the standard game. Of note with the game's Lancers is the increased individuality of the minor pieces and particularly that of the movement of Queens’ Lancers on opposite coloured diagonals giving an initial balanced advantage for each side on one set of diagonals – advanced players may find this feature of interest. Also included is the Game variation of Clash and a Circuit puzzle.

Background

There are very brief details only of this battle that are known – it is known that the battle takes place in the distant past in the Disputed realm (known as the Fractured realm in an even more distant past - see Touchstone in Part four: Other, further games).....exact reasons and causes for the battle are not known and little else of these mysterious times is known either.

Object

The object of the Battle (game) is to Checkmate the opposing Queen and this wins the battle.

Board at commencement

Moves of Pieces

Western chess comparisons for piece moves are as follows:

A King – he is identical to a Queen

A Queen – she is identical to a King

A King’s or Queen’s tower - its powers are identical to Rooks

A Baron – he is identical to a Bishop

A Baroness – she is identical to a Bishop

The Kings' Knights on G1 & G8 are replaced with Kings' Lancers. These can move to any square either one or two squares away in a vertical or horizontal direction and can jump over any intervening piece if moving two squares. He captures on the square he moves to and not any square he moves over when moving two squares.

The Queens' Knights on B1 & B8 are replaced with Queens' Lancers. These can move to any square either one or two squares away in a diagonal direction and can jump over any intervening piece if moving two squares. He captures on the square he moves to and not any square he moves over when moving two squares.

Though they do not appear in LancerChess there is in Further thoughts - Further pieces a description of pieces called a Lance-commander and a Knight-royal.

A Pikeman – he is identical to a Pawn of Western chess except for minor promotion changes as below.

Promotions of Pikemen on reaching their end rank are the choice of King, Siege-tower (that in promotion need not be distinguished between King's or Queen's - see note below on Siege-towers), Baron/Baroness or Lancer. If there is promotion to a Lancer then this must be to a King's Lancer if the colour of the promotion square is the same as the colour of the commencing square of the original King's Lancer or to a Queen's Lancer if the colour of the promotion square is the same as the colour of the commencing square of the original Queen's Lancer (see Further thoughts - Various). If there is promotion to a Baron/Baroness there is no distinction in the name and the promoted Pikeman is simply called a Noble and he has the powers of a Western chess Bishop.

Underpromotion

Note that the term underpromotion is often used where the choice is made to promote to a weaker piece than the strongest possible, this being the King in LancerChess - reasons for this can include forks by Lancers (in LancerChess - there are different forks in other games) that may be more advantageous, or to overcome a Stalemate defence (an example of this is seen later in Studies etc. with the Saavedra study).  Most Steps games allow for underpromotions in some way even though some are highly unlikely to give advantage over stronger promotions, if at all. 

Game transpositions

Of further note is that as well as the usual opening line transpositions there are also (part) game transpositions here where LancerChess can transpose to Western chess if all the Lancers are captured (discounting the slight differences in promotion choices - I have kept these to a minimum). Transpositions from Clash of this sort are also possible - see next; also others - e.g. Capablanca chess and variations of this - see Storm.  Opening line transpositions occur when opening moves lead to the same position they otherwise would but are played in a different order.

Further Rules and Notes

Jumping involves linear movement such as the Lancers described above whereas leaping involves oblique movement such as with the Knights of Western chess.

It can be seen that at the commencing position the Queens’ Lancers guard the equivalent of the weakly protected (in Western chess) Kings’ Bishop two squares.

And also with the Queen's Lancer players who are ambitious to win as north may find it a key piece for the reason mentioned in the introduction.

Also of note is that the King’s Lancer can force Checkmate on an 8x8 board with only his Queen’s help against a lone Queen within a reasonable number of moves* and he attacks more squares than does the Western chess Knight on most of the board (48 of 64 squares) and he may give advantages when Protecting the Queen with the King's Tower instead of the Queen's whereas "long castling" in Western chess is not considered preferable in most situations; indeed the King's Lancer seems particularly well suited to moving in and around the basic kingside protected position (with f, g and h Pikemen unmoved) where he can defend many of the squares in this area of the board - it's worth a look at this I think, and perhaps also at other positions that might arise here and at various protected positions on the queenside where comparisons to kingside positions could be interesting - there are considerable differences.....note that the eastern side of the board is called the kingside and the western side is called the queenside, though using compass points is acceptable and these could give more precision if required - e.g. the south-eastern quadrant.

*An example of this is given later in LancerChess - he also has this Checkmating ability in Chinese chess type games even if the Royal pieces also have a diagonal move - e.g. in the game of Shadow (see later) where he appears as a Rider…..and an example of this ability is given in the game of Meridian, though the piece here (a Leading Swordsman) does not have Jumping powers – they are not however needed in this basic situation.

Western chess is often called International chess and this reflects the status this game has been accorded.....and Western chess is sometimes called the Royal Game and indeed many such as Kings and Queens have played and been enthusiasts of this game and its precursors for centuries, and still are:*

*There are a few minor changes to some of the following quotes

Iraq 847: The Arabian chess World Championship Match

Extract from: www.arabamerica.com/Arab Contributions To The Game Of Chess

Posted on: May 15, 2019

By Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer:

‘The Arabs were also responsible for dividing the game into the three parts we know today: opening, middle and end games. According to C. Alexander in his A Book of Chess, the Arabs not only invented the World Chess Championship but also the Grandmasters. He states that in 820 A.D. there were four ‘aliyat or ‘players of the highest class’, and in 847 the Persian ar-Razi defeated al-­ ‘Adli in the presence of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil – an international contest that seems to carry a hint of the classic Fisher/Spassky clashes.’*

*The 1974 book Alexander on Chess (a fine Western chess primer) by C. H. O’D Alexander indeed states: ‘In 847 there was what sounded like the equivalent to the Boris Spassky v Bobby Fischer world championship match – a great master, the Persian ar-Razi, appeared and in the presence of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, defeated the champion al-­ ‘Adli’…..and Bobby Fischer defeated the champion Boris Spassky in a match that many say is the most famous Chess match ever played (it made headline news all over the world for weeks) after losing the first game following an apparent beginner’s mistake – a move sometimes called the biggest blunder ever made in Chess…..or was it, I’m not so sure – there is footage of him actually making this move and other footage on the match in the 2011 DVD Bobby Fischer against the World - the move was 29… Bxh2 and Boris replied 30. g3 trapping the Bishop, but Bobby at first seems to think he can save it with 30... h5 (30… Ke7! threating the b5 pawn gains a tempo that may give Bobby a chance to hold the game – I’m not sure though), and I wonder if he simply overlooked 31. Ke2 (a backward move of the King, though 31. Ke4 may have been as good)…..anyway, there is much information available about this match that took place in Reykjavík in 1972 - over a thousand years after the al-­ ‘Adli v ar-Razi match.

But unfortunately there is, of course, nothing like as much information about the match as the Boris Spassky v Bobby Fischer clash…..

From Grandmasters of Chess by Harold C. Schonberg, 1972, 1973:

‘But chess in AD 847 was altogether different from chess today.’

From Alexander on Chess by C. H. O’D Alexander, 1974:

‘Towards the end of the fifteenth century, however, a change took place that revolutionized the game: the modern moves of the Queen and Bishop were introduced.’

To be continued

St Petersburg 1914: The Western chess Grandmaster Tournament

Extracts from Grandmasters of Chess by Harold C. Schonberg, 1972, 1973:

‘In 1914, Nicholas II, Czar of all the Russians, was host to a great chess tournament instigated by the St Petersburg Chess Society*…..The world’s most important players took part…..At the banquet concluding the match, the Czar named the first five players the Grandmasters of Chess. Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall.’

*Spectator receipts were a record at the time.

And the tournament seems to have had everything you could ask for…..

To be continued

Individual pieces are usually referred to by Northern or Southern but Orange or White is allowed. Players are usually referred to as the Northern Player, or simply North, and as the Southern Player, or simply South, but Orange Player or White Player is allowed as is simply Orange or White.

The board as shown is called the Chess-valley board.

Representational: Siege towers

Once a Tower has been or can no longer be used to Protect the Queen it becomes a King's or Queen's Siege tower (and is manned as is a Tower) to reflect its greater freedom to attack and fittings should be added to the piece to show this, or alternately a separate piece of different appearance can be placed on the appropriate square - it is though no different than if it was a Rook of Western chess following castling.

Game variation - Clash

If one side plays with LancerChess pieces and the other side plays with Western chess pieces this is the game of Clash, with the player of the Western chess pieces described as having the Knights. There is little difference in the strength of the pieces of the two sides though the LancerChess pieces seem to have a small advantage and so the Southern player, who moves first, always plays with the Western chess pieces in any meaningful game or tournaments or matches or suchlike. The roles, powers and vulnerabilities of the Western chess King and Queen are reversed so as to match the LancerChess pieces as are all other aspects of the Western chess pieces matched to LancerChess such as piece names, piece style etc. Note that the Western chess pieces are still on their same squares at commencement e.g. the Western chess Queen is still on D1 or D8. The Background etc. is the same as for LancerChess.

The advantage of the LancerChess pieces over the Western chess pieces is, I think, that the King's Lancer is a stronger piece in all phases of the game than the Western chess Knight - see notes to LancerChess above, though not greatly so and this may be somewhat counter-balanced by the Queen's Lancer being "colour bound", but on balance the Lancers seem to have a small advantage over the Knights.

With regard to piece strengths the basic valuation of the Western chess pieces is often given as Pawn = 1, Knight = 3, Bishop = 3, Rook = 5 and Queen = 9, but I would emphasise this is a general approximation for the standard game of Western chess only (but see Storm Force 24 in Further thoughts - Other possible games etc. where I have kept to this basis for other pieces), a further point is that the Knight and Bishop are often referred to as the Minor pieces with the Rook and Queen referred to as the Major pieces…..the Royal piece is not given a value since if captured the game is lost, but non-royal pieces that move as does the King of Western chess occur a few times in Steps and as a rough general approximation only their value on a comparable basis might be taken as 3½ - a bit subjective though, but he has the Checkmating abilities of the King’s Lancer mentioned earlier and examples of both are shown next…..but what of the basic value of the pieces of standard Chinese chess if on a comparable basis – well, starting with the Chariot = 5 and by checking with the valuation of one or two others perhaps a rough approximation might be Cannon = 3, Horse = 2½, Elephant = 1, Guard = 1, Promoted soldier = 1 and unpromoted Soldier = ½ - but it must be emphasised that this is only a general approximation and is also a bit subjective…..and the Lancers – again this is somewhat subjective, but a rough general value might be King’s Lancer = 3½ and Queen’s Lancer = 3, but the Queen’s may be worth slightly less.....and perhaps, with the same provisos, we should round off for now with the following additions from the remaining Base games, though piece names here are those of Steps:

Chinese chess: Sceptre = 1, perhaps more*

Arabian chess: Princess/Enchantress = 1½ and Catapult = 1½ (Steps version only: Jini = 7)

Mongolian chess: Prince-royal (aka Snow Panther) = 7

Capablanca chess: Precedent = 8 and Adviser = 7

But there are some more piece values to be found in Arabella and Meridian.....and for some Storm and other pieces there are values in Storm Force 24 as mentioned above.

*I have given the Sceptre a specific mention and value as this can have a significant impact in the end game – perhaps more so than a Promoted soldier if less so in the middle game, and this being the case one seems a reasonable value…..examples of the effectiveness of this piece can be found in Meridian and Studies in part four.

Checkmate with King’s Lancer and Adjacent

Queen + King’s Lancer v Queen

To win South will need to force the Northern Queen into a corner of the board – nowhere else will do, and in common with these types of training exercises we start with a position that could not be much more difficult to do this – but this is common for these types of exercises

North Queen d5

South Queen a1

South King’s Lancer  h1

South to move with a material situation that could occur in a game of LancerChess

Queen + Adjacent v Queen

The Adjacent is from the game Crystal of Doom and moves as a non-royal Western chess King, and in Steps this is a hypothetical Checkmate – it is however not too difficult to learn and South does not have to force North into a corner, an edge will do though North may go to a corner…..as with the exercise above it may be worthwhile practice in the close co-operation of two pieces

North Queen d5

South Queen a1

South Adjacent h1

South to move in a material situation that may yet occur in a game

To be continued

The King’s Lancer’s circuit 2D

This is a basic Circuit puzzle suitable for beginners played on a 3x3 board where the King’s Lancer of LancerChess commences from square A1 and he must land on every square of the board once and finish back on square A1. An example follows:

1. Commences from A1 to B1

2. from B1 to C1

3. from C1 to C2

4. from C2 to C3

5. from C3 to B3

6. from B3 to B2! - B3 to A3? and the Circuit fails.

7. from B2 to A2

8. from A2 to A3

9. Finishes with A3 to A1 - and the Circuit succeeds with a jump.

The King’s Lancer’s circuit 3D

The King's Lancer can also complete a circuit on a 3D board of 3x3x3 and one possibility is shown below with diagrams and using numbers to show the order of moves. He commences from and finishes on the green coloured number 27 square:

Notes

If on level 1 the King's Lancer were to jump from the number 8 square to the green coloured number 27 square this would be the 2D circuit of above.

Solutions involving a level jump are also possible and an example is given after the section on clocks.

Circuits and the similar tours are possible with other pieces with that of the Knight of Western chess being the best known and examples of these are also given after the section on clocks.

Information Table

Notes on Type of piece

Staunton pieces is the name of a design, credited to Nathaniel Cook, of Western chess pieces that were first made available in 1849 by Jaques of London; they are named after Howard Staunton who for some years around this time was generally regarded as the world's strongest Western chess player.

Staunton pieces are very widely used and are currently the type of piece that, according to the current rules of Western chess, are to be used for competitions (as stated earlier tournament boards would likely have squares upwards of 2ins with height of Kings at some way over 3ins).....type and size of pieces and boards is not necessarily so for Steps.

A picture of an original Jaques Staunton set is shown below and an example of a representational set is shown in Further thoughts - Name changes etc.

And below is shown a picture of the Gothic piece variation mentioned earlier in Steps

Note

It is perhaps stretching things a little to classify the Gothic pieces as a variation of the standard Staunton pieces, but I find them a good basic design and by classifying them as such they have a reserved place in Steps. 

Setup

The Game of QiPlacements

Introduction

QiPlacements (one word where Qi is pronounced as in the English word key) is very much based on Chinese chess – sometimes called Xiangqi (see Further thoughts - Name changes etc.). The difference here being the placement phase of QiPlacements - a game within a game - though only two deployment placements are made by each player.

Of note here is that boards for QiPlacements would not be of paper or cardboard, as is traditional for some players of Chinese chess, but would be of the finest quality wood or other quality material.

Also included are specified deployment placement procedures – Traditional, Accelerated and Encounter.

Background

In the time of spoken Legends and Myths there is dispute over rights to the Stream that runs between the Rainbow Territories as this Stream is said to have magical healing properties and though this is perhaps but legend and myth only there are many who believe it to be true and there has finally come a time when battle is about to commence to decide who has priority over rights to the Magic stream (as it is called).

Object

The object of the Battle (game) is to Checkmate the opposing Princess and this wins the battle.

Boards:

The board shown above is that used at the very start of the game where the Cannons are awaiting placement (or deployment if the word is preferred).....the Forbidden placement squares that are explained later can simply be a removable overlay and then the rest of the game can take place on a board without them as shown below and some players may prefer not to have these squares shown at all, but in tournaments or matches or suchlike they must be shown during placement and then after placement they must not be shown for the remainder of the game.

Moves of Pieces

Chinese chess comparisons for piece moves are as follows:

A Princess – she is identical to a General, both Princesses are young

An Attendant – she is identical to a Guard

A Protector – he is identical to an Elephant

A Horse – he is identical to a Horse

A Chariot – its powers are identical to Chariots

Soldiers – his powers are identical to Soldiers and he compulsorily promotes to a Leading soldier on his sixth rank who is identical to the promoted Soldier of Chinese Chess and he should differ in appearance to that of an un-promoted Soldier.

Awaiting Placement – see below: Cannons – its powers are identical to Cannons.

Order of Play:

First there is a placement of Cannons to unoccupied squares within their own Territory, other than the Forbidden squares – see below. The first Blue Cannon is placed then followed by the first Green Cannon; then the second and last Blue Cannon is placed followed by the second and last Green Cannon. This is called the Placement phase with the Alternate placing as there is here called so. After the placement of Cannons there follows the Engagement phase where Blue moves first and moves are then played alternately.

Background - the Forbidden squares

As part of the background ethos it is forbidden, when placing them in the placement phase, to train a Cannon on a Princess, a Protector or a Chariot (these are manned) – all are initially undefended – and so the Forbidden squares as shown on the board are not permitted to have a Cannon placed on any of them. It is permitted, however, to train a Cannon on a Soldier – see Note below. During the Engagement phase the Forbidden squares (that are also the Soldiers’ promotion squares) are the same as ordinary squares and have no different effect (other than promotions) than any other ordinary square, also Cannons are now free to attack any piece, whether defended or not, in the same way as any other piece is free to.

Note

The Forbidden squares benefit initially undefended pieces from immediate Cannon attacks, but since these squares benefit Soldiers by their promotion when (if) reaching them they do not also have the benefit of immunity from having a Cannon initially trained on them.

Further Rules and Notes

There are three specific placements that follow a set procedure of offers/counter-offers and acceptance as follows:

 1. The Traditional placement

If south places his first Cannon on square H3 then this must be construed as an offer to play Traditional Chinese chess and if north places his first Cannon on B8 then he is deemed to have accepted this offer and then south must place his second Cannon on B3 and north must place his remaining Cannon on H8. This is effectively Chinese chess and is called the Traditional placement.

2. The Accelerated placement

If south places his first Cannon on square F4 then this must be construed as an offer to play a placement variation called the Accelerated placement and if north places his first Cannon on D7 then he is deemed to have accepted this offer and then south must place his second Cannon on D4 and north must place his remaining Cannon on F7. This placement is called accelerated because if played from the traditional Chinese chess placement position it takes twice as many moves for the Cannons to reach these squares i.e. four moves each side

3. The Encounter placements

 This is usually simply called Encounter and is where one side plays with the Traditional placement while the other side plays with the Accelerated placement and comes about as follows:

a) If south places his first Cannon on H3 he is construed to be offering to play Traditional Chinese chess as above, but if north places his first Cannon on D7 he is deemed to have made a counter-offer to play an Encounter placement and if south places his second Cannon on B3 he is deemed to have accepted this offer and north must place his second Cannon on F7

b) If south places his first Cannon on F4 he is construed to be offering to play the Accelerated placement as above, but if north places his first Cannon on B8 he is deemed to have made a counter-offer to play an Encounter placement and if south places his second Cannon on D4 he is deemed to have accepted this offer and north must place his second Cannon on H8

To distinguish between a) and b) it is stated who has the Traditional placement.

Note

These offer, counter-offer and acceptance rules for Encounter placements apply to what are called Stand-alone games and where games are played in the Rainbow group (see Part two: Grouping of Games) they differ.

Open placements

It is possible to reach the above positions by transposition of placements - perhaps including subsequent moves (this is not considered proper - even if the player 'with the move' is reversed, and players could well forfeit games for doing so), but where none of the above placement positions are reached the classification is Open placement and this would be assumed if nothing was otherwise stated.

A Note on Encounter

Encounter is considered to be the Bridge game of the Matched games of Chinese chess and QiPlacements Accelerated/Open placements - the advantage of the Accelerated placement over the Traditional placement of Chinese chess would seem to be the quicker control of open files by the Chariots with the possibility of them then moving into the opposing territory.....in significant games south would usually have the Traditional placement thereby giving first move advantage to the Traditional placement.

Other notes

Tests suggest that with correct play no significant advantage can be gained from the placement phase.

Copying placements during the placement phase can lead to significant loss of material.

Discounting the required order of Traditional, Accelerated and Encounter placements, the possible number of placement moves is 26 x 26 x 25 x 25 = 422,500 and if there were no symmetry this would lead to 105,625 positions, but there is some symmetry and some positions give advantage – however as something of a guess I would think viable placements run into thousands and perhaps well into thousands. Also see Further thoughts - Other possible games etc. - Deployment variation from TigerChess, where two possible deployment placement variations are described with Western chess as an example.

Princesses, like Generals in Chinese chess, are forbidden to face each other along an otherwise (between them) unoccupied file - see later

The background etc. is the same for all these placements/games.

Pieces are 3D and not disc-like as they are traditionally in Chinese chess, below is a picture of an antique traditional Chinese chess set whilst in Further thoughts - Name changes etc. there is a picture of a 3D representational set

Note that Generals in Chinese chess are piece names and not player names as they are in QiPlacements.

It has been said that Chinese chess is probably played by more people than any other board game in the world.

Individual pieces are usually referred to by Green or Blue but Northern or Southern is allowed.

Players are usually referred to as the Green General or the Blue General but Northern General or Southern General is allowed as is simply Green or Blue or simply North or South.

Further of Cannons, and Two-piece Pins and Triple and Quadruple checks

It seems the Cannon was probably not part of the original game of Chinese chess and may not have been added to the game for some centuries – the Cannon’s (and Horse’s) move make possible several situations that do not occur in Western chess:

Two-piece Pin

A single Cannon can pin two pieces - for example, with South to move

North Cannon e7

North Princess e10

South Horse e4

South Protector e3

South Princess e1

South must move his Princess since moving either his Horse or Protector would leave his Princess in check – both the Horse and Protector are then pinned.

Triple check

An example, with South to move

North Princess e10

South Horse e6

South Chariot e4

South Cannon e3

South Princess e1

Horse to f8 or d8 and North’s Princess is in check from South’s Horse, Chariot and Cannon.

Quadruple-check with Checkmate

The Quadruple-checkmate Puzzle makes a reasonably challenging Chinese chess puzzle and is: To set up a position where one side has four pieces and moves to Checkmate in one with a check from all four pieces – obviously both Princesses must also be placed on the board (or the position would be illegal) and there could be a further stipulation that no Chariot is allowed – an answer:

North Princess f8

South Leading soldier (or Chariot) g7

South Horse h7

South Horse g6

South Cannon f5

South Princess e1

South is to move (North is not in check here - this would be illegal with South to move)

Leading soldier (or Chariot) to f7 and North’s Princess is in Checkmate with a check from all four of South’s pieces - there are also variations where the four pieces give check but not Checkmate (for example if all the pieces were moved one square to the left though South’s Princess need not be, or just South's Princess could be moved one square left or right).

This Quadruple-check with Checkmate could perhaps theoretically occur in a game, but it is intended as an amusing puzzle only rather than a study, and perhaps it should be added that the Horses are not necessary for Checkmate here but their unblocking gives rise to two extra checks that are necessary to answer the puzzle.

Opening shots and the Quickfire gambit.....and statistics

When looking at the Traditional and Accelerated placements it can be seen that it is possible to make captures with the Cannons at the very start of the game:

With the Traditional placement South can start the game by exchanging both his Cannons for both opposing Horses, but the recapturing Chariots then come more quickly into the game and the Cannons are likely to be an advantage for the coming middle game – this opening possibility may scarcely have been played and were South to play it he would, I think, find himself at a disadvantage if playing against an equally strong North…..but this opening could be played by inexperienced players as practice games where South must make the most of his Horses and North the most of his Cannons – perhaps useful learning experience made more so by the focus on different pieces…..and perhaps it should have a name – ‘Opening shots’ seems passable.

With the Accelerated placement South also has possibilities to make immediate captures with his Cannons, but these are of a different type from the above Opening shots and the possibilities can collectively be named the ‘Quickfire gambit’ where the object is to use the Cannons to leave the opposing Princess with less defence and open to a subsequent attack, particularly by South’s Chariots…..so, keeping symmetry in mind, some moves are:

1. Cannon x Attendant f10 (One shot variation)

The very first move is a gambit by South – Quickfire indeed

1… Princess x Cannon f10

This leaves North’s other Attendant undefended, and so

2. Cannon x Attendant d10 (Two shot variation)

At first glance it appears South has captured both of North’s Attendants for the loss of one of his Cannons, and his second Cannon on d10 attacks both North’s Horse on b10 (though defended by the a10 Chariot) and his undefended Protector on g10…..but the Cannon cannot simply be extricated and escape being captured

2… Princess e10

North attacks the Cannon immediately

3. Cannon x Protector g10 (Three shot variation)

The Cannon now forks the Chariot on i10 and the Protector on c10 – both are undefended

3… Chariot i8

North moves his Chariot out of the line of fire

4. Cannon x Protector c10 (Four shot variation)

South has captured all four of North’s defensive pieces after four moves and his Cannon now forks the a10 Chariot and the h10 Horse…..and both are undefended

4… Chariot a9

North moves his a10 Chariot out of the line of fire - the Chariots have full control of their second and third ranks

5. Cannon x Horse h10 (Five shot variation)

The Cannon captures the undefended h10 Horse and attacks North’s remaining Horse on b10 who is now himself undefended, and in addition also has a possible escape route back along the h file…..North here has a choice of moving or defending his remaining Horse, or cutting off the Cannon’s escape route

5… Chariot h8

North cuts off the Cannon’s escape route and attacks it while taking control of the open h file

6. Cannon x Horse b10 (Six shot variation)

The Cannon captures North’s undefended remaining Horse and also now has a new possible escape route, this time back along the b file

6… Chariot b9

North cuts off the new escape route and attacks the Cannon and also takes control of the open b file

7. Cannon c10

South moves his Cannon out of attack

This is probably the most radical line (perhaps rather an extreme one) of this opening and has led to the opposite of gambits generally with South here having a material advantage but not an initiative as all his pieces other than the Cannon are unmoved, whereas North has both his Chariots fully active, but North has lost all his defensive pieces and his Princess could be very vulnerable if South can bring his Chariots into the vicinity of her Palace.....but whatever of the above mentioned choices North continues with on his fifth move I think he would need to make full use of his more active Chariots with the support of his Cannons before South can use his own Chariots in an attack on the Northern Princess…..but there are other possible moves besides those shown.....first though it may be worth saying something of Initiative and Tempi:

It is widely considered that at the start of a game of both Western and Chinese chess the first moving side has an advantage – how much of an advantage though…..well, there are now databases of many high level games of Western chess going back well over a hundred years and the statistics suggest an advantage to the first moving player of perhaps around 55%.....but I am not aware of such an amount of information being readily available for Chinese chess – however in his 1974 book Hsiang Ch'i (a fine introduction to the game) Terence Donnelly states that having first move in Chinese chess probably gives a greater advantage than in Western chess, and gives an example of a 50 game collection where First move won 33 and Second move 13, with the remaining 4 being draws (at 8% a much lower percentage of draws than in high level Western chess – over 50%)…..this gives a First move advantage of 70%*, but the number of games are far less than the Western chess numbers here – nevertheless I think it is worth keeping these figures in mind…..

*The calculation for this is: add the number of wins to half the number of draws, then divide this by the total number of games, finally - multiply this by a hundred for a percentage…..and for Second move subtract this from a hundred – giving a 30% disadvantage here.

To be continued

Representational

The Stream separating the Blue and Green territories is representational only and has no actual effect on the game as the river has no actual effect in Chinese chess.

Horses and Chariots and Cannons are manned.

With regard to Princesses being forbidden to face each other along an otherwise (between them) unoccupied file - see earlier: this is also the case for the Royal pieces in Meridian, RiverQi and Shadow.....the representational aspects of this are that these Royal pieces have a talismanic Sceptre (Staff in the case of the Sorceress of Shadow) that can send rays (vertically forwards only) along unoccupied squares along files, but they only have effect against the opposing Royal piece and these pieces may not move into them or be exposed to them - there should be ornamental Sceptres/Staffs for these pieces. 

After the battle the Stream was to eventually become a large River – see the game RiverQi later.

Information Table

Pieces

The Game of Arabella

Introduction

The game of Arabella is based on the game of Arabian chess that was the game Western chess developed from. There are in this game a few changes from Arabian chess that hopefully will add some new and interesting features, the most noticeable being the Flying carpets and the Jinis. The game could be called Jini if wished so. Note that the moves for the pieces are set out in a Table and in a way that I think is suitable here. Also included is the game variation of Invasion and there are Traditional and Modern variations with regard to some optional moves.

Background

The short background story here makes reference to the story of Aladdin that has been put into film and performed as a theatre play and is well known and readily available. Aladdin was a real life character some centuries ago and an outstanding Arabian chess player - perhaps the strongest of his time.

The story then is:

A wicked Magician has sought to usurp the rule of a faraway Kingdom together with his wicked Enchantress by capturing the King’s young and beautiful and only daughter while he is far away visiting friendly Kingdoms and so his young but brave adopted and orphaned son - the Kingdom's prince, must defend the Kingdom until he returns.

Prior to the battle commencing the wicked Magician was attempting to deceive the Kingdom into believing his intentions were honourable with regard to the Kingdom in that he wished for the hand of the Princess and no more (he in fact sought to rule the Kingdom by this way and knew of the King’s absence and intended to take advantage of this). As a token of good faith each side exchanged their great Lamp and their Jini who resided within them, but the Kingdom’s Ward lost trust and refused further talks and the wicked Magician refused to return the Kingdom’s Lamp and Jini, mistakenly believing him to be more powerful than his own - the Kingdom responded likewise, thus at the start of the battle both Jinis are within their Lamps and are prisoners of the opposing side and the wicked Magician and his wicked Enchantress now seek to rule the Kingdom by the forceable capture of the Princess.

Object

The object of the Battle (game) is either to Checkmate the opposing Princess or Enchantress or to Capture all opposing Persons and this is shown in the Table mentioned in the Introduction for suitability and clarity – either wins the battle.....should both occur simultaneously no additional points are scored however.

Board at commencement

Further Rules and Notes

The Prince/Magician or the Princess/Enchantress can move (with their usual move) to the square of their Flying carpets and embark on (board) them and then the move and so capturing ability of the Flying carpet comes into play until they disembark by their own move - they can do this at any time (provided within Checking rules) but until disembarkation the move of the Flying carpet is over-riding. As can be seen the Prince/Magician can embark on either Flying carpet whereas the Princess/Enchantress cannot.

Flying carpets can only carry one at a time and only of their own side - their move is not blocked by an intervening piece and they do not need to be carrying someone to make a move or a capture.

A Check can be escaped by the move of the Flying carpet or by the Princess/Enchantress disembarking when they are on a Flying carpet.

No others can embark on a Flying carpet except those mentioned above.

When on a Flying carpet both the Flying carpet and the Prince/Magician can give check or capture a piece by virtue of their own individual moves as can the Princess/Enchantress also capture a piece by virtue of their own individual move (provided within Checking rules) but this would entail disembarkation.

Capturing a Flying carpet would also mean the Prince/Magician being captured if on board.

It should be noted that the name Flying in Flying carpets is representational in that for Regal Characters boarded on them it seems as if they are flying since when un-boarded they are earth-bound.....Flying here is then a subjective descripton used in the Kingdom and not the same as the objective description used for e.g. the Hawks of RiverQi.....If players so wish however the Carpets may be called Magic carpets and their moving described as '(going on) a Magic carpet Ride'.

Jinis do not have the ability to be embarked upon as do Flying carpets.

Although a Jini’s move includes that of a Prince/Magician he is not of Regal status.

There is no castling type move.

The classification of Persons is as shown in the moves table i.e. Horsemen and Swordsmen.

When on a Flying carpet basic Checkmate situations of a Princess/Enchantress require different moves to that of the King of Arabian chess or Western chess and when not on a Flying carpet some potential Stalemate situations can perhaps be more easily overlooked than with the aforesaid King, for example a Swordsman of the Kingdom on D3 would prevent the Enchantress from moving at all if she were on D1 (a square that a Flying carpet cannot land on).

A lone Jini can force Checkmate against a lone opposing Princess/Enchantress even if on a Flying carpet, but though this is only a theoretical situation the moves played to bring this about would still be relevant in practice in games. A lone Magician/Prince can force Checkmate against a lone Princess/Enchantress if not on a Flying carpet and though again this is only a theoretical situation the moves played would also still be relevant in practice.

Notwithstanding the Jini's checkmating ability there are situations, due to a player needing at least one of his Persons on the board, when a promotion choice to a Jini or a Horseman could involve complex considerations.

As with stating Check, a player may give warning of critical attacks of his opponent’s Persons (perhaps by a small gesture) but as with stating Check this is not compulsory.

Arabian chess was widely played for over a thousand years - longer by five centuries than Western chess, and below are shown ancient Arabian chess pieces with the white piece being the King and the green piece being the equivalent of the rook

Individual pieces (characters) are usually referred to as (Characters or those) of the Kingdom or of Enchantment e.g. a Horseman of the Kingdom or a Flying carpet of Enchantment though Regal characters are still called simply by title e.g. the Princess or the Enchantress. It is though allowable to call pieces as Northern or Southern although Regal characters would again still be called simply by title.

The Wicked Magician or the Wicked Enchantress may be called such if preferred.

Players are usually referred to as the Kingdom’s Ward (or the Ward of the Kingdom) or the Magician’s Ward (or the Ward of Enchantment or Beguilement) but Northern Ward or Southern Ward is allowed as is simply North or South.

Swordsmen may or may not have an initial optional two square move as Pawns do in Western chess - see variations below.

Traditional variation

In this variation Swordsmen do not have the optional initial two square move as Pawns do in Western chess and so en passant rules do not apply.

Modern variation

in this variation, that has to be agreed by both players, Swordsmen have the optional initial two square move as do the Pawns of Western chess and en passant rules apply.

With reference to the above Traditional and Modern variations the procedure is that if a player wishes to play the Modern variation then he needs to place his Regal pieces on opposite squares to that shown in the diagram and this is construed as a wish to play the Modern variation; if the other player also places his Regal pieces likewise he will also be construed to wish to play the Modern variation and a small gesture by each player pointing out the variation situation needs to be made as confirmation of their agreement to the variation and play proceeds with the Regal pieces on these different squares - this is the case whenever the Modern variation is played. If either player has misunderstood the variation situation after a few moves (considered to be by five moves by each player) they may point this out whereupon the game must recommence with a clear understanding of what variation is to be played.

If either player does not show a wish to play the Modern variation then the player who does show a wish to play this variation must then place his Regal pieces onto the squares as shown in the diagram and the Traditional variation is then played.

Representational:

There is some background story and representation when releasing a Jini (who is inside his Magic lamp at the start of the game) that is equivalent to a Swordsman’s promotion, but here the Swordsman must look after the Jini’s Lamp - his home, for the Jini must return there after the battle (whenceforth the Swordsman would be a welcome guest there of the Jini - a rare honour). If captured a Jini must return to his Lamp but he can be released again (but no more than three times in all) in the same way though there is only one Jini for each side and whose Lamp is past each side’s end rank where there are a number of caves that have been readied for imprisoning captured pieces (characters) – see later. If a side has released their Jini and he is on the board then a Swordsman of such side upon reaching his end rank must then be promoted to a Horseman. There can and should be ornamental Lamps placed on the borders of the board and if a Jini is released the Swordsman who has done so would be placed alongside his Lamp. A Swordsman can (promote) under-promote to a Horseman instead of releasing his Jini as may happen e.g. to prevent loss by capture (or absence) of all Persons - a player needs at least one Swordsman or Horseman on the board or a loss occurs.

Jinis are in the spirit and duration of game play only - they live in their Lamps otherwise and so are non-forceful, but this has no practical effect on the game.....a Jini's Lamp is a magical home that has everything inside it that a Jini could wish for.

Persons requiring capture in order to win do not include Regality (of different status) or Siege-towers (that are constructions) or Flying carpets (that are Talismans) or Jinis (of game play spirit).

Siege-towers are manned but this does not classify them as Persons.

Horses are available for promotion purposes (they are plentiful within the Kingdom) - Horsemen are indeed on Horses and very skilled with them they are - Swordsmen are trained in and capable of these skills or would not be able to persuade a Horse to them.....a Horseman does not keep any of the moving/capturing powers he had as a Swordsman.

For those who like representational points the Swordsmen when playing the Modern variation can have their Swords raised in a more aggressive stance than when the Traditional variation is played – the Swordsmen could and perhaps should have this adjustable ornamental ability.

A further background point is that the Prince also has no siblings.

Notes

Those captured during the battle, who could include the Prince or the Magician, are imprisoned in caves that are concealed by spells of the Wards (players), and Swordsmen are then unable to find them to carry out rescues of them and can only release their Jini as described above (also see next note) or themselves promote to a Horseman, also described above…..after the battle the winning Ward is able to counter the spells of the opposing Ward and find the caves and release (or recover) those captured - this may entail further adventures however.

At commencement of the battle both Jinis are in their Magic lamps and are also imprisoned in caves that are concealed by spells of the Wards, but when (if) release by a Swordsman is imminent their Magic lamps are powerful enough to overcome the spell of concealment and so make their presence known – at the end of the battle the winning Jini is released from imprisonment (if not already so) but must return to his Lamp (if not already there).

Game variation - Invasion (see Further thoughts - Name changes etc.)

The differences with Invasion to Arabella are:

1. The Characters of the Kingdom must Checkmate the Magician not the Enchantress (the Characters of Enchantment must still Checkmate the Princess) - the capturing of all Persons object remains the same. The Magician (and perhaps also the Enchantress) should differ in appearance from Arabella - possibly in apparel.

2. The Magician and Enchantress cannot board Flying carpets as they are now non-talismanic and non-boardable Catapults - Catapults still otherwise move the same and, though manned, are classified as constructions and not Persons.

Notes

The rules regarding the Traditional and Modern variations of Arabella also apply here and so there are two variations of Invasion - the deployment procedure is also the same as in Arabella.

The Characters of the Kingdom (who are said here to have the Talismans) may have something of an advantage, but the Characters of Enchantment (or of Beguilement if preferred) are south and so have the first move advantage.....in addition it is now harder to Checkmate the Magician than the Enchantress would be (both are unable to board a Flying carpet) - and also harder than an un-boarded Princess, though it should be noted that the Magician becomes less effective than otherwise as an attacking piece now being vulnerable to Check and Checkmate - he is however still capable of the theoretical forcing of Checkmate on his own against a lone Princess - though not so were she boarded (see the earlier note regarding this), but this is not the case with the Prince, even if he is boarded, against the Magician.

There are further possible Invasion variations e.g. where those of the Kingdom must still Checkmate the Enchantress to win but where those of Enchantment must Checkmate the Prince to win and where the rules on Flying carpet boarding are as mentioned above, but these are not considered mainstream variations.

Further note

A further note is that the Arabian chess throughout Steps has the same pieces and rules as those of Invasion except:

1. Both sides have Catapults - there are then no Magic carpets, but there are Magic amulets - see below.

2. The Royal pieces that require to be Checkmated are the Magician - as with Invasion, and the Prince (who stands in the Magician's way). Both should differ in appearance from Arabella (as perhaps also should the Princess and the Enchantress including wearing Amulets – see next) - the difference could possibly be in apparel.

3. Representational: The Princess and the Enchantress both wear an Amulet (there should be ornaments) around the neck and if captured are instantly Teleported to the square of, respectively, the Prince or the Magician (the one-time only talismanic power of their Amulets) – they have then escaped their capture but henceforth must stay on the square of and move with their Prince or Magician though they are now non-forceful and have no independent powers of movement or capture and so have no practical effect on the game and share the fate (perhaps of Checkmate) of the Prince or the Magician…..this also applies in Invasion to the Enchantress…..it is said, though not by all, that in the earliest form of Chess – Indian chess*, the Raja – the royal piece, could under certain conditions, move as a Horse (here the same as the Knight of Western chess) once during the game, his usual move being as that of the Shah of Arabian chess (the same as the King of Western chess).

*So far as I can tell this is not usually named so, if at all, but Steps recognises it as such.

Note that the same Traditional and Modern variation rules and deployment procedures of Arabella also apply, and the capturing of all Persons object remains the same.....the historical version of Arabian chess has some differences to the Steps one - these can readily be looked up.

Piece values

For Arabella (and Invasion for north) the abilities and values of the Regal characters are augmented by the possibility of embarking (boarding) or disembarking from a Magic carpet…..but it is not simply a case of adding together (for the Prince - the incumbent, though this applies to the Magician also*) the values of a non-royal Arabian chess Shah and a Catapult plus a bit more for interaction….there are other versatile possibilities, for example if an embarked Prince is attacked by a Siege tower he can disembark and protect his Magic carpet, and he can do this by moving out of the Tower’s line of attack or he can shield or be shielded by the Carpet – the Carpet can at other times protect its Prince…..so as well as the earlier provisos for piece valuations there needs to be added the further one that the non-embarked valuations are for when the Prince is on the board along with one or both Carpets that are readily available – at commencement for example, while their Stand-alone values can be found in LancerChess…..anyway, it’s more of an estimate or perhaps guess than other piece values and they may well change in the light of experience (as could any piece value in any game)…..but for now:

At commencement: Prince/Magician = 4

At commencement: Magic carpet = 2

When embarked: Prince/Magician + Magic carpet = 7

*The Princess and the Enchantress are the Royal pieces when they are able to embark upon a Magic carpet – their non-royal values are shown in LancerChess…..also Horsemen and Swordsmen may become equivalent to such when only one is left, but generally their values can be taken as those of Knights and Pawns as shown in LancerChess.

Information Table

Rules

The Game of Meridian

Introduction

Meridian is a game that has features of Western and Chinese chess and one or two of Mongolian chess – it is not intended to be a full combination of these games however, but rather a fit between Western and Chinese chess with something of Mongolian chess included and there are two core variations called the Western variation and the Eastern variation plus a further variation called Combination that combines elements of the two core variations. There is also a rule variation called the Escape rule and this is something of a novelty and is considered as a variation suitable for exhibition play (see note) that some may find to be an interesting challenge and is also allowable up to high level tournaments or matches or suchlike.

There are, no doubt, many ways of bringing together elements of Western and Chinese chess and perhaps other Chess, but here I have drawn together the features that I personally find to be too associated with these games to leave out; but this has led to two core variations though both seem to give scope for attacking play and games may sometimes be quick and fierce.

Where there are differences between the Western and Eastern variations these are stated, otherwise the two variations are the same. The differences are straightforward however. Combination is explained at the end along with the Escape rule.

Note: Exhibition play is talked of in Part two: Grouping of Games

Background

Over time a once great and huge Empire has begun to fragment into a number of Kingdoms within two Khanates and the two Principal Kingdoms are the neighbouring Sapphire kingdom of the Northern Khanate and the Golden kingdom of the Southern Khanate, and as their names suggest much of the source of their wealth derives from Sapphires and Gold. There is though an area of land between them that contains huge deposits of both of these and both Kingdoms have claimed the land as their own and this area has become known as the Disputed lands. This situation has led to their Warriors, traditionally known as the Sapphire Horde and the Golden Horde, to mobilize and battle commences shortly afterwards.

Western variation: The King and Queen of both Kingdoms are themselves young and do not as yet have children and so there are no heirs to either Kingdom.

Eastern variation: The King and Queen of both Kingdoms are too elderly to directly participate in the battle and so both their young heirs (the Princes-royal) do so together with the young Princesses-royal – it is considered essential for a Prince-royal, in particular, and a Princess-royal to prove themselves in a situation of difficulty or conflict.

Here the Kings and Queens take charge of the detention of captured Warriors for by tradition captured Warriors of rival Khanates or Kingdoms are treated as guests with hospitality until their release and so both Kings and Queens prepare areas of their Palaces for such.

Note: A Princess-royal is the title given to the eldest child but where there is a son, and by tradition the eldest son is the heir.

Object

Western variation: The object of the Battle (game) is to Checkmate the opposing Queen and this wins the battle and the winning Kingdom (and Khanate) will annex the Disputed lands.

Eastern variation: The object of the Battle (game) is to Checkmate the opposing Princess-royal and this wins the battle and the winning Kingdom (and Khanate) will annex the Disputed lands.

The annexing of the Disputed lands is of course background story.

Board at commencement

Moves of Pieces

Western variation: A King – he is identical to the Queen of Western chess.

Eastern variation: A Prince-royal – he is as the “Snow Panther” of Mongolian chess – a game played for centuries in Mongolia, and moves both as the Rook of Western chess (or rather the Chariot of Chinese chess since he has no castling abilities) and a non-royal King of Western chess i.e. he has a single square diagonal move in addition to his Rook’s move.

Note

The Snow Panther is a traditional alternative name of the Prince-royal and players can call him this if they so decide - he can force Checkmate on his own against a lone Princess-royal and checkmating opportunities may arise in a game, perhaps quite suddenly with his long range move (a pouncing).....a King however cannot force Checkmate on his own against a lone Queen (but see the rule below regarding Queens, Princesses-royal and unoccupied files). 

Western variation: A Queen – she is identical to the King of Western chess except that she is confined to her Palace as is the General of Chinese chess – also the Queens may not face each other along an otherwise (between them) unoccupied file as with the Generals in Chinese chess - see QiPlacements for the representational aspects of this.

Eastern variation: A Princess-royal – she is identical to the General of Chinese chess and so she is confined to her Palace as is the General of Chinese chess – also the Princesses may not face each other along an otherwise (between them) unoccupied file as with the Generals in Chinese chess - see QiPlacements for the representational aspects of this.

A Chariot – its powers are identical to the Chariots of Chinese chess.

A Cannon – its powers are identical to those of the Cannon of Chinese chess.

A Horseman – he is identical to the Knight of Western chess.

A Shieldsman – he is identical to the Counsellor (sometimes called an Adviser or Mandarin or Guard) of Chinese chess and so is confined to his Palace.

A Pikeman – he is as the Pawn of Western chess except for the following:

All Pikeman only have an initial one square move except those on the A and I files that have the optional initial two square move as with Western chess and so the en passant rules would apply in their case, though not others.

Upon reaching his end rank a Pikeman must promote and his choices are as follows:

Western variation: If his King is detained (captured) he can rescue him though he is himself captured and detained in doing so, but he will later be given much reward should his side win the battle.

Eastern variation: If his Prince-royal is detained (captured) he can rescue him though he is himself captured and detained in doing so, but he will later be given much reward should his side win the battle.

Western Variation: A Pikeman can promote to a Pike commander who can move or capture one or two squares in any direction but cannot jump i.e. he can only “slide”.

Eastern Variation: A Pikeman can promote to a Pike leader (often called a Leading pikeman) who can move or capture one or two squares vertically or horizontally but cannot jump i.e. he can only “slide”.

In both variations a Pikeman can promote to a Horseman.

Further Rules and Notes

What variation is played is by arrangement, agreement or by roll of dice or coin.

There is no Castling type move.

The different type of Pikemen should differ in appearance.

I have refrained from bringing the Bishop of Western chess into Meridian (possibly by Pikemen promotions) - Chinese chess, like the Eastern variation, does not have a long-diagonally moving piece and the Western variation already has a King who can move so.....to bring this in would, perhaps, tilt things too much towards Western chess but the possibility remains.

Individual pieces are usually referred to by Sapphire or Golden but Northern or Southern is allowed. Players are usually referred to as the Northern Khan or the Southern Khan but simply North or South or simply Sapphire or Gold is allowed.

In something of a reverse between these two games the Western variation is usually the more tactical (but see the earlier note comparing the Royal pieces) and if a comparison with Western chess were required I would say this variation has something of nineteenth century attacking Western chess about it – but only limited comparison can be drawn with this. The Eastern variation perhaps plays more like a typical game of Chinese chess but again only a limited comparison can be drawn.

Below is shown an old Mongolian Chess set

Representational:

The Disputed lands area of the board is decorative only and has no effect on the game in any way but this area also straddles the Northern and Southern khanates as well as the Sapphire and Golden kingdoms.

Horses are available for promotion purposes (they are to be found in the northern and southern forests and plains) - Horsemen are indeed on Horses and most skilled with them - Pikemen are trained in and capable of these skills or would not be able to persuade a Horse to them.....decorative ornamental Horses can be placed at the ends of the board.

Chariots and Cannons are manned.

Shieldsmen also wield Swords as well as Shields.

Though a Khan does not appear on the board during the battle his powers are those combined of both a King and a Horseman (see Further thoughts - Other possible games etc. - Storm Force 24).

Pikemen may not enter their own Palaces - hence the placements of them at commencement; this does not apply either to the playing rules or as a representational point for Pike commanders or Pike leaders who may enter them (see Further thoughts - Further pieces).

Game variation - Combination

This game variation of Meridian is where one player has a King and a Princess-royal whilst the other has a Prince-royal and a Queen, and the player with the King is said to Guard the Princess-royal whilst the player with the Prince-royal is said to Guard the Queen. The Rules are as given except Pikemen have the option of promoting to either a Pike commander or a Pike leader (perhaps less likely but included on principle) or to rescue their King/Prince-royal if captured (detained), or promote to a Horseman. The player with the King, perhaps as expected, seems to have an advantage but this may not be as much as expected and if the King and Prince-royal are exchanged the advantage may change over since the Queen would be harder to Checkmate than the Princess-royal (other things being equal) - also see the earlier note regarding the Prince-royal and pouncing. The Southern player, who moves first, always Guards the Queen in any significant or meaningful game or tournaments or matches or suchlike.

As with the core variations the Royal pieces may not face each other along an otherwise (between them) unoccupied file - also see QiPlacements for the representational aspects of this.

There are a few background story points in this variation as follows:

For the player who guards the Princess-royal the King is able enough to participate in the battle but the Queen is not, at least for the current time, and by tradition only those who are battle-ready are allowed to participate.

Also for the player who guards the Princess-royal the only and younger son - the Prince-royal, has been seriously injured during training exercises and is unable to participate in the battle, but will and does fully recover.

For the player who guards the Queen the King has been seriously injured following a fall from a horse (he does not have the skills of a Khan in this respect) but is expected to make a full recovery - he does so, though is unable to participate in the battle.

Also for the player who guards the Queen the only daughter - the Princess-royal, is considered too delicate in fitness as yet to participate in the battle, though is improving at a good rate.

It is also possible for there to be variations where both players have a King and Princess-royal or both have a Prince-royal and Queen, but these are not considered mainstream variations.

Rule variation - the Escape rule (see Further thoughts - Various)

There is for the core variations of Meridian and Combination this possible optional rule whereby a player may, if in an otherwise Checkmate position, move his Royal piece outside of the Palace (but not into Check of course) and if this escapes the otherwise Checkmate position the result of the game is a 'Draw by Escape' and the move should be played to leave the game's final position. If the Royal piece cannot escape Checkmate in this way then the game ends as usual in this Checkmate position.

The move to outside of the Palace must be the usual one for the Royal piece and can be a capture.

A simple way to express this rule might be to say a Royal piece can only leave the Palace to escape being in Checkmate whereupon the game is a draw.

There is a further possibility whereby this rule would only apply if the player delivering Checkmate had his King or Prince-royal on the board - there could be further possibilities but this one is more likely and could be tagged as restricted compared to unrestricted otherwise.

The rule is not currently allowed in QiPlacements or RiverQi or Shadow (see later).

Satellite nominal points only (see General Notes) may be awarded for exhibition play, or scored for tournaments or matches or suchlike when this rule is in force and are two for a win and one each for a draw.....the term awarded is the one usually used for the scoring of points in exhibition play, but may also be used where considered suitable.

There are a few background story points in this rule as follows:

There are in the Palaces secret underground passageways that are known only to the Royal piece (and a few select other-such) and these lead to the surrounding areas (squares) outside the Palaces and if the Royal piece escapes through the passageways and is not attacked outside the Palace (in Check) the Royal piece will make good their escape - but these passageways can only be used to escape being in Checkmate.

During a game the possible un-attacked squares outside the Palace that the Royal piece could move to are called Escape squares - these will change throughout a game as and when the Royal piece moves within the Palace and they are only potential Escape squares until and unless used (by means of the secret underground passageways mentioned above) when the one actually used together with the square the Royal piece moved from is known as the Escape route. Note that Escape routes also change throughout a game as and when the Royal piece moves within the Palace and are also only potentially so until and unless used. These squares and routes can also change depending on other moves and opponents' moves.

(Potentially) There are eleven Escape squares (nine for a Princess-royal) with a Queen having nineteen Escape routes and a Princess-royal nine Escape routes.

The rule variation can be designated as with Escape routes or with Passageways, with Underground passageways, with Secret passageways or even with Secret underground passageways.

When in a winning position or when attacking players may need to be aware of Escape squares/routes in a similar way as they may need to be aware of Stalemate possibilities.

Swordsmen

As a point of naming and representation - for those who would prefer: the Pikemen can be named as Swordsmen and wield ornamental Swords instead of Pikes (Pikemen should themselves be ornamented so, perhaps Horsemen and Charioteers should be ornamented as well, possibly also Cannoneers)…..as with the modern variation of Arabella the swords should probably be raised in a more aggressive stance since the Swordsmen are placed further up the board or have the initial two-square move option…..names can follow that of Pikeman i.e. Sword-commander or Sword-leader (or Leading Swordsman) but in this case a Sword-commander could instead be called a Sword-master (or Master Swordsman or even Master of Swords) – it’s a matter of personal choice…..

…..and a comparison: a Sword-master on an empty 9x9 board attacks the same maximum number of squares as a Chariot – sixteen, and although a Chariot attacks more squares on average the Sword-master has more paths of movement, and these extra paths of movement perhaps make the Sword-master slightly more powerful, and with the provisos set out in LancerChess for piece values: Sword-master = 5½, perhaps more

Also different Swordsmen and Pikemen should differ in appearance – perhaps in apparel

A further point is that, though they cannot Jump, both Master and Leading Swordsmen have the Checkmating abilities of the King’s Lancer as noted in LancerChess, and this would apply to the Meridian games with an example as follows:

The game here is Meridian – Eastern variation and North is to Checkmate South, and the only pieces on the board are:

North Princess-royal e9 (or e8 or e7)

North Leading Swordsman e4

South Princess-royal e1

South to move in a position that could occur in a game - the Escape rule is not in force

South cannot stop North from bringing about this positioning of the Swordsman on e4 with his Princess on the e file, and North can ensure South is to move – e.g. by moving his Princess along the e file…..if South’s Princess is situated elsewhere in her Palace the process is similar, but no longer…..and if South’s Princess were here a Queen the process still could not be delayed:

1. Princess-royal f1

(Princess-royal d1 - and a symmetrical process)

1… Leading Swordsman g4! – moving ‘outside the box’

(1… Leading Swordsman f4? – and a Draw by Stalemate)

2. Princess-royal f2

(the only move – the Sapphire Sceptre prevents the Princess from moving back to the e file)

2… Leading Swordsman f4 check

(preparing to enter the Golden Palace – something the Southern Swordsmen are forbidden to do)

3. Princess-royal f1

(the only move)

3… Leading Swordsman f3 Checkmate

(the Northern Khan wins the battle and will annex the Disputed lands)

Alternatively North could play 1. Princess f1, Swordsman d4 2. Princess f2, Swordsman d3 – entering the palace earlier (or f4 check as before), 3. Princess f1 and Swordsman f3 Checkmate…..in this case the Swordsman does not move outside the box

What then is the value of the Leading Swordsman – I think the comparison here is perhaps both to the Horseman (Knight) of Western chess and the (manned) Horse of Chinese chess…..all three can attack a maximum of eight squares (on an empty 9x9 board, but a Leading Swordsman averages most) but a Horseman can Leap whereas a Leading Swordsman cannot Jump…..but…..as shown a Leading Swordsman has Checkmating abilities that neither a Horseman nor a Horse has…..and so with the same provisos as before: Leading Swordsman = 3, perhaps a bit less.

Information Table

Notes

The Game of Storm

Introduction

Storm has two Board variations (10x8 squares and 10x10 squares) and is based on Capablanca chess - invented by Jose Raul Capablanca. As with Capablanca chess the games often produce complex tactics and could be called Fireworks games. Although playing these games on a 10x10 board can produce these complex tactical positions on a 10x8 board it has been noted when playing Capablanca Chess that the pieces are quicker to engage and so this is considered here to be the main and preferred board size, but the 10x10 board is not precluded from anything. Jose Raul Capablanca was a world Western chess champion.

Also included is the game variation of Crossfire (perhaps even more of a Fireworks game) and a further game variation is set out in Further thoughts - Other possible games etc. - Storm Force 24 (also see the game variation of Breakout in this section of Further thoughts, and Breakout also describes a further variation possibility).

Background

Many centuries ago it is surmised that the dwellers of the huge Emerald Forest moved into the uncharted regions and dispersed to many other areas where they eventually settled and did not return - there may have been conflict involved but this is not recorded or if so has been lost. The two Castles that were originally built situated north and south of the Forest became overgrown and crumbled away and were not rebuilt. A few of the Forest dwellers it seemed remained however and over a very long period of time they formed two separate and self-governing regions at the north-most and south-most of the forest but did not venture beyond the forest and so the one-time explored regions became uncharted regions once again – at least to the dwellers of the Emerald Forest. However there came a time when all the dwellers wished to explore and map the uncharted regions and also to appoint a group of dwellers to oversee this (called the Guardians of the Forest); but there were differences as to the policies and details of this and also as to who (a Principal guardian) would lead the group of Guardians. This led to a general dispute on how both the forest and the uncharted regions should be organised and governed and eventually a battle became unavoidable.....

Object

The object of the Battle (game) is to take Captive (checkmate) the opposing Queen and this wins the battle.

Board at commencement

Note that only the 10x8 board is shown but the commencing array is the same for a 10x10 board.

Moves of Pieces

When Protecting the Queen she now moves three squares towards the relevant Tower instead of two as does the King in Western chess castling.

Western chess comparisons for piece moves are as follows:

A King – he is identical to the Queen

A Queen – she is identical to the King

A King’s or Queen’s tower - its powers are identical to Rooks

A King’s or Queen’s knight – his powers are identical to a Knight

A Service-maiden – her powers are identical to a Bishop

A Forester – his or her powers are as a Pawn except for when promoting on reaching their end rank. Alternately placed Foresters are either boys/girls (18 to 21 yrs) or young men/women - role-playing or piece sets can be either/or (determined by arrangement, traditional methods or by roll of dice or coin), but boys/girls or young men/women need not be placed facing each other though as stated they should alternate.....south must place his first and then north does so.

Promotion (compulsory) choices for Foresters are: Either to be exchanged (they actually free them) for a captured fellow King, Prince or Princess or to promote to an Aristocrat (he/she is the same as a Siege-tower - see note below on Siege-towers), a Knight (he/she is the same as a Knight and not distinguished between a King’s or a Queen’s Knight) or a Noble (he/she is the same as a Bishop). Note that the title of Dame has been replaced by that of Knight.

In freeing a captive King etc. a Forester is taken captive themselves, but at the end of the battle they are rewarded for their bravery.

A Prince, who is very young and at commencement stands next to his father (himself still young) – his powers are explained below with reference to the diagram

A Princess, who is very young and at commencement stands next to her mother (herself still young) – her powers are explained below with reference to the diagram

Note

For role-playing the Prince and Princess are lower-age restricted in accordance with their true ages.

The moves of the Prince and Princess are described with reference to the following diagram where they are situated on an empty board. The squares shown in the diagram in black are the example squares they are occupying. The Prince and Princess can first move the same as the Knight and these squares are called the strike squares and are coloured orange in the diagram; they can move to or capture on these squares like the Knight i.e. regardless of any intervening dwellers. From the strike squares the Prince or Princess can then continue along the associated follow-through squares (or Paths) as shown in the diagram coloured yellow - they can slide along these follow-through squares to move or capture in the manner of the Rook for the Prince or in the manner of the Bishop for the Princess.....they cannot jump (or leap) over any dwellers situated on the follow-through squares.....they cannot leap (or jump) over a strike square that is occupied i.e. if a strike square is occupied by any piece then the Prince or Princess cannot move to or capture on the associated follow-through squares.....if a strike square is occupied by an opposing piece then the Prince or Princess can capture this piece but cannot move to or capture on the associated follow-through squares. The follow-through paths are as shown in the diagram and cannot be varied by turning off from the strike squares at any other angles to those shown - these paths are described as of ongoing direction and most closely match the direction of the associated Knight’s move.

Further Rules and Notes

The Prince and Princess can give rise to a form of triple check and blockable double check (neither of these are possible with the Western or Capablanca pieces - this often refers to the extra pieces in Capablanca chess) as well as the usual form of non-blockable double check, and examples of these are shown later in this game section. There is also in Further thoughts - Further pieces a description of a possible modification of the Prince's moves and possible combination pieces are mentioned along with a piece called the Storm Emperor, though none of these currently appear in Storm or its variations.

Capturing and captured dwellers (pieces) are usually respectively described as taking captive and held captive, though as usual with other established Chess games (and those of Steps) the Queen is not actually captured and removed from the board but is checkmated to leave the game's final position and so here is then described as being taken captive (not held captive - this as stated refers to captured pieces) - to clarify: taking captive occurs on a move whilst thereafter the captured piece is held captive off or at the opponent's end of the board.

Green has been included in the colours of the pieces as representing the Emerald Forest. The reason for south’s dark green and north’s light green (see Table) is so that the Queens have some of the colour of their commencing squares (see board) – this accords with current Western chess where the white Queen commences on a light square and the black Queen on a dark square - but there should not be a great deal of these green colours used.

Representational:

The Southern Prince and the Southern Princess are non-forceful dwellers unlike their forceful Northern counterparts – this is because the Southern dwellers have chosen a different form of rule to those of the north as is seen in Crossfire – see later - this has no practical effect on the game however.

Once a Tower has been or can no longer be used to Protect the Queen it becomes a King's or Queen's Siege-tower (and is manned as is a Tower) to reflect its greater freedom to attack and fittings should be added to the piece to show this, or alternately a separate piece of different appearance can be placed on the appropriate square - it is though no different than if it was a Rook of Western chess following castling.

The young Service-maidens can be distinguished by the fact that those on lighter squares are light haired whereas those on darker squares are dark haired and they are usually called such e.g. the Northern light haired Service-maiden.

Board variation

If played on a 10x10 board then the only difference to the rules of the 10x8 board is the initial move of the Forester who then has an additional option of moving three squares as well as the usual one or two. The en-passant rules and logic also apply to this additional optional move. Sometimes a 10x10 board would be played at the very highest level but the 10x8 board would generally be preferable.

Game variation - Crossfire

Introduction

Crossfire is effectively the playing of Capablanca chess against Storm and the Capablanca pieces (dwellers) are also effectively deployed as in Capablanca chess. The Capablanca pieces are at a material disadvantage since the Precedent and the Adviser are not as powerful as the Northern Prince and the Northern Princess. There are however two advantages for the Capablanca pieces to offset this: firstly is that the Capablanca pieces are always south in any meaningful game or tournaments or matches or suchlike and so always move first and secondly the Northern Princess is the only major piece in the game that cannot force checkmate with the lone help of the Queen against a lone Queen – the Adviser of the Capablanca pieces can. Notwithstanding this Crossfire is tactically complex enough to offer enough scope for possible winning chances to either side and games may be even more tactically complex than Storm. Note that with Crossfire, as with Storm, the Southern King is forceful as also is his Precedent and his Adviser unlike the Southern Prince and Southern Princess in Storm.

The player with the Capablanca pieces is described as having the Precedent and Adviser.

Crossfire Background

This is as for Storm.

Crossfire Object

This is as for Storm.

Crossfire Board for the Southern Dwellers at commencement

Note that the Northern Dwellers are deployed as shown for Storm.....and that below is also the commencing deployment and pieces for Capablanca chess where played in Steps (in Capablanca chess North has the same pieces directly opposite this, e.g. the Queen is on the e file, the Adviser is on the h file etc. - all pieces in Capablanca chess are forceful).

Rules to crossfire

The rules are nearly the same as for Storm and so mostly only differences are given as follows:

As shown on the board at commencement the deployment patterns have some differences. The only pieces (but see Foresters below) that differ from Storm are the Precedent and the Adviser whose moves, as per Western chess comparisons, are as follows:

The Precedent – he can move both as can a Rook or a Knight.

The Adviser – she can move both as can a Bishop or a Knight.

Foresters only differ in some promotion choices i.e. they can be exchanged (they actually free them) for a captured Precedent or Adviser (as well as a fellow captured King), otherwise their choices are the same as for Storm.

Further Rules and Notes to Crossfire

The notes on the two board variations (tagged as 10x8 or 10x10) given in the introduction for Storm also apply to Crossfire.

The notes of Storm including that on the board variation also apply to Crossfire.

Although the effectiveness of a piece depends on a number of factors, the following is a somewhat subjective ranking of the five most powerful pieces in Crossfire in descending order:

1. The Prince

2. The King

3. The Precedent

4. The Princess

5. The Adviser

Notes

The material advantage of the Storm pieces (the Prince and the Princess) over the Capablanca pieces (the Precedent and the Adviser) can be seen here and one of their advantages is that they can attack along the board into the opposing position whilst being shielded (the commencing position shows this with Foresters) whereas the Precedent and the Adviser (or the King) cannot do this without leaving a line of attack open against themselves - Foresters and other dwellers readily give this protection to their Prince and Princess for they know that when necessary they will leap over them to take up the forefront of a perilous and critical or pivotal situation, and after ensuring the safety of his Queen the King will join them.

The King is the only one of these pieces with no leaping abilities but later on in a game when the board becomes more open he may become the most powerful piece due to the many squares his lines of attack can cover when they are not blocked.

With her leaping abilities and four forward lines of attack the Princess may well be as powerful as even the King in the opening and middle game but, as stated earlier, she cannot force Checkmate (with just both Queens also on the board) as can all these other pieces.

Various possible exchanges of the powerful pieces listed above can lead to a number of different asymmetrical combinations of these pieces opposing each other in Crossfire (and Storm and also Capablanca chess), and some players find such asymmetry gives interesting scope to a game; also these exchanges can sometimes lead to a game with some resemblance to Western chess, particularly on a 10x8 board and (contrastingly with symmetry) with King v King of the powerful pieces, and so Western chess is not entirely lost with these games.

The King, Precedent and Adviser can be thought of as having a lateral combination of moves, whilst the Prince and Princess can be thought of as having a vertical combination of moves.

The tables below show the possible Line-ups of the Storm games where each side has only one of the powerful pieces:

It has been said that the Precedent and Adviser of Capablanca chess are the two most popular variant pieces (those outside of Western chess) but though they have been known by several names they were not called this by Jose Capablanca - or anyone else so far as I know.....below are shown Staunton type pieces of this more recent Chess game for these two pieces with the taller being the Precedent

In all variations individual pieces are usually referred to as Northern or Southern but Orange or White is allowed and in addition and also in all variations the Northern/Orange (but not the Southern/White) King, Queen, Prince and Princess can be referred to as the Storm.....e.g. the Storm King or the Storm Princess etc. - thus by referring to e.g. 'the Storm Prince' this would specifically mean the Northern/Orange Prince but by referring to 'the prince of the game storm' this would be a general reference to either piece, but see Further thoughts - Name changes etc

Players in all variations are usually referred to as the Northern Guardian or the Southern Guardian but Orange Guardian or White Guardian is allowed as is simply North or South or simply Orange or White.

The games of Storm and Crossfire and the two board variations can be combined into a single procedure of choosing for tournaments, matches or social or exhibition play or suchlike. The procedure for deciding what is to be played is that the host organiser or player sets the board upmost to 10x8 squares or 10x10 squares to decide the board variation (the board can be two sided) and then the guest player chooses the Storm or Crossfire pieces to decide the game variation – sides are decided as shown in the Information table. Choosing in reverse order is also possible.

Representational

The southern dwellers of the Emerald forest have, unlike the northern dwellers, chosen their form of rule to include a formal Precedent and Adviser and the positional order of those with executive authority/powers is:

King

Queen

Precedent

Adviser

The northern dwellers of the Emerald forest do not have a formal Precedent or Adviser and their positional order of those with executive authority/powers is:

King

Queen

Prince

Princess

Examples of types of checks and tactics

Below are shown two examples of the types of checks and related tactics that can occur in Storm/Crossfire with the Prince and Princess – both are on a 10x10 board and only show a few relevant pieces (Foresters are not shown, but some would likely be on the board).....the images are not as representational as I would like, but they will suffice for the basic examples that these are intended to be

First example:

In the first example above.....if North plays his Princess to d4 or e3 we have the usual (discovered) non-blockable double check that occurs in Western chess, Capablanca chess etc. and the Queen must move since it is not possible for both the checking pieces to be taken captive or blocked, and in both instances the Princess also forks the Adviser on f1 and can take her captive after the Queen moves.....if North instead plays his Princess to g7 or h6 however there is a blockable double check that does not occur in Western or Capablanca chess etc, e.g. if North plays his Princess to g7 and South plays his Knight to d3 the checks from both the Princess and the Service-maiden are blocked (though the checks could not both be stopped by either the Princess or the Service-maiden being taken captive even if the position were such) – a further point here is that the blocking Knight is now double pinned by both the Princess and the Service-maiden (though he is defended by South's Adviser and his Queen) and the taking captive of either one of these Northern pieces (again, were the position such) would still leave the Knight pinned by the other one, and this is another situation that does not occur in Western or Capablanca chess etc.....the usual discovered check can also be played here by e.g. Princess to g3 attacking the Adviser and giving a discovered check from the Service-maiden - South can move his Adviser to d3 away from the attack of the Princess and block the check, but the pin on the Adviser from the Service-maiden leaves the Adviser able to be taken captive.

Second example:

In the second example above.....if North plays his Knight to f4 or h4 we have a triple check with the Prince and the Siege tower also giving check in addition to the Knight – a further situation that does not occur in Western or Capablanca chess etc, and South cannot block all these checks or capture all these pieces and so the Queen must move, and if North’s Knight is played to f4 he also forks the Precedent on d3 and can take him captive on the next move.....there is also another situation that does not occur in Western or Capablanca chess etc, namely a blockable double check involving three pieces (only two were involved in the first example), e.g. Knight to e5 attacking the Precedent with a blockable double check from the Prince and the Siege tower - the Precedent can move away from the Knight’s attack to g3 and block both checks but is then double pinned by the Prince and the Siege tower and can be taken captive next move, though he is defended by South’s knight on h1 and his Service-maiden on e1 as well as his Queen.

The above two examples are only intended to give an introduction to the tactical possibilities of the Storm set of games, but hopefully they give an idea of the potential scope these games can give in this regard, and there are many others that can occur involving various discovered attacks, forks, pins and skewers and so forth.

Information Table

                 A Chess Set finishes but

Steps along the way of Chess continues with

                      Additional Games

E&OE

Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Rhun, Merridonia

Thursday, 15th October 2020

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Last revised by Glenn Nicholls.

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Chess Set #1437 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1438 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1439 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1440 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1441 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1453 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1454 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1455 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1456 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1503 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1504 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1505 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1509 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1514 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1520 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1521 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1522 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1541 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1543 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1544 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1550 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1551 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1557 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1566 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1567 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1568 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1581 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1589 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1590 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1591 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1595 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1596 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1598 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1599 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1600 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1601 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1602 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1605 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1610 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1611 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1612 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1613 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1620 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1624 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1626 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1629 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1635 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1638 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1639 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1647 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1666 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1667 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1671 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1673 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1716 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1717 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1718 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1728 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1731 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1733 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1734 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1735 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1741 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1742 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1743 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1753 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1754 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1756 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1757 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1760 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1761 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1762 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1766 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1767 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1769 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1770 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1771 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1772 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1773 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1774 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1779 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1780 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1800 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1846 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1848 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1874 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1875 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1968 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1969 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1973 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1974 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1975 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1981 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1982 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #1995 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2022 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2025 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2070 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2071 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2075 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2100 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2121 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2148 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2219 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2304 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2377 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2409 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2410 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2454 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2456 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2457 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2458 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2459 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2500 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2569 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2741 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2743 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #2744 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3121 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3830 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3831 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3832 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3996 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #3997 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #4004 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #4421 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #5080 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #5711 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #5712 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #6378 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #6423 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #6599 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #6943 by Glenn Nicholls on 2022-11-27 12:54:56 as HTML
Chess Set #8569 by Glenn Nicholls on 2023-01-08 16:48:47 as HTML