Gigachess II

Gigachess II belongs to the family of Cazaux's chess. This is a chess variant with 25 different pieces on a 14 x 14 board: such a board was used by some Maharajas in ancient India. There are 196 squares and 48 pieces per side, which gives it almost the same density as Orthodox Chess. In Gigachess, there are 25 kinds of men encountered in Shako, Metamachy, Zanzibar XXL (Maasai Chess), and other games of this family.

The first Gigachess had been designed in 2001 and found a certain success: It has been included in the second version of Jocly. In 2013, the rule for promotion of short-range pieces had been implemented. In 2020, Gigachess has evolved into Gigachess II in order to be consistent with other of Cazaux's chess variants. Several changes have been made. The Corporal and the Ship are no longer used. However, other pieces from the smaller large chess variants of the family have been added. The full line-up has been re-optimized again in 2022.

If Gigachess II is too small for you, why not trying Terachess II?

Or you can play Gigachess II with Game Courier here!

Setup

The pieces are:

• 1 Amazon, 1 Sorceress, 1 Marshal, 1 Cardinal, 1 Rhinoceros, 1 Buffalo, 2 Archers, 2 Giraffes, 2 Camels and 2 Cannons on 1st row,
• 1 King, 1 Queen, 1 Duchess, 1 Centaur, 2 Machines, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 2 Rooks and 2 Elephants on 2nd row,
• 1 Lion, 1 Eagle 1 Missionary, 1 Admiral, and 2 Princes on 3rd row,
• 14 Pawns on 3rd and 4th rows.

The white King is placed on the center of the second row on a black square, the black King being on a white square. The Queen is also placed on the center, beside the King.

Initial Setup:

Pieces

King: moves 1 step in any of the 8 orthogonal or diagonal directions to an unattacked square. The King is in check if it is attacked by one or several enemy pieces. It is forbidden to play a move leaving one's King in check.

There is no castling in Gigachess II. On its first move, the King may jump to a free square at two squares' distance. For instance, from h2, it can jump to f1, f2, f3, f4, g4, h4, i4, j4, j3, j2 or j1). It does not matter if the square jumped over is occupied or not; however, the jump is forbidden if that intermediate square is threatened by an enemy piece. When jumping like a Knight, at least one of the two intermediate squares must be free of threat (e.g., if jumping from h2 to j3, either i2 or i3 must not be under attack). The King's jump is not permitted if the King is in check. This rule, which was once prevalent in medieval European chess, replaces castling. Identical to Metamachy.

Queen: slides to any square along the file, the rank, or a diagonal on which it stands. Identical to standard chess.

Rook: moves to any square along the file or rank on which it stands. Identical to standard chess (except there is no castling)

Bishop: slides to any square along a diagonal on which it stands. Identical to standard chess

Knight: a (2,1) jumper, it jumps to the opposite square of a 2x3 rectangle, no matter what the intermediate square contains. Identical to standard chess

Amazon: it combines the move of Queen and Knight. An old idea, used by Russians instead of the Queen in the 18th century.

Marshall: it combines the move of Rook and Knight. It can be found in many, many chess variants since Carrera, Bird, Capablanca and many others like Grand Chess or Seirawan Chess.

Cardinal: it combines the move of Bishop and Knight. It can be found in many, many chess variants since Carrera, Bird, Capablanca, Modern and many others like Grand Chess or Seirawan Chess.

Centaur: it is another compound piece that moves as a Knight or a non-royal King.

Admiral: it is another compound piece that moves as a Rook or a non-royal King. That means that it is a Rook that can also step one space diagonally. It corresponds to the Dragon King that is found in Shogi.

Missionary: it is another compound piece that moves as a Bishop or a non-royal King. That means that it is a Bishop that can also step one space orthogonally. It corresponds to the Dragon Horse that is found in Shogi.

Eagle: moves one square diagonally and then slides away an indefinite number of squares vertically or horizontally. It is authorized to go only one square diagonally. It cannot jump, and the unobstructed path must start with the diagonal movement. This piece is almost as powerful as the Queen and is inspired by the Giraffe from Tamerlane's Chess and the Aanca (a mythical giant bird preying elephants, mistaken for a gryphon) from Alfonso X's Grande Acedrex. Identical to Metamachy.

Rhinoceros: moves one square vertically or horizontally and then slides away an indefinite number of squares diagonally. It is authorized to go only one square along its rank or file. It cannot jump, and the unobstructed path must start with the orthogonal movement. This piece is inspired by the Unicorn of medieval Grande Acedrex. It is a counterpart of the Eagle.

Lion: moves as a King (a single step move in any direction as Wazir or Ferz), or may jump to a position two squares away, jumping in any orthogonal (Dabbaba) or diagonal (Alfil) direction, or jumping as a Knight. (Inspired by Chu Shogi, the most popular variant of the Japanese Chess, where the Lion has the same range but is more dreadful as it can move twice in a turn). Identical to Metamachy.

Camel: a (3,1) jumper, it jumps to the opposite square of a 2x4 rectangle, like an extended Knight, no matter what any intermediate square contains. Note that it always stays on the same color of square. A well known piece from medieval Muslim great Chess like Tamerlane's Chess. 

Giraffe: a (3,2) jumper, it jumps to the opposite square of a 3x4 rectangle, like an extended Knight, no matter what any intermediate square contains. Note that it always changes the color of its square. This piece is found in Alfonso X's Grant Acedrex (but its move has been rendered differently by 20th century historians). The same pattern, but with a non-jumping move, is found in Janggi, Korean Chess, for the Elephant. Under the name of Zebra, it is also a fairy piece used by problemists for compositions.

Buffalo: combines the leaps of the Knight (2,1), the Camel (3,1) and the Giraffe (3,2).  

Cannon: exactly as in Xiangqi. The Cannon moves without taking like a Rook, but it takes by going in a straight horizontal or vertical line and jumping over exactly one piece. When a Cannon takes a piece, there must be exactly one piece between the original and final square of the Cannon's move - this piece may be of either color. This is identical to the move of the Cannon in Shako and Metamachy.

Archer: it is the diagonal counterpart of the Xiangqi's Cannon. It moves like a Bishop and needs an intermediate piece between itself and its victim to capture it. The Archer jumps the intermediate and takes the victim on its square. The intermediate is left unaffected. (Previously named Crocodile. Also known as Vao by problemists).

Machine: it is an orthogonal counterpart of the Elephant as it moves 1 or 2 squares orthogonally, jumping over the first square if it is occupied. It combines the moves of old Dabbaba and Wazir found in ancient Muslim Chess variants. The word Dabbaba designated a siege machine at war in Arabic, hence the name given for this piece.

Elephant: exactly as in Shako and Metamachy. It moves one or two squares diagonally. When an Elephant moves two squares, it doesn't matter what the intermediate square contains. Note that it always stays on the same color of square. The Elephant moves as the combined Alfil and Ferz from Shatranj, two pieces which were also present in mediaeval Chess and have disappeared with the birth of modern moves for the Bishop and the Queen.

Prince: a non-royal King who moves and captures one square in any direction, but without being hindered by check. It has been inspired by medieval games like the Courier chess , an old chess variant, played in Germany, where it is called "Man". Like the Pawn, but unlike the Man from Courier Chess, it can also move without capturing to the second square straight ahead. 

Pawn: can move straight forward one or two squares from any position on the board, without capturing. It captures one square diagonally forward. Identical to Metamachy.

Sorceress: it moves like a Queen and needs an intermediate piece between itself and its victim to capture it. The Sorceress jumps the intermediate and takes the victim on its square. The intermediate is left unaffected. Like the Queen is Bishop + Rook, the Sorceress is Cannon + Archer.

Duchess: it moves as a limited Queen, one, two or three squares in any straight directions. When moving two or three squares, it may jump and it does not matter what any intermediate squares contain.

Rules

Several pieces can promote in Gigachess II when reaching the last rank of the board. Promotion is immediate, compulsory and cannot be refused.

• A Pawn is promoted to a Queen
• A Prince is promoted to an Amazon
• A Knight is promoted to a Buffalo
• A Camel is promoted to a Buffalo
• A Giraffe is promoted to a Buffalo
• An Elephant is promoted to a Lion
• A Machine is promoted to a Lion
• A Centaur is promoted to a Lion

En Passant capture: Any time a Pawn or Prince takes a double step and passes through the capture square of an opposing Pawn, that Pawn may capture the Pawn or Prince as if it had only moved one square. This en passant capture must be made in the move immediately following the double step. Only a Pawn may capture en passant; the Prince does not have this option.

End Of Game: The end-of-game rules, checkmate, stalemate, etc., are identical to standard chess.

Notes

The relative pieces' value can be estimated as follows, normalized to 5 for the Rook :

Pawn: 0.75, Giraffe: 2, Camel: 2.25, Elephant: 2.5, Knight: 2.5,  Archer: 2.5, Machine: 2.75, Prince: 3, Bishop: 3.5, Cannon: 3.5, Rook: 5, Missionary: 5.5, Centaur: 5.75, Sorceress: 6.5, Cardinal: 6.75, Admiral; 6.75, Rhinoceros: 7.5, Buffalo: 8, Marshall: 8.25, Duchess: 8.75, Lion: 9, Eagle: 9, Queen: 9.75, Amazon: 14

Deep thanks to H.G. Muller for making the Interactive Diagram below

Last revised by Jean-Louis Cazaux.