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This page is written by the game's inventor, Daniil Frolov.

Ancient world war

Edward Jackman have game, he called "a really silly idea" - WWII chess : one player controls shogi army, other player controls FIDE army. Jean-Louis Cazaux have "an even more silly idea": War of the worlds chess : one player have jetan army, other player have army of one of decimal chess variants. Here is another one "silly idea": imagine war of India and Japan in ancient times. It's battle of shatranj and Heian shogi . This game can be played with FIDE chess equipment.

Setup

rnekfenr
pppppppp
--------
--------
--------
PPPPPPPP
--------
LHSGKSHL

K - king;
f - ferz;
e - elephant;
n - knight;
r - rook;
p - pawn (note that pawns of shatranj and pawns of shogi are different);
G - gold general;
S - silver general;
H - honourable horse;
L - lance.

Pieces

I hope, you know moves of all these pieces.

King is only piece, wich is used by both armies. It moves as standart chess king.
Shatranj pawn is same as in standart chess, but no double step. On last rank promotes to ferz, only.
Ferz moves 1 square diagonally.
-----
-x-x-
--f--
-x-x-
-----
Elephant jumps exactly 2 squares diagonally.
x---x
-----
--e--
-----
x---x
Rook and knight are same as in standart chess.
Shogi pawn moves as standart pawn, but captures in same way as moves without capturing. Promotes to gold general (see "rules").
---
-x-
-P-
---
Gold general moves as king, but not diagonally backward.
-----
-xxx-
-xGx-
--x--
-----
Silever general moves 1 diagonally or 1 straight forward. Promotes to gold general.
-----
-xxx-
--S--
-x-x-
-----
Honourable horse moves as knight, but only in 2 forwardmost directions. Promotes to gold general.
-----
-x-x-
-----
--H--
-----
Lance moves as rook, but forward only. Promotes to gold general.
-x-
-x-
-L-
---

Rules

Shogi player moves first.
Shatranj pawn promotes only on last rank, but promotion rules of shogi pieces are different. They promotes on any of last 3 ranks, according to modern shogi rules (move must start or end or both in promotion zone). Promotion is optional, but for pawn and lance it's obligatory on last rank, for honourable horse on 7th rank.
Checkmate or stalemate opponent's king to win. Bare king loses, unless it can captuure opponent's last non-royal piece on next turn, in wich case it's draw.
There is no castling or any other king's special move.

Notes

My original variant is not balanced. Shatranj have big advantage. David Cannon suggested to include modern shogi rook and bishop. They moves as in chess, when promoted, can also move as king. And more balanced obening setup is this:

rnekfenr
pppppppp
--------
--------
--------
PPPPPPPP
-B----R-
LHSGKSHL

Vitya Makov made another suggestion: instead modern shogi rook and bishop, there is only second gold (shatranj army have stronger pieces, but shogi army have larger promotion zone and can promote all weak pieces to gold, wich is stronger than ferz):

rnekfenr
pppppppp
--------
--------
--------
PPPPPPPP
----K---
LHSGGSHL

This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.

By Daniil Frolov.
Web page created: 2010-06-21. Web page last updated: 2010-06-21