Chess/Aces

Chess/Aces is a large Chess variant which was based on modern FIDE chess pieces as well as on traditional pieces like Wazir (Ferz) and Elephant which are used in ancient Chess variants like Shatranj, Chaturanga, etc. It so combines ancient and modern classical pieces and has proved to be quite a strategic game.

Setup

Setup is similar to Western chess but includes also Elephant and Wazir. It is played on a board with eight rows and twelve columns. Board is checkered and the left hand corner is black like in FIDE chess. Each player has 24 pieces which include 12 Pawns, two Rooks, two Knights, two Bishops, two Elephants, two Wazirs as well as one Queen and one King:

The pieces in their basic formation are located in the following manner:

All white pieces stand within the first two rows 1 and 2 while the black pieces are located in the rows of 7 and 8. Similar to classical Western chess the 12 white pawns are located in the row 2 whereas the black pawns are located in the row 7. The white main pieces are located in row 1, the black main pieces are located in row 8.

The Rooks of both sides are located on the vertical column of A and L.

The Knights of both sides are located on the vertical column of B and K.

The Bishops of both sides are located on the vertical column of C and J.

The Elephants of both sides are located on the vertical column of D and I.

The Wazirs of both sides are located on the vertical column of E and H.

The Queens of both sides are located on the vertical column of F.

The Kings of both sides are located on the vertical column of G.

Pieces

The Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen, King and Pawns move as in orthodox western chess. Exception: There is no castling.

Furthermore there are two other different pieces on the board:




The Elephant
The Elephant moves in diagonal direction up to two squares and it can jump over pieces in its way similar to the Knight.



The Wazir
The Wazir always moves one square into diagonal direction.

Rules

Same rules as in FIDE chess apply for Chess/Aces but there is no castling. En passant is a valid move. Pawns can move two fields at the beginning, etc.

Notes

Chess/Aces is a game based on astrology and modern warfare figures and has proved to be a highly strategic game when played - without strategy you won't succeed.

Aces stands for Astrological Chess Exposes Strategy. It is mainly based on classical western Chess but also includes elements of ancient or Asian chess games which makes it complete in a sense of holding the best elements of chess throughout time and places. It has 8 types of different pieces - King, Queen, Wazir (Fers), Elephant, Bishop, Knight, Rook and Pawn which correspond to the 7/8 visible planets of the starry sky or to the 8 trigrams of Eastern cosmology and to modern warfare categories.

For more information on the development and philosophy behind this chess variant you can visit: http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/chess.html

Chess/Aces is a highly strategic game. Important is a good development of the pieces in the beginning. Elephants and Knights are quite useful pieces at the beginning of the game but rooks and bishops prove to be of more value in the end.

If you have Zillions of Games installed on your computer, you can play this game. Download file: http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/Chess_As.zip. Additionally there is a JavaScript-based program available at http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/index.htm.

The author has produced a Chess and Chess variants wooden set of pieces and plastic board especially for this chess variant but also for other famous variants. It is already avaiable, please see the details on his web page at http://www.bunkahle.com/Schach/pieces.html.

You can contact the author on his web page.