Quang Trung ChessTM, 2nd Edition
NOTE: this is an older version of Quang Trung chess. For the latest version see:
Quang Trung Chess, 3rd Edition
Take-Advice|The Contest|Introduction|A Brief Note|Object of the Gamel|Board+Pieces| Initial-Setup|Rook|Bishop|Knight|Elephant|Queen|King|Pawn
Stop Here and Take an Advice
I would like to stop and give you an advice before
you continue reading any further. Do not waste your time, especially
in reading or learning about a new game. Usually 99.99% of all the chess
variants out there are junk games that you shouldn't waste your time on
them. But in reality, there will always be people producing junky games
and people reading junky games. Oh, one thing you must know: junky games
are not necessarily be unpopular games.
Take a quick look at the description of my game below. You might like it. If you got what it take to appreciate Chinese Chess and Western Chess (FIDE), then you definitely will love Quang Trung Chess. If you hate my game then there must be something wrong with you--go see a doctor!. Anyway, have fun guys! While you at it, please take a moment of your time to sign my guest book.
If you decided to learn more about Quang Trung Chess, please don't judge the game until you have played it because the game is designed to be played--not to be read. Anyway, to judge any chess game, I think you must at least be "fluent" both in Chinese Chess and (FIDE) Chess, and should be able to recognize a few other variants.
If you have zillions-of-games solfware, then download this file quangtrung.zip to play Quang Trung Chess.
99 % of YOU: about the
contest!
Quang Trung Chess and about thirty other chess games were submitted
to a contest hosted by David Howe. The four finalists will be the four
contestants who received the most total number of points voted in by visitors
like YOU( who are now reading this page). If you haven't know: You are
urged to cast your vote (click on the button on the upper left side corner
of this page). You're supposed to go thru each game and rate it--the voting
process is very simple, by the way. To judge and rate each game fairly,
you're supposed to know each game's rules--at least-- before you could
vote on it. But let's be realistic: how many of you are patient enough
to read thru all the instructions for those games? You must be insane if
you do. I read the descriptions for the first three games and that is all
I could take.
To help you know what to look for when judging a game, ask yourself this question: "Does the game have any underlining purpose, principle, goal, or quality that chess or Chinese chess doesn't have?" With this important question alone, you could eliminate most of the games out of the contest as flawed. Why? because you don't want anyone to waste your time by creating "stupid" games simply changing the existing rules here and there without any purpose or structure. Why create a new game that is clearly inferior to the present game, right? With the remaining games, you could judge how efficiently each author approaches the intended goal. Due to my taking part in the contest as one of the contestants, I should not go into more details. However, I hope that this paragraph is helpful to you in voting for your favorite game.
Introduction
To keep the reading as short as possible, many details have been left
out, especially when those details are not important as of now. Anyway,
three of the seven pieces from Quang Trung Chess were adopted from
other chess variants. Each piece came from a different variant: the bishop
from (FIDE) Chess, the elephant from Tamerlane Chess, and the knight
from Chinese Chess. The remaining four pieces are uniquely Quang Trung
Chess. The rook is designed so that it could be safely blocked. The king
is designed to give check. The pawn is designed to eliminate the need for
promotion. The queen is added since it is simply beautiful in its simplicity,
geometry, and function.
The Object of the Game
Quang Trung Chess can be won by checkmating the opponent's king, or
by moving a pawn to its last rank in such a way that it could not be immediately
captured. Stalemate is a draw.
Board and Pieces
Quang Trung Chess is a two-player game. It is played on a 10x10 checkered
board. See figure-1 below. Initially, each side gets a total of 16 pieces:
1-king(K), 1-queen(Q), 2-knights(N), 2-bishops(B), 2-elephant(E), 2-rook(R),
and 6-pawns(P). The board is outlined into three sections. Through out
the game, the kings and the pawns may only be in the middle section (file-c
to file-h).
| Figure-1 The Set-up |
The initial arrangement of the pieces is as in figure-1 above, where the king is on file-e and the queen is on file-f. White, on the bottom, moves first.
The Rules
The rules are simple. No castling. No En Passant. No pawn promotion.
However, do read the description of each piece below very carefully--especially
the description of the king.
The Quang Trung Rook
The Quang Trung rook moves in any number of paces at right angle
just like the regular rook. However, its capturing style is unique. To
capture, the rook must jump one pace immediately over the enemy
piece, provided that the jump-to square is empty. Because of this requirement
for capturing, it is now possible to safely blocked the once powerful rook.
See figure-2 below.
| Figure-2 The Rook |
The Quang Trung bishop moves and captures like the regular (FIDE) chess bishop. In other words, it moves and captures diagonally in any number of paces without jumping over any piece. See figure-3 below.
| Figure-3 The Bishop |
The Quang Trung knight moves and captures exactly like the knight in Chinese Chess. In other words, it makes one pace orthogonally into an empty square then followed by another pace diagonally outward. Thus, it could not jump over a piece. See figure-4 below.
| Figure-4 The Knight |
The elephant moves and captures by making two paces orthogonally then followed by another pace diagonally away--just like the camel in Tamerlane Chess. Thus, the elephant could jump over any piece. See figure-5 below.
| Figure-5 The Elephant |
The Quang Trung Queen
The queen moves and captures three paces orthogonally or two paces
diagonally while jumping over any piece. See figure-6 below.
| Figure-6 The Queen |
The Quang Trung king is the first king in the history of chess variant that could be able to give check without having to change its nature or having added rule. However, it could be very difficult to comprehend its movement just by reading the description alone. The description of the king is like a joke, if you don't find yourself laughing your socks off after you read it, then you probably did not get the joke.
The Quang Trung Chess king moves and captures by making a pace diagonally into a vacant square and then followed by another pace orthogonally into a vacant square or an enemy occupied square, in which case the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board. See figure-7 below.
The king and the pawn may only be in the middle section of the board--file-c through file-h.
| Figure-7 The King |
The Quang Trung Chess pawn is the first pawn in the history of chess variant to have it power maximized when it reach its destination. This effectively put an end to the headache associated with promotion--as seen in (FIDE) Chess.
The pawn moves and captures by making one pace diagonally forward into an empty square or an enemy occupied square, in which case, the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board. On the pawn first move, it is also allowed to move two paces forward--without capture or jumping over any piece. See figure-8 below.
When the pawn reach its last row, it automatically put the opponent's king in check, and automatically won the game if the opponent's could not capture it.
The pawn and the king may only be in the middle section of the board--file-c through file-h.
| Figure-4 The (white) Pawn |
So far, most of the chess variants posted to the public are variants of (FIDE) chess or variants of another version within the same family as (FIDE) chess. Quang Trung Chess, as you would expected, is in a totally different class by itself--just compare the games by its king and pawns and you'll see why.
The idea for Quang Trung Chess was started in July of 1992. At that time, I was looking to create a new chess game for the Vietnamese because Vietnamese simply do not have a chess game to call theirs. (Cotuong is just another name for Chinese chess). Anyway, the first edition of Quang Trung Chess was completed on March 3rd, 1999 and shortly after released to the general public. On April 15, I made several important changes and additions to the game. The updated version is shown here. The old version should be discarded.
The game is named in honor of Emperor Quang Trung--Vietnam late 18th century military hero.
This is it. I'm retired from chess designing. More updates in the future?
I hope not.
Vietscape|Large Variant
Contest|Vietlove
Some Photos of Quang Trung Chess.
This variant is an entry in the 1999 Large Variant contest.
Visit the Home Page of Quang Trung Chess.
Written by Vu Q. Vo.
WWW page created: April 29, 1999. Last modified: May 10, 1999.