Gothic Chess

Chess diagram 8x10|=
tright|
=

8 |rd|nd|bd|qd|cd|kd|ad|bd|nd|rd|= 7 |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|= 6 | | | | | | | | | | |= 5 | | | | | | | | | | |= 4 | | | | | | | | | | |= 3 | | | | | | | | | | |= 2 |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|= 1 |rl|nl|bl|ql|cl|kl|al|bl|nl|rl|= a b c d e f g h i j

Gothic Chess, starting position

Gothic Chess is a commercial chess variant derived from Capablanca Chess, invented by Ed Trice. [http://www.gothicchess.com/80.pdf "80-Square Chess"] , E. Trice in ICGA Journal Vol. 27, No. 2 - June 2004, p. 81–96.] It is played on a 10×8 board with two additional pawns per side and two fairy chess pieces:
* ;
* and a knight.

All standard chess rules are observed, including "en passant" capture and castling, but with the King moving three squares horizontally, when castling, instead of the usual two in standard chess. Gothic Chess has the following features:

* All of the pawns are defended in the starting position.
* There is a horizontal symmetry across the board regarding the pieces that have diagonal movements.
* The pieces on the four westernmost files and the three easternmost files are identical to chess, thus preserving many familiar patterns and motifs.

Values of the pieces

Ed Trice, the game's inventor, has published values for each piece in the game in the ICGA Journal (included in the publication were values derived by Reinhard Scharnagl )

:

Gameplay

In regular chess, the way in which games start out is loosely referred to as opening theory. Chess openings are typically named after their founder, the country of their origin, or by the features of the position.

In Gothic Chess, due to the increased number of pieces, the number of possible board positions increases at a rate greater than in regular chess. For example, the total number of possible Gothic Chess games after four moves for white, and four replies for black, is 1.5×10¹². [cite web | url=http://akpublic.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/A114037 | title=Number of games of Gothic Chess after n plies plus number of games that terminate (i.e. mate) in fewer than n plies | publisher=The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences | author=Ed Trice] In chess, this total is only 8.5×10¹⁰. [cite web | url=http://www.albert.nu/programs/sharper/perft.htm | author=Albert Bertilson | title=Perft calculation]

The principles of chess endgame apply in Gothic Chess. With the two new pieces, several new endgame positions arise, such as chancellor vs. chancellor with several pawns each or archbishop and pawns vs. queen and pawns.

ee also

*Capablanca Random Chess
*Capablanca Chess
*Embassy Chess

References

External links

* [http://www.gothicchess.com The Gothic Chess Federation]
* [http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/GothicChessIntro.htm Introduction to Gothic Chess | Ed Trice]
* [http://www.chessville.com/GothicChess/miniatures.htm Gothic Chess Miniature Games]