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Introduction

What is your game's background, history, or inspiration? How does it relate to other games?

The design process for this game began years ago with giving the Elephants of Shatranj a more powerful move. Next I examined <a href="http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/courier.html">Courier Chess</a>, which introduced three new pieces: the Courier (Bishop), the Man (Commoner) and the Schleich (Wazir) on a 12x8 board. That game was followed by <a href="http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/courierspiel.html">Courier-Spiel</a> and eventually led to our modern version of chess. I kept coming back to one thought: changing the Courier to a Dragon Horse (from Shogi) makes all three of these pieces redundant. So my Courier Chess VIII is played on an standard 8x8 board, checkered for ease of play.
Regarding the changes made here in May 2023: Fergus [2023-03-11] raised the point that it would be more sensible to call the (Bishop + Wazir) piece a "Courier" in this game. While the name "General" had served me well from 2005 to 2007, it was time to retire that piece name. DECEMBER 2024: I have finally decided to return to my original concept - starting with Ferzes and using pawn promotion to add Couriers to the board.

Setup

If your game does not use exactly the same pieces, board, and setup as Chess, please provide a diagram in the form of a single graphic image. You may do this without uploading anything by using the Diagram Designer or by creating an Interactive Diagram. Please do not use ASCII art to display a diagram.

Pieces

Please describe the name and powers of each piece, and please display an image of each piece that matches those used in your diagram. If you use the Diagram Designer, you can copy the addresses from the piece images displayed there and use them here.

<img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/bking.gif"> <img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/wrook.gif"> <img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/bknight.gif"> <img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/wferz.gif"> <img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/bpawn.gif">
The King, Rook, Knight, Ferz and Pawn are standard Shatranj pieces, with a few changes in the Rules section.

<img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/wpromotedbishop.gif"> Courier - This piece (Betza notation BW) moves and captures along the diagonals like a Bishop. It also moves and captures on any adjacent square. See the movement diagram below. Jose Carrillo uses a very different set of pieces in his 2009 game <A href="http://www.chessvariants.com/invention/ajax-chess">Ajax Chess</A>, including Bishops that can make noncapturing moves to orthogonally adjacent squares.

<img src="http://www.chessvariants.com/graphics.dir/alfaerie/belephant.gif"> Elephant - This piece (Betza notation AmD) leaps like an Alfil or a Dababbah to an empty square. But it can only capture like an Alfil. See the movement diagram below. While the Dabbabah sometimes replaced the Alfil in India - see the <A href="http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/chaturanga.html">Chaturanga</A> page - use of the Alibaba piece came much later in history. See the <A href="http://www.chessvariants.com/play/modern-courier-chess">Modern Courier Chess</A> page for Paul V. Byway's twentieth century version of Courier Chess, with all of the modern pieces on the 12x8 board. Alibabas are placed between the Knights and Bishops, while the White center pieces are: Ferz-Queen-King-Ferz. Relevant articles from Variant Chess magazine are available at various places on the web.
<IMG ALT="diagram" SRC="/play/pbm/drawdiagram.php?code=%235%23%231%211%231%233%238%23%23%232%211E1%212%23Y%239%23%23%232%231%211%231%233%236%235%2312%234&cols=12&set=alfaerie-metamachy&colors=79B7A4+FFFFD5&uniqid=63f973e64f3c0" />
COURIER and ELEPHANT

Rules

You may assume a working knowledge of Chess and just explain how your game differs from Chess. But if you do, please be sure to say that it follows the rules of Chess except for the following differences. You don't have to describe piece movement here if you have already done that above.

Notes

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