Check out Balbo's Chess, our featured variant for October, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Uri Bruck.

Large Nahbi Chess

Large Nahbi Chess is a further development of Nahbi Chess.

The pieces are the same pieces. The starting array is different. The board is 10x12 instead of 10x10 In Nahbi Chess the Archer and the Alfil are initially in-hand and dropped on the board during the game. In Large Nahbi Chess they're on the board from the start and there are no drops. Since the board is larger the Equator is located between the 6th and the 7th ranks

Setup

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| r | a | c | b | k | q | b | c | a | r |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   | f | m |   |   |   |   | m | f |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+================equator================+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   | F | M |   |   |   |   | M | F |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| R | A | C | B | Q | K | B | C | A | R |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Pieces

Rules

Castling and en-passant are the same as in standard chess. A player left with only King, Archers and Alfils, while the opponent's King is on the other side of the Equator, loses the game. Since neither Archers no Alfils can cross the Equator, it is impossible for this player to even check the opposing King. All other rules are the same as FIDE chess.

Notes

Some chess variants are named for a feature that distinguishes them from standard chess. Likewise, this variant is named for a particular piece - Nabi. The Nabi in this game is a shorter range version of a piece that was originally devised for Ackanomic Party Chess. While I was writing the original rules for that one, and through later amendments, a player, whose nickname in Ackanomic was Mohammed, made significant contributions. I decided it would be appropriate to name a piece in honor of this player. I called the piece il-Nabi - Arabic for "the Prophet". Later I considered that a similar piece could be used in a more "traditional" variant as well, and I came up with this one. I mark the piece with the letter M. Pronunciation note - Nahbi is pronouces with an emphasis on the first syllable. Nah as in the na in manna, bi as in bee, but shorter.

The letters N,M can also stand for Nahvi - Hebrew for Prophet - and Moshe (Moses)


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 Uri Bruck.
Web page created: 2008-11-09. Web page last updated: 2008-11-09