Shatranj al-Sultan

I realized recently that I have never proposed any 10x8 variant with one piece added to the Standard Chess pieces . So , I decided to make one .

The Querquisites, by their very nature , can't have a file of their own . It is ugly to have two Jokers (Fools , Jesters , etc ...) . The Capablanca pieces are over-used . The Bison's addition would look like a lame imitation of Falcon Chess ( and I still like the Falcon better ) . The Camel is also over-used , and is just an ugly piece . And then , it hit me .

Many have described the Camel as a Diagonal Knight , because it moves in a diagonal L shape to the Knight's orthogonal . However , we can look at the basic pieces (the Knight included) differently : 
      - the traditional WAZIR , moves to every square of the opposite
                                color at a distance of one step .
      - the traditional FERZ  , moves to every square of the same color
                                at a distance of one step .
      - the KNIGHT            , moves to every square of the opposite
                                color at a distance of two steps .
      - the ALIBABA           , moves to every square of the same color
                                at a distance of two steps .

And there I had it , I am going to add the Alibaba . ( But I'll call it the Courier . ) I looked a little , and apparently no one did it before .

Setup

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
8  | r |:n:| b |:c:| q |:k:| c |:b:| n |:r:|
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
7  |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:| p |:p:| p |  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
6  |   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::| 
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
5  |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
4  |   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
3  |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |:::|   |  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
2  | P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:| P |:P:|  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
1  |:R:| N |:B:| C |:Q:| K |:C:| B |:N:| R |  
   +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
     a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   k

Same as regular chess , with two Couriers added : RNBCQKCBNR .

Pieces

King , Queen , Bishops , Knights and Rooks are the same as regular Chess .

Couriers move by jumping two squares orthogonally or diagonally . For example , if a Courier is on e4 , it jumps to c2 , e2 , g2 , c4 , g4 , c6 , e6 , or g6 . Like the Knight , it may jump over other pieces .

Pawns move as in Regular Chess . They may promote to any piece , except a King , when reaching the eighth rank .

Castling is by moving the King three squares towards the Rook , as in Capablanca Chess .

Rules

Same as Regular Chess except where noted .

Notes

One interesting feature of the Courier is that they NEVER meet . There can never be a direct Courier exchange , or anything of the like . Meaning , they always have to be exchanged for a stranger piece , which is any piece , which makes them dangerous attacking weapons .

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Adding mutators , like Suicide , Atomic , ZH , Hostage , Extinction , is interesting to explore .

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Sultan Random Chess : Shuffle all the pieces in the first rank , with the following conditions :
      - Bishops must start in different colors .
      - Couriers must start on different colors .
      - The King must be placed somewhere between the two Rooks .

      - Castling is as in Capablanca Random Chess , the 10x8 application
        to Fischer Random Chess .