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Al-Ces

Al-Ces is a decimal chess variant. Besides orthodox chess pieces, Al-Ces has pieces from various well-known variants (Cannon from Xiang Qi, Elephant from Shatranj, and Deve which plays as Camel), some of which are modified (Gold and Silver Generals of Shogi, which can "fly" here, and a Lion), and an original piece (assassin).

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Board and Setup

The game is played on a 10x10 board. Each player have a King, a Queen, a Silver General, a Gold General, 2 Bishops, 2Lions, 2 Deves, 2 Elephants, 2 Cannons, 2 kNights, 2 Rooks, 2 Assassins, 10 Pawns.

The opening setup is as seen on the left.

White: King f0; Queen e0; Gold General f1; Silver General e1; Bishops d0, g0; Lions d1, f1; Deves c0, h0; Elephants c1, h1; Cannons b0, i0; Knights b1, i1; Rooks: a0,j0; Assassins: a1,j1; Pawns a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2, i2, j2.

Black: King f9; Queen e9; Gold General f8; Silver General e8; Bishops d9, g9; Lions d8, f8; Deves c9, h9; Elephants c8, h8; Cannons b9, i9; Knights b8, i8; Rooks: a9,j9; Assassins: a8,j8; Pawns a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7, i7, j7.

Moves and Rules

Gold General plays different when capturing and moving. It captures like the Gold General in Shogi, i.e. it can capture just as the usual King except diagonally backwards. However, when making a non-capturing move, it can fly orthogonally or diagonally, i.e. it can go to any empty square orthogonally or diagonally, regardless of how many pieces exist in between.

Silver General plays different when capturing and moving. It captures like the Silver General in Shogi, i.e. it can capture diagonally, or one square forwards vertically. However, when making a non-capturing move, it can fly orthogonally or diagonally, i.e. it can go to any empty square orthogonally or diagonally, regardless of how many pieces exist in between.

Assassin is another piece that has different capture and move. It moves like the usual Queen, and captures like the usual King. Moreover, as a move, it may explode and kill all the pieces of any color at its neighboring squares with itself.

Deve (which means Camel in Turkish) moves and captures like the Camel, i.e. it is a (3,1) jumper (it goes two squares orthogonally and one square diagonally outwards).

Cannon moves and captures like the Cannon in Xiang Qi, i.e. it moves like a Rook and captures if there is exactly one piece of any color between itself and its victim vertically or horizontally.

Elephant moves and captures like the Elephant in Al-Shatranj, i.e. it jumps exactly two squares diagonally. When it reaches to the last rank, it may promote to Bishop or stay as it is.

Lion can jump two squares diagonally or orthogonally, or it can make a King's move. This Lion covers the same squares as a Murray Lion, but it is not the Murray Lion. This Lion can move as a King even without capuring.

King, queen, bishops, knights and rooks move and capture exactly in the same way as in FIDE chess. Castling can be done with rooks just as in orthodox chess, except that the King moves three squares horizontally, and the rook plays next to it, to the other side.

Pawns move just as in orthodox chess. En passant exists with the same rule. Pawns promote when they reach to the last row (0 or 9) of the board, to any non-pawn and non-king piece. If it promotes to an elephant, the elephant can promote to a bishop just if it goes back and comes to the last row again.

Other Rules

White makes the first move. The aim is to checkmate the opponent's king as usual. Stalemate is considered just as in orthodox chess.

ASCII Board

    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  9 |*R*|*C*|*D*|*B*|*Q*|*K*|*B*|*D*|*C*|*R*|
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  8 |*A*|*N*|*E*|*L*|*S*|*G*|*L*|*E*|*N*|*A*|
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  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 |:a:| n |:e:| l |:s:| g |:l:| e |:n:| a |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  0 |:r:| c |:d:| b |:q:| k |:b:| d |:c:| r |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
      a   b   c   d   e   f   g   h   i   j 

© Köksal Karakus - 2000

Download

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• al-ces.zip