Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

Schachdame

An old variant which is a crossover between chess and checkers or draughts is this game, invented in 1883 by Heinrich Richter from Germany.

Rules

Each player has one King, one Bishop, and six pawns. (The original German name for the Kings piece is Dame, which is the term used for the chess queen, but can also mean: `Lady'. The Bishop is actually called Ritter, which translates to knight.) The opening setup is as follows:

White:
King e1; Bishop c1; Pawns a1, b2, d2, f2, g1, h2.

Black:
King d8, Bishop f8, Pawns a7, b8, c7, e7, g7, h8.

The king moves one square diagonally. The bishop moves as a normal bishop. The pawns move one square diagonally forward, and promote to bishop. Pieces take in the same way as they move.

Object of the game is to mate the opponents king.


Written by Hans Bodlaender.
WWW page created: 1995 or 1996. Last modified: March 16, 1998.