Alibaba Chess
This game is played on a 9x9 board and includes four alibabas per side which can together reach all squares of the board. Also a Squirrel, which is a compound of Alibaba and Knight.
The four Alibabas of a side are not all of the same value. The white one initially on h2 and the black one on h8 can reach 16 squares, none of them on the border. The white Alibaba on c1 and the black on c9 can reach 25 squares, among them all corner squares. The remaining on h1, h9, c2 and c8 can reach 20 squares each.
Setup
Pieces
Besides the pieces of the orthodox army, there are:
Rules
The board has 9 x 9 squares. 9 white pawns are initially set up on row 3, 9 black pawns on row 7.
The other white pieces:
- rook: a1, i1
- knight: b1, b2
- alibaba: c1, c2, h1, h2
- bishop: g1, g2
- squirrel: d2
- king: e2
- queen: f2
The black pieces are set up symmetrically, mirrored at the 5th row.
The alibaba leaps two squares orthogonally or diagonally i. e. it is an Alfil-Dabbabah-compound. The squirrel is an Alibaba-Knight-compound.
rooks, knights, bishops and pawns move as in orthodox chess, but the pawns can't make a double move and there is no en-passant capture. If a pawn reaches the last row, it may be promoted to queen or squirrel.
There is no castling.
The goal is to checkmate or stalemate the opponent.
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By Thomas .
Web page created: 2023-02-17. Web page last updated: 2023-04-22