Check out Makruk (Thai Chess), our featured variant for March, 2025.

Brigadier Chess

This page contains one or more presets for playing a game online with Game Courier, an online server for playing Chess variants by correspondence.

Interactive diagram: pieces movable, right-click resets!

 
 8 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 3 
 2 
 1 
wabcdefghi    

Click here to open/close a piece overview. Play it!

  • Click below to display piece moves:
  • Pawn (a2-h2; a7-h7)
  • Knight (w1,i1; w8,i8)
  • Bishop (c1,f1; c8,f8)
  • Rook (a1,h1; a8,h8)
  • Queen (d1; d8)
  • Brigadeer (b1,g1; b8,g8)
  • King (e1; e8)
On the b and g-files are initially positioned two Brigadiers per side (the knights are positioned on the four extra corner squares). The Brigadier moves and captures like a Queen but can also capture an enemy if there is another piece (of either side) in between, and any interim squares are empty. Thus to capture it leaps over the intervening piece and lands on the enemy piece, like a cannonball (note that this is not the same as the "Super General" in Supremo Superchess which can also jump without capturing). Otherwise, rules are the same as in standard chess, except for the possibility of pawn promotion to Brigadier. The Brigadier's value is Queen + light piece (Knight or Bishop). The Brigadier also appears in Zhou Xia as 'Destroyer Queen'.

The cannon movement derives from the Cannon in Chinese Chess (Xiangqi). However, in this game the cannon movement is also performed on the diagonals. The board type was conceived by Gustav III of Sweden (1746-92) for his own chess variant Gustav III's Chess. The Gustavian board makes it possible to place additional pieces on the board without substantially increasing the board size. It also brings the advantage that the Knight and Bishop remain equal in value.

The following preset makes a good validity check of Brigadier moves, etc. Moves are automated, including castling and the 'en passant' move. Pieces can be moved by pointing and clicking. When promoting a pawn, it will automatically turn into a Brigadier. Should you prefer another piece then you must type it manually (e.g., add N a8; capture a7). Use small piece-letters for black. E-mails to your opponent are generated, but you can play online by intermittently pressing the browser's update button.



Brigadier Chess



You can download a Zillions implementation here.

See also my other Game Courier presets.


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 M Winther.

Last revised by H. G. Muller.


Web page created: 2006-08-31. Web page last updated: 2022-11-27