Chess Variants/Grand Chess

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Initial setuup of grand chess

Grand Chess is a variant of chess played on a 10 by 10 board with the same new pieces as Capablanca chess.

Grand chess was created in 1984 by Dutch game designer Christian Freeling. Freeling is the operator of the Dutch games webiste MindSports, which has held online tournaments for Grand chess in the past. In addition, from 1998 until its dissolution in 2003, the correspondence organisation Knights of the Square Table also held annual tournaments.

Grand chess is played on a 10 by 10 board, with the usual chess pieces plus two new pieces - the marshall and the cardinal.

• The mashall () combines the powers of the rook and the knight. It may slide horizontally or vertically like a rook, or jump like a knight, but not both in one move.
• The cardinal () combines the powers of the bishop and the knight. It may slide diagonally like a bishop, or jump like a knight, but not both in one move.

All other pieces move and capture in the same way as the standard game.

Since the rooks are not on the same rank as the king, there is no castling in Grand chess.

The promotion rules are also different:

• A pawn that moves to the eighth or ninth ranks (for White) or the third or second ranks (for Black) is given the choice of either promoting or remaining a pawn.
• A pawn that moves to the tenth rank (for White) or the first rank (for Black) must promote.
• A pawn may only promote to a non-king piece that has already been captured. So unlike standard chess a player may not have two queens, or three rooks, or so on.
• If no captured pieces are available to promote to, a pawn may not move to the furthest rank, but it can still give check.

• Embassy chess adapts the starting position of Grand chess to the 10 by 8 board used in Capablanca chess.