The promotions
of the Elephant to Bishop and of the General to Queen are also familiar
from the development of OrthoChess from Shatranj. Let ontogenesis repeat
phylogenesis, I say; let that (or something similar) happen in the course
of the game.
This symmetry seems to have been there before chess was chess; for the Wazir and the Firzan were the oldest men, followed by the Dabbaba, Knight and Alfil (darters or leapers):
`The moves of some of [the men in the earliest Ceylon race games] resembled the moves of the modern pawns, others moved to a field two squares away.It was, however, disrupted quite early, as the orthogonal leaper (the Dabbaba) became a rider (a Rook) and the diagonal one (the Alfil) did not follow until many centuries later. In Shatranj there is also a Firzan but no Wazir. In Timur's Great Chess (henceforth TC), where the Dabbaba and the Wazir reappear to match the Alfil and the Firzan, there are still no real Bishops (there are Vanguards, but those are not diagonal counterparts of the Rooks), there are Camels but no Zebras, and there are toned-down Gryphons (Giraffes) but nothing Dragon-like. Shogi introduces a Bishop to match the Rook, and its Gold and Silver Generals complement one another (one is W+fF, the other F+fW); but there are no diagonal counterparts to the orthogonal Lances and Pawns.There were three kinds of double-move men: some moved orthogonally, others diagonally, others still combined an orthogonal move with a subsequent diagonal move or vice versa. These were the prototypes of the chessmen known from later times.'
--A I Kulichikhin, The History of the Development of Russian Draughts
Eventually the symmetry was restored in OrthoChess. Is it an indispensable feature of a good game? Hardly so. But it is an attractive one, and it is a feature I wanted this game to have.
I also wanted there to be the right amount of force on the board at all times. A chaotic opening is as undesirable as a boring ending. My favourite solution is Adrian King's: compose the initial setup of relatively weak men and let them wax in strength by promotion. (Look at what he does to the two Rooks in Scirocco: he makes one of them unable to move to the next square, which is exactly the way in which TC's Vanguard differs from a Bishop, and restricts the move of the other to four squares. The Rook does exist in Scirocco, but as a promoted rank.)
Some promotions are suggested by the application of some names to weaker men in TC and to stronger ones in some varieties of Indian (or Turkish) Great Chess (1796; henceforth GC) and of Shataranja:
| TC | GC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | # in initial array | movement | # in initial array | movement |
| Firzan (General) | 1 | F | 1 | B + R |
| Wazir (Minister) | 1 | W | 1 | B + N |
| Alfil (Elephant) | 2 | A | 2 | B |
| Dabbaba | 2 | D | 2 | R + N |
| Giraffe | 2 | far Gryphon | 1 | B + R + N |
The promotions
of the Elephant to Bishop and of the General to Queen are also familiar
from the development of OrthoChess from Shatranj. Let ontogenesis repeat
phylogenesis, I say; let that (or something similar) happen in the course
of the game.
And there is one more thing: the density of the initial setup. In OrthoChess it is exactly ½, another dispensable but elegant feature. Scirocco has it too (being a contest of 50 men on 100 squares). So does TC, in which according to most accounts each player has 17 officers and 11 pawns, for a total of 28 men in each army, 56 overall, and the board is composed of 112 squares (11 by 10 on the main field and 2 outstanding citadels, which incidentally I find æsthetically wanting).
One of the transcripts of `Arabshah's biography of Tamerlane (India Office ms 7322) displays the opening setup of an otherwise undocumented version of TC in which each player has 22 officers and 14 pawns, for a total of 36 men in each army, 72 overall (look right). To achieve an initial density of ½, the 72 men should act on a board of 144 squares. That is, a 12 by 12 board.
Now we are ready for the details.
Samarkand
is a chess variant based on the version of TC illustrated in India Office
ms 7322. It is also influenced by several other games, especially GC, Robert
Abbott's Ultima, Adrian King's Scirocco and Typhoon, Demian Freeling's
Congo and Andy Kurnia's Thirty-Nine Squares Chess.
The game is named after the capital of Tamerlane's empire (now a city in Uzbekistan).
In the initial setup (look left) the White army is allocated as follows:
| starts as | initial abilities | promotes to | promoted abilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pawn | mfW + cfF | Squirrel | A + N + D |
| Elephant | mF + A | Archbishop | B + W |
| Vanguard | darter ski-B | Bishop | B |
| Avant | B4 | ||
| Turtle | mW + D | Flamen | R + F |
| Waggon | darter ski-R | Rook | R |
| Chariot | R4 | ||
| Giraffe | m(F+W) + A + D | Amazon | Q + N |
| General | darter ski-Q | Queen | Q |
| Minister | Q4 | ||
| Unicorn | F + D | Lion | R + F + N |
| Phoenix | W + A | Tiger | B + W + N |
| Bull | darter ski-R4 + pusher W | Typhoon | F + A + snowplow R3 |
| Ram | darter ski-B4 + pusher F | Cyclone | W + D + snowplow B3 |
| Knight | N | Longleaper | mQ; captures by line-hopping, possibly more than once in the same direction |
| Camel | C | Withleaper | orthogonal Withdrawer + diagonal Longleaper |
| Zebra | Z | Longdrawer | orthogonal Longleaper + diagonal Withdrawer |
| Scout | m(W+F+D+A); approach capture | Withdrawer | mQ; withdrawal capture |
| Monkey | m(W+F); multiple auto-hopper; multiple overtaker | Coordinator | mQ; captures hostile men on co-squares with own King or Emperor |
| Barracuda | mQ3; converting fore-hopper | Shark | mQ; converting fore-hopper |
| King | W + F; royal | Emperor | W + F + N + short leap; royal |
In alphabetical order:
The Amazon slides to any distance orthogonally or diagonally, or moves as a Knight.
The Giraffe promotes to Amazon because in GC the name Giraffe is applied to a man with Amazon powers.
The Amazon is immensely powerful (especially in light of the relative weakness of most unpromoted men). The appearance of one on the board almost certainly means that the game is as good as over, so it is worth putting some effort into preventing your opponent's Giraffes from promoting.
The Archbishop slides to any distance diagonally or moves one square orthogonally. This is the same move as that of the Dragon Horse in Shogi, or the Scirocco (promoted Alfil) in Adrian King's game of the same name.
In the history of chess the Alfil (the Elephant's prototype) has promoted to the modern Bishop; on the other hand, in GC the name Dabbaba (the Alfil's twin in Timur's game) is applied to a man with Rook + Knight powers. For symmetry's sake I decided to split the difference and let the Elephant promote to the Archbishop, which is effectively Bishop + half a Knight. Note that an Amazon is about as strong as an Archbishop plus a Flamen, just as a Giraffe is an Elephant plus a Turtle.
The name Archbishop is taken from Drop Chess by Key McKinnis.
The Avant moves as a Bishop, but no farther than four squares.
The man is called that because in Ralph Betza's notation the move is written as B4 ['bi: 'fO:], and avant is French for `before [bI'fO:]'. I thought that was a good name for the Vanguard's twin, as Modern English vanguard comes (via Middle English vantgard) from Middle French avant-garde `foreguard'.
The Barracuda moves up to three squares as a Queen, but doesn't capture that way. Instead, if on its path there is an enemy man and a vacant square immediately behind, the Barracuda can leap over that man and convert him to its own colour. (If the prey is three squares away, the Barracuda can end up four squares away from its original position, a square it couldn't reach by a single passive move.)
`Barracuda' is one of the possible translations of the Arabic word laxm. Barracudas are slender, elongated tropical fishes with projecting lower jaws armed with large, sharp-edged teeth. They are ferocious, striking at anything that gleams. The largest of the group, the great barracuda, averages 1.5 m in length but may reach 3 m.
In Fairy Chess sea-pieces are such as capture by leaping over their prey and landing on the next square. The Queen-like move of the Barracuda (and its promoted form, the Shark) is suggested by their position in the initial array.
In Samarkand as in Orthochess, the Bishop moves and captures to any distance diagonally.
The Avant and the Vanguard promote to Bishop because in Timur's Great Chess the two Vanguards stand in what we might think of as the Bishop positions, a little closer to the centre than the Knights.
The Bull moves in all orthogonal directions, in the following way:
The Camel is the same thing in Samarkand as in TC: a (1,3) leaper.
The Chariot moves as a Rook, but no farther than four squares.
The Chariot is taken from Scirocco, together with the idea of toning down some of the riders in this way.
The Coordinator moves as a Queen, but doesn't capture that way. When the Coordinator completes its move, any enemy men on the co-squares of the Coordinator and its side's King or Emperor (the two squares on the same rank as one and the same file as the other) are captured. The promotion of the Monkey to Coordinator does not instantly strike the co-squares of the promotion square and the royal person's position, however.
The Coordinator is taken from Ultima.
The Cyclone moves up to three squares diagonally, or moves to the next or leaps to the second square orthogonally. When moving diagonally, it can snowplow through enemy men, and need not capture until it hits a friendly man or the edge of the board.
The Cyclone does diagonally what its twin the Typhoon does orthogonally, and vice versa. The figurine in the ZoG implementation is chosen for its round shape.
The Elephant leaps directly to the second square in any diagonal direction, or moves without capturing to the next square, again in any diagonal direction (that is, it is the diagonal half of the Giraffe).
The Elephant is derived from the Alfil in TC; the passive one-square move is added by analogy with the Congo Giraffe, and also to enhance the Elephant somewhat and prevent it from being restricted to one-eighth of the board.
The Emperor moves as a King or a Knight, or can perform a short leap over an orthogonally or diagonally adjacent man of either colour, possibly capturing an enemy man on the square beyond. He can also relay a three-square leaping move to an adjacent friendly man in the same way as the King can (q.v.).
The short leap of the Emperor is part of the move of the Iron Cannon in Peter Michaelsen's Cannon Chess. Since timur means `iron', I thought the move of the promoted King should contain such a component.
The Flamen slides to any distance orthogonally or moves one square diagonally. This is the same move as that of the Dragon King in Shogi, or the Dragon Kite (promoted Dabbaba) in Typhoon.
In GC the name Dabbaba (the Alfil's twin in Timur's game) is applied to a man with Rook + Knight powers; on the other hand, in the history of chess the Alfil (the Elephant's prototype) has promoted to the modern Bishop. For symmetry's sake I decided to split the difference and let the Turtle promote to the Flamen, which is effectively Rook + half a Knight. Note that an Amazon is about as strong as a Flamen plus an Archbishop, just as a Giraffe is a Turtle plus an Elephant.
The name Flamen is taken from Nathan McDonald's Vyre'morn Chess, whose documentation says: `Flamen was a title bestowed upon the high priests of certain Ancient Roman Gods'.
The General moves as a Queen, but must skip the first square. If an adjacent square is occupied, the General's move in that direction is blocked.
The Giraffe leaps directly to the second square in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, or moves without capturing to the next square, again in any orthogonal or diagonal direction.
In the initial array the Giraffe sits where Timur's Giraffe does, but the move it has in Samarkand is taken from Congo.
The King moves to any of the eight orthogonally or diagonally adjacent squares, and captures by displacement. In other words, he behaves in the same way in Samarkand as in OrthoChess or in TC, except that he doesn't castle, doesn't have a swapping escape move, and there is no enemy citadel on the board that he can draw the game by penetrating.
In addition to his own move, the Samarkand King can relay to an adjacent friendly man the ability to move exactly three squares orthogonally or vertically, provided he leaps over at least one man of either side. (Note that this is a move that no man can make of his own power.) The arrival square must be vacant -- the relay move can't be used for capture. The man being moved does not promote even if the arrival square is on the last rank.
The Knight is the same thing in Samarkand as in OrthoChess or Timur's GC: a (1,2) leaper.
The Lion moves as a Rook, Firzan or Knight.
The Lion is taken from Thirty-Nine Squares Chess. The promotion of the Unicorn to Lion is from Chu Shogi, although the Lion in that game moves in an entirely different way.
The Longdrawer combines the powers of a Longleaper when moving orthogonally and a Withdrawer when moving diagonally.
The Longleaper moves as a Queen, but doesn't capture that way. If there is an enemy man on its path and there are vacant squares behind, the Longleaper can leap over that man and capture him, landing on any vacant square beyond, and can (but doesn't have to) execute a series of such leaps in the same move, provided they are all in the same direction.
The Longleaper is taken from Ultima. The promotion of the Knight to Longleaper is suggested by the fact that in Ultima the chess Knights are used as Longleapers.
The Minister moves as a Queen, but no farther than four squares.
The Monkey moves in all orthogonal and diagonal directions, doing one of the following three things:
The Monkey is taken from Congo; the chain-leaping over friendly men is added here in order to increase the Monkey's mobility in line with the size of the board.
The Pawn moves as in OrthoChess, one square orthogonally forwards without capturing, one square diagonally forwards to capture. He is the only man whose move does not have rotational symmetry.
As in TC, there is no initial double move (hence also no en passant capture).
The Phoenix moves to the next square orthogonally, or leaps to the second square diagonally.
The Phoenix (called feng1huang2 in Chinese, hô'ô in Japanese; according to some sources, feng1 is male and huang2 is female) is a mythical bird described as having a cock's bill, a swallow's crop, a snake's neck, a fish's tail, a patterned body and a turtle's back, and as looking as a swan from the front and as a qi2lin2 from behind. It is a wind deity, an envoy of the lord of the skies.
As a chessman the Phoenix is taken from Chu Shogi.
In Samarkand as in Orthochess, the Queen moves and captures to any distance orthogonally or diagonally.
The General promotes to Queen because the Firzan, here represented by the General, did in fact promote to a Queen, except that he took several centuries for that, whereas in Samarkand he can do so in the course of a game. By analogy with him, the Minister also promotes to Queen (Rook + Bishop) rather than Bishop + Knight, which is what the Wazir is in Great Chess.
The Ram moves in all diagonal directions, in the following way:
In Samarkand as in Orthochess, the Rook moves and captures to any distance orthogonally.
The promotion of the Chariot and the Waggon to Rook is due to the fact that their positions actually belong to the two Rooks in Timur's Great Chess.
The Scout moves to the next square or leaps directly to the second square in any orthogonal or diagonal direction. He doesn't capture by displacement, but when he moves to the next square, he captures an enemy man on the second square in that direction if there is one.
The Shark is a Barracuda writ large. It moves as a Queen, but doesn't capture that way. Instead, if on its path there is an enemy man and a vacant square immediately behind, the Shark can leap over that man, and convert him to its own colour.
`Shark' is one of the possible translations of the Arabic word laxm. Sharks are fast-swimming, almost exclusively marine fishes, most abundant in warm waters. The size a shark can reach depends on the species (of which there are about 250); the largest, 15m-ones are harmless plankton eaters, but the 6m white shark is extremely aggressive.
In Fairy Chess sea-pieces are such as capture by leaping over their prey and landing on the next square; if the Shark captured instead of converting, it would be called a Mermaid.
The Squirrel leaps directly anywhere two squares away.
The Tiger moves as a Bishop, Wazir or Knight.
The Tiger is taken from Thirty-Nine Squares Chess. The Phoenix promotes to Tiger because the Tiger is twin to the Lion, and in Chu Shogi the twin of the Phoenix promotes to something called Lion.
The Turtle leaps directly to the second square in any orthogonal direction, or moves without capturing to the next square, again in any orthogonal direction (that is, it is the orthogonal half of the Giraffe).
The Turtle is derived from the Dabbaba in TC; the passive one-square move is added by analogy with the Congo Giraffe, and also to enhance the Turtle somewhat and prevent it from being restricted to one-quarter of the board. The man is called that because in Russian the ancient siege machine that the Arabic word dabbAba stands for is called cherepaxa (lit. `turtle').
The Typhoon moves up to three squares orthogonally, or moves to the next or leaps to the second square diagonally. When moving orthogonally, it can snowplow through enemy men, and need not capture until it hits a friendly man or the edge of the board.
The word typhoon comes from Japanese taifû, Chinese tai2feng1.
The Typhoon is taken from Adrian King's game of the same name. The figurine in the ZoG implementation is chosen for its similarity to the Chinese/Japanese character feng1/fû `wind' (which was originally a depiction of a mythical bird that made wind by waving its wings).
The Unicorn moves to the next square diagonally, or leaps to the second square orthogonally.
The Unicorn (called qi2lin2 in Chinese, kirin in Japanese; according to some sources, qi2 is male and lin2 is female) is a mythical beast described as having a deer's body (though smaller in size), a wolf's neck, a bull's tail, a horse's hooves, a horn ending in a soft bump, with which it never hurts anyone, and either multicoloured or greyish-brown fur.
The Unicorn is taken from Chu Shogi. In anglophone texts on that game it is usually called Kylin, for whatever reason.
The Vanguard moves as a Bishop, but must skip the first square. If a diagonally adjacent square is occupied, the Vanguard's move in that direction is blocked.
The Vanguard is inherited from TC, name and all (.talI`a means `vanguard' in Arabic).
The Waggon moves as a Rook, but must skip the first square. If an orthogonally adjacent square is occupied, the Waggon's move in that direction is blocked.
The Waggon is taken from Scirocco, together with the idea of toning down some of the sliders in this way.
The Withdrawer moves as a Queen, but doesn't capture that way. If the Withdrawer moves directly away from an adjacent enemy man, that man is captured.
The Withdrawer is taken from Ultima. The promotion of the Scout to Withdrawer is suggested by the use of the chess Queen (the King's companion in Orthochess) as a Withdrawer in Ultima (the Scout is the King's companion in a way, standing immediately behind him), and also by the fact that an experienced scout's principal way of inflicting harm on the enemy is by withdrawing from his camp (with information).
The Withleaper combines the powers of a Withdrawer when moving orthogonally and a Longleaper when moving diagonally.
The Zebra is the same thing in Samarkand as in Fairy Chess: a (2,3) leaper.
Last updated: 11 July 2001.