Legan chess (or Legan's game) is a

chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...

invented by L. Legan in 1913. It differs from standard

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

by the starting position as well as by

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

movements.

Rules

The starting setup is illustrated. The game can be also played with the board rotated by 45° clockwise to make pawn movements easier to understand. There is no

castling Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved ...

and no ''

en passant ''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...

''. Otherwise, the rules of chess apply.

Pawn movement

Pawns move one square diagonally forward: White from right to left; Black left to right. They capture orthogonally in direction of movements (see diagram). The white pawn on f3 can move to e4 and capture on e3 and f4. The black pawn on b6 can move to c5 and capture on b5 and c6.

Pawn promotion

Pawns promote on squares occupied in the initial position by the opponent's

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, and

rooks Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military *Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

. For example, white pawns promote on squares a5–a8–d8 (marked with white dots); black pawns on e1–h1–h4 (marked with black dots). Note that the pawns that start on d1, h5, a4 and e8 cannot promote without moving toward the center of the board via capturing.

References

Bibliography * * {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants 1913 in chess Board games introduced in 1913