Chesquerque
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Chesquerque is a chess variant invented by George R. Dekle Sr. in 1986. The game is played on a board composed of four
Alquerque Alquerque (also known as Qirkat from ar, القرقات) is a strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona. History The game first appea ...
boards combined into a square. Like Alquerque, pieces are positioned on points of intersection and make their moves along marked lines (similarly to
xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' c ...
); as such, the board comprises a 9×9 grid with 81 positions (points) that pieces can move to. Chesquerque was included in ''World Game Review'' No. 10 edited by Michael Keller.


Game rules

The dimensions of the board are 9 rows by 9 columns. All the standard chess pieces are present, plus one additional pawn and one archbishop fairy piece per side. The pieces move in ways specially adapted to the Alquerque-gridded board; these moves differ slightly from those in regular chess. The starting setup is shown above. Like in 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 dist ...
,
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
moves first and the objective of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king. Other standard chess conventions also apply.


Piece moves

Each chesquerque piece has two different sets of possible valid moves, depending on whether said piece is standing on a point that has one or more diagonal connections ("with diagonals") or one that has no diagonal connections ("without diagonals"). In general pieces cannot move diagonally from points without diagonal markings. * A rook can move orthogonally any number of points in a straight line, as in standard chess. On a point with diagonals, though, a rook can also move one step diagonally. * A bishop, on a point with diagonals, can move diagonally any number of points in a straight line. A bishop can also move one step orthogonally (on any point). * The queen combines the powers of a chesquerque rook and a chesquerque bishop: i.e. it can move any number of points in a straight line, in any available direction along marked lines. * The king moves one step as a chesquerque queen: i.e. it can move one step in any direction along marked lines. ** In castling moves, the king always slides three points' distance (whether castling or ""); the corresponding rook moves two squares in the opposite direction. * A knight can move in a similar way to a regular chess knight (described below), but unlike standard chess, a chesquerque knight may not jump over any pieces standing in the way: ** On a point without diagonals, a knight moves in the following pattern: one step orthogonally (in any direction), then one step diagonally outward. ** On a point with diagonals, a knight moves in the following pattern: one step diagonally (in any direction), then one step orthogonally outward. * The archbishop combines the powers of a chesquerque bishop and a chesquerque knight. (Note that when making a knight's move, the archbishop still cannot jump over any piece that stands on an adjacent point; however, an enemy piece on such a point may be captured by a bishop's move.) * A pawn has two types of moves: ** On a point with diagonals, a pawn moves (without capturing) one step straight forward, and captures one step diagonally forward. ** On a point without diagonals, a pawn moves and captures one step forward. ** As in standard chess, all pawns may optionally advance two steps straight forward on their first move (without capturing). ''
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 ...
'' captures are also possible (but only against pawns that start on points without diagonals). Pawns are promoted at the last , and may be promoted to an archbishop as well.


See also

*
Alquerque Alquerque (also known as Qirkat from ar, القرقات) is a strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona. History The game first appea ...
* Also by George Dekle: ** Masonic Chess ** Triangular Chess—a variant with triangular cells ** Tri-Chess—a three-player variant with triangular cells, chancellors and
cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
**
Trishogi Trishogi is a shogi variant for two players created by George R. Dekle Sr. in 1987. The gameboard comprises 9×10 interlocking triangular cells. The game is in all respects the same as shogi, except that piece moves have been transfigured for t ...
—a
shogi variant A shogi variant is a game related to or derived from shogi (Japanese chess). Many shogi variants have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest. A few of these variant ...
with triangular cells **
Hexshogi Hexshogi is a shogi variant for two players created by George R. Dekle Sr. in 1986. The gameboard comprises 85 hexagonal cells. The game is in all respects the same as shogi, except that piece moves have been transfigured for the hexagonal board ...
—a
shogi variant A shogi variant is a game related to or derived from shogi (Japanese chess). Many shogi variants have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest. A few of these variant ...
with hexagonal cells


Notes


References

Bibliography * *


External links


Chesquerque
by Peter Aronson, ''
The Chess Variant Pages ''The Chess Variant Pages'' is a non-commercial website devoted to chess variants. It was created by Hans Bodlaender in 1995. The site is "run by hobbyists for hobbyists" and is "the most wide-ranging and authoritative web site on chess variants" ...
'' {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants 1986 in chess Board games introduced in 1986