Grand Chess is a large-board

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 Dutch games designer

Christian Freeling Christian Freeling (born 1 February 1947, in Enschede, Netherlands) is a Dutch game designer and inventor of abstract strategy games, notably Dameo, Grand Chess, Havannah, and Hexdame. Freeling's designs cover a range of game types. Several o ...

in 1984. It is played on a 10×10

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a t ...

, with each side having two additional pawns and two new pieces: the ''marshal'' and the ''cardinal''. * The

marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

(M) combines powers of a rook and a

knight 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 ...

. * The

cardinal 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, t ...

bishop 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 ...

and a

. Grand Chess uses the same pieces as the earlier variant

Capablanca chess Capablanca chess (or Capablanca's chess) is a chess variant invented in the 1920s by World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca. It incorporates two new pieces and is played on a 10×8 board. Capablanca believed that chess would be played out i ...

, but differs in board size, start position, rules governing pawn moves and promotion, and castling. A series of Grand Chess Cyber World Championship matches was sponsored by the Dutch game site Mindsports. Grand Chess tournaments were held annually beginning in 1998 by the (now defunct) correspondence game club NOST.

Larry Kaufman Lawrence Charles Kaufman (born November 15, 1947) is an American chess and shōgi player. In chess, he was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE for winning the 2008 World Seniors Championship (which he later retroactively shared with Mihai Su ...

has written that Grand Chess "really is an excellent game and deserves a bigger following".

Rules

The pieces are placed on the players' first and second

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * ...

s, respectively, with the rooks alone on the players' first ranks. The pawns are placed on the players' third ranks. Since the rooks are not blocked as much by the other pieces as in standard chess, it is easier for them to activate earlier in the game. A pawn that reaches a player's eighth or ninth ranks can elect to either promote or remain a pawn, but it ''must'' promote upon reaching the tenth rank. Unlike standard chess, a pawn may be promoted only to a captured piece of the same colour. (So, it is impossible for either side to own two queens, or two marshals, or three rooks, etc.) If, and for as long as, no captured piece is available to promote to, a pawn on a player's ninth rank must stay on the ninth rank, but it can still give

check Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...

. As in standard chess: pawns can move one or two squares on their first move; pawns can capture '' en passant'';

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

is a win;

stalemate Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the infer ...

is a draw. 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 move ...

in Grand Chess.

Play examples

Vehre vs. Schmittberger, 2001

Played between John Vehre and R. Wayne Schmittberger at the 2001 Grand Chess Cyber Championship Final: :1.f5 f6 2.Nh4 Nh7 3.g4 g7 4.Nc4 Nc7 5.d4 d7 6.e5 Bd8 7.Rje1 Kd10 8.Kf1 fxe5 9.Ncxe5 Kc9 10.Re2? Kb9 11.Kg1 Rjf10 12.Bd3 e6 13.Rf1 Mh10?! 14.Nc4 Ci10 15.Nd6 exf5 16.Bxf5 Bd5 17.Ci1 Bxh4 18.ixh4 g6 19.Rfe1 gxf5 20.Nxf5! Qd8 21.Bxc7 Qxc7 22.Re9+ Kc10 23.Cxc7 bxc7 24.Qf4 d6 25.Qe3 Mg8 26.Me2 Nf6 27.Qe7 Nd7 28.Qe8+ Mxe8 29.Mxe8 nnotations by Vehre

Fool's mate

1.Cf4 Qd10 2.Ce6 Qf10 3.Cxc8

Composition

Embassy chess

Embassy chess is a variant of Grand Chess created in 2005 by Kevin Hill. It borrows the opening setup from Grand Chess and adapts it to the 10×8 board. Except for the setup, the rules are as per

. There are multiple chess engines that can play Embassy chess, including

ChessV ChessV (short for Chess Variants) is a free computer program designed to play many chess variants. ''ChessV'' is an open-source, universal chess variant program with a graphical user-interface, sophisticated AI, support for opening books and ot ...

, Zillions of Games with
rules file
Sjaak 2, and Fairy-Stockfish. Embassy chess can be played against other people o
BrainKing
an
EvoChess

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*

annotated by John Vehre

by Malcolm Horne

by Hans Bodlaender, '' The Chess Variant Pages'' *
Grand Chess
a simple program by Ed Friedlander (

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Chess Chess variants Capablanca Chess variants 1984 in chess Board games introduced in 1984