Grande Acedrex
Grande Acedrex (old Spanish for "Great Chess Game") is a medieval chess variant that goes back to King Alfonso X of Castile . He deals with the game in his "Book of Games" ( Libro de los juegos ) , which was written between 1251 and 1282 . In addition to an enlarged chess board, a number of new types of chess pieces are characteristic .
The king attributed the invention of the great game of chess to the Indians. Alfons X. preferred a variant of the game with dice that he developed himself .
List and description of the figures
Grande Acedrex is played on a board with 12 × 12 fields. Each side has twelve pawns , which are two squares forward compared to the usual basic position, i.e. they are placed on the fourth and ninth rows.
The other figures are on the basic rows. Each party has two towers on the two edge lines, with two lions, unicorns, giraffes and crocodiles adjoining each other on the inside. The king of each party stands on the f-file , and a griffin on the g-file.
Rook, king and pawn move like in modern chess . The king can make a king jump on his first move and jump two squares in a straight or diagonal direction, so the white king can jump from f1 to d1, d3, f3, h3 or h1. The farmers do not have a double step. When the opponent's back row is reached, they are converted into a piece of the type of the opponent's piece originally placed on the space reached (but of the color of the pawn) - the pawn is only converted into a griffin on the king's starting space.
The griffin is the strongest character in the game. Its original name Aanca is not derived from the hybrid creature , but presumably from the giant bird of oriental legends. He moves a step diagonally and from there orthogonally as far as he likes, but only in directions that are further away from the starting field. Is the griffin z. B. on g1, he can reach all fields of the second row except for g2, and all fields of the f- and h-lines except f1 and h1. He can't jump; he can only get to h4 if h2 and h3 are free.
According to Murray's depiction, the crocodile and unicorn move like today's runners , but the unicorn's first move is a (non-hitting) knight move. The lion jumps orthogonally three squares, i.e. makes (0.3) jumps , e.g. B. from b1 to b4. The giraffe makes (1,4) jumps, i.e. that is, it moves to an orthogonally adjacent square and from there four squares at right angles, for example from a3 to e4; it is therefore an "extended" jumper , which is defined by (1,2) jumps.
A new translation by Sonja Musser and Jean-Louis Cazaux suggests that Murray misrepresented the features of the lion, giraffe and unicorn. However, this cannot be said with certainty, as the original description in the Book of Games is in part imprecise and ambiguous.
It is likely that Leo will not make just one (0.3) jump. This would make a relatively weak figure that can only reach every third square in every third row. Cazaux suspects that he can optionally make a (1,3) jump, which results in a considerably stronger and more interesting figure that can reach every square on the board. The giraffe may make (2,3) jumps, but the original description is unclear here. The unicorn (actually rhinoceros) first makes a knight move, i.e. a (1,2) jump, and can then optionally, in the same move, move diagonally as far as you want, but only forwards and to the side of the board to which the knight move took place. If it is z. B. is on b5, it can move to c3 and from here follow the diagonal to the front right, i.e. move to one of the squares c3, d4, e5, ....
Game outcome
Presumably, the usual win conditions in medieval chess were adopted for the Grande Acedrex, but this is not expressly mentioned in the book of games . You can therefore not only win by mating the opposing king, but also by staling the opponent as well as through the robbery victory , i.e. H. capturing all opposing pieces except the king. However, if the opponent can also capture the last piece of the superior party in the next move, after which only the kings are on the board, the game ends in a draw .
Game variant with dice
There were two variants of the game, because dice could optionally be used (this was the form of play preferred by Alfons X). In this case, special cubes were used.
The king justified their use by saying that Grande Acedrex was tedious to play. So he had special dice with eight triangular sides made to speed up the game. The number of sides of the dice corresponds to the eight different pieces. Depending on the result of the throw, a certain piece was to be drawn. Eight eyes stood for the king, seven for the griffin, six for the unicorn, five for the tower, four for the lion, three for the crocodile, two for the giraffe and one for the farmer. The respective number of eyes should consciously express a "hierarchy" of the characters, essentially their supposed skill level.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b H. JR Murray: A History of Chess , Oxford University Press, 1913 (Reprint edition 2002), p. 348. ISBN 0198274033
- ↑ (Weblink; English): Alfonso X's Grant Acedrex .
- ↑ Description and translation of the original description in the Book of Games (web link; English): Alfonso X's Grant Acedrex