Jetan
Jetan is a variant of chess that is contained in Edgar Rice Burroughs ' book The Chessmen of Mars (1922), where it plays an essential role in the course of the plot. The information in the book is sufficient to reconstruct the chess variant with its rules.
The aim of the game is to conquer the opposing princess, who is a very agile but weak chess piece. Alternatively, you can beat the opposing leader with your own leader.
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Thoat , can skip other figures
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Warrior , cannot skip pieces
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Padwar , can't skip figures
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Dwar , can't skip pieces
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Odwar , can skip other characters
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Princess , can skip other characters
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Leader , cannot skip pieces
The rules given here follow the reconstruction by Jean-Louis Cazaux . Larry Lynn Smith gives various alternative interpretations for the gaits of the individual figures.
Board and starting position
The game is played on a 10 by 10 field board with a black and orange checkerboard pattern. One party has orange pieces and plays in the “North”, the other has black pieces and plays in the “South”. This list reflects old wars on Barsoom .
Each player has 20 figures: eight panthans, two thoats, two warriors, two padwars, two dwars, two aviators (or odwars), a princess and a leader. The starting position is shown in the following table.
| T | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | T |
| K | P | D. | O | P | A. | O | D. | P | K |
The setup is point-symmetrical, i.e. H. the orange princess is facing the black leader, and the orange leader is the black princess. In a variant that is played in Manator, the leaders and princesses face each other as in chess .
Turn order and beginning of the game
Both players take turns drawing. In the first game, the two players have to decide who goes first. In the following games, the winner may start or ask the opponent to start the game.
General information on the gait of the figures
In the following descriptions of the gaits of the figures, there are fixed numbers of steps. These are always meant precisely, i.e. H. a three-step figure must always take all three steps and cannot take just one or two steps. During a turn, a space that has been entered cannot be visited a second time. If the target field is occupied by an opposing figure, this is captured.
There is no check and mate in the usual sense, so it is not forbidden to move to a threatened square with the leader or the princess.
Panthan
The panthan corresponds roughly to the pawn in chess. It can move a square in all directions forwards or sideways, but not backwards. The panthan can keep or change its field color. A panthan cannot be promoted or converted.
Thoat
The thoat takes exactly two steps, one orthogonally and one diagonally, where he can change direction and skip other pieces. The thoat can thus reach a total of twelve fields, all of which have a different color than the starting field. It combines the moves of the knight and the vizier .
warrior
The warrior moves two squares horizontally or vertically or in a combination of both directions. He cannot skip other figures and can therefore be adjusted. The warrior is tied to his field color.
Padwar
The padwar moves two squares diagonally or in a combination of diagonal directions. He cannot skip other figures and can therefore be adjusted. The padwar is tied to its field color.
Dwar
The Dwar draws three squares orthogonally or in a combination of orthogonal directions. He cannot skip other figures and can therefore be adjusted. The dwar changes its field color with each move.
Odwar
The Odwar (or Flyer) moves three spaces in a diagonal direction or any combination of diagonal directions. He can skip other figures. The aviator is bound to his field color.
princess
The princess moves three squares in each direction (orthogonal or diagonal) or any combination of these directions. She can skip other figures. So you can reach any field within a square of seven by seven fields and change the field color or not.
Once during the game, she has a special escape train. With this escape move she can move to any free space on the board. The princess cannot beat another piece.
leader
The leader can move three squares in any direction (orthogonally or diagonally) or any combination of these directions. He cannot skip other figures.
He, too, can reach any field within a seven by seven square and change the field color or not.
Playing
The game ends when a princess or a leader is defeated.
The winner is whoever defeats the opponent's princess with any piece or the opponent's leader with his own leader.
According to Burroughs' original rules, the game ends in a draw if the leader is captured by another piece. The game is also a tie if both sides only have three or fewer pieces left and the game is not won by either player within the next ten moves (five per piece).
With the original rules, the game very often ends in a draw . To reduce the number of ties, Cazaux proposes the following modification of the original rules: If the leader is defeated by a figure other than the other leader, the game continues.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Jetan - Martian Chess (Jean-Louis Cazaux)
- ↑ The Game of Jetan or Martian Chess (Larry Lynn Smith)