King jump

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The king jump was the forerunner of castling in chess.

In the old Arabic and Indian variants there was no special train for the king. Around 1200 it was introduced in Europe that the king - in order not to stand in the way of the other pieces - could jump to any square in his own half on his first move, of course without capturing. This jump was later limited to the area c1-c3-g3-g1 for white (analogous to c8-c6-g6-g8 for black).

The jump rule still existed in 1561, as an opening variation by Ruy López de Segura shows:

  a b c d e f G H  
8th Chess rdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess kdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rdt45.svg 8th
7th Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg 7th
6th Chess --t45.svg Chess bdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess ndt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 6th
5 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess bdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 5
4th Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 4th
3 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 3
2 Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess klt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg 2
1 Chess rlt45.svg Chess nlt45.svg Chess blt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess nlt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rlt45.svg 1
  a b c d e f G H  

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In this position followed: 11.… Ke8 – g6 12. Bc1 – e3 Rh8 – e8 etc.

The development from royal leap to castling is demonstrated by an opening of the Göttingen manuscript around 1500:

  a b c d e f G H  
8th Chess rdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess kdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rdt45.svg 8th
7th Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess qdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg 7th
6th Chess --t45.svg Chess bdt45.svg Chess ndt45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess bdt45.svg Chess ndt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg 6th
5 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess pdt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 5
4th Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess blt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg 4th
3 Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess blt45.svg Chess nlt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg 3
2 Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess nlt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess plt45.svg Chess --t45.svg 2
1 Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rlt45.svg Chess qlt45.svg Chess klt45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess --t45.svg Chess rlt45.svg 1
  a b c d e f G H  

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The continuation followed: 10.… Rh8 – f8 11. Rh1 – f1 Ke8 – g8 12. Ke1 – g1 etc.

This procedure had such obvious advantages that it was later carried out in one move and replaced the royal leap: modern castling was born.

literature

  • David Hooper and Ken Whyld: The Oxford Companion to Chess . Oxford University Press, 2nd edition 1992, ISBN 0-19-866164-9 , p. 71.