Russian fortress chess

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Russian fortress chess is a form of four chess that emerged in the 18th century . It was widespread in Russia up to the beginning of the 20th century and was also played in Europe, for example by Michail Tschigorin and José Raúl Capablanca . In 1855, a London chess club is said to have existed, which particularly propagated this game variant, where the style of play, which deviated somewhat from the Russian original, developed.

Structure of the playing field

The game board in Russian fortress chess consists of 192 fields. Of these, 64 fields are concentrated in the middle and four 4 x 4 fields are arranged in rows on the edges of the central field. There are also four fortresses to the right of each player. These are areas of four by four fields that are only accessible via the two fields on the far right of the respective installation rows. For this reason castling is preferred to the right, i.e. towards the fortress. The basic position of the fortress chess looks like this:

Russian fortress chess.PNG

The notation is done using numbers from 1 to 16 for the horizontal rows and letters from A to Q for the vertical lines (A. v. Petroff), seen from the perspective of the "bright coalition" (here white and light gray).

characters

You need two sets of chess pieces that can be easily distinguished from one another for the four players involved. In addition, each player receives a runner , a knight and a tower , which are set up as "reserve troops" in the fortress. Since the general adjustment of the rules of move for chess pieces, as is customary in modern chess, all pieces move; This is especially true for the queen, who in Russian chess also included that of the knight in her repertoire in addition to the moves of the rook and bishop. The depicted list of reserve figures in the fortresses goes back to Machatscheck, according to Petroff it is arbitrary.

Rules of the game

General

The usual rules of chess apply, supplemented by some special provisions:

  • The players sitting opposite are allies. The aim of the game is to checkmate both kings of the respective opponent .
  • The draw takes place alternately and in turns clockwise, white begins.
  • Allies' pawns and pieces may not capture each other, but may jump over them (Machat check). According to Petroff, they block each other, e.g. B. when two farmers of a coalition face each other.
  • It is not allowed to move, capture or bid chess over the fortress walls or directly around the corners of the fortresses (e.g. the tower pawns cannot beat each other). Entering and leaving the fortress, capturing pieces or chess bids (into or out of the fortress) can only be done through the fortress gates.
  • The pawn is converted into any piece (except king) when he reaches the opposite edge of the field - the officer line of the ally - or when striking a stone there . The same applies if a pawn reaches the baseline of an opponent.

Game variants

There are two known ways of playing. In the Western European variant, an ally who has been mated is eliminated from the game, but his king remains on the field. If his partner succeeds in dissolving the mate, the previously mated ally may intervene again in the game.

According to the Russian style of play, an ally who has been mated is eliminated from the game, his king is removed from the playing field together with the corresponding pieces and cannot be reactivated. From then on, the remaining partner must play alone against the two opponents of the opposing party.

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