Description

As chess evolved from shatranj in the West, pieces gained power by becoming long-range sliders, producing an abstract game where most pieces can cross an open board in a single turn. Eastern variants stay closer to the beginnings of the game, which featured a number of short-range sliders and leapers, but the power pieces still seem to be long-range. What if long-range pieces did not come to be so dominant? Suppose the short-range pieces of chess' infancy became more powerful by gaining additional short-range moves? Grand Shatranj is the companion game to Great Shatranj. It extends the examination of short-range leapers by looking at another 2-square jumper and 2 short-range riders.

Grand Shatranj is a short-range variant of Christiaan Freeling's Grand Chess [name and setup used with permission and thanks] played on a 10x10 board. A Grand Chess set may be used to play. This game uses the pasha, a piece that steps 1 square or leaps 2 squares in a straight line, and introduces 2 apparently new variant chess pieces, the oliphant and lightning warmachine, bishop and rook analogs which step 1 square or leap 2 squares, then may step 1 or leap 2 again. No piece moves more than 4 squares, but pawn walls lose effectiveness. The game plays rather differently than its namesake, and is the third in a series of shatranj variants.