Hiashatar

Hiashatar is a medieval chess variant played in Mongolia. The game is played on a 10×10 board. The pieces are the same as in chess with the exception that there is an additional piece which is called the "bodyguard".[1][2] The starting position is similar to chess, except that a bodyguard each is placed between king and bishop and between queen and bishop with a pawn in front and there are two more rows in the middle. The game is not as popular as western chess or Shatar.

Initial arrangement of figures
ABCEEFGHIJ
10
10
99
88
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
ABCEEFGHIJ

Pieces

  • King (noyon) - moves like the King in chess
  • Queen (bers) - moves like the Queen in chess
  • Bodyguard (hia) - moves like a Queen, but can only move one or two squares. The Bodyguard has a special power; any piece sliding must stop its move if it moves through any square a king's move away from the bodyguard. Any piece a king's move away from the bodyguard can only move one square. The only piece immune to this power of the Bodyguard is the Knight.
  • Rook (tereg) - moves like the rook in chess
  • Knight (mori) - moves like the Knight in chess
  • Bishop (temē) - moves like the Bishop in chess
  • Pawn (hū) - moves like the pawn in chess except that it can make an initial triple step.

Other Rules

  • There is no castling
  • Pawns promote only to queen

References

  • N. Okano, Sekai-no meina shogi (World's chess games), p. 40-46, chapter V. 1999.
  1. "Mongolian Chess". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MLhiashatar
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