Chess Variants/Capablanca Chess

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8a8 black rookb8 black knightc8 black princessd8 black bishope8 black queenf8 black kingg8 black bishoph8 black empressi8 black knightj8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black pawnd7 black pawne7 black pawnf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawni7 black pawnj7 black pawn7
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5a5b5c5d5e5f5g5h5i5j55
4a4b4c4d4e4f4g4h4i4j44
3a3b3c3d3e3f3g3h3i3j33
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 white pawne2 white pawnf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawni2 white pawnj2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 white knightc1 white princessd1 white bishope1 white queenf1 white kingg1 white bishoph1 white empressi1 white knightj1 white rook1
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Starting position of Capablanca chess

Introduction

Capablanca Chess is a variant played on a 10 by 8 board with two new pieces per player - the chancellor, which combines the powers of the rook and the knight, and the archbishop, which combines the powers of the bishop and the knight.

History

The basic idea of a 10 by 8 variant of chess with the chancellor and archbishop is nothing new. The earliest such variant that we know of dates back to 1617, when the Italian chess player Pietro Carrera published a book called Il Gioco degli Scacchi (The Game of Chess), which contained a description of a 10 by 8 variant with the chancellor and archbishop, created as a response to the limitations of chess opening theory at the time. Carrera's chess placed the archbishop between the queen's knight and queen's rook, and the chancellor between the king's knight and king's rook. He does not appear to have been concerned with structural weakness in the opening setup, since in Carerra's chess the pawn on the b-file, in front of the archbishop, is compltetely unprotected at game start.

Just over 250 years later, English player Henry Bird proposed his own 10 by 8 variant. This variant differed from Carrera's in the placement of the new pieces - the chancellor was placed between the queen and queen's bishop, and the archbishop between the kign and king's bishop.

Capablanca chess was created sometime in the 1920s by former World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca, from whom the variant gets its name. Capablanca feared that professional chess would eventually reach a state of draw death, meaning games between grandmasters would always end in draws. He looked to Bird's chess as a solution, and modified the opening setup. He proposed two opening setups - his final revision places the archbishop between the queen's knight and queen's bishop, and the chancellor between the king's knight and king's bishop.

One of the variant's most important supporters was German-American player Edward Lasker, who assisted in development of the rules. According to Lasker:

... I played many test games with Capablanca, and they rarely lasted more than twenty or twenty-five moves. We tried boards of 10×10 squares and 10×8 squares, and we concluded that the latter was preferable because hand-to-hand fights start earlier on it.

Rules

Capablanca chess adds two new pieces to the game - the chancellor and the archbishop.

  • The chancellor combines the powers of the rook and the knight. It may slide horizontally or vertically like a rook, or jump like a knight, but not both in one move.
  • The archbishop combines the powers of the bishop and the knight. It may slide diagonally like a bishop, or jump like a knight, but not both in one move.

The other pieces all retain their nornal moves.

When the king castles, he moves three squares towards the rook rather than two as in standard chess.

A pawn is allowed to promote to a chancellor or archbishop alongside the usual promotion options.

Sub-variants

Capablanca chess has inspired a number of 10 by 8 variants that feature different opening setups. The most notable are:

  • Gothic chess (2000) by Ed Trice - RNBQCKABNR
  • Grotesque chess (2004) by Fergus Duniho - RBQNKCNABR
  • Paulovich's chess (2004) by David Paulovich - CRNBAKBNRQ
  • Ladorean chess (2005) by Bernhard U. Hermes - RBQNKANCBR
  • Embassy chess (2005) by Kevin Hill - RNBQKCABNR
  • Univers chess (2006) by Fergus Duniho - RBNCQKANBR
  • Schoolbook chess (2006) by Sam Trenholme - RQNBAKBNCR

Another notable sub-variant of Capablanca chess is Capablanca random chess, created in 2005 by Reinhard Scharnagl, a user of the chess variant website The Chess Variant Pages, as part of a chess variant design competition for the website's tenth anniversary. The variant extends the random setup concept of Fischer Random Chess to Capablanca Chess, with the following restrictions for the setup:

  • The bishops must start on opposite colour squares.
  • The queen and archbishop must start on opposite colour squares.
  • The king must start in between the two rooks to make castling possible.
  • The starting position cannot be the same as that of Gothic chess. This is to avoid violating any patents, as Gothic chess is protected by a patent in the United States.

There are 12,118 possible starting positions in Capablanca random chess.

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