Object: Checkmate the opponent's King by attacking
it so it cannot escape. To see a description of how a piece moves
right-click on it to bring up its properties dialog.
Chess is a modern version of an ancient Indian game called Shatranj. The
earliest record of Shatranj is found in a Persian work called
Karnamak-i-Artakhshatr-i-Papakan written in about A.D. 600. The present-day
form of chess is a little over 100 years old: according to Hooper and Whyld's
`The Oxford Companion to Chess`, en passant capture was universally adopted in
1880, although the initial double step for pawns dates from about the 13th
century. The most important changes from Shatranj to Chess, expanded moves for
the queen and bishop, date from about 1475. Castling began sometime in the
16th century, but there were many variants of king and rook placement until
the modern standard was established.
The Kingsmen variant was invented to give a more symmetrical arrangement
of the pieces. The addition of two bishops per side on a 9x9 board means that each
player has a pair of light-squares and dark-squares bishops. The asymmetrical all-powerful
Queen is a constant subject of the critique on chess, and has been removed from this variant. Instead, each piece promotes to a crowned piece where it gains the King's moveset upon
reaching the last three ranks.
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