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Capablanca Shatranj. Capablanca Chess with Chancellor and Archbishop replaced by Shatranj type pieces. (10x8, Cells: 80) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Joe Joyce wrote on Mon, Sep 18, 2006 05:46 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
This is an interesting idea. It certainly gives people the opportunity to find out how moderately strong very shortrange pieces do in amongst the standard FIDE mix. The minister and highpriestess would likely be slightly more valuable than rooks here. I believe they'll do quite well. This in some sense 'balances' Capa, giving it 5 longrange and 5 shortrange pieces per side. I expect this will lead to a game with a bit more maneuvering. I'd like to see a game of this between 2 expert players.

Sam Trenholme wrote on Mon, Sep 18, 2006 06:03 PM UTC:
Hey, is it ok if I add, to the next release of my Schoolbook Zillions file, a version of Capablanca Shantraj with the Schoolbook opening setup to the list of variants? I think it will make for an interesting game. Who knows, if Greg gets time, he may even figure out the values of the knight + wazir + dabbah and knight + ferz + bishop on an 8x10 board and add a 'Capablanca Shantraj' to ChessV. BTW, what's the official opening setup for Capablanca Shantraj? RNBAQKMBNR or RNABQKBMNR? (A = Ferz + Alfil + Knight, M = Wazir + Dabbah + Knight)

- Sam


Sam Trenholme wrote on Mon, Sep 18, 2006 08:44 PM UTC:
To answer myself, the setup being used is RNBMQKABNR.

On another related subject, I have another idea for a Capa variant bouncing through my head: The 'Marshall' moves as rook + king (promoted Shogi rook); The 'Archbishop' moves as bishop + king (promoted shogi bishop); and the 'Queen' moves as king + knight ('Crowned Knight' in royal court chess). This weakening of the pieces should make the game more strategic and less tactical.

- Sam


David Paulowich wrote on Mon, Sep 18, 2006 10:04 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

My [2005-12-17] Comment to Joe Joyce's 'Two Large Shatranj Variants' proposed some variants with the following replacements. I do not recall the Great Rook or Great Bishop ever having been used in a game. [EDIT] Key McKinnis used a wide selection of pieces in Drop Chess (2000), including the Demon (Great Rook ) and the Pope (Great Bishop).

[EDIT 2023-02-12] In Insect Chess (2001) Tim Bostick writes "The Locust moves like a Praying Mantis or like a chess queen." The Locust moves like a Great Rook, a Great Bishop and (probably) also like a Knight.

Marshall/Chancellor replaced by Great Rook = Rook + Afil + Ferz

Cardinal/Archbishop replaced by Great Bishop = Bishop + Dabbabah + Wazir

Queen replaced by Centaur = Knight + Wazir + Ferz


💡📝Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Tue, Sep 19, 2006 01:52 AM UTC:
Sam, yes of course you can add 'schoolbook shatranj' or any other variant
based on this to your 'schoolbook' zrf. That would be great to see.
There is really no 'official variant' with this zrf, it is called
'Capablanca Shatranj' because everyone is familiar with Capa name etc. I
did put 'Birds' up first, because his game came first, then Capa's, the
rest then are placed kinda due to the king position, all variants with
king position same as Birds/Capa come directly after etc

💡📝Christine Bagley-Jones wrote on Sat, Sep 23, 2006 10:37 AM UTC:
sorry, i have added variant specific castling information to the
description of each game (in-game help/description).
so it is updated, you can download at zillions site

TH6 wrote on Wed, Feb 22, 2017 04:04 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
The game plays very well. The Minister and High Priestess both provide very interesting forks.

I thought the Bishops were placed oddly, though I know they were set to mimic Capablanca Chess. For such a large board, neither mine nor my opponent's were in play much (or at all). Potentially switching the Bishops and the High Priestess/Minister in the opening setup might fix this, as well as protect every pawn in the opening array and prevent white from procuring too strong of a center.

I favorited this game. Very inspiring short range piece combos and combat.

Greg Strong wrote on Wed, Feb 22, 2017 05:02 PM UTC:

I liked this as well.  You can shatranjify any of the Capablanca variants, so perhaps Schoolbook Shatranj or Modern Carrera Shatranj would work better.

I'm up for a game if you want to try.


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