Uncoded. No rules enforced. No legal moves displayed.
Rules of Cetran Chess 5
Major pieces are placed randomly asymmetrically from one another side. The objective is to checkmate the adversary King. Draw conditions are like in standard Chess. There is no castling.
King - It moves, whether capturing or not, to any orthogonal or diagonal adjacent square. Kings are royal: they may not be moved to a square attacked by a piece of the opponent. When they are attacked by a piece of the opponent, it is called "check", and when in a check that cannot be removed, they are mated, and the game is lost for their owner.
Amazon - Compound of Queen and Knight. It may move each time [or turn] like Queen or like Knight.
Queen - Compound of Rook and Bishop. It moves an arbitrary number of spaces in any orthogonal or diagonal direction. It may not pass over occupied spaces, and it ends its move by occupying an empty space or by capturing an enemy piece.
Sissa - It moves each time as Rook AND Bishop following a movement pattern of the form nR+nB or nB+nR, where n is any whole number. nR+nB means "first n squares like Rook followed by n squares like Bishop"; nB+nR means "first n squares like Bishop followed by n squares like Rook". Then, if for instance n=5, Sissa MUST MOVE 5 squares as Rook followed by 5 squares as Bishop or viceversa. There is no restriction on the movement direction of the second stage respecting to the first. Sissa doesn't leap. All squares it passes by must be empty. The following image shows its way of movement.
From c3, Sissa can reach the squares marked with green circlets by moving nightrider-wise; squares marked with red circlets are reached by moving rook-wise.
The i6 square is reached by c3-f3-i6. The c3-f6-i6 path is obstructed by the Blue's King. Likewise, f9 is reached via c3-f6-f9, not by c3-c6-f9 that is obstructed by the Bishop.
c8 is reached via c3-h3-c8, not via c3-h8-c8 that is obstructed by the g8-Pawn; c1 is reached via c3-a1-c1 or via c3-a3-c1 but not by c3-e3-c1 nor c3-e1-c1 that are both obstructed by the d2-Pawn.
a2, a4, b5, d5 and e4 can be reached by moving either like Mao or like Moa; b1 only like Moa; d1 is inaccessible due to the obstruction of White's King and d2-Pawn.
Concluding, the Bishop can be captured by 4 paths: c3-e3-c5 or c3-e5-c5 or c3-a3-c5 or c3-a5-c5. The Queen can only be captured by c3-e5-e7 since c3-c5-e7 is obstructed by the Bishop.
Here is another diagram showing all the squares it can reach from the center of an empty 15x15 board:
Gryphon - It steps one space diagonally then slides like a Rook.
Aanca - It steps one space orthogonally then slides like a Bishop.
Marshall - Also known as Chancellor. It may move each turn like Rook or like Knight.
Cardinal - Also known as Archbishop. It may move each turn like Bishop or like Knight.
Dragon King - Compound of Rook and Ferz ; it may move each turn like Rook or like Ferz.
Dragon Horse - Compound of Bishop and Wazir; it may move each turn like Bishop or like Wazir.
Harvestman - It may move either like Wazir or like Wazir and then continue like Crooked Bishop.
PaoVao - Compound of Pao and Vao. Also known as Leo. It may move each turn like Pao or like Vao.
ND - Compound of Knight and Dabbabah; it may move each turn like Knight or like Dabbabah.
NE - Compound of Knight and Elephant or Alfil; it may move each turn like Knight or like Alfil.
NG - Compound of Knight and Guard; it may move each turn like Knight or like a Guard [Guard = Non-royal King].
Pawn - It moves without capturing by stepping straight forward one space, and it captures by moving diagonally forward one space. When it makes its first move, it can move one or two squares forward; subsequently, it can only advance one by one space. When reaching the last rank, they must be promoted by any major piece. En passant captures are allowed.
PREGAME RULE: If the preset generates any particular position such that White checkmates Blue (or viceversa) in the first turn or could capture any undefended pawn or piece, then these plays will be banned.
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
King - It moves, whether capturing or not, to any orthogonal or diagonal adjacent square. Kings are royal: they may not be moved to a square attacked by a piece of the opponent. When they are attacked by a piece of the opponent, it is called "check", and when in a check that cannot be removed, they are mated, and the game is lost for their owner.
Amazon - Compound of Queen and Knight. It may move each time [or turn] like Queen or like Knight.
Queen - Compound of Rook and Bishop. It moves an arbitrary number of spaces in any orthogonal or diagonal direction. It may not pass over occupied spaces, and it ends its move by occupying an empty space or by capturing an enemy piece.
Sissa - It moves each time as Rook AND Bishop following a movement pattern of the form nR+nB or nB+nR, where n is any whole number. nR+nB means "first n squares like Rook followed by n squares like Bishop"; nB+nR means "first n squares like Bishop followed by n squares like Rook". Then, if for instance n=5, Sissa MUST MOVE 5 squares as Rook followed by 5 squares as Bishop or viceversa. There is no restriction on the movement direction of the second stage respecting to the first. Sissa doesn't leap. All squares it passes by must be empty. The following image shows its way of movement.
Gryphon - It steps one space diagonally then slides like a Rook.
Aanca - It steps one space orthogonally then slides like a Bishop.
Rose - A circular Nightrider.
Marshall - Also known as Chancellor. It may move each turn like Rook or like Knight.
Cardinal - Also known as Archbishop. It may move each turn like Bishop or like Knight.
Dragon King - Compound of Rook and Ferz ; it may move each turn like Rook or like Ferz.
Dragon Horse - Compound of Bishop and Wazir; it may move each turn like Bishop or like Wazir.
Harvestman - It may move either like Wazir or like Wazir and then continue like Crooked Bishop.
PaoVao - Compound of Pao and Vao. Also known as Leo. It may move each turn like Pao or like Vao.
ND - Compound of Knight and Dabbabah; it may move each turn like Knight or like Dabbabah.
NE - Compound of Knight and Elephant or Alfil; it may move each turn like Knight or like Alfil.
NG - Compound of Knight and Guard; it may move each turn like Knight or like a Guard [Guard = Non-royal King].
Pawn - It moves without capturing by stepping straight forward one space, and it captures by moving diagonally forward one space. When it makes its first move, it can move one or two squares forward; subsequently, it can only advance one by one space. When reaching the last rank, they must be promoted by any major piece. En passant captures are allowed.
