A Game Courier Preset for UC-170-17

18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	#	$		a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h		%	&		A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R		S	T	U

UC-170-17

Initial code only. No rules enforced. No legal moves displayed.

NOTICE: The setup shown here has been modified from the original setup thanks to running code for this game. If this game randomizes the setup, then you may expect to see a different setup when you actually play the game.

Welcome to Game Courier, where you can play UC-170-17 and many other Chess variants through online correspondence.

Rules of UC-170-17

This variant features 170 different kinds of major pieces and 17 different kinds of pawns. The starting setup is determined randomly on the three boards. The game takes place in the one on the left, being the setup settled asymmetrically with respect to White to Blue sides. Pieces of the center and pawns of the right may be dropped in the one of the left during the game following this order: 

Pieces
1st that of A1/A18
2nd that of B1/B18
3rd that of C1/C18
......
18th that of R1/R18
19th that of A2/A17
20th that of B2/B17
......
36th that of R2/R17
37th that of A3/A16
And so on.

Pawns
1st that of S1/S18
2nd that of T1/T18
3rd that of U1/U18
4th that of S2/S17
5th that of T2/T17
6th that of U2/U17 
And so on.

Piece drops must be made on any empty square of the 1st row of each side, and can only be made to replace a piece that has disappeared from the board due to some exchange. Anti-Kings may be dropped on any unoccupied square of the entire board provided that they remain attacked by at least one adversary's piece.

Pawn drops must be made on any empty square of the 2nd row of each side, and can only be made to replace a pawn that has disappeared from the board due to some exchange.

Whether it be pieces or pawns there is no condition on the exact turn in which to make the drops, but the logical thing would be to do it immediately after the exchanges as part of a regular move, that is, it's allowed to make any normal move and at the same time make a drop. Likewise pieces and pawns may be dropped either at the same time in a determined turn or separately in different turns. It is permitted to drop more than one piece (or pawn) on one turn.

In case a player does not make a drop immediately after an exchange has been made, then the piece (or pawn) that should have been dropped into the game must be moved to the monastery green colored area on his left side, in this way he will be able to easily see the pieces and pawns that are ready to be dropped.

The basic concept is "exchange" which happens when a piece that captures another is immediately captured: A captures B and C captures A, that is, player X wins B by losing A while player Y wins A by losing B. We can also say that player X makes a capture while player Y makes a re-capture.

If a piece (or a pawn) is not recaptured immediately, then the piece (or the pawn) that was captured will be considered an "absolute loss" for the victim and will not have the right to replace it.

When several pieces and pawns are captured by a single piece of the adversary, the player who undergoes the multi-capture will only be able to replace one, be it pawn or piece, as he chooses, as long as the piece that carried out the multicapture is immediately recaptured.

When a pawn is promoted by capturing an opponent's piece and is immediately recaptured, then said pawn may be replaced by another pawn or by a piece according to the player's preference.

1King - 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.
2Queen - It is a compound piece that can move as a Rook or a 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.
3Rook - It moves an arbitrary number of spaces in any orthogonal direction. It may not pass over occupied spaces, and it ends its move by occupying an empty space or by capturing an enemy piece.
4Bishop - It moves an arbitrary number of spaces in any 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.
5Knight - It  leaps to any square that can be reached by moving one square orthogonally, followed by another square diagonally outward, or vice versa.  This is normally understood as moving in an L shape by moving two squares in the same direction, followed by one more square after turning at a right angle. Or one square, turn at a right angle, and move two more squares.  The Knight leaps over any intervening pieces, as though they weren't even there. It can move to an empty square or take an enemy piece by moving to its square, but it may not move to a square already occupied by a friendly piece.
6Royal Knight - It moves ONLY like standard knight but it is subject to be checkmated. It is the Knigthmate's royal piece.
7Amazon - Compound of Queen and Knight. It may move each time [or turn] like Queen OR like Knight.
8Chancellor - Also known as Marshall. It may move each turn like Rook OR like Knight.
9Archbishop - Also known as Cardinal. It may move each turn like Bishop OR like Knight.
10Amazonrider - Compound of Queen and Nightrider; it may move each turn like Queen OR Nightrider.
11Chancellorrider - Compound of Rook and Nightrider; it may move each turn like Rook OR like Nightrider.
12Archbishoprider - Also known as Unicorn: Compound of Bishop and Nightrider; it may move each turn like Bishop OR like Nightrider.
13Nightrider - It can make a move like a Knight, but then can continue to move in the same direction. Thus, it can make one or more successive knight-leaps, all in the same direction: the spaces visited by all but the last jump must be empty.
14Rose - A circular Nightrider.
15Rose Rook - Compound of Rose and Rook; it may move each turn like Rose or like Rook.
16Rose Bishop - Compound of Rose and Bishop; it may move each turn like Rose or Bishop.
17Ubi-Ubi - Let's name it "UU". It makes an arbitrary finite number of knight moves in a single turn as desired. It must stop when it captures an opponent's piece but it will be able to capture ONLY those pieces that in the immediate previous turn had captured any piece of its own, in other words, UU can make a capture only if this capture is a RE-CAPTURE. For example, in the following diagram:

If White to move, then UUxe8 (a3-b5-d6-e8) would be illegal; but if Blue to move and makes Rxe3 (Rook x Bishop), then UUxe3 (a3-c4-e3) would be perfectly legal. Under this view, the King will always be immune to checks from UU. But on the other hand, it also implies that the King may capture an enemy piece only if the opposing UU has no path leading to the square where the King will remain. 

18Knightwazirzee - Piece invented by Jeremy Gabriel Good. It may move as knight, wazir, one of each or twice as one (knight; wazir; knight + wazir; wazir + knight; knight + knight; or wazir + wazir). See a detailed description of its move  here.
19Knightferzee - Piece invented by Jeremy Gabriel Good. It may move as knight, ferz, one of each or twice as one (knight; ferz; knight + ferz; ferz + knight; knight + knight; or ferz + ferz). See a detailed description of its move  here.
20Sissa - It moves each turn 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.

21Squeen - Compound of Queen and Sissa; it may move each turn like Queen OR like Sissa.
22Cylindrical Queen - Compound of Cylindrical Rook and Cylindrical Bishop. Assuming that the board is joined at the outermost ranks ("a" and "h") as if it were a cylindrical board opened up, the Cylindrical Queen can move, threaten, and attack across the edge because it 'wrap' to the other side.
23Cylindrical Rook - Assuming that the board is joined at the outermost ranks ("a" and "h") as if it were a cylindrical board opened up, the Cylindrical Rook can move, threaten, and attack across the edge because it 'wrap' to the other side.
24Cylindrical Bishop - Assuming that the board is joined at the outermost ranks ("a" and "h") as if it were a cylindrical board opened up, the Cylindrical Bishop can move, threaten, and attack across the edge because it 'wrap' to the other side.
25Rook Ferz - Compound of Rook and Ferz better known as Dragon King; it may move each turn like Rook OR like Ferz.
26Crooked Rook - It is a Rook that must make a 90 degree turn with every step, and must always keep moving away from its starting square.
27Bishop Wazir - Compound of Bishop and Wazir better known as Dragon Horse; it may move each turn like Bishop OR like Wazir.
28Crooked Bishop - Also known as Boyscout. It makes one or more successive diagonal steps, but every step must make a 90 degree turn, and every step must be moving away from the starting square. For example, placed on b1 it could move via a2, b3, a4, b5, a6, b7 to a8. It captures as they move, and cannot jump.
29Seenschach's Harvestman - It may move either like Wazir or like Wazir and then continue like Crooked Bishop.
30Crooked Bishop Wazir - Compound of Crooked Bishop and Wazir; it may move each turn like Crooked Bishop OR like Wazir.
31Reflecting Bishop - It moves like a normal chess Bishop, but it has the additionally power of reflecting off the side of the board at a 90 degree angle. It may not move to the square on which it starts its move.
32Reflecting Bishop Wazir -  It may move either like Wazir or like Wazir and then continue like Reflecting Bishop.
33Knight Dabbabah - Compound of Knight and Dabbabah; it may move each turn like Knight OR like Dabbabah.
34Knight Alfil - Compound of Knight and Alfil or Elephant; it may move each turn like Knight OR like Alfil.
35Cannon - From Xiangqi. Also known as Cannon. It moves differently when it moves to capture than when it moves passively. It moves the same as the Chariot/Rook when it is not capturing a piece, and it moves in the same directions when capturing except that to make the capture it must hop over a single intervening piece, referred to as the screen. In other words, Paos/Cannons capture by hopping over a second piece in order to capture a third piece. For example, a Pao/Cannon on a1 can take a piece on f1 when exactly one of the spaces b1, c1, d1, or e1 is occupied by a piece of either color. Paos/Cannons only capture when hopping and only hop when capturing. They may never hop over more than one piece in a given move.
36Vao - The counterpart as Bishop of the Pao.
37PaoVao - Compound of Pao and Vao. Also known as Leo. It may move each turn like Pao OR like Vao.
38Knight Wazir - Compound of Knight and Wazir. It may move each turn like Knight OR like Wazir.
39Knight Ferz - Compound of Knight and Ferz. It may move each turn like Knight OR like Ferz.
40Knight Guard - Compound of Knight and Guard. iI may move each turn like Knight OR like a Guard [Guard = Non-royal King].
41Eohippo - Piece invented by Jörg Knappen for 10-directional Chess. It is an augmented Knight. In addition to the normal moves of the Knight it can also move one space forward or backward. In Ralph Betza's notation, it is a NfbW.
42Fischer - Another piece invented by Jörg Knappen for 10-directional Chess. It is a restricted version of the Chancellor or Marshall piece. It has the moves of the Knight and the forward and backward moves of the Rook. It cannot move sideways. In Ralph Betza's notation, it is a NfbR.
43Top Heart - Piece invented by Jeremy Gabriel Good. See the move description here.
44Bottom Heart - Piece invented by Jeremy Gabriel Good. See the move description here.

The following 7 Rococo's pieces move according to the original game, EXCEPTING the restrictions about the edge squares, that is, at this variant they may move freely on the whole board.

45Chameleon - It moves passively as an Orthodox Queen. To capture, it mimics the powers of its intended victim. For example, captures standard pawns in passing when these make a double-step first move, withdraws from Withdrawers, approaches Advancers, leaps over Long Leapers, and swaps with Swappers. By the same token, an enemy King standing adjacent to a Chameleon can be captured by the Chameleon. Chameleons can freeze Immobilizers but cannot capture them (but when next to an Immobilizer do not freeze any other pieces). A Chameleon next to a Swapper may capture it (and itself) by mutual destruction. A Chameleon can use multiple types of capture in the same move. Consider a white Withdrawer on a1, a black Chameleon on a2, a white Long Leaper on a3 and a white Advancer on a5. The Black Chameleon by leaping over the Long Leaper to a4 would also capture the white Withdrawer by moving away from it, and the white Advancer by approaching it (for purposes of approaching and withdrawing it doesn't matter if the move is a slide or a leap). Swaps with Swappers may be combined with other captures.
46Long Leaper - It moves as an Orthodox Queen and captures by overtaking. It takes possession of a single intervening piece by leaping to a vacant square somewhere beyond it. It may capture additional pieces, along the same line, if a vacant 'landing square' lies somewhere beyond each enemy piece. A Long Leaper may never jump over a friendly piece, jump over two or more pieces in a row without any empty spaces between, or move to an occupied square.
47Swapper - It moves as an Orthodox Queen without capturing, or may swap position with any piece (of either side) an unobstructed Queen's move away. A Swapper may capture an adjacent piece and itself at the same time by mutual destruction. Mutual destruction may not be used when immobilized. If a Swapper swaps with an opposing Swapper or Chameleon, on the following turn the two pieces may not swap back. They may swap again once any other move is made.
48Withdrawer - It moves passively as an Orthodox Queen. In order to capture, the Withdrawer must occupy a square adjacent to an enemy piece. To complete the capture, it must move one-or-more squares directly away from the enemy piece. These captures are part of movement, and are not optional -- you can not move a Withdrawer directly away from an opposing piece and not capture it. A Withdrawer may never move to an occupied square.
49Advancer - It moves passively as an Orthodox Queen. In order to capture, the Advancer must move to a square adjacent to an enemy piece. If the next square in the direction it moved from the square the Advancer stopped on is occupied by an opposing piece, that opposing piece is captured. (This is capture by approach.) These captures are part of movement, and are not optional -- you can not move an Advancer next to an opposing piece in the line of movement and not capture it. An Advancer never moves into an occupied square.
50Pushme-Pullyu - Piece invented by Fergus Duniho that combines the move of the Advancer and the Withdrawer.
51Immobilizer - It moves as an Orthodox Queen but does not capture. An enemy piece standing adjacent to an Immobilizer may not move while the Immobilizer is present. Black and white Immobilizers, occupying adjacent squares, are each frozen until the other is captured. An immobilized piece other than a King may 'commit suicide' by removing itself from the board (usually to open a line of attack). This counts as a move for the player removing the piece. The Immobilizer may never move to an occupied square.
52Fuge's Archer - The Archer moves as an Orthodox Queen without capturing. It captures by shooting: an Archer can capture an enemy piece an unobstructed Queen’s move away without moving. There is no restriction on shooting an enemy piece adjacent to the Archer or two squares away; for longer shots, some other friendly piece must spot the target by being adjacent to it or two squares away in an unobstructed straight line. An immobilized Archer cannot shoot, but an immobilized piece can spot for the Archer.
53Fuge's Shield - The Shield moves as an Orthodox Queen but does not capture. A friendly piece (including the King!) standing adjacent to a Shield is immune from capture. The Shield itself is capturable. The Shield does not protect against immobilization, but an immobilized Shield still protects adjacent friendly pieces. The Shield may never move to an occupied square.
54Ultima's Coordinator - The Coordinator moves as an Orthodox Queen but captures by 'coordinating' with the King. Upon completing its move, the Coordinator may remove an enemy piece with which (1) it shares a file, and (2) its King shares a rank (or vice versa). Thus, it is possible for a Coordinator to capture two pieces at once. (e.g.: King at a3, Coordinator moves to c7 and captures pieces at a7 and/or c3.) The Coordinator may never move to any occupied square.
55Wazir - It moves one square orthogonally. It takes in the same way as it moves without taking.
56Ferz - It moves and takes one square diagonally.
57Woody Rook - Moves like a Dabbabah, OR a Wazir. Text notation: WR.
58Warmachine/Ferz - Moves like a Dabbabah, OR a Ferz.
59Waffle - Moves like a Wazir OR an Alfil. Text notation: WA.
60Alfil Ferz - Moves like an Elephant/Alfil, OR a Ferz.
61Forward Knight Backward Queen - It moves forwards like Knight OR backwards like Queen. It cannot move sideways.

62Forward Queen Backward Knight - The inverse of the before piece. It moves forwards like Queen OR backwards like Knight. It cannot move sideways.

63Forward Knight Backward Rook - It moves forwards like Knight OR backwards like Rook. It cannot move sideways.

64Forward Rook Backward Knight - It moves forwards like Rook OR backwards like Knight. It cannot move sideways.

65Forward Knight Backward Bishop - It moves forwards like Knight OR backwards like Bishop.

66Forward Bishop Backward Knight - It moves forwards like Bishop OR backwards like Knight.

67Forward Bishop Backward Rook - It moves forwards like Bishop OR backwards like Rook.It cannot move sideways.

68Forward Rook Backward Bishop - It moves forwards like Rook OR backwards like Bishop. It cannot move sideways.

69Bede - Moves like a Bishop OR a Dabbabah. Text notation: BD.
70Charging Knight - Moves like a Knight for its four forward moves, OR moves like a king sideways and backwards. Text notation: CN.
71Fibnif - Moves like a Knight for its two longest forward and backward moves, OR a Ferz. Text notation: FN.
72Fad - Moves either like Ferz or Alfil or Dabbabah. Text notation: FA.
73Colonel - Moves like a Rook forwards or sideways, OR a Knight in a knight's four foward moves, OR a king. Text notation: CO.
74Half-Duck - Moves like a Dabbabah, OR like a Ferz, OR can move three squares Rookwise (jumping over obstacles). Text notation: HD.
75Charging Rook - Moves like a Rook forward and sideways, OR moves like a King backwards. Text notation: CR.
76Siege Engine - It moves 1 square orthogonally OR leaps 3 squares orthogonally.
77Siege Engine Alfil - Compound of Elephant and Siege Engine: it may move 1 square orthogonally OR leaps 3 squares orthogonally OR leaps 2 squares diagonally.
78Dabbabah Alfil - Compound of Elephant/Alfil and Dabbabah: it moves (with or without taking) two squares horizontally, vertically or diagonally. It "jumps", i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening square is occupied or not.
79Dabbabahrider - It may make any number of successive leaps like Dabbabah.
80Alfilrider - It may make any number of successive leaps like Elephant/Alfil.
81Gryphon - It steps one space diagonally then slides like a Rook.
82Aanca - It steps one space orthogonally then slides like a Bishop.
83War Elephant - This colorbound piece slides 1 or 2 squares like a ferz. It may change direction during its move. It may not jump. It may not make a null move (move off and then back onto its starting square). A capture immediately ends its move. This piece is used by David Paulowich in Opulent Lemurian Shatranj.

The following diagram shows how the war elephant and the shaman move.

In the case of the war elephant, the squares marked with green circles are reached by taking two successive steps like ferz since this piece does not jump. The squares marked with white circles are reached by taking a simple step like ferz. To reach j5, l3, l7 and n5 it is necessary to change the direction 90° after having taken the first step.

In the case of the shaman, squares c10, c14, g10 and g14 (marked with green circles) can be reached by jumping directly from e12. As for the squares marked with black circles, b9, b15, h9 and h15 can be reached by first taking a step as ferz followed by a jump as alfil or, viceversa, by first taking a jump as an alfil followed by a step as ferz. To reach the remaining squares marked with black circles (b11, b13, d9, d15, f9, f15, h11, h13) it is necessary to change the direction by 90° between the first step as ferz and the second as alfil or, viceversa, between the first step as alfil and the second as ferz.

The following 12 pieces are used by Joe Joyce in Atlantean Barroom Shatranj, Lemurian Shatranj, Grand Shatranj and Great Shatranj. Those marked with an asterisk are original designs by him.

84Shaman[*] - This colorbound piece (also called the Bent Shaman) is an inclusive compound of alfil and ferz. It may step 1 square diagonally and/or jump 2 squares diagonally, for a maximum of 3 squares moved per turn. It may: step 1 square; or jump 2 squares; or step 1 and jump 2 squares; or jump 2 squares then step 1 more square, always diagonally. It may change direction during its move.
85Hero[*] - This piece (also called the Bent Hero) is an inclusive compound of dabbabah and wazir. It steps 1 square orthogonally and or jumps 2 squares orthogonally, for a maximum of 3 squares per turn. It may: step 1 square; or jump 2 squares; or step 1 and jump 2 squares; or jump 2 squares then step 1 more square, always orthogonally. It may change direction during its move.
86Jumping king - Moves as the elephant or dababba. It may move 1 square or leap 2 squares orthogonally or diagonally.
87Zigzag general[*] - A bent 2-step rider. Moves twice as the jumping general. It may move 1 square or leap 2 squares orthogonally or diagonally, then may do any of the 4 possible move types again. Thus it may move 1, 2, 3, or 4 squares in a turn. It may change directions between its first and second step. Null moves are not allowed.
88Minister[*] - Moves like the knight, dababbah, or wazir. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares orthogonally, or jumps in the standard knight's "L".
89High priestess[*] - Moves like the knight, alfil, or ferz. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares diagonally, or jumps in the standard knight's "L".
90Twisted knight[*] - A bent 2-step elephantrider. Moves twice as an alfil or ferz. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares diagonally, and then may do either again. It too can move 1, 2, 3, or 4 squares in a turn. It may change directions between steps. Null moves are not allowed.
91fleXible knight[*] - A bent 2-step dababbarider. Moves twice as a dabbabah or wazir. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares orthogonally, then may do either again. It too can move 1, 2, 3 or 4 squares in a turn. It may change directions between steps. Null moves are not allowed.
92Oliphant[*] - A double elephantrider. Moves twice as an alfil or ferz. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares diagonally, and then may do either again. Thus it may move 1, 2, 3, or 4 squares. It must move in a straight line.
93Lightning warmachine[*] - A double dababbarider. Moves twice as a dabbabah or wazir. It slides 1 or jumps 2 squares orthogonally, then may do either again. It also can move 1, 2, 3 or 4 squares. It must move in a straight line.
94Sliding General - This piece is a combination of 2 guards. It slides 1 or 2 squares. It may not jump. It may change direction during its move. It may not make a null move [move off and then back onto its starting square]. It captures by landing directly on an opposing piece and ending its turn.
95Guard - A nonroyal king: it may make one step in any direction like wazir or ferz.
96Half Queen - Absolute Halfling Queen. Its range is half of what a normal Queen could move on an empty board.
97Half Rook - Absolute Halfling Rook. Its range is half of what a normal Rook could move on an empty board.
98Half Bishop - Absolute Halfling Bishop. Its range is half of what a normal Bishop could move on an empty board.
99Lance - Shogi's piece - It moves as a Rook but only forward in the same file, never sideways or backward.
100Gold General - Shogi's piece. It may move one square vertically, horizontally, or diagonally forward. In all directions except diagonally backward.
101Silver General - Shogi's piece. It may move one square diagonally, or straight forward. In all directions except horizontally or straight backward.
102Honorable Horse - Shogi's piece. It has the two forward-most moves of the Orthodox Knight, always leaping to a space two ranks ahead and one file to the side.
103Shishi - Chu Shogi's piece. Also known as Lion. Its move is complicated. See its move description here. In this variant hold the restrictions for exchanging the Shishis. H.G. Muller explains the rule thus: 

To conserve the Lions, there are restrictions on
capturing those, aiming to prevent elimination of two Lions
in consecutive turns. Roughly speaking, this needs two rules,
one against direct trading, one against indirect trading:

A Lion cannot capture a Lion if that would expose it to
recapture in the next turn, as if it had become an absolute
royal for one turn. ('protected')

A non-Lion cannot capture a Lion when on the previous turn
a Lion was captured by a non-Lion on another square. ('counter-strike')

These rules could in principle be used for any piece you
wanted to prevent from being traded out of the game easily in
Chess variants. But because the Lion is a multi-capturing
piece, there are complications that require special handling:

You can always capture the opponent Lion with yours when
it is adjacent, and thus could be taken in passing, rendering
any protection ineffective.

If you capture another piece together with the opponent
Lion, you can even do it when your Lion can be recaptured.
This additionally captured piece must not be a Pawn or Go
Between, though.

The latter because the right to gain such insignificant
pieces isn't worth the large amount of Lion trading this
would cause. Note that the final condition in the
counter-strike rule is only required to exclude promotion to
Lion during capture of one, where recapture of this fresh
Lion is allowed (as the net effect is trading the non-Lion
for a Lion, not trading Lions).

104Kakuo (Horned Falcon) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares in any diagonal or orthogonal direction except forwards. Orthogonally forwards, it may move like wazir or dabbabah.
105Hiju (Soaring Eagle) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally sideways or forwards (n, s, e or w), or diagonally backwards (s-e or s-w), or diagonally forward like ferz or like alfil.
106Higyu (Flying Ox) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares diagonally or orthogonally backwards or forwards.
107Honcho (Free Boar) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares diagonally forwards or backwards or orthogonally sideways.
108Hakku (White Horse) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally backwards or forwards (n or s), or diagonally forwards (n-e or n-w).
109Keigei (Whale) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally backwards or forwards (n or s), or diagonally backwards (s-e or s-w).
110Kengyo (Vertical Mover) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally forwards or backwards (n or s) or one square orthogonally sideways (w or e).
111Ogyo (Side Mover) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move one square forwards or backwards (n, s) or any number of squares sideways (e, w).
112Hiroku (Flying Stag) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally forwards or backwards (n or s), or one square diagonally backwards or forwards (n-e, s-e, s-w or n-w), or one square orthogonally sideways (w or e).
113Hansha (Reverse Chariot) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move any number of squares orthogonally forward or backward (ie: n or s).
114Suizo (Drunk Elephant) - Chu Shogi's piece. It moves a single square in any direction except south (backwards).
115Moko (Blind Tiger) - Chu Shogi's piece. It moves one square in any direction except north (forewards).
116Mohyo (Ferocious Leopard)- Chu Shogi's piece. It moves one square in any of the forward or backwards directions, that is, n-w, n, n-e, s-w, s, s-e.
117Blind Monkey - Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may step one square in one of the four diagonal directions or either orthogonal sideways.
118Reclining Dragon - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square in one of the four orthogonal directions or diagonally backward.
119Evil Wolf - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square orthogonally sideways or forward; or diagonally forward.
120Old Monkey - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square in one of the four diagonal directions or orthogonally backward.
121Copper General - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or it may move one square diagonally forward.
122Coiled Serpent - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square orthogonally forward or backward; or diagonally backward.
123Iron General - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square forward, orthogonally or diagonally.
124Tile General - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square diagonally forward or orthogonally backward.
125Stone General - Maka Dai Dai Shogi's piece. It may move one square diagonally forward.
126Chunin (Go-between) - Chu Shogi's piece. It may move one square orthogonally forwards or backwards.
127Diagonal Wide Crooked Nightrider [axis of development (1,1)]. Let's name it: zNN11. See a detailed description of its move here: Nachtmahr. 
128Straight Wide Crooked Nightrider [axis (0,2)]. Let's name it: zNN02. See a detailed description of its move here: Nachtmahr.
129The Quintessence or essential Nightrider [axis (3,1)]. Let's name it: zNN31. See a detailed description of its move here: Nachtmahr.
130Diagonal Narrow Crooked Nightrider [axis (3,3)]. Let's name it: zNN33. See a detailed description of its move here: Nachtmahr.
131Straight Narrow Crooked Nightrider [axis (0,4)]. Let's name it: zNN04. See a detailed description of its move here: Nachtmahr.
132Falcon - Slider compound of Camel and Zebra. See a detailed explanation of this piece here: Falcon Chess.
133Scorpion - A logical extension of Falcon-like move to four squares rather than Falcon's own three squares. See a detailed explanation of this piece here: Passed Pawns, Scorpions and Dragon.
134Dragon - A further derivative piece in the logical sequence Falcon --> Scorpion --> Dragon. See a detailed explanation of this piece here: Passed Pawns, Scorpions and Dragon.
135Barc - Standard Knight restricted to wide forward, narrow backward.
136Crab - Standard Knight restricted to narrow forward, wide backward.
137Barcrider - It can make a move like a Barc, but then can continue to move in the same direction. Thus, it can make one or more successive Barc-leaps, all in the same direction: the spaces visited by all but the last jump must be empty.
138Crabrider - It can make a move like a Crab, but then can continue to move in the same direction. Thus, it can make one or more successive Crab-leaps, all in the same direction: the spaces visited by all but the last jump must be empty.
139Crabwazir - Compound of Crab and Wazir. It may move each turn like Crab or like Wazir.
140 Crabferz - Compound of Crab and Ferz. It may move each turn like Crab or like Ferz.
141Crabdabbabah - Compound of Crab and Dabbabah. It may move each turn like Crab or like Dabbabah.
142Crabalfil - Compound of Crab and Alfil. It may move each turn like Crab or like Alfil.
143Grasshopper - It moves on the queens lines, but must jump and lands at the first square after the piece he jumps. To be precise: the grasshopper moves in horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction until it meets a piece (either friendly or unfriendly). It jumps over the piece and goes to the first square on the line after the piece that it jumped over. If that square is occupied by a piece from the opponent, that piece is taken, i.e., the grasshopper takes in the same way as it moves without taking.
144Andernach-Grasshoper - Piece invented by Ben Good. The Andernach-Grasshopper moves like a Grasshopper, except that the piece it hurdles changes colors, except for Kings. More specifically, the AG moves any number of squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally until it reaches an occupied square. It then jumps over this piece to the square immediately beyond it. The piece jumped over - if it is not a King - it changed to the opposite color of what it was when the AG began the move. The AG may only move to unoccupied squares or squares occupied by an enemy piece, which is then captured.
145Einstein Grasshooper - Piece invented by Ben Good. It moves the same as the Andernach-Grasshopper; that is, like a grasshopper. Unlike the AG, however, the EG does not change the color of the pieces it hurdles. Instead, it changes what piece they are, according to the following rules: (a) If the EG moves without capturing, the piece it hurdles will be demoted according to the hierarchy established by the set of pieces and pawns that are present on the 8x8 board at the time the EG is moving. If an EG hurdles another EG without capturing, the hurdled piece is unaffected. (b) If the EG captures a piece on its move, the piece it hurdles will be promoted according to the hierarchy established by the set of pieces and pawns that are present on the 8x8 board at the time the EG is moving. If an EG hurdles another EG and captures, the hurdled piece is unaffected. Kings or royal pieces are never affected by the EG.
146Circe-Grasshopper - Piece invented by Ben Good. Like the AG and EG, the Circe-Grasshopper moves like a grasshopper. Pieces hurdled by the CG, however, are replaced on the board in a similar way as happens in Circe Chess. When a CG hurdles a piece (or a pawn), that piece (or pawn) is placed on its rebirth square. The rebirth square of a piece (or pawn) is the square that that piece (or pawn) would have occupied in the opening setup at the beginning of the game. The rebirth square of both promoted and dropped pieces will be any of the first row that is unoccupied. The rebirth square of dropped pawns will be any of the second row that is unoccupied. If a piece's (or pawn's) rebirth square is occupied, then that piece (or pawn) will be removed from the game. When a CG hurdles a King or any other royal piece and its rebirth square is occupied, then it will be considered checkmated or captured, according to the case.   
147Andernach-Einstein-Circe-Grasshopper - Piece invented by Ben Good. It has multiple effects on the piece that it hurdles, which are considered to occur in the order they are listed in the piece's name.
148Anti-King - From Peter Aronson's Anti-King Chess. The Anti-King is a King that is in check whenever it is not attacked by opposing pieces. If a player ends their turn with their Anti-King not attacked, they are checkmated and lose. Additionally, the Anti-King may not capture opposing pieces, only friendly ones. Since the Anti-King is a form of King, it may not be captured, only mated. Anti-Kings do not offer check to friendly Kings. Kings do not attack Anti-Kings, so an Anti-King next to a hostile King but not attacked by any other piece is not attacked and so in check.
149Rhino - Compound of Mao and Wazir. It  moves one square orthogonally, and then optionally, only if the first square was empty, one square diagonally outward.
150Squirrel - It has the combined moves of Dabbabah, Alfil, and Knight, i.e., it can move two squares in any direction (orthogonally or diagonally) or like a knight, one in one orthogonal direction and two in the other orthogonal direction. When moving, the Squirrel can jump, i.e., it can complete the move, regardless of whether the squares passed over are occupied or not.
151Camel - It is a (1,3)-jumper. This means that it reaches its destination square by moving either three squares horizontally and one vertically, or one square horizontally and three vertically. The camel is a jumping piece, meaning it can move to its destination square whether the intervening squares are occupied or not. If the destination square is occupied by an enemy piece, then it captures that piece.
152Zebra - It is a (2,3)-jumper, i.e., it moves (with or without taking) three squares horizontally and two vertically, or two squares horizontally and three vertically. It "jumps", i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening squares are occupied or not.
153Giraffe - It has a kind of "stretched" knights-move: it makes a 1,4-jump, i.e, it jumps to a square that is either four squares horizontally and one square vertically away, or to that is four squares vertically and one square horizontally away. It jumps, i.e., the giraffe can move regardless whether passed squares are occupied by other pieces or not.
154Antelope - It is a (3,4)-jumper, i.e., it moves (with or without taking) four squares horizontally and three vertically, or three squares horizontally and four vertically. It `jumps', i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening squares are occupied or not.
155Gnu - It may move each turn like Knight or like Camel.
156Bison - It may move each turn like Camel or like Zebra.
157Camel Wazir - It may move each turn like Camel or like Wazir.
158Camel Ferz - It may move each turn like Camel or like Ferz.
159Camel Wazir Ferz - It may move each turn like Camel or like Wazir or like Ferz.
160Camel Queen - It may move each turn like Camel or like Queen.
161Buffalo - It may move each turn like Knight or like Camel or like Zebra.
162Flamingo - It is a (1,6)-jumper, i.e., it moves (with or without taking) one square horizontally and six vertically, or six squares horizontally and one vertically. It "jumps", i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening squares are occupied or not.
163Root-fifty leaper - It makes either a (5,5)-jump or a (7,1)-jump, i.e., it has the following possible jumping moves: (a) Exactly five squares diagonally (i.e., 5 horizontally and 5 vertically) .  (b) Exactly seven squares horizontally and one square vertically. (c) Exactly seven squares vertically and one square diagonally. It "jumps", i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening squares are occupied or not. Note that a root-fifty leaper cannot change the color of the squares it stands on.
164Mamra - From George Tsavdaris's Mamra Chess. It moves exactly like a nonroyal-King or Guard. But it has the extra-property that no other piece can capture it except Pawns. So Mamra is nearly invincible and it can be captured by Pawns only (not even by another Mamra).
165Wuss - Piece invented by Dan Troyka. It moves like a queen but can not capture and must move when attacked.
166Windmill - It moves as follows: first it chooses a piece, friendly or enemy, adjacent to itself. It can then move either clockwise or counterclockwise around that piece, passing through empty squares adjacent to the piece around which the windmill is moving. The windmill can end on an enemy piece, capturing it. The windmill must end on a square different than the one it started on.
167Jester - From Jester Chess. It has no move of its own but mimics the move of the last opponent piece played. The Jester is subject to two constraints: It may capture only when the piece that it mimics has just captured. It is always limited to a one-square advance when mimicking any kind of Pawn or Steward.
168Orphan - It is a dummy unit that has no movement powers of its own. Rather, it has the power to move like any enemy piece that is attacking it. If the attacking piece or the Orphan moves away, or another piece intervenes, the Orphan loses the power it had gained from that piece. Orphans can gain powers from more than one piece, and can also gain powers from other Orphans, setting off chain reactions if enough Orphans are positioned right. According to Orphan's inventor, David L. Brown, an Orphan threatened by a Rook can not be used to castle, and an Orphan threatened by a Pawn can not promote or capture en passant. An Orphan can move next to an enemy King, checking it.
169 Querquisite - Its move depends on its position on the board; it is determined by the file where it stands. Changing the file, the Querquisite changes its moves accordingly. It moves: (1) as a rook on files a and h; (2) as a knight on files b and g; (3) as a bishop on files c and f; (4) as a queen on file d; (5) as a non-royal king on file e.
170Friend - Invented by David L. Brown, it's the "counterpart" or "reciprocal" of the Orphan. It is a dummy unit that has no movement powers of its own. Rather, it has the power to move like any friendly piece that is guarding it. If the guarding piece or the Friend moves away, or another piece intervenes, the Friend loses the power it had gained from that piece. Friends can gain powers from more than one piece, and can also gain powers from other Friends, setting off chain reactions if enough friends are positioned right. Brown does not specifically say so, but from the rules of the Orphan we can determine the following: a Friend guarded by a Rook can not be used to castle, and a Friend guarded by a pawn can not promote or capture en passant.

The 17 pawns are:

1Pawn - Standard, FIDE pawn. It moves without capturing by stepping straight forward one space, and it captures by moving diagonally forward one space.
2Cannon Pawn - It moves without capturing two ways: either a single step in any direction, or, it may leap over an adjacent piece of either side to the empty square just beyond. It capture in the second way they move, by leaping over an adjacent piece (the mount), landing on the opposing piece just beyond the mount.
3Pincer Pawn - Ultima's piece. It moves as Orthodox Rook and perform custodial captures only, by moving adjacent to an enemy piece it in a manner that completes a straight line consisting of (1) Pincer Pawn, (2) enemy piece, (3) friendly piece. Thus, it is possible for a Pincer Pawn to capture more than one piece in a single move. It may never move to an occupied square.
4Shogi Pawn - Shogi's piece. It moves one square straight forward. Shogi Pawns capture in the same manner as they move.
5Berolina Pawn - It is an "inverted" or "reversed" standard Pawn. It makes non-capturing moves one square diagonally forward and captures one square orthogonally forward. When a Berolina Pawn is still on its original square on the second row, it can make a non-capturing move diagonally forwards of one or of two squares - if it moves two squares, the first square must be empty.
6Sergeant Pawn - It may move either as standard Pawn or as Berolina Pawn.
7Berolina-Plus Pawn - It moves as Berolina pawn, but may also capture by a step to the side. The Berolina-Plus Pawn can make a double diagonal step without capturing as its first move.
8Steward - It moves as a Pawn in all four directions.
9Camel Pawn - It may move each turn like a noncapturing-forward Camel or like a standard Pawn. In the following diagrams green circlets indicate non-capturing moves while red ones indicate capturing moves.

10Knight Pawn - It may move each turn like a noncapturing-forward Knight or like a standard Pawn. In the following diagrams green circlets indicate non-capturing moves while red ones indicate capturing moves.

11XJ Pawn - Xiangqi's Pawn and/or Janggi's Pawn. It moves and captures one step either forward or sideways.
12Eurasian Pawn - Suggested by Richard Hutnik. It is a standard Pawn with the added ability to capture one step forward.
13Jumping Pawn - From Seenschach. It can move one square forward or sideways without capturing and captures one square diagonally forward. From its starting field [player's 2nd row], it can also move two or three squares in forward direction. Capturing en passant is possible. If two pawns of the same colour are forming a double pawn, the second pawn may jump over the first one in forward direction, provided that the target square is empty. A jumping pawn may be captured en passant, resulting in the capture of two pawns in one strike. It is forbidden to jump into the last rank for promotion.
14Frog - From Nick Wollf's Wild Kingdom Chess. The Frog cannot move on its own, it needs the help of surrounding pieces. It moves by "leap frogging" over other pieces, though it cannot leap backwards, only forwards (vertically or diagonally) and side to side. If a "hop" is available after completing one, the frog may, but is not required, to make another one as long as it doesn't retrace any of its steps for that move. The Frog can capture an enemy piece if it leap frogs over it, much like checkers. This means that it can capture more than one piece per turn. A Frog can jump over both friendly and enemy pieces in the same move, and it can also jump on uncapturable pieces such as the anti-king, mamra and any other that is protected by the shield. 
15Orphan Pawn - It is a standard Pawn that can gain the power to move like any enemy piece that is attacking it. If the attacking piece or the Pawn Orphan moves away, or another piece intervenes, the Pawn Orphan loses the power it had gained from that piece. It retains at all times the ability to move and capture as a standard pawn in addition to the ones it gains according to the pieces that attack it.

16Scorpion Pawn - From Mats Winther's Scorpion Chess. The Scorpion Pawn moves like a standard Pawn with the additional moves of a Knight but only in two forward directions: east-north-east, and west-north-west. There are no additional capture moves. In the following diagrams green circlets indicate non-capturing moves while red ones indicate capturing moves.

17Moose Pawn - It moves like the Scorpion Pawn but adding 2 extra steps like Camel: east-north-east, and west-north-west. In the following diagrams green circlets indicate non-capturing moves while red ones indicate capturing moves.

Irrespective its kind, all Pawns must promote when reaching the opponent's home row or first row in this manner:

The first promoted Pawn will be promoted by the last major piece of the dropping order; that is, the one placed on R9 for White, the one placed on R10 for Blue.

The second promoted Pawn will be promoted by the penultimate piece of the dropping order; that is, the one placed on Q9 for White, the one placed on Q10 for Blue.

The third promoted Pawn will be promoted by the antepenultimate piece of the dropping order; that is, the one placed on P9 for White, the one placed on P10 for Blue.

And so on following the inverse major pieces dropping order.

Winning Conditions

Given that there are 4 royal pieces:

• Standard King
• Knight King
• Anti-King
• Wuss

The following options hold:

1) If the only royal piece on the board is the Standard King, then the game is won by checkmating it.

2) When the Anti-King is present, winning the game requires to checkmate it and also capture all the royals pieces that are on the board. 

3) When the royal pieces on the board are

Standard King + Knight King

Standard King + Wuss

Standard King + Knight King + Wuss

then to win is needed to capture all them.

There is no castling in this variant and draw conditions are like in standard chess.

Due to the presence of powerful pieces it's possible that the preset generates certain starting positions in which White could capture any undefended pawn or checkmates Blue in the first turn. Of course, this would not be a problem if the preset were programmed to exclude these cases, but since doing so is out of my possibilities, I propose two ways of dealing with the situation:

1) Delete the preset and proceed to generate a new one.
2) Keep the preset by prohibiting problematic moves.

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.

These pieces come from a set containing more pieces, but this preset has had the set of pieces reduced to those used in the game.

Credits

This preset uses the new-asymmetrical settings file for UC-170-17, which was made by Carlos Cetina.

Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.

Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017