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Capablanca chess. Archbishop is placed between knight and bishop on the queen's side, chancellor on the king's side.
Homemade Archbishop (left) and Chancellor (right) pieces, built from readily available plastic pieces from standard chess sets.
Homemade Archbishop (left) and Chancellor (right) pieces, built from readily available plastic pieces from standard chess sets.

Capablanca chess is a chess variant played on a 10x8 board. A chess variant is a Game derived from related to or similar to Chess in at least one respect The game is named after its inventor, the former world chess champion, José Raúl Capablanca. See also Development of the World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the Board game Chess Note that he proposed this variant while he was world champion, not as a "sour grapes" rationalization after losing his title, as some critics erroneously asserted. [1] Capablanca thought that chess would be played out in a few decades, that games between chess grandmasters would always end in a draw. Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. In Chess, a draw is one of the possible outcomes of a game the others being a win for white and a win for black This danger of "draw death" was a main motivation for him to create a more complex and rich version of chess.

Besides the usual set of chess pieces, each player has additionally two new pieces with corresponding pawns:

The new pieces have properties that enrich the game. For example, the archbishop can checkmate a lone king by itself (king in a corner, archbishop placed diagonally with one square in between). Capablanca thought that adding these two powerful pieces would reduce the likelihood of a draw and make the game itself more interesting.

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Setup of the pieces

Capablanca proposed two opening setups for Capablanca Chess. In one opening setup, he proposed that the archbishop be placed between the bishop and the queen and that the chancellor be placed between the king and the king's bishop. This setup has the flaw that it leaves the pawn in front of the king's bishop undefended, allowing white to threaten mate on the first move.

He subsequently revised the opening setup so that the archbishop was between the queen's knight and bishop, and the chancellor was between the king's knight and bishop. He also experimented with 10x10 board sizes, where the pawns could move up to three squares on the initial move.

In his book, The Adventure of Chess, Edward Lasker writes (p. Edward Lasker ( December 3 1885 &ndash March 25 1981) was a leading American Chess and Go player 39): . . . I played many test games with Capablanca, and they rarely lasted more than twenty or twenty-five moves. We tried boards of 10x10 squares and 10x8 squares, and we concluded that the latter was preferable because hand-to-hand fights start earlier on it.

Lasker was one of the few supporters, and grandmaster Hungarian Geza Maroczy also played some games with Capablanca (who got the better of him). The title Grandmaster is awarded to extremely strong Chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Géza Maróczy (ˈɡeːzɒ ˈmɒroːtsi 3 March 1870 – 29 May 1951) was a leading Hungarian Chess Grandmaster One of the few rational critics, British champion William Winter, thought that there were too many strong pieces, making the minor pieces less relevant. William Winter (September 11 1898 – December 18 1955 was a British Chess player

The names for new pieces, Archbishop and Chancellor, were introduced by Capablanca himself. These names are still used in most modern variants of Capablanca Chess.

Variants that predate Capablanca Chess

Capablanca was not the first person (nor the last) to add the Chancellor and the Archbishop to the normal Chess set, though he is the most famous. Other attempts mostly differ only by the arrangement of pieces and the castling rules.

In 1617, Pietro Carrera published a book Il Gioco degli Scacchi, which contained a description of a chess variant played on 8x10 board. Pietro Carrera (1573–1647 was a Sicilian Chess player Priest, and Author. He placed new pieces between a rook and a knight. Chancellor was on the king's side and archbishop on the queen's side. Carrera used names champion instead of chancellor and centaur instead of archbishop. The game was largely forgotten after the death of the inventor.

In 1874, Henry Bird proposed a chess variant similar to Carrera's variant. Year 1874 ( MDCCCLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Henry Edward Bird ( July 14, 1830 – April 11, 1908) was an English Chess player and chess writer The only significant difference was the opening setup. The chancellor was placed between the queen's bishop and queen and the archbishop was placed between the king's bishop and king. Bird used names guard instead of chancellor and equerry instead of archbishop.

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Carrera Chess. Earliest chess variant on 8x10 board with archbishop and chancellor.
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Bird's chess. Another predecessor of Capablanca chess.

Variants that postdate Capablanca Chess

Capablanca Chess has inspired a number of chess variants;


It is noteworthy that Embassy Chess uses a starting position identical to Grand Chess adapted to a 10x8 board. Embassy chess is a chess variant created in 2005 by Kevin Hill Grand chess is a large popular Chess variant invented by Dutch games designer Christian Freeling in 1984.

Another interesting recent development is Capablanca Random Chess, invented in 2004 by Reinhard Scharnagl. Capablanca Random Chess (CRC is a Chess variant invented by Reinhard Scharnagl in 2004. This game combines ideas of Fischer Random Chess and Capablanca Chess. Chess960, or Fischer Random Chess (also written Fischerrandom and Fischerandom) is a Chess variant produced by the late former It also applies the sound principle which demands that in the starting position, all pawns are protected by at least one piece.

Variants which use a different board

There are also variants of Capablanca Chess that do not use the standard 10x8 board. Grand chess is a popular chess variant invented by Dutch game designer Christian Freeling in 1984. Grand chess is a large popular Chess variant invented by Dutch games designer Christian Freeling in 1984. A chess variant is a Game derived from related to or similar to Chess in at least one respect Christian Freeling (1947 is a Dutch game designer and inventor/author of various Chess variants including Grand chess. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) It uses Capablanca Chess pieces upon a larger, 10x10 board.

In 2007 Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan devised a variant (called Seirawan chess), which adds the two pieces to the standard game in a different manner. The title Grandmaster is awarded to extremely strong Chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Yasser Seirawan ( ياسر سيروان) (born March 24, 1960) is a Chess grandmaster and 4-time US -champion Seirawan chess is a Chess variant invented by grandmaster Yasser Seirawan in 2007 The player, after moving a piece (for example, a bishop) from the first rank, may immediately place either of the two pieces on the bishop's square. If the player moves all his eight officers without placing the Hawk or the Elephant (Seirawan's names for the Archbishop and the Chancellor, respectively), he forfeits his right to do so. Yasser Seirawan has given simultaneous exhibitions for the game. A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display (often abbreviated to "simul" is an event where one player (commonly a Chess master or grandmaster

See also

References

External links

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