Jeppseirawan

INTRODUCTION

I have written a number of Chess variants and although many were a good evolution of the game, I felt they missed something, that although Chess is symmetrical, they felt too symmetrical and that fundamentally, if I were to create a popular variant, I would feel rather uncomfortable taking entire credit for the work and being regarded as some kind of "God". So, after some further study, I decided to make a variant of a variant. Jeppseirawan is then the combined work of Yasser Seirawan, Bruce Harper and myself.

Over the years I have been inventing Chess games that incorporate different aspects of world culture, as a kind of "fun" medium for my philosophy. A few of these included Elephant pieces. The Elephant is a very special animal in Hinduism and since Chess also has its Indian roots, where Hinduism originated, it only seems appropriate to bring an element of that culture into the game of Chess. So I wanted to use that piece again. I have also always been inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphics, American Indian totem poles and general bird-like figures associated with various cultures. The bird figure is also very special in my own philosophy, which of course speaks for all others. The two swans when facing each other create a heart within a heart, a natural representation of my religion's emblem. So since it is awkward to bring all individual religious figures into the game, Jeppseirawan, being a combination of Seirawan chess ideas and my own, thus also uses a Hawk piece for the bird figure representation, which with the Elephant, in turn reiterates all others too.

I invented this variant for a number of reasons, mainly the need for a more plausible 100sq game, but also because I felt optimistic that Seirawan chess itself was half way there. I liked the Elephant piece and its Knight-like movement and I also liked the Hawk piece and its Bishop-like movement. However, I have always felt that the Knight-Rook combo and Bishop-Knight combo was always too much of a powerful presence on a 100sq board, let alone 64sq, as it is in Seirawan chess proper. Indeed, any evolution of Chess should incorporate a new piece perhaps of similar strength to a Rook, but I feel people jump in too quickly at inventing overly powerful pieces, when in actual fact, for a balanced evolution of the game, all that is needed is only a slightly more powerful piece, or pieces, working together in harmony, and not like bombs being dropped in the middle of a teddy bear picnic!

So I took Seirawan's Elephant and Hawk, with their Knight/Bishop/Rook movements and played around with them a bit. Indeed, Seirawan's idea of having two pieces in hand that you introduce into the 64sq game at a later stage, was admirable, but in my variant I wanted all pieces to start on-board from the beginning.

I liked Seirawan's idea of giving the Elephant a "stumpy" Rook movement, like an Elephant itself perhaps and so tried to retain that feature, but without giving it the full power of a Rook. The same with the Hawk, I liked its ability to move in other ways, other than just a Bishop, and so tried to retain its diversity also.

Following my study, I came up with the following chess variant, Jeppseirawan, a carefully crafted integration of both Seirawan chess ideas and my own.

RULES

The game is played in the same way as orthodox/normal chess but on a 10x10 board instead and with the introduction of the Elephant and Hawk pieces.

See the diagram below for details of the set up.



In Jeppseirawan, the black corner square goes to the player's right. An easy way to remember the order of the pieces is to remember that the Hawk goes on the "H" file and the Elephant on the Queen-side corresponding square.

• The Elephant moves and captures like a Knight and Pawn.
• The Hawk moves and captures like a Bishop and Pawn.
• Both the Elephant and Hawk have 3 orthogonally vertical squares available to them, based on the early Pawn.
  • The Elephant can move, but not capture, 1, 2 or 3 squares orthogonally forward at any time, just like an early Pawn.
  • The Hawk can only move 1 or 2 squares orthogonally forward at any time, similar to an early Pawn, but can also move one backwards and capture to the one square immediately in front.

Here is an easy rule, based on the character of the animals themselves, that you can memorize to remember the Hawk and Elephant's movement...

Hawks sweep in from a distance and attack prey at their feet. They also hop forwards further than they do backwards.
Elephants charge forwards and have two tusks which point left and right of their next step. They also have an L shaped trunk.

See diagrams down page for absolute clarity.

I gave both the Hawk and Elephant the additional move of Pawn, firstly because, as I said earlier, I felt the increase in power needed to only be slight, but secondly because the new piece must be easy to understand and digest from the start. In standard Chess, all pieces are straight forward to understand. The common mistake people make when inventing new chess variants is to make the new pieces all so complicated and a mouthful to explain. Like a Bishop, or Rook, the move must be simple to digest, and so with these Hawk/Elephant modifications of mine, we have two new appropriately powerful and easy to digest pieces.

Of course, perhaps just giving the additional move of Pawn isn't any particular "power" and so although I only wanted a slight increase in powerful pieces, the Pawn move on its own was too slight. So, to kill two birds with one stone, I made it a rule that both the Elephant and Hawk can share 3 orthogonal squares at any time, like a Pawn can use on its first move, only with a slight adjustment for the Hawk. This firstly increases the power of the pieces to a more admirable level, but also gives the Elephant back its original Rook-like movement that Seirawan originally gave it. Also the Hawk, although no longer Knight-like, can move with some diversity also - in Seirawan chess it is effectively a Bishop that can change its square colour, and so this Pawn-like behaviour gives back the Hawk its own original diversity also.

I also wanted to retain Seirawan's rule of occupying a vacated square on the back rank with the new pieces, but at the same time having all pieces on board from the start. I also needed to solve the problem of choosing between the C/H files or D/G files for the new pieces, as both squares have their benefits/disadvantages. So, in order to kill two birds with one stone I made it a rule that either the Elephant or Hawk, when moving another piece for the first time, can relocate and occupy the vacated square on the back rank of where that other piece moved from. For example, if I moved my Bishop from G1, in the same move I could then take either my Hawk or Elephant and place it on the just vacated square, G1. This enables you to reposition the Hawk or Elephant on a different starting square to suit your playing style. However, you cannot do this if the Hawk or Elephant you wish to relocate has already moved, and only once per either piece. Similarly, as in Seirawan chess, when you castle either King side or Queen side, in the same move you can take either your Elephant or Hawk and place it on either of the newly vacated squares, previously occupied by either King or Rook. However, not both squares/pieces.

This relocation rule also applies to any regular piece, other than the King or Pawns, that has not already moved. Only in this instance, the regular piece would relocate to either the Hawk or Elephant's home square once it has similarly been vacated. So for example, if I moved my Hawk from H1, in the same move I could then take any piece (other than the King or Pawns) and place it on the just vacated square, H1. However again, you cannot do this if the piece you wish to relocate has already moved, and only once per either piece. A final note on this rule: you can only relocate one piece per move and cannot create combinations. Beware of same-coloured Bishops!

The diagram below illustrates how the Elephant can move.


You'll notice that the Elephant can only move one square diagonally when capturing, since that is how a Pawn moves. The green circles then illustrate where the Elephant can move to and capture, and the blue circles illustrate where the Elephant can move to but not capture.















The diagram below illustrates how the Hawk can move.


Like the Elephant, the Hawk can capture one square diagonally forward with its Pawn move, but there is no need to portray that in this diagram since it would be the same as its own Bishop move. However, to replenish the loss in capture-diversity here, the Hawk is allowed to also capture to the square immediately in front of it. In fact, this not only replenishes the Hawk's original capture-diversity, but the behaviour of swooping in from a distance and attacking prey at its feet is just like a real Hawk. The square immediately behind it is available as the third of the three orthogonal squares both pieces share, and is instead of the third forward most square that the Elephant has, since otherwise the Hawk would be restricted in its ability to retreat.

To replenish its leaper ability, the Hawk can jump to the second vertical forward square. The green circles then illustrate where the Hawk can move to and capture, and the blue circles illustrate where the Hawk can move to but not capture.






The reason to the "3 orthogonal squares" rule:

• Firstly to create 1 more Knight and 1 more Bishop with equally distributed and of likewise character enhancements, since I felt instead of elaborate new pieces, we just needed 1 more of each Bishop/Knight, but with a slight-but-not-too-slight extra ability, so as not to overthrow the equilibrium.
• Secondly I felt the new pieces had to be easy to digest or learn, they had to be able to relate with existing chess characteristics, and so I believed that basing the theory of their movement on another common piece would be the perfect way to bring them into the game.

Knights can move elongated on their first move, which is 3,1 as well as the usual 2,1. This is illustrated in the below diagram.



Pawns are allowed to move 1, 2, or 3 squares forward on their first move, but only one thereafter. Standard en-passant rules apply whereby a Pawn has advanced by either 2 or 3 squares. The capturing Pawn captures one square diagonally as per usual, regardless of how many squares the captured Pawn advanced by. Elephants and Hawks cannot capture or be captured en-passant.

Castling is three squares either direction.

You can only promote to a piece available from the set.

NOTES

Seirawan Chess on its own is a very good variant and I fully endorse it. So please promote the Seirawan Chess Set, by purchasing one today and spreading the word. Sets start at $34.95/£22.40. The Seirawan set is designed for a 64sq board and so if using for Jeppseirawan, you will need two additional pawns per side.

You can buy plastic 100 square boards from the ICVB Website and you can buy wooden 100 square boards from Masters Games.

Download Rules (PDF)
Play Via Correspondence

The Jeppseirawan variant is Copyright © Simon Jepps, and Seirawan Chess is Copyright © Yasser Seirawan, Bruce Harper.