Capablanca chess

Capablanca Chess (or Capablanca's Chess) is a chess variant

a b c d e f g h i j
invented in the 1920s by former World Chess Champion Jos Ral
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Capablanca. It incorporates two new pieces and is played on a 108
board. He believed that chess would be played out in a few decades 7 7

(meaning games between grandmasters would always end in draws). 6 6

This threat of "draw death" for chess was his main motivation for
5 5
creating a more complex and richer version of the game.
4 4

The archbishop combines powers of abishop and a 3 3

knight. 2 2

The chancellor combines powers of arook and a 1 1

knight. a b c d e f g h i j

The new pieces have properties that enrich the game. For example, Capablanca Chess starting setup. The
the archbishop by itself can checkmate a lone king (king in a corner, archbishops are on c1/c8; the chancellors are on
h1/h8.[1][2]
archbishop placed diagonally with one square in between).

Contents
Setup and rules
Variants of Capablanca Chess
Predating Capablanca Chess
Postdating Capablanca Chess
Using a different board
Programs that play Capablanca Chess
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Setup and rules

Capablanca proposed two opening setups for Capablanca Chess. His final revision placed the archbishop between the queen's knight
and queen's bishop; the chancellor between the king's knight and king's bishop.[1][2] The king moves three squares when castling
instead of moving two squares as in standard chess. A pawn can promote to archbishop or chancellor in addition to the regular
promotion options in standard chess.[2]

Capablanca also experimented with a 1010 board size with a different initial setup and where pawns could advance up to three
squares on their first move.Edward Lasker writes:[3]

...I played many test games with Capablanca, and they rarely lasted more than twenty or twenty-five moves. We tried
boards of 1010 squares and 108 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. Hungarian grandmaster Gza Marczy also played some games with Capablanca (who got the
better of him). British champion William Winter thought that there were too many strong pieces, making the minor pieces less
relevant.

The names for new pieces, archbishop (originally named chancellor) and chancellor (originally named marshall, followed by
marshal), were introduced by Capablanca himself.[4] These names are still used in most modern variants of Capablanca Chess.

Variants of Capablanca Chess

Predating Capablanca Chess

Capablanca was not the first person to add the archbishop and the
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chancellor to the normal chess set, though he is the most famous.
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Other attempts mostly differ only by the arrangement of pieces and
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the castling rules.
6 6
In 1617, Pietro Carrera published a book Il Gioco degli Scacchi,
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which contained a description of a chess variant played on 810
4 4
board. He placed new pieces between a rook and a knight. Archbishop
was on the queenside and chancellor on the kingside. Carrera used 3 3
names centaur instead of archbishop, and champion instead of 2 2
chancellor. The game was largely forgotten after the death of the
1 1
inventor.
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In 1874, Henry Bird proposed a chess variant similar to Carrera's Carrera's Chess.[5]
Earliest chess variant on 810
variant. The only significant difference was the opening setup (the board with archbishop and chancellor.
same as Capablanca Chess). Bird used names equerry instead of
archbishop, and guard instead of chancellor.

Postdating Capablanca Chess

Capablanca Chess has inspired a number of variants:
<W4 W3>
A B C D E F G H I J
Grand Chess (1984) by Christian Freeling 9 9
Omega Chess (1988) by Daniel MacDonald 8 8
Gothic Chess (1998) by Edward A. Trice
7 7
Aberg's variation (2003) by Hans Aberg
Capablanca Random Chess(2004) by Reinhard Scharnagl 6 6
Grotesque Chess (2004) by Fergus Duniho 5 5
Paulovich's variation (2004) by David Paulovich 4 4
Ladorean Chess (2005) by Bernhard U. Hermes 3 3
Embassy Chess (2005) by Kevin Hill
2 2
Univers Chess (2006) by Fergus Duniho
Schoolbook Chess (2006) by Sam Trenholme 1 1
Modern Capablanca Random Chess (2008) by Jos Carrillo 0 0
A B C D E F G H I J
Embassy Chess uses a starting position identical to Grand Chess adapted <W1 W2>
to a 108 board. Capablanca Random Chess combines ideas of Fischer Omega Chess starting position
Random Chess and Capablanca Chess. It also applies the principle which
demands that all pawns in the starting positions are protected by at least
one piece.
Using a different board
There are also variants of Capablanca Chess that do not use the standard 108
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board. Grand Chess is a popular variant invented by Dutch game designer 10 10
Christian Freeling in 1984. It uses Capablanca Chess pieces upon a larger,
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1010 board.
8 8

In 2007 Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan devised a variant (called Seirawan 7 7

chess), which adds the two pieces to the standard game in a different manner. 6 6

The player, after moving a piece (for example, a bishop) from the first rank, 5 5
may immediately place either of the two pieces on the bishop's square. If the 4 4
player moves all his eight starting pieces without placing the hawk or the 3 3
elephant (Seirawan's names for the archbishop and the chancellor, 2 2
respectively), he forfeits his right to do so. 1 1
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Programs that play Capablanca Chess Grand Chess starting setup. The
chancellors are on f2/f9; the archbishops
ChessV are on g2/g9.
Fairy-Max

See also
Capablanca Random Chess

References
1. Gollon (1969), p. 220
2. Schmittberger (1992), p. 204
3. Lasker (1959), p. 39
4. Pritchard (2007), p. 122
5. Pritchard (2007), p. 120

Bibliography

Gollon, John (1968). "Capablanca's Chess".Chess Variations Ancient, Regional, and Modern. Charles E. Tuttle
Company Inc. pp. 21922. LCCN 06811975.
Lasker, Edward (1959). The Adventure of Chess. ISBN 0-486-20510-X.
Pritchard, D. B. (2007). Beasley, John, ed. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. ISBN 978-
0-9555168-0-1.
Schmittberger, R. Wayne (1992). New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons Inc.ISBN 978-0471536215.

Further reading
Pritchard, D. B. (1994). "Capablanca Chess".The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications.
pp. 3840. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1. (extensive history)

External links
"Capablanca's chess" by Hans Bodlaender, The Chess Variant Pages
Capablanca Chess at BoardGameGeek
Capablanca Chess a simple program by Ed Friedlander(Java)

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