The Ancient Arts
Fellowship
Byzantine Chess
Byzantine chess is one of the precursors to modern chess. As
well as having a different shaped board, the rules of Byzantine chess have several
major differences to those of modern chess. These differences are:
- the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram below. The
Pawns move outwards from the major pieces behind them;
- the Queen may only move one space at a time, and in a diagonal
direction;
- the Bishops may only move two spaces at a time, and in a
diagonal direction;
- Pawns may not move two spaces in their initial move;
- Pawns may do circuits of the board, but if two Pawns from
the same side meet face to face, both are removed; and
- there is no castling.
Apart from this, the rules are the same. Rooks, Knights and
the King move as they do in the modern game. The conditions for victory are
also the same.
