Schach-80 (Elephant Chess)

Hello,

I would like to bring Chess-80 (Elephant Chess) to chess.com. Chess-80 was invented by Hans Födisch from Halle (Germany) and he has the wish that it can be played online. Chess-80 also has two elephants for both players. The chessboard is therefore two squares wider (i.e. 10x8). The elephant can move and capture one step as well as two steps in any direction. It can also jump. Unfortunately, this piece is not available at Chess.com. The Alibaba is similar, but can only move and capture two steps in any direction.

The elephant is stronger than the rook and can break open positions because it can jump. Several Chess-80 tournaments have already taken place in Halle. It plays very well.

My question now is who I should contact in order to add the elephant chess piece to the list of chess pieces at chess.com to be included.

many thanks

Some things:

1. You would likely need to contact @qilp (the head CGA here) and @Goondrius (one of our variants developers).
2. We will likely not add pieces unless it’s for a popular and/or historical variant, as the piece list is already big enough as is; it seems that this variant has gained some traction OTB however, though.
3. Variants like Gothic Chess and Courier Chess are currently historical variants on the server and often times we will decline new submissions with too similar of a concept so that the variants list isn’t filled with “copies” of the same variant. A variant needs to prove that it has significant uniqueness in theory in order to be added. Obviously, I haven’t looked at the variant your post is mentioning yet, but it’s something to keep in mind. 
4. Is there any online resource where I can find videos or notations of real games? It would definitely be helpful if this variant were to be reviewed.

@rotmilan-1 Hans Födisch might have tried the Alibaba first, but found it wanting.

Some things:

1. The piece in question also appears in Paulovits’ Game (1890) under the name Pasha. István Paulovits also added a Crowned Camel to the lineup for that game (10x10), calling it the General.

2. Calling for “significant uniqueness in theory” misses the point. Various 10x8 variants may lack it due to superficially seeming to be Gothic Chess with something (weaker) substituted for the Chancellor or the Archbishop, but this ignores the historical criticism adding these pieces to modern chess has drawn from top players and the fact that the nature of the additional pieces doesn’t matter much to making it easier to gain a winning advantage (Shogi has more but weaker pieces than Chess and manages to hold draws to 1-2% under the common rules for professional events). It also does the legacy of Pietro Carrera something of a disservice to hold his original pieces as almost absolutely authoritative when, if anything, he probably intended that part of Il Gioco degli Scacchi to start a discussion about moving chess to a larger board.

I'm just a normal player with no power, but if anyone cares about my input, I think Chess.com should give this variant a chance, it looks cool.

Thanks for the hint @josephruhf. In Paulovits's chess variant from 1890 there is the Pasha and it moves just like the elephant in Hans Födisch's Schach-80. So there is also a historical chess variant that would need this piece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulovits's_game
Funnily enough, the Pasha also looks like an elephant.

The elephant in Hans Födisch's Schach-80 is slightly weaker than the queen and slightly stronger than the rook. Because it can jump, it can also break open positions. In addition, the elephant can also capture the opponent's elephants, which the Alibaba cannot do. Hans Födisch had originally planned a 10x10 field. However, practice has shown that children knock over their own pieces with their shirtsleeves when passing them over. The 10x10 playing field was too big for children. That is why Hans Födisch finally designed his Schach-80 for 10x8 squares.

Hans Födisch has written down the notation of over 100 games. I will publish some of them here soon. Here are a few articles from a chess magazine.

@rotmilan-1 maybe Hans Födisch likes Paulovits's game but feels the distinction between the additional short range pieces is forced. With the board reduced to 10x8, having a Crowned Camel becomes complicated by the Camel‘s 1-3 move, so he uses two Pashas.
In my opinion, the 10x10 field would have been the least of Hans Födisch‘s problems in designing the game. The perfection of the Queen probably makes promotion to anything else within reason a rarity in perfect play. This is why several inventors have proposed variants with it where only promotion to a lost major piece is allowed, the two most famous being Hostage Chess (John A. Leslie) and Grand Chess (Christian Freeling).

Here is a game that was played during a tournament:

white black

1 g4 g5
2 Nh3 f6
3 f4 gxf
4 Nxf4 Nh6
5 h3 Bg7
6 d3 Ei6
7 Bf3 Ej5
8 Ei3 0-0
9 Ei5 ExE
10 QxE Nxg4
11 Nxg6+ black gave up

The photo shows the inventor (Hans Födisch) of Schach-80 with his elephants. To produce the elephants by machine, a blank four times the size was needed.

I asked @qilp and @goondrious about a new chess piece (elephant) and unfortunately didn't get an answer. Who else could I still turn to at chess.com ?

many thanks

give this variant a chance this looks awesome

In the meantime, a website has been created that contains some information about chess 80.

https://schach-80.de/index.php/en/

dude theres tournaments this variant's gotta be added now

ADD ITT

I don’t think the Elephant is stronger than the Rook, the Rook is faster and it can control entire ranks and files, anyways, this variant looks good

sometimes it can be better than the rook in closed positions and infiltrating

okay, but what about open positions? and the elephants can jump over pieces? and why controlling entire ranks and files is not as strong as it seams?

i said sometimes