Ashtandrez
🪓AshtanDrez ⚔️
"Ashtan" means 8 in Sanskrit, in summary it is related to 8 integrants of the army, the composition of the members of the army are:
1.- Infantry,
2.- Cavalry,
3.- Camel,
4.- Elephant,
5.- General,
6.- Bishop,
7.- Royalty,
8.- Warship.
The word "Drez" comes from the Latin word for "Ajedrez" (chess), so we have merged these two words into "Ashtandrez". This sport integrates the concepts of the current rules of chess for 2 players with ancient and modern pieces.
Construction
This setup as an initial position is highly studied and analyzed, I carried out multiple tests independently with futer bot, until I was able to find the best position for several reasons that I can detail, furthermore, after many games with different players I ended up consolidating all the necessary details, to finally consider that it is in good condition in terms of variety of openings, balance, tactical elements in the middlegame, solid defense, and finally each piece guarantees a good circulation throughout the board, both on dark and light squares, also increased checkmate options in an ending with few resources, the promotion is not for the most powerful piece on the board, we have decided that the infantryman who manages to promote for a warship , as a reward for his audacity in battle.
Inspiration
My Inspiration is born mainly from my passion for chess and mainly the entire trajectory of its history. In the search to incorporate all its main pieces symmetrically on the same 8x8 board, the elimination of duplicate pieces is carried out, with the exception of the horde of infantry pawns on both sides.
The Elephant is a very important historical piece and I feel we should give that piece more power, as it historically deserves it.
If we change the movement of that piece, we will have a really incredible game, with the main piece having the strength it deserves for its power, and for its historical value.
Therefore the movement would be absolutely correct and it would give the elephant better playability and increase the quality of the game in general.
Elephant
An Honorable mention to this excellent piece that hides an incredible power in its powerful trunk, it is one of the most representative war pieces of the Chaturanga and of war in real life.
By centralizing the elephant on the board, it precisely manages to have a more efficient central attacking role and can be better complemented with other pieces for combo sequential attacks at key points.
After knowing so many details in the historical accounts, I am encouraged to propose a new movement for the elephant, based on all the descriptions i found.
Chaturanga and Chaturaji are the earliest known 2 and 4 piece ancestral board games in history, In all other later board games, the elephant can move vertically.
In my opinion I think it would be very interesting to consider this type of movement forward and diagonally.
- It would provide greater value to the piece.
- it would change the dynamics of the game, and it would not be as limited as it is today.
- It is an absolutely original movement compared to other pieces on the platform.
There is another famous phrase like this:
Think of the elephant's four legs and trunk.
Specifically, the new movement that I propose for the elephant would be the fusion of 2 movement proposals that we saw previously in the stories, I am pleased to know that, The proposal of a possible improvement in the type of movement of this piece is being studied, which would be represented in this way:
Note: In case the elephant wanted to return to the defense, it can only do so diagonally. Since the possibility of moving vertically is only to advance and carry out attacks from the front with its powerful trunk.
Helianus says that the Greeks militarily organized the group of elephants into an army:
the phalanx was the main body, that is, 64 elephants
the calerarchy had 32
the elephantarchy, 16
the epitarchy, 4
thearchia, 2
the zoarquia was a single elephant, whether or not it carried the tower on top.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantidae
Multiples of 4
All these are multiples of 4, this will have been the inspiration for the 64 chess squares, 32 pieces, 16 on each side, to create a game with 4 players and then be able to divide it to play with 2 players. Everything is interpretation.
The phalanx was a tactical organization for war created in Ancient Greece and later imitated by various Mediterranean civilizations.
If you are interested in knowing more about the power of the elephant, visit this blog:
https://www.chess.com/blog/martinaxo/the-true-power-of-the-elephant-history-v-s-modernity
For me, this image represents what the story says, which strictly speaking would be to imagine the 4 legs of the elephant with its respective trunk, as the legend says. 😉 📜
Camel
This piece has a movement very similar to that of the modern Knight.
Tamerlane's chess is a chess-related board game that comes from shatranj. It developed in the Persian Empire during the reign of Tamerlane (1336-1405). Some sources attribute the invention of the game to Tamerlane himself, but this is unlikely. As Tamerlane chess is a larger variant of shatranj, it is also called Shatranj Kamil (perfect chess) or Shatranj Al-Kabir (big chess).
It moves in an "L" shape, like an orthodox chess knight, with dimensions of
3 × 1 instead of 2 × 1.
This piece is initially located in a strategic place, being the first defender of the king's weak pawn and at the same time it can also be developed to excellent squares to prepare a dynamic and devastating attack.
We can describe this piece, with great skill, it is not the most powerful in this battle, but if it is very strong and can surprise you at any time, you must be very attentive. You can get very quickly to any sector of the board. Its aesthetics are excellent, this piece is very well designed.
Ferz
The Ferz is an excellent guardian of the king, and he feels very friendly in his playability when performing the characteristic fianccheto of many World Elite players.
Rook Sailboat | Warship
Its design is unique and very attractive. This piece belongs to the Chaturaji game, which is the first 4-player chess concept in the world. I have chosen this design to keep the ancestral figure rather than a modern rook. When promoting, you can also choose a new sailboat to increase your fleet.
Arrangement of the pieces on the board and its reason
The summary explanation of the initial arrangement of the pieces on the board is based on the following:
On the left flank we have the queen replacing one of the traditional chess rooks, the same is done by the camel replacing a knight but maintaining a type of movement in L but with the difference that it only circulates or transits through squares of its initial color . A single normal bishop but that only transits through the color of its initial position but with a different color than the camel's square, this was mainly thought in case it is necessary to find a way to checkmate with camel bishop and king in some endgame . Then we have the elephant a central square, mainly so that it can complement the attack and its use in the middle game in the center of the board is more efficient. Finally, the ferz replacing the chess bishop, logically due to a different color square to the other bishop, and the warship replacing the chess rook, allowing solid castling on the kingside.
PGN: FEN4 | You can copy and paste the following FEN 4 code in Edit Position and you will be able to play!
https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/51348546/0/1
R-0,1,0,1-1,0,1,0-1,0,1,0-0,0,0,0-0-{'pawnBaseRank':5,'dim':'8x8','boxOffset':1}-
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,yQ,yC,yB,yI,yK,yF,yN,yR,x,x,x/
x,x,x,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,x,x,x/
x,x,x,rQ,rC,rB,rI,rK,rF,rN,rR,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x
Ashtandrez Experience:
Ashtandrez works perfectly as an additional alternative to chess and chaturanga or Shatranj, allowing you to experience exploring new piece moves and various strategy plans before and during the game in its structure. Completed games adhere to the same traditional amount of time as any other game, no game has gone on forever ("Eternal Games"), and no game has ended with the 50-move rule thus far. This game makes you want to play another game, try again and seek to do better. There are several tactical resources similar to those experienced in official chess, certain replicas of some winning positions can be made and that is great since they are patterns that habitual players already have embedded in our subconscious and we apply them in each game.
To conclude, I can say that I have been developing this idea for 4 months, and I have finally been able to bring this variant to life. Variant chess for 2 people is synonymous with passion and feeling, each battle is great and incomparable with its unique nuances, which makes it an infinite concept of possibilities after each move; Ashtandrez meets that goal.
To play:
https://www.chess.com/variants/ashtandrez
🪓See you in the next battle!⚔️
