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Presentation
Here Zanzibar is a large chess variant.
Its complete name is Zanzibar-XXL because smaller
versions exist, named Zanzibar-XL and Zanzibar-S, which
are presented on another page, here.
Zanzibar, a big island of Tanzania, is
the place of an old sultanate with a rich history. A name
that evokes a link with the Arab civilization when their
boats were trading all along the coast of East Africa from
the Red Sea to Madagascar.
The idea driving the elaboration of
Zanzibar was to fill the void squares of the Metamachy lineup. The board is
the dozenal 12x12 square battlefield, like for Metamachy. The pieces from
Metamachy are used here again, with a small and necessary
difference for what concerns the Pawns and the Princes,
which is explained below.
In order to decide which pieces to add,
the following principles have been observed:
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Add pieces with medium power. Introducing new
high power pieces is always tempting but too many of
them really spoils the game.
-
Add pieces which present a strong link with
pieces existing in historical chess-variants.
-
Avoid complex moves, especially the compound
moves such as pieces that moves as two or more
standard pieces. On the opposite, favor moves that
give a recognizable personality to the pieces.
-
Complement as much as
possible the pieces already used in Metamachy, for
instance looking for orthogonal counterparts of
diagonal pieces and vice-versa.
The setup occupies four full ranks for
each player, which gives 48 pieces in each side. There are
20 different types of pieces.
Each player has: 1 King, 1 Queen, 1
Eagle, 1 Lion, 1 Rhinoceros, 1 Buffalo, 1 Sorceress,
1 Duchess, 2 Princes, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 2 Camels, 2
Rooks, 2 Cannons, 2 Elephants, 2 Giraffes, 2 Crocodiles, 2
Machines, 8 Soldiers and 12 Pawns.
Like for Metamachy, there is a choice of
different starting setups. Here, that choice is colossal
with more than 10,000 possibilities. Black chooses the
setup and White makes the first move.
(For smaller versions, Zanzibar-XL and
Zanzibar-S, check it out here)
Setup rules
At the beginning Pawns, Soldiers and all
pieces which come as pairs (Elephants, Cannons, Rooks,
Camels, Knights, Giraffes, Bishops, Crocodiles, Princes,
Machines) are placed on the board as follows for each
player:
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1st row: Cannon / Camel / Giraffe /
Crocodile / . / . / . / . / Crocodile / Giraffe /
Camel / Cannon
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2nd row: Elephant / Rook / Knight /
Bishop / . / . / . / . / Bishop / Knight / Rook /
Elephant
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3rd row: 4 x Soldiers / Prince /
Machine / Machine / Prince / 4 x Soldiers
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4th row: 12 x Pawns
Setup of fixed starting pieces at
Zanzibar (-XXL)
Then, Black
freely decides where to place his King on one central
square of the first or second row, f12, g12, f11 or g11,
then his 7 "single" pieces, Queen - Eagle - Lion -
Rhinoceros - Buffalo - Duchess - Sorceress on the
remaining free 7 squares on the center of the board
(e11, f11, g11, h11, e12, f12, g12, h12) in whichever
order.
Then, White put his
pieces symmetrically in mirror (if Black King is on f11,
White King goes on f2) and makes the first move.
One of the possible starting
positions for Zanzibar
It is not necessary
to remember a full arrangement. This prevents the
development of stereotyped openings. Only basic
principles ruling the openings and development of the
game can be studied and followed.
It can be
demonstrated that it exists more than 10,000 different
starting positions:
- Black King can placed on f11 or 12, the a choice
of 2 positions.
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Then, the Queen has a
choice of 7 positions on the first or second
row.
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Then, the Eagle has a
choice of 6 remaining positions
-
The Lion has a choice of
5 remaining positions
-
The Rhinoceros has a
choice of 4 positions
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The Buffalo has a choice of 3 positions
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The Duchess has a choice of 2 positions
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The Sorceress goes on the last remaining free
square on the first row.
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2x7x6x5x4x3x2 = 10080
All positions where the Black King is placed on f12 or g11
are completely equivalent by symmetry and are, therefore,
not accounted for.
Moves
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King: moves 1 step in
every (8) directions on a not attacked square. The
King is in check if it is attacked by one or several
enemy pieces. It is forbidden to play a move letting
his King in check. There is no castling in
Zanzibar.
At his first move, the King may jump to a free
square at two squares' distance. For instance, from
f2, it can jump to d1, d2, d3, d4, e4, f4, g4, h4, h3,
h2 or h1). It does not matter if the square jumped
over is occupied or not; however, the jump is
forbidden if that intermediate square is threatened by
an enemy piece. When jumping like a Knight, at least
one of the two intermediate squares must be free of
threat (e.g., if jumping from f2 to h3, either g2 or
g3 must not be under attack). The King's jump is not
permitted if the King is in check. This rule, which
was once prevalent in medieval European chess,
replaces castling.
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Pawn: as in Chess,
it can move straight forward one, or two empty square
from its starting position on the board, without
capturing. It captures one square diagonally forward.
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Soldier: moves as
super-Pawn. It captures 1-square diagonally forward
like a Pawn, but moves with no capture either
1-square forward or sideways (left or right). It can
also step two empty squares forward from any
position on the board. Otherwise, it is identical to
the Pawn (same promotion, en-passant capture rules).
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Prince: a non-royal
King who moves and captures one square in any
direction, but without being hindered by check. It has
been inspired by medieval games like the Courier chess , an old
chess variant, played in Germany, where it is called
"Man". Like the Soldier, he can also move, without
jumping, to a second empty square straight ahead from
any position on the board.
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Eagle: exactly as in
Metamachy.
Moves one square diagonally and then, slides away of
an indefinite number of squares vertically or
horizontally. It is authorized to go only one square
diagonal. It can not jump and the unobstructed path
must start with the diagonal movement.
This piece is almost as powerful as the Queen and is
inspired by the Giraffe from Tamerlane's
Chess and the Aanca (a mythical giant bird
praying elephants, mistaken for a gryphon) from
Alfonso X's Grande Acedrex.
This piece is also known as Gryphon in many chess
variants.
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Lion: exactly as in Metamachy.
Moves as a King (a single step move in any direction),
or may jump to a position two squares away, jumping in
any orthogonal or diagonal direction, or jumping as a
Knight. (Inspired by Chu
Shogi, the most popular variant of the
Japanese Chess, where the Lion has the same range but
is more dreadful as it can move twice in a turn).
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Buffalo: combines the
leaps of the Knight (2,1 leaper), the Camel (3,1
leaper) and the Giraffe (3,2 leaper).
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Rhinoceros: moves one
square vertically or horizontally and then, slides
away of an indefinite number of squares diagonally. It
is authorized to go only one square in line or column.
It can not jump and the unobstructed path must start
with the orthogonal movement. This piece is inspired,
although slightly different, by the Unicorn of
mediaeval Grant Acedrex. It
is a counterpart of the Eagle. It is now called Manticore on the chessvariants
pages.
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Sorceress: as
in Terachess, she moves
like a Queen and needs an intermediate piece between
herself and her victim to capture it. The Sorceress
jumps the intermediate and takes the victim on its
square. The intermediate is left unaffected. Like the
Queen is Bishop + Rook, the Sorceress is Cannon +
Crocodile.
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Duchess: as in Terachess, she moves as a
limited Queen, one, two or three squares in any
straight directions. When moving two or three squares,
she may jump and it does not matter what intermediate
squares contain.
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Camel: exactly as in
Metamachy.
Jumps to the opposite square of a 2x4 rectangle, like
an extended Knight. No matter what intermediate
squares contain. It is also described as a (3,1)
leaper. Note that it always stays on the same color of
square. A well known piece from medieval Muslim great
Chess like Tamerlane's Chess.
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Giraffe: jumps
to the opposite square of a 3x4 rectangle, like an
extended Knight. No matter what intermediate squares
contain. It is also described as a (3,2) leaper. Note
that it always changes the same color of its square.
That piece is found in Alfonso X's Grant Acedrex. The same
pattern, but without jumping, is found in Janggi, Korean Chess, for the
Elephant. Under the name of Zebra, it is also a fairy
piece used by problemists for compositions.
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Cannon: exactly as in
Shako, it is borrowed
from Xiangqi. It moves
without taking like a Rook, but it takes by going in a
straight horizontal and vertical line and jumping over
exactly one piece. When a Cannon takes a piece, there
must be exactly one piece between the original and
final square of the Cannon's move - this piece may be
of either color.
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Crocodile:
it is the diagonal counterpart of the Chinese
Cannon. It moves like a Bishop (which was named
Crocodile in Grant Acedrex)
and needs an intermediate piece between itself and its
victim to capture it. The Crocodile jumps the
intermediate and takes the victim on its square. The
intermediate is left unaffected. Also known as Vao by
problemists.
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Elephant: exactly as
in Shako. It moves
one or two squares diagonally. When an Elephant moves
two squares, no matter what intermediate squares
contain. Note that it always stays on the same color
of square. The Elephant moves as the combined Alfil
and Firzan (Ferz) from Shatranj,
two pieces which were also present in medieval Chess
and have disappeared with the birth of modern moves
for the Bishop and the Queen.
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Machine: it is an
orthogonal counterpart of the Elephant as it moves one
or two squares orthogonally, jumping over the first
square if it is occupied. Then, it combines the moves
of old Dabbaba and Wazir found in ancient Muslim Chess
variants. The word Dabbaba designated a siege machine
at war in Arabic, hence the name given for this piece.
Other rules
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Pawn, Soldier and Prince
Promotion: A Pawn, a Soldier or a Prince
reaching the last rank of the board is immediately
replaced by a "chief" piece: Queen, Eagle, Lion,
Sorceress, Duchess, Rhinoceros or Buffalo. Promotion
to any other type of piece is not allowed. It is
permitted to promote a Pawn, a Soldier or Prince to a
type of piece already present on the same side;
however; it is considered "good etiquette" to avoid
choosing a piece which is not captured yet, if
possible.
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En Passant capture: Any
time a Pawn, a Soldier or a Prince takes a double step
and passes through the capture square of an opposing
Pawn or Soldier, that Pawn or Soldier may capture the
opposing piece as if it had only moved one square.
This en passant capture must be made in the
immediate move following the double step. Only a Pawn
or a Soldier may capture en passant.
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End Of Game: The
end-of-game rules, checkmate, stalemate, etc., are
identical to standard chess. The goal is to
checkmate the opposing King.
Pieces Value
Zillions gives these average values on
the line-up, normalized to 5 for the Rook :
Pawn: 0.9 ; Soldier: 1.5; Giraffe:2 ;
Camel: 2.2 ; Elephant: 2.5 ; Knight: 2.5 ; Machine:
2.9 ; Crocodile: 3.3 ; Bishop: 3.4 ; Prince: 3.5 ;
Cannon: 4.9 ; Rook: 5 ; Rhinoceros: 5.9 ; Buffalo:
6.8 ; Duchess: 7.4 ; Lion: 7.8 ; Eagle: 7.7 ;
Sorceress: 8 ; Queen: 8.2
A maybe more realistic estimate would be:
Pawn: 1 ; Soldier: 1.5; Giraffe:
2 ; Camel: 2 ; Elephant: 2.5 ; Knight: 2.5 ;
Machine: 3 ; Crocodile: 3 ; Prince: 3.5; Bishop: 3.5
; Cannon: 4 ; Rook: 5 ; Rhinoceros: 6 ;
Sorceress: 6.5; Buffalo: 7 ; Duchess: 7.5 ;
Lion: 7.5 ; Eagle: 8 ; Queen: 8.5
These values are just given for a very
rough estimate. A lot of players would disagree and give
less or more points to several piece. Never mind, make
your own scale and be the Lord of Zanzibar.
You can play Zanzibar if you own
Zillions-of-Games.
Download this zip-file: cazauxchess.zip
Find Zanzibar in the Chessvariants
pages
There are presets to play Zanzibar here.
Un
tablier de 12 x 12 cases.
Un
total de 96 pièces, de 20 types
différents :
Rois,
Dames, Fous, Cavaliers, Tours, Pions mais
aussi Aigles,
Lions, Chameaux, Éléphants, Princes, Canons,
Girafes, Crocodiles, Machines, Buffles,
Rhinoceros, Duchesses, Sorcières et les
redoutables Soldats.
Plus
de 10000 manières différentes de les
disposer au départ !
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Diagrams made with the fantastic Chess Board
Painting Tools provided by Musketeer Chess
Thanks to Paul Rapoport
for his discussion, corrections and playtesting
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