Hiashatar

Hiashatar is a medieval chess variant played in Mongolia. The game is played on a 10×10 board. The pieces are the same as in chess with the exception that there is an additional piece which is called the "bodyguard".[1][2] The starting position is similar to chess, except that a bodyguard each is placed between king and bishop and between queen and bishop with a pawn in front and there are two more rows in the middle. The game is not as popular as western chess or Shatar.

Pieces
  • King (noyon) - moves like the King in chess
  • Queen (bers) - moves like the Queen in chess
  • Bodyguard (hia) - moves like a Queen, but can only move one or two squares. The Bodyguard has a special power; any piece sliding must stop its move if it moves through any square a king's move away from the bodyguard. Any piece a king's move away from the bodyguard can only move one square. The only piece immune to this power of the Bodyguard is the Knight.
  • Rook (tereg) - moves like the rook in chess
  • Knight (mori) - moves like the Knight in chess
  • Bishop (teme) - moves like the Bishop in chess
  • Pawn (fu) - moves like the pawn in chess except that it can make an initial triple step.

Other Rules
  • There is no castling
  • Pawns promote only to queen

References
  • N. Okano, Sekai-no meina shogi (World's chess games), p. 40-46, chapter V. 1999.
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20080703142230/http://www.geocities.com/kisslook/eng/mongeng.html
  2. http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MLhiashatar
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