SHATRANJ

***** SHATRANJ *****

  r n e k f e n r   
  p p p p p p p p
  - - - - - - - -
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  P P P P P P P P
  R N E K F E N R

Shatranj is the way chess was played around 1500 A.D., long
before the game took the form we know today.  For details on the
historic development, see "help Shatranj2".

Shatranj differs from modern chess in the following respects.
In place of the bishop, Shatranj has an 'alfil' (elephant).
Like a bishop, an alfil moves along diagonals; however,
it must move exactly two squares away.  It can
jump over other pieces like a knight.  Instead of the mighty queen,
there is a 'fers' (also called counselor or general).  A fers can
only move one square diagonally.  Pawns are not allowed to make a
double-step on their first move.  When a pawn reaches the last rank,
it promotes, but only to a fers.  The king starts on the d-file
rather than the e-file in the initial position.  Castling is not
allowed.  The game is won if you (a) checkmate your opponent,
(b) stalemate your opponent, or (c) take the last non-king piece of
your opponent.  In this last case (bare king), your opponent is
allowed to make one more move and, if he can take your last non-king
piece as well, the game is drawn.

In most clients the standard chess pieces will be used to represent
Shatranj pieces, with the bishop and queen standing for the alfil
and fers respectively.  Shatranj is wild 28, so to start a game
of Shatranj with someone, you could type "match someone 10 10 w28"
or seek a game as with "seek 10 10 w28".  You can also use BlitzIn's
Match... or Seek... dialog windows and select Shatranj from the
popup menu there.

See also: Shatranj2, wild, match, seek