Ancient Game, New Twists: Shogi, Fairy Chess, and Anti-Kings
The other day, I finally learned how to play Shogi (sometimes called Japanese Chess), thanks to Nintendo’s new Clubhouse Games collection on the Switch. Its similarities to the Western variety of chess got me wondering if they shared a common ancestor–which turns out to be a difficult question, although the evidence points to an ancient Indian game called Chaturanga.
Chess and Shogi aren’t the only apparent descendants of Chaturanga, either. In Burma, it developed into Sittuyin, and in Thailand, it became Makruk. Each of these games share certain characteristics–moving pieces around a board to capture an opponent’s king–but they also have distinct differences, including the types of pieces they use and what they are allowed to do.
It turns out that many of these special pieces have been cataloged and included in Western chess variants by historians and game designers over the years. These special pieces are collectively called “fairy chess pieces,” and the Wikipedia article on this subject lists over 200 different pieces, each with unique patterns of movement or special effects!
Four of the most basic fairy chess pieces are known as the Ferz, Alfil, Wazir, and Dabbaba. Yes, those are all real words, and yes, the images below do feature upside-down bishop and rook icons. It seems that in the fairy chess community, this is the standard way to represent these pieces.
A Ferz moves 1 square diagonally. It’s like a baby bishop. 
Alfils can move exactly 2 squares diagonally. 
Wazirs can move 1 square horizontally or vertically. 
Dabbabas move 2 squares horizontally or vertically.
Here are a few more of the best (and weirdest) from the full list of 200+ pieces:
- Archbishop: Combines the movement patterns of a bishop and a knight. Apparently, this piece has the ability to checkmate a king all by itself.
- Elephant: A piece featured in many international versions of chess with different movement patterns. The Chinese version can move 2 spaces diagonally, like an Alfil.
- Berolina Pawn: Similar to a pawn, but with its movement and capture rules flipped; this one only moves forward diagonally and captures straight ahead.
- Dragon: Combines the movement of a queen and a knight. According to Zied Haddad, designer of Musketeer Chess, this is considered one of the most powerful fairy chess pieces around.
- Nightrider: A knight that can continue to move in the same 2-over, 3-up pattern multiple times in one turn–kind of like the knight’s take on a rook or bishop.
- Lion: Moves like a king, but gets to move twice in one turn–this means it can capture two pieces in the same turn, or capture a piece and move back to its original position.
- Locust: A category of pieces that capture other pieces by leaping over them, similar to a game of checkers.
- Joker: A piece that can repeat the movement pattern of the last piece the opponent used–if the opponent just finished moving a rook, for example, the joker can move like a rook.
- Anti-King: A king that captures its own allies and becomes “in check” when it’s not being threatened by an opponent’s piece. Bizarre!
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I knew chess had a long history, but I had no idea there were so many different versions and special pieces out there. It even gives me a few ideas for variants of my own–but there are plenty of other games to work on in the meantime.
