Chesquerque

Chesquerque gameboard and starting position. In the diagram, archbishops are represented by knight and bishop combined.

Chesquerque is a chess variant invented by George R. Dekle, Sr. in 1986. The game is played on a board equaling four Alquerque boards combined, and like Alquerque, pieces move along marked lines (9x9) to the points of intersection (81 points). All the standard chess pieces are present, plus one additional pawn and one archbishop fairy piece per side. The pieces move in ways specially adapted to the Alquerque-gridded board.

Chesquerque was included in World Game Review No. 10 edited by Michael Keller.

Game rules

The illustration shows the starting setup. White moves first and the object is checkmate. Other standard chess conventions apply as well, but piece moves are specially adapted to the Alquerque-gridded board. Pieces move only along marked lines, and rest on the points of intersection.

Piece moves

• A rook moves orthogonally any number of points in a straight line. A rook on a point having one or more diagonal connections can also move one step diagonally.
• A bishop on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves diagonally any number of points in a straight line. A bishop can also move one step orthogonally.
• The queen moves as a Chesquerque rook and a Chesquerque bishop.
• The king moves one step as a Chesquerque queen. When castling, the king slides three points' distance whether castling kingside (0-0) or queenside (0-0-0).
• A knight on a point having no diagonal connections moves in the pattern: one step orthogonally, followed by one step diagonally outward. A knight on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves in the pattern: one step diagonally, followed by one step orthogonally outward. Unlike a chess knight, the Chesquerque knight may not jump an intervening man.
• The archbishop moves as a Chesquerque bishop and a Chesquerque knight. On a single turn it may move as only one of those pieces - not both.
• A pawn on a point having no diagonal connections moves and captures one step forward. A pawn on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves one step straight forward, and captures one step diagonally forward. As in chess, pawns may optionally advance two steps straight forward on their first move, en passant captures are possible, and promotion occurs at the last rank.

The white pawn on h6 can move one step straight forward (green dot), or capture diagonally forward (red dots). The pawn on b5 has no diagonal options; it moves and captures one step forward (green-red dot). The same prevails for White's pawns on f2 and c2 respectively; however, those pawns have initial two-step options (furthest green dots). If the black pawn on g8 advances, White can capture it, for example: 1... g6 2. hxg7 e.p. In the diagram, White has castled kingside (0-0); Black has castled queenside (0-0-0).

The white knight on c4 can move to any green dot, but cannot move to red dots near the rook, since the rook blocks those moves. The black knight on g7 is under attack and can retreat safely to any blue dot, but cannot move to red dots near the pawn, since the pawn blocks those moves.

The white rook on c3 can move one step diagonally (green dots) in addition to moving on orthogonal lines (e.g., it can capture the black bishop). The black rook on f7 has no diagonal step available, but can move on orthogonal lines (it can capture the white bishop). The white bishop on f3 has no diagonal moves, but can move one step orthogonally (blue dots). The black bishop on c7 can move one step orthogonally (blue dots) in addition to moving on diagonal lines (it can capture the white pawn on h2).

Read more:

• Alquerque
• Also by George Dekle:
  • Masonic Chess
  • Triangular Chess - a variant with triangular cells
  • Tri-Chess - a three-player variant with triangular cells, chancellors and cardinals
  • Trishogi - a shogi variant with triangular cells
  • Hexshogi - a shogi variant with hexagonal cells