Janus chess
From Free net encyclopedia
Janus chess is a chess variant, played on 10x8 board. It features a new piece, Janus (also known as archbishop or cardinal), which combines moves of bishop and knight. This piece is called after Roman god Janus, because this god was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Janus chess was invented in 1978 by Werner Schöndorf from Bildstock (Germany).
The usual set of chess pieces is extended with two pawns and two Januses per player. Each Janus is placed between rook and knight. The relative position of king and queen is reverse to that in chess (but still white queen is placed on white square and black queen on black square just as in chess). After castling the king is placed on b- or i-file, and rook on c- or h-file.
Note that the janus is the only piece in this game which is able to checkmate the opponents king on its own.
This chess variant is quite popular in Europe. Several chess grandmasters play this chess variant, among them Viktor Korchnoi, Péter Lékó and Artur Yusupov.
External links
- Janus chess by Hans L. Bodlaender.
- Janusschach - Janus chess (in German).
- BrainKing.com - server, which allows to play Janus chess over internet.
- SMIRF - a program which plays Janus Chess very well.