Courier chess

How Courier chess is played

Courier chess was played in Germany from about 1200 until the 19th century: medieval chess on a board of twelve files, with three more pieces on each side. The goal is to checkmate the opposing king: to attack it so that no move can save it. An attacked king is in check, and no move may leave your own king attacked.

The board and the start

The board has twelve files, a to l, and eight ranks. From a1: rook, knight, alfil, courier, man, king, fers, schleich, courier, alfil, knight, rook, the pawns in front of them, and Black the same on the far side. Every game began with the same opening, both players moving their rook pawns and their fers’ pawn two squares and the fers to its third square; the game here starts after it, with White to move.

The pieces

The king steps one square in any direction, the rook moves along ranks and files, the knight jumps in an L. The courier moves any number of squares diagonally, like today’s bishop: it gave the game its name. The man steps one square in any direction, like a king that may be taken; the schleich one square straight. The fers steps one square diagonally and the alfil jumps exactly two, as in Shatranj. There is no castling.

Pawns

A pawn moves one square forward and captures one square diagonally forward; there is no double step after the opening and no en passant. A pawn that reaches the last rank becomes a fers.

Winning

Checkmate wins, and so does stalemate: a player who cannot move loses. You also win by capturing every piece of your opponent except the king, a bare king; if the bare king can capture your last piece right away, the game is drawn instead.

Draws

The same position three times, or fifty moves each without a capture or a pawn move, is a draw. The old sources say nothing on stalemate, the bare king or draws; these rules are Fairy-Stockfish’s.

Where it comes from

The romance Wigalois mentions courier sets of ivory around 1205, Kunrat von Ammenhausen saw the game played in Constance in 1337, and Lucas van Leyden painted a game in progress around 1508. Almost all we know of the rules comes from Gustavus Selenus, Duke Augustus of Brunswick, who described it in 1616 as one of the games of Ströbeck, the chess village near Halberstadt; a board of 1651 for chess on one side and courier on the other still survives there. The German names: König, Königin (fers), Roche, Reutter, Alte or Schütze (alfil), Kurier or Läufer, Mann or Rat, Schleich, Soldat. Some say a pawn reaching the last rank made three leaps back before it was promoted; that is a later Ströbeck custom.

More games

Chess and variants

• Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
• Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
• Antichess · Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.
• Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
• Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
• Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
• Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
• Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

• Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• Medieval chess · Europe’s chess before 1475: the fers and the king may leap on their first move.
• Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
• Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
• Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
• Kar Ouk · Ouk Chatrang where the first check wins: guard your king.
• Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
• Janggi · Korean chess: no river, palace diagonals and a cannon that always jumps.
• Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
• Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

• Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
• Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
• Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
• Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.