See also:

- John Gollon’s Chess Variants: https://amzn.to/3xFPR2h

- A History of Chess: Murray, 1913 Edition: https://amzn.to/3dAhdQl

- The History of Chess (Forbes, 1860): https://amzn.to/3BUITIZ

- 3d Printed Pieces: shop.timurchess.online

The Board

The game is played on an uncheckered (or checkered) board of 112 squares: a board with ten rows, eleven columns, plus two extra squares, one left of the ninth row, and one right of the second row.

These two extra fields are called the citadels and play a special role in the game.

Each player has the following pieces: a king, a vizir, a general, two giraffes, two pickets, two knights, two rooks, two elephants, two camels, two war engines, and eleven pawns. Pawns are of special types: there is a pawn of kings, pawn of vizirs, pawn of generals, etc. Additionally, there is the pawn of pawns.

The type of pawn affects what happens when the pawn promotes; this is quite special for the pawn of pawns, see below.

Opening setup

Three different opening setups were used. We give one of them here; for the others, which are not too different, see e.g. Gollon's description of the game.

The small pieces at the top rows of the players are pawns, modelled as a small copy of the type they belong to.

White's top row contains from left to right: pawn of pawns, pawn of war engines, pawn of camels, pawn of elephants, pawn of generals, pawn of kings, pawn of vizirs, pawn of giraffes, pawn of pickets, pawn of knights, pawn of rooks. The second row of white contains from left to right: rook, knight, picket, giraffe, general, king, vizir, giraffe, picket, knight, rook. The bottom row contains from left to right: elephant, space, camel, space, war machine, space, war machine, space, camel, space, elephant.

Movement of pieces

The king (shah) (★) moves as a usual king. A single square in any direction, diagonal or orthogonal.

The general (ferz or ferzan) (F) moves one square diagonal.

The vizir (chancellor or wazir) (V) moves one square orthogonal, aka. “straight” (horizontal or vertical).

The giraffe (zarafah) (G) moves one diagonal and then after that at least three straight. For instance,

when on a1, the giraffe can move to b5, b6, b7, etc., provided that all passed squares (b2, b3, b4, ...) are empty.

The picket (bishop) (B) moves as a modern bishop, except that it always must move at least two squares.

The knight (K) moves as a modern knight.

The rook (R) moves as a modern rook.

The camel (jamal) (C) has a kind of stretched knights move: it jumps one diagonally and two straight, so e.g. from a1 to b4 and d2; as a knight it is not obstructed by pieces standing on passed squares.

The elephant (pils) (E) jumps two squares diagonally: it goes exactly two squares diagonally, but is not obstructed by a piece on the square in between.

The war engine (dabbabah) (W) jumps straight (horizontally or vertically) two squares. Again, it is not obstructed by a piece on the jumped square; thus the war engine has the “straight” (orthogonal) variant of the elephants move.

The pawns move as modern pawns, except that they have no initial double step. See below for the promotion rule.

Promotion rules

The promotion rules are simple for almost all pawns, with two exceptions: the pawn of kings and the pawn of pawns (PP) . All other pieces, when reaching the last rank,promote to the type of piece they belong: the pawn of rooks promotes to a rook, and the pawn of camels promotes to a camel, etc.

When the Shah's pawn promotes it becomes a Shahzada - a Prince. This piece had the same moves as the Shah but could place itself in check. The opponent Shahzadawould need to be taken as well as the Shah to win the game. The Shah is allowed to be placed in check or left in check if the Shahzada is on the board. If the Shah was captured, it could exchange itself with the Shahzada.

The Pawn of Pawns is even more intricate. When this piece reaches the final rank for the first time, it must remain there; it cannot be captured while there and can only move under two limited conditions. If a square exists where a pawn at that location would be attacking another piece that cannot escape capture, the player may put the Pawn of Pawns on that square. The other condition happens when a place exists where a pawn gives a fork - meaning it would be attacking two pieces at the same time. If a piece already exists on that square - either allied or hostile - it is removed if the Piyade is placed there except for a Shah. After this, the Pawn of Pawns moves as normal until it reaches the final rank a second time. Then it is placed on the starting square of the Shah's pawn (F3 or F8 in the above starting arrangement). If it can reach the final rank a third time, it promotes to a Sha Masnu'A - an Adventitious King. The Sha Masnu'A moves like the Shah and needs to be captured before the game can be won. It also lets the Shah be allowed to be placed in check. Again, if the Shah was captured, it could exchange itself with the Sha Masnu'A.

Citadels

When a player is able to move his king into the citadel of his opponent, the game is drawn. A player may not move any other piece in the citadel of his opponent and may only move his adventitious king in his own citadel. This prevents the opponent from occupying the citadel.

he citadels cannot be covered by pieces such as a rook or bishop to prevent the shah from entering, ie. the three squares providing ingress to the citadels can be covered, but not the special citadel space itself. For instance an opposing rook covering the 9 and 2 ranks do not prevent the enemy king from entering the citadel from a diagonal ingress point (K1 or K3, and A8 or A10 respectively.)

Other rules

If a player, not owning a prince or adventitious king, is mated, he loses the game.

If a player is stalemated, he loses the game, unlike in "normal", aka Queen's chess.

Play this game with or without a “bare king” rule: Gollon assumes there was not such a rule.

*Written by Hans Bodlaender, January 1996.

https://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/tamerlane.html

Full Tamerlane chess

In a few manuscripts the empty squares on the back rank are filled with new types of pieces. The Revealer(♡), The Lion/Assad(L) and The Bull/Thaur(T). The following setup appears in ms 7322 (British Museum):

• Elephant (a1), Lion (b1), Knight (c1), Bull (d1), War Engine (e1), Revealer (f1), War Engine (g1), Bull (h1), Camel (i1), Lion (j1), Elephant (k1)

• Rook (a2), Knight (b2), Picket (c2), Giraffe (d2), General (e2), King (f2), Sea Monster (g2), Giraffe (h2), Picket (i2), Knight (j2), Rook (k2)

• Pawn of Pawns (a3), Pawn of Knights (b3), Pawn of Camels (c3), Pawn of War Engines (d3), Pawn of Generals (e3), Pawn of Kings (f3), Pawn of Sea Monsters (g3), Pawn of Giraffes (h3), Pawn of Pickets (i3), Pawn of Lions (j3), Pawn of Rooks (k3)

• Pawn of Bulls (c4), Pawn of Revealers (f4), Pawn of Elephants (i4).

Black's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rows are arranged following rotation symmetry as in the standard setup: but the 4th row is arranged with reflection symmetry, so that the pawns of bulls face each other. Note that there is only one camel, but three knights (one knight replaces the missing camel***). A sea monster replaces the vizier.

The manuscript does not offer guidance as to how the extra pieces move. Duncan Forbes suggested in 1860 that the lion should combine the moves of rook and giraffe; the bull should combine the moves of picket and giraffe; and the revealer should combine the moves of picket and rook. (He gave the picket the move of the modern bishop, thus making the revealer identical to the modern queen.) Jean-Louis Cazaux suggested in 2012 instead that the extra pieces were simple leapers: the lion a (3,0)-leaper the bull a (3,2)-leaper, and the revealer a (3,3)-leaper. Both assume that the sea monster is identical to the vizier: a (1,0)-leaper. **

Other moves suggested are the Revealer moves as a modern Queen, and the Lion moves with a combined Knight + Rook, and the Bull moves with a combined Knight + Bishop.

** Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamerlane_chess