Legan chess

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Legan chess.

Legan chess is a chess variant invented by L. Legan in 1913. It differs from standard chess by starting position as well as by pawn movements.

Rules

The initial starting position is shown at the right. The game can be also played with the board rotated by 45° clock-wise to make pawn movements easier to understand. There are no castling and no en passant moves.

Pawn Movement

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	e4 x w								8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Pawn movements in Legan chess.

Pawns moves one space diagonally forward: white from right to left, black left to right. They capture orthogonally in direction of movements. See for example a diagram at right. The white pawn on f3 can move to e4 and capture on e3 and f4. Black pawn on b6 can move to c5 and capture on b5 and c6.

Pawn Promotion

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	a8 x w b8 x w c8 x w d8 x w a7 x w a6 x w a5 x w								8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Pawn promotion in Legan chess.

Pawns promote on squares occupied in initial position by opponent's king, bishops, knights & rooks. For example, white pawns promote on squares a5-a8-d8 (marked with white circles), black on e1-h1-h4 (marked with black circles). Note that the pawns that start on d1, h5, a4 and e8 cannot promote without moving toward the center of the board via capturing.

References

• D.B. Pritchard (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants (p. 172). ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.

External links

• BrainKing.com - internet server to play Legan chess and many other chess variants.