abcdefghijkl
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black upside-down bishop
d8 black bishop
e8 black upside-down king
f8 black king
g8
h8 black fool
i8 black bishop
j8 black upside-down bishop
k8 black knight
l8 black rook
8
7
a7
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7
h7 black pawn
i7 black pawn
j7 black pawn
k7 black pawn
l7
7
6
a6
b6
c6
d6
e6
f6
g6 black queen
h6
i6
j6
k6
l6
6
5
a5 black pawn
b5
c5
d5
e5
f5
g5 black pawn
h5
i5
j5
k5
l5 black pawn
5
4
a4 white pawn
b4
c4
d4
e4
f4
g4 white pawn
h4
i4
j4
k4
l4 white pawn
4
3
a3
b3
c3
d3
e3
f3
g3 white queen
h3
i3
j3
k3
l3
3
2
a2
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2
h2 white pawn
i2 white pawn
j2 white pawn
k2 white pawn
l2
2
1
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white upside-down bishop
d1 white bishop
e1 white upside-down king
f1 white king
g1
h1 white fool
i1 white bishop
j1 white upside-down bishop
k1 white knight
l1 white rook
1
abcdefghijkl
Courier chess position after traditional starting moves (medieval rules).

Courier chess is a chess variant that dates from the 12th century and was popular for at least 600 years. It was a part of the slow evolution towards modern chess from Medieval Chess.

Medieval rules

Courier chess is played on an 8x12 board (i.e., 8 ranks by 12 files). Literary and artistic evidence indicate that the board was always checkered but that there was no consistency as to which squares were light and which squares were dark. The more frequent pattern is that the square at the bottom right corner was light, just as in modern chess.[a]

The winning objective is the same as western chess: to checkmate the opponent's king. The stalemate rule is unknown; the subject was unsettled in Germany late into the nineteenth century.

abcdefghijkl
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black upside-down bishop
d8 black bishop
e8 black upside-down king
f8 black king
g8 black queen
h8 black fool
i8 black bishop
j8 black upside-down bishop
k8 black knight
l8 black rook
8
7
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
i7 black pawn
j7 black pawn
k7 black pawn
l7 black pawn
7
6
a6
b6
c6
d6
e6
f6
g6
h6
i6
j6
k6
l6
6
5
a5
b5
c5
d5
e5
f5
g5
h5
i5
j5
k5
l5
5
4
a4
b4
c4
d4
e4
f4
g4
h4
i4
j4
k4
l4
4
3
a3
b3
c3
d3
e3
f3
g3
h3
i3
j3
k3
l3
3
2
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
i2 white pawn
j2 white pawn
k2 white pawn
l2 white pawn
2
1
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white upside-down bishop
d1 white bishop
e1 white upside-down king
f1 white king
g1 white queen
h1 white fool
i1 white bishop
j1 white upside-down bishop
k1 white knight
l1 white rook
1
abcdefghijkl
The back rank pieces from left to right are rook (a), knight (b), bishop (c), courier (d), sage (e), king (f), queen (g), schleich (h), courier (i), bishop (j), knight (k), rook (l). The forward rank pieces in columns (a)–(l) are all pawns.

The old rule for first moves is that at the start of the game each player must move their rook pawns, their queen pawn, and their queen two squares forward (see top diagram). Such a two-square leap along a file was called a joyleap, and was not available after the starting moves.[4]

Modern rules

Albers attempted to popularize the game in Germany in 1821 with updated rules. The starting setup is the same as for medieval courier chess. The king, queen, courier (bishop), knight, and rook have their modern powers. The bishop (or archer) can move one square diagonally, or leap diagonally to the second square. The fool, standing beside the queen, moves one square in any direction. The sage, standing beside the king, combines the powers of the fool and the knight. The pawn moves like the modern pawn, except that after reaching the farthest rank it must remain there for two moves before taking up its new career as a piece. Castling is permitted, if all squares between the king and the rook are vacant, the king has not been checked, the rook is not en prise, neither has moved, and no square between them is under attack. The king moves to the bishop's square, and the rook leaps over him to the courier's square, in either wing.[5] The rule on stalemate has not been preserved; the subject was unsettled in Germany well into the nineteenth century.[6]

Subsequent attempts to modernize courier chess include Modern Courier Chess (Paul Byway, starting 1971). An attempt has recently been made to make this game fully compatible with FIDE modern conventions: Reformed Courier-Spiel (Clément Begnis, 2011).

History

Wirnt von Gravenberg, writing early in the thirteenth century, mentioned the Courier Game in his poem Wigalois, and expected his readers to know what he was talking about. Heinrich von Beringen, about a hundred years later, mentioned the introduction of the couriers as an improvement in chess. Kunrat von Ammenhausen, still in the first half of the fourteenth century, told how he had once in Constance seen a game with sixteen more men than in the "right chess": each side having a trull, two couriers, a counsellor, and four extra pawns. He added that he had never seen the game anywhere else, in Provence, France, or Kurwalhen.[7][b]

Sometime shortly after 1475, someone put the courier on the standard chessboard in place of the old alfil and gave the queen the combined powers of the courier and the rook.[8] This game was so much more exciting than medieval chess that it soon drove the older game off the market.[9] Other improvements were tried out. One was an optional double first step for the pawns. This was at first restricted to the king's, queen's, and rooks' pawns, and then gradually extended to the others.[10]

In the early sixteenth century Lucas van Leyden, in the Netherlands, painted a picture called The Chess Players in which a woman appears to be beating a man at courier chess.[11] Gustavus Selenus (Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg) in his 1616 book Das Schach- oder Königs-Spiel, mentioned the Courier Game as one of three forms of chess played in the village of Ströbeck near Halberstadt in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. He described it in detail, and gave drawings of the pieces. The names he gave the pieces do not always match the figures in the drawings: the piece called the Schleich is depicted as a court jester. In 1651 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, gave to Ströbeck a playing board with chess on one side and the Courier Game on the other, and a set of silver pieces. These pieces were lent in the eighteenth century and never returned, but there is a set of wooden pieces. In 1821 H. G. Albers reported that courier chess was still played in Ströbeck, and that some pieces had gained more powerful moves, but a few years later other visitors found that it had been abandoned.[c] In 1883, the local chess club revived it. Playing sets based on Lucas van Leyden's painting are commercially available.[1]

Illustration of Courier chess pieces by Gustavus Selenus from the book Das Schach-oder Königs-Spiel (1616). Depicted are the king, queen, rook, archer (or bishop), knight, pawn (or soldier), courier, man (or sage), and jester.
Illustration of Courier chess pieces by Gustavus Selenus from the book Das Schach-oder Königs-Spiel (1616). Depicted are the king, queen, rook, archer (or bishop), knight, pawn (or soldier), courier, man (or sage), and jester.
The Chess Players by Lucas van Leyden (c. 1520)
The Chess Players by Lucas van Leyden (c. 1520)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See The Chess Variant Pages website http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/courier.html. Murray 1913, p. 392 (citing Selenus, Gustavus, Schach- oder Königs-Spiel, Leipzig, 1616) gives the contrary rule.
  2. ^ Kurwal(c)hen / Churwalchen = historic German name for the Romansh-speaking region around Chur (see also de:Churrätien)
  3. ^ The Chess Variant Pages website at http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/courierspiel.html mentions H. G. Albers, 1821, and George Hope Verney, Chess Eccentricities, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1885.

References

  1. ^ a b The website http://courierchess.com has information about the history of Courier chess, including a large image of Lucas van Leyden's painting.
  2. ^ Bell 1960, 1979, p. 62.
  3. ^ Bell 1960, 1979, p. 63.
  4. ^ Murray 1913, p. 438.
  5. ^ Verney, p. 154.
  6. ^ Murray 1913, p. 853.
  7. ^ Murray 1913, pp. 483–84.
  8. ^ Murray 1913, pp. 776–77; Eales 1985, p. 72.
  9. ^ Murray 1913, Chapter XI.
  10. ^ Murray 1913, p. 852.
  11. ^ Murray 1913, p. 484. "A painting in the Königliches Museum, Berlin, said to have been painted in 1520 by Lucus von Leyden, shows a game of Courier in progress."

Bibliography