Hiashatar is a medieval
chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways.
"International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...
played in Mongolia. The game is played on a 10×10 board. The pieces are the same as in
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
with the exception that there is an additional piece which is called the "bodyguard".
[http://www.chessvariants.org/index/msdisplay.php?itemid=MLhiashatar] The starting position is similar to chess, except that a bodyguard each is placed between king and bishop and between queen and bishop with a pawn in front and there are two more rows in the middle. The game is not as popular as western chess or
Shatar
Shatar ( Mongolian: ''Monggol sitar-a'', "Mongolian shatranj"; a.k.a. shatar) and hiashatar are two chess variants played in Mongolia.
Game rules
The rules are similar to standard chess; the differences being that:
* The ''noyan'' (, ''lord'') ...
.
Pieces
* ''King (noyon)'' - moves like the King in chess
* ''Queen (bers)'' - moves like the Queen in chess
* ''Bodyguard (hia)'' - moves like a Queen, but can only move one or two squares. The Bodyguard has a special power; any piece sliding must stop its move if it moves through any square a king's move away from the bodyguard. Any piece a king's move away from the bodyguard can only move one square. The only piece immune to this power of the Bodyguard is the Knight.
* ''Rook (tereg)'' - moves like the rook in chess
* ''Knight (mori)'' - moves like the Knight in chess
* ''Bishop (temē)'' - moves like the Bishop in chess
* ''Pawn (hū)'' - moves like the pawn in chess except that it can make an initial triple step.
Other Rules
* There is no castling
* Pawns promote only to queen
References
* N. Okano, Sekai-no meina shogi (World's chess games), p. 40-46, chapter V. 1999.
{{Chess variants
Games related to chaturanga
Mongolian games
Chess variants
Chess in Mongolia