"The short assize" (French ''court assize'' = "short sitting") is H. J. R. Murray's name for a chess variant that was played in medieval Europe. It was somewhat like

sittuyin Sittuyin ( my, စစ်တုရင်), also known as Burmese chess, is a strategy board game created in Myanmar. It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga, which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the sa ...

but developed independently, probably to get the armies into contact sooner. It was current in England and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in the second half of the 12th century, and perhaps at other times and/or places. The pieces started with the pawns on the third ranks, and the queen on the same square as the e-file pawn. These two pieces could not be moved together, and after that no two pieces of the same color could be on the same square together. But, before either moved, both could be captured together. After that, the usual rules of medieval chess (i.e.

shatranj Shatranj ( ar, شطرنج; fa, شترنج; from Middle Persian ''chatrang'' ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins are in the Indian game of chaturaṅga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as i ...

or similar) applied. Murray records these two starting positions, and writes as if the players could choose the starting positions of their kings and bishops and knights and rooks. It is not known if the game had an initial setting-up stage like in

. The ordinary European chess of the time was sometimes called the long assize to distinguish.

Compare

Sittuyin Sittuyin ( my, စစ်တုရင်), also known as Burmese chess, is a strategy board game created in Myanmar. It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga, which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the sa ...

( Burmese traditional chess) *

Chess960 Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960 (often read in this context as 'chess nine-sixty' instead of 'chess nine hundred sixty'), is a variation of the game of chess invented by the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer annou ...

References

* H. J. R. Murray (1913). ''A History of Chess''. . {{Chess variants Games related to chaturanga