Centari Chess Main Description

Table of Contents

Summary

This post is the main description for Centari Chess. It is the main webpage for learning what Centari Chess is, its rules, and its benefits over chess and other chess variants. This post fully describes what Centari Chess is and exactly what all of its rules are.

Centari Chess is the same as Chess960 with the following differences. Checkmate doesn’t require check. The side in checkmate needs to be able to move after that checkmate as if one could legally check themself. Stalemate occurs when a side can’t move even if that side could check themself. A zugzwang form of checkmate probably shouldn’t result in a stalemate draw. This also results in many more winning endgames. The kings always move two squares when castling. The white king must start on the E file. White rooks can’t start on the D or F file. This improves castling. Castling is basically the same as in standard chess. The eighth rank might be mirrored across the files at the start. This means the pieces on A8 and H8 swap places, the pieces on B8 and G8 swap, and etc. These mirrored positions result in the same position for both sides, so they should probably be included. Queens might instead be marshals or chancellors in a starting position. Both sides have the same pieces. Marshals have knight and rook moves. Chancellors have bishop and knight moves. If queens, bishop and rook pieces, are in the game, marshals and chancellors probably should be too. Pawns can promote to a marshal or chancellor. There are 576 starting positions. Each starting position must practically have an equal chance of being selected. A game must begin almost when the starting position is being determined. Haste is required to prevent memorized moves. A game can not start until the board is setup. The word “Centari” is a play on of the Alpha Centauri.

Kraton Chess Guidelines

Kraton Chess is the same as chess (also called standard chess) with only exceptions discussed in this Kraton Chess Guidelines section. Eight white pawns, eight black pawns, a white king, a black king, a white queen, a black queen, two white bishops, two black bishops, two white knights, two black knights, two white rooks, and two black rooks are on the board at the start of every game. Only 32 chess pieces are on the board at the start of every game. Any queen might not be on the D file in a starting position. Any bishop might not be on the C or F file in a starting position. Any knight might not be on the B or G file in a starting position. Any rook might not be on the A or H file in a starting position. The white king must be on E1 in every starting position. The black king must be on E8 in every starting position. A white rook must be on A1, B1, or C1 in every starting position. A white rook must be on G1 or H1 in every starting position. A white bishop must be on A1, C1, or G1 in every starting position. A white bishop must be on B1, D1, F1, or H1 in every starting position. Two white knights must be on the first rank in every starting position. The white queen must be on the first rank in every starting position. The same chess piece on A1 is on A8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on A8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on B1 is on B8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on B8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on C1 is on C8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on C8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on D1 is on D8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on D8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on F1 is on F8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on F8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on G1 is on G8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on G8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. The same chess piece on H1 is on H8 in every starting position, however the chess piece on H8 is a black chess piece in every starting position. White and Black could potentially short castle in any game with any starting position. White and Black could potentially long castle in any game with any starting position. Only a king and a rook move during castling. A king and a rook must move during castling. When White castles, the white king moves during this castling. When Black castles, the black king moves during this castling. The rook that is on a square directly before castling that is two squares, one square, or zero squares distant from the square the king that moved during this castling is on directly after this castling will move during this castling. The white king that moves during castling and the rook that moves during that castling will be on the first rank directly after that castling. The black king that moves during castling and the rook that moves during that castling will be on the eighth rank directly after that castling. The king that moves during castling is on a square that is two squares distant to the square that king was on directly before that castling directly after that castling. A corner square is always A1, H1, A8, or H8. The king that moves during short castling is on a square that is one square distant to a corner square directly after that castling. The king that moves during long castling is on a square that is two squares distant to a corner square directly after that castling. The rook that moved during castling is on a square directly after that castling between the square that the king that moved during that castling is on directly after that castling and the square that king was on directly before that castling. Castling can not happen if a king is in check. Castling can not happen if the king that would move during this castling or the rook that would move during this castling moved during a turn before this castling. White can not castle if any chess piece is on a square directly before this castling on the first rank between the king that would move during this castling and the rook that would move during this castling. Black can not castle if any chess piece is on a square directly before this castling on the eighth rank between the king that would move during this castling and the rook that would move during this castling. Castling can not happen if any chess piece could capture the rook that would move during that castling on the turn directly after that castling. Every game must begin almost when the starting position of that game is being determined. Every game can not begin before the starting position of that game is determined. Every game can not begin before the starting position of that game is on the board where that game will be played. Each possible starting position should practically have an equal chance of being selected as any other possible starting position every time a selection of a starting position of a game occurs. Each game must have a selection of a starting position of that game.

Centari Chess Guidelines

Centari Chess is the same as Kraton Chess with only exceptions discussed in this Centari Chess Guidelines section. Every possible Kraton Chess starting position is a possible Centari Chess starting position. Every marshal is a chess piece. Every chancellor is a chess piece. If every queen in a possible Kraton Chess starting position is changed to a marshal, that starting position with marshals on the board would be a possible Centari Chess starting position. If every queen in a possible Kraton Chess starting position is changed to a chancellor, that starting position with chancellors on the board would be a possible Centari Chess starting position. Every chess piece on the first rank in every Centari Chess starting position must be a white chess piece. Every chess piece on the eighth rank in every Centari Chess starting position must be a black chess piece. Every square on the first rank and the eighth rank must have a chess piece on that square in every Centari Chess starting position. Every marshal can only make the moves and captures that a rook and a knight could make on that marshal’s square. Every chancellor can only make the moves and captures that a bishop and a knight could make on that chancellor’s square. A marshal can be captured in every way a knight can be captured. A chancellor can be captured in every way a knight can be captured. When a white pawn is promoting to a chess piece, that pawn could promote to a white marshal or a white chancellor. When a black pawn is promoting to a chess piece, that pawn could promote to a black marshal or a black chancellor. I will use the term “the entire eighth rank is mirrored across the files” to only refer to directly after the chess piece on A8 moves to H8 while the chess piece on H8 moves to A8, the chess piece on B8 moves to G8 while the chess piece on G8 moves to B8, the chess piece on C8 moves to F8 while the chess piece on F8 moves to C8, and the chess piece on D8 moves to E8 while the chess piece on E8 moves to D8. If the entire eighth rank is mirrored across the files in a possible Centari Chess starting position, that starting position with the entire eighth rank being mirrored across the files would be a possible Centari Chess starting position. A king does not need to be in check when a checkmate occurs. If White is in checkmate, White must always be able to complete a turn on the turn directly after that checkmate as if this game didn’t end after this checkmate and the white king could be on a square that a black chess piece could capture on directly after the turn directly after that checkmate as if that king was a white knight and this game didn’t end after this checkmate. If Black is in checkmate, Black must always be able to complete a turn on the turn directly after that checkmate as if this game didn’t end after this checkmate and the black king could be on a square that a white chess piece could capture on directly after the turn directly after that checkmate as if that king was a black knight and this game didn’t end after this checkmate. Stalemate can not occur in a game with checkmate. Stalemate occurs when White or Black is not able to complete a turn.

Centari Chess Starting Positions

There are 576 possible starting positions in Centari Chess. Please refer to this post at SS5.org/Centari-Chess-Starting-Positions. That post lists out each possible starting position with a numeric ID.

Benefits of Centari Chess

I think Centari Chess has advantages over standard chess and Capablanca chess. Centari Chess seems to have a better ratio of pieces than Capablanca chess. Capablanca chess has a one to two ratio between combined and uncombined pieces. By “combined pieces,” I am referring to queens, marshals, and chancellors. By “uncombined pieces,” I am referring to knights, bishops, and rooks. Centari Chess has a one to six ratio between combined and uncombined pieces. I think a one to six ratio is more than large enough. Centari Chess uses the standard square eight by eight board. I think it is essential for the chess board to have no more than eight files. If it did, play would probably be less dynamic among other things. An eight by eight board seems to be the only configuration where the board can comfortably be a square. I think a square board has various advantages. For example, bishop moving pieces have the potential to move from one corner to the opposite corner in one turn. I think Capablanca chess has overly complex gameplay given the extra squares and pieces. Discounting the lower potential for memorization, Centari Chess seems to have about as complex gameplay as standard chess. There is more variation and uniqueness of play given the two new pieces in Centari Chess. Marshals and chancellors might be able to deliver more intense versions of a normal knight fork. There are many more possible endgames in Centari Chess than in standard chess because of the marshal and chancellor being added. Choosing to promote a pawn to a queen, marshal, or chancellor could be a difficult decision. A queen is a piece with powers of a rook and bishop. I think chess should incorporate the two other possible combined pieces if one combined piece is incorporated. I don’t think there is a sufficient reason a marshal and chancellor shouldn’t be incorporated. I don’t think a zugzwang checkmate should result in a stalemate draw. If zugzwang can create a forced checkmate sequence from an otherwise drawn position, I think zugzawang should be allow to create checkmate. Many more endgames have a forced checkmate sequence which would otherwise have a forced drawing sequence if a zugzwang checkmate always resulted in a draw. More winning endgames should give the stronger player a significantly higher chance of winning instead of drawing since more endgames have a forced checkmate sequence. In Centari Chess, a king plus anything vs a lone king will never immediately result in a draw due to insufficient material. In Centari Chess, a king plus pawn vs a lone king is always winnable unless the pawn is unable to be protected. I think it should be illegal for the king to move into check only because such a move would presumably immediately cause the game to end in checkmate. I don’t think strategy should change because a king isn’t able to move into check. I think the eighth rank should potentially be mirrored across the files because it results in both sides having the same position. (There isn’t much of a reason behind allowing for the eighth rank to be mirrored instead of the first rank. I think White is generally considered to be the more familiar side, and I’d prefer not to invert castling movements on the more familiar side. I do think only one side should potentially be mirrored, otherwise choosing a starting position might be slightly more complicated than it needs to be.) These positions wouldn’t be different if Black were to move before White. I don’t think there is a sufficient reason to not use these starting positions. Centari Chess has six times more starting positions than Kraton Chess. Therefore, the benefits of having more starting positions are more emphasized in Centari Chess than in Kraton Chess. These benefits are discussed in the Benefits of Kraton Chess section. Everything discussed in the Benefits of Kraton Chess section should apply to Centari Chess. Centari Chess seems to have all the benefits of Kraton Chess with more benefits due to the incorporation of the two other combined pieces, the additional valid starting positions, and zugzwang checkmates. This is why I like it more than Kraton Chess.

Benefits of Kraton Chess

I think Kraton Chess has advantages over standard chess and Chess960. Castling is much more like standard chess than it is in Chess960. The king will always move two squares in the direction of a rook, and the rook’s position will always move to a square closer to the middle files. After castling, the king’s new position will prevent the rook involved in castling from going to its previous square. I think these are important aspects of castling. In the Chess960 starting positions, castling can involve significantly different piece movements. In standard chess, there are two different ways castling can happen. In Kraton Chess, there are five different ways castling can happen. In Chess960, there are 42 different ways castling can happen. I think the different ways castling can happen in Chess960 add too much complexity, and that the five ways of castling in Kraton Chess are the only ways of castling that are very similar to the two ways in standard chess. When there are rooks on a D or F file, those rooks and the kings would probably be often limited in their movement. This is largely because the king and rook must not have moved before castling, and because the D, E, and F files are next to each other. In my opinion, there are other various detriments to the play of Chess960 when the Kings aren’t on the E file and a rook is on a D or F file. Compared to standard chess, there being 96 different possible starting positions instead of one decreases the ability to memorize opening lines. This will cause less of the game to be played from memorized moves. This should make Kraton Chess more enjoyable, and the higher skilled player will probably have a higher chance of winning. There being 96 starting positions will mean time spent memorizing opening moves will be less useful. This means improving one’s skill in Kraton Chess will probably be more enjoyable as it will probably involve less move memorization. There being a rule of forcing the game to begin right after the starting position is determined prevents memorization that might occur between the time when the starting position was determined to when the game starts. There being a rule that each game must have a randomized starting position prevents extra memorization that might occur due to some of the starting position(s) having a lower chance of being selected. If White and Black switch at the end of a game to start a new game, the new game would very likely not start with the same position. This prevents memorization that might occur between when the first game ends and the second game begins if the second game was going to have the same starting position. Each game having a randomized starting position allows the game to usually feel more unique as there should be about equal usage between the 96 different possible starting positions. Kraton Chess seems to retain all the core elements of standard chess that make it a great game while still preventing the game from being too familiar. That’s why I like it more than standard chess or Chess960.

Additional

I created Kraton Chess using inspirations from Chess960. I created Centari Chess using inspirations from Kraton Chess and Capablanca chess. There are other variants very similar to Capablanca chess, but I think Capablanca’s version is the most well known. I originally posted about Kraton Chess on Reddit from my BronzePencil account on February 10, 2020. I originally posted about Centari Chess on Reddit from that account on April 22, 2020. I changed those Reddit posts describing Centari Chess to include the eighth rank potentially being mirrored across the files on July 2, 2020. The second half of starting positions in Centari Chess were not valid before this change. I changed those Reddit posts describing Centari Chess to redefine checkmate and stalemate on September 10, 2020. Checkmate and stalemate in Centari Chess were previously the same as in standard chess before this change. I didn’t have the chancellor piece named as an archbishop because I think the word “archbishop” is too similar to the word “bishop”. The word “Centari” is a play on of the Alpha Centauri. The Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the Centaurus constellation. The Centaurus constellation represents a centaur, and a centaur is a combination of human and horse. This is similar to how the queen, marshal, and chancellor are a combination of pieces. The Guidelines sections are purposefully written to read overly unambiguous.

This post on SamSauer.org was made from my Reddit post at “www.reddit.com/r/CentariChess/comments/g7j02k/centari_chess”.

SS5.org/2020/04/24/Centari-Chess-Description