And now for a chess variant that pushes the boundaries by more than most, and is compelling because of it.
Tishai, the name of the game, is short for Tishai-Fläk, Farnian for the ‘Battle of the Sword’; a variant designed by James Ernest of Cheapass Games back in 1997.
The game is played on a 7x7 chessboard with two 7x2 sideboards. The sideboards are used for keeping score and storing unused and captured pieces, which have some added significance in Tishai.
You can use the pieces from a regular chess set to play Tishai, which is a bonus for those wanting to experiment with a new game.
On www.chessvariants.com the background on Tishai, which has a rich fantasy background, is detailed with the permission of designer James Ernest.
“A magical sword called Tishai (“TEA-shy”) was forged to repel a hostile race of demons who invaded the kingdom of Farnac. After the weapon had served its purpose, Tishai became the focus of another war between the king who owned it and the wizard who had created it,” details the site.
“The king was an inventor of games, and during the protracted Demon’s War he spent his waking hours creating a board game based on his obsession with protecting the sword. The sword was hidden in two secret towers, and could be transported between them by winged courier at a moment’s notice. The board game’s objective was to capture both of your opponent’s Towers.
“The king’s fears were realized: soon after the Demon’s War ended, the wizard who created Tishai let the charge to wrest it from the control of the king.
“During the Wizard’s War, the two leaders were also engaged in a prolonged game of Tishai which had begun while the wizard was still in residence at the king’s castle. Events in the real world began to resemble the game, to the extent that the king was consulting his game board for tactics.
“At a crucial point in the war, the game board began to play by itself.”
A lot of fans of abstract strategy games are not enamoured by such pasted on ‘history’ but in this case it is simply too cool not to include. For me it adds to my interest in trying Tishai.
The object of Tishai is to capture both of an opponent’s towers (typically rooks are used on the board).
Towers move orthogonally, exactly as a Rook does in chess, but to a maximum of three spaces, with a special move: when your first Tower makes its first move, it leaves a Pawn behind to guard the other Tower. Place a Pawn of your color in the space vacated by the Tower.
The Pawns are the basic foot-soldiers of Tishai. Five of your Pawns start on the board, but the three others can be brought into play by the actions of Wizards and Towers.
• Pawns can move only one space, and can only move forward, either diagonally or straight ahead, as shown in the figure below. Unlike in chess, pawns can move and capture in all of these directions.
• Knights can move one space in any direction. It can also jump one space in any direction if there is a piece (of either color) for it to jump over. The Knight captures the piece where it stops, not the piece it jumps over. The knight can’t jump over an empty space.
Knight’s Special Moves: On its first move, a Knight can make a double-jump, two jumps in a row, if there are pieces to jump over. This is one extended move, not two moves in a row; in other words, the Knight can’t capture something in the middle of its “double-jump.” However, the jumps do not have to be in the same direction.
• The Wizard moves in an “L”-shaped path, like the Knight in chess, with two differences: the path must be clear, and the Wizard can sometimes move more than one “L” in one turn.
Moving Further: Once you have captured a few opposing Pawns, your Wizards will become more powerful. The inner lane of your sideboard, shown at right is for tracking the Pawns you have captured.
The outside lane of your sideboard is for your own unused Pawns and other captured pieces. For every captured Pawn beyond the first, your Wizards gain an extra segment to their move.
Special Rules: When a Wizard is captured, it defects to the other side, becoming a Pawn. If you capture a Wizard, place a Pawn of your own color in the space that your capturing piece just vacated.
The Wizard is the spice of Tishai. It makes this game interesting. There is power and the fact it flips if captured reminds of Shogi. This is why you want to try Tishai.
Tishai is not going to replace basic western chess, and as a variant it’s not on a level with Omega or Grand Chess, but it is a fun one to explore on a winter evening with a chess bud.
