Like the national chess games of Thailand, China, Japan, and India, as well as International chess, Nowan chess is descended from the ancient Persian game. As such it shows a number of similarities and influences. The Chinese form of the game is probably the original and most direct ancester of the Nowan game but Japanese and European forms of the game influenced it as well. It has been essentially unchanged since about 1580. At that time, the noted Mré-an chess enthusiast, Hurlít, published a small book on strategy and rules
The Board
The board is usually white, with thin black lines delineating
a pattern of 9x9 squares. The board is further divided into 3
equal size areas. From each players point of view, these are
the Home Zone (nearest), the Battle Zone (middle),
and the Enemy Zone (your opponent's Home zone.) Zones are
seperated by heavier, horizontal black lines.
The Pieces
Pieces are usually of 2 colors, red and black. (These colors
reflect an ancient and Pan-wide color association. In Pan, the
flag of truce or of peace is red, the black flag is raised by
forces going to war.) Traditionally, black moves first. There
are 7 different kinds of pieces, each with differing moves. The
Nowan terminology for many of the pieces varies across the
island. For example, the piece the west refers to as an archer,
is indeed referred to as an archer in Nowaka, but in Mré
it
is
called a 'priest', in Luizamen it is called a 'amharilitz', a
term difficult to translate but referring to what might be called
a mounted Berserker. For this reason, western terminology will
be used in this paper. In western terminology, the pieces are
usually known as the King, General, Archer,
Horse, Elephant, Warrior, and Scout.
They are arranged against the nearest edge
of the home zone in this order:
S S
W W W W W W W W W
E H A G K G A H E
The King moves like the western piece of the same name, one space in any direction. While there is no Nowan direct equivalent to castling, there is a move called the sacrifice. Once in each game, a player may remove one of his own pieces and move the king directly to that square. The king may not be in check at the time and both pieces most be in the Home Zone.
The General moves two spaces, either diagonally or orthagonally in any direction.
The Archer moves much like a western bishop, diagonally across any open squares. The archer may 'jump' over pieces interposed between between the starting square and the destination square.
The Horse moves like a western knight, over one square and up two squares.
The Elephant moves like a western rook, orthagonally over open squares.
The Warrior moves one square directly forward.
The Scout moves one square at a time. From any given
space, the scout may move directly backwards or forwards.
Additionally it may move to either of the squares diaganolly
ahead of (but not behind) it.
Zone Promotion
Several pieces are subject to zone promotion. While
in the enemy zone, the following changes occur.
The Strategy, The Win, The Stalemate, The Draw
The goal of the game is first and foremost to capture the
enemy king. Although originally the king was always actually
taken as the final move of the game, it has become customary to
resign when checkmate is achieved.
Capture (tertt'ép'ú or 'sudden death') occurs when a player's piece occupies a square already occupied by an opponent's piece. The opponent's piece is removed from the board.
Check occurs much as in western chess, i.e., the king is threatened with capture on the next move. A player placing an opponent's king in 'check' must so indicate to his opponent. This is the equivalent to calling 'check' in the western game. There are some differences. A player is not required to move a king out of check nor to block the check. He may make any other move he desires. There is inherent risk here because with his next move the opponent may simply capture the king and win the game. Furthermore, if a player unwittingly exposes his king to check, no warning is required from his opponent who may capture the king and win the game.
The win is achieved by capturing an opponent's king as indicated above. It is considered bad form to do so early in the game but there are no formal rules dealing with the timing of the victory. A win counts for two points in tournament play.
The stalemate is achieved when a player is not in check, but is unable to move without moving into check. In tournament play, a stalemate counts as one point for the player who is able to move.
The draw occurs when neither player is able to achieve
an advantage. Two players may agree to a draw at any point in a
game. A forced draw occurs when only kings are left on the
board. This is an automatic outcome regardless of the
theoretical potential for either a stalemate or victory. No
points are awarded in tournament play.