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Gothic Chess is a commercial Chess Variant , invented by Ed Trice and patented in 2002. It is played on a 10x8 board with a chancellor (knight + rook) and archbishop (bishop + knight). The chancellor is placed between queen and king, archbishop between king and king's side bishop. All other rules, like ''en passant'' capture or Castling are the same or similar to Chess . This variant is considered an improvement over Capablanca Chess by its inventor, partly due to all of the pawns being defended in the opening array. The Gothic Chess Federation reports the game to be currently played in 47 countries with over 50,000 gothic chess sets sold by the end of 2005. VALUE OF THE PIECES Pieces have, in estimated average, the following values in Gothic Chess (see ''"What Are The Pieces Worth?"'' ):
OPENINGS In regular chess, the way in which games start out is loosely referred to as "Opening Theory." Chess openings are typically named after the founder of the most recent innovative play (such as the Benko Gambit, the Reti Opening, the Petroff, and Alekhine's Defence), the country of the early patrons of issuance (the English Opening, the Sicilian Defence, The French Defence, and The Dutch Defence), or by the features of the position (such as the King's Indian Defence, the Stonewall, and the Queen's Gambit). In Gothic Chess, the scope of play in the opening is much more expansive than in regular chess. For example, the total number of Gothic Chess positions after four moves for white, and four replies for black, is 1,509,030,960,338. In chess, this total is only 84,998,978,956. The Gothic Chess total is about 17.75 times as large as the chess counterpart. This has functionally thwarted a rapid development of Opening Theory, but many common tabias do occur in play. Curently, the most tactically ornate opening is known as Trice's Gambit (1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Axc4) where the white c-pawn is offered up in exchange for getting counterplay by attacking the black Archbishop. To better appreciate all of the tactical implications of one such game featuring this opening, you can replay it here one move at a time. There are some other openings in Gothic Chess that have been named so far. These are, the Colanzi Opening, the Quagga, the Philadelphia Opening, and a strange offshoot known as the Bavarian Attack. ENDGAMES The principles of chess Endgame apply in Gothic Chess. With the two new pieces, interesting positions arise in the practice, such as Chancellor vs. Chancellor with several pawns each or Archbishop and pawns vs. Queen and pawns. These endgames are somewhat similar to Queen and pawn endgames, where the dominant theme is for the strong side to avoid perpetual check and achieve a pawn promotion. Endgames with 5 or fewer pieces were completely analyzed by a computer. Here are some of the more interesting positions (see more details here ):
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