The Legan Chess, also known as Legan’s game, was created by L. Legan in 1913 and features several differences from standard chess, including variations in both the initial position of pieces and pawn movements. The following diagram displays the initial position:
How can you play such a game? It is still chess, no doubt about that. Besides the standard chess rules, there are several important exceptions:
- Pawns move one space diagonally forward and capture pieces one space horizontally or vertically in the “move direction”. It means (from white’s perspective, as in the above picture) that a white pawn can move only one space up-left and capture enemy pieces on adjacent squares up and left, a black pawn moves one space down-right and can capture on adjacent squares down and right.
- There are no castling and no en passant moves.
- Pawns can promote in the promotion zones which are set by initial positions of opponent’s king, knights, bishops and rooks. In other words:
- A white pawn would promote on A5, A6, A7, A8, B8, C8 and D8 squares.
- A black pawn can do the same on E1, F1, G1, H1, H2, H3 and H4 squares.
One picture, or a video, is worth a thousand words. Watch the sample Legan Chess game:
Overall, the Legan Chess is an interesting variant that can lead to unique and unpredictable games. However, it is not as popular as traditional chess and is mainly played by enthusiasts and aficionados of chess variants.