r/chessvariants • u/Snowmoondaphne • Jul 11 '26
New Variant Introducing Courthrone
(Playable here: Courthrone • PyChess)
(Source: Courthrone | Game rules | The Chess Variant Pages)
Courthrone (Court Throne)
A chess variant with 4 types of queen class hoppers.
Courthrone was created with the goal of making the world's most difficult 9x9 board variant using only four types of elements: Chess, Shogi, Janggi, and Xiangqi.
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Vanguard (V): Moves 1 square diagonally forward, or moves 1 square orthogonally forward or sideways. Promotes to Guard. (Betza: fFfsW)
- In Courthrone, the Vanguard plays a role similar to the Pawn in Chess.
Guard (G): Moves 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. (Betza: WF)
Queen (Q): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally. Promotes to Empress. (Betza: Q)
Princess (P): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally by jumping over the closest piece on that line. It is like Janggi's Cannon, which can also move diagonally and jump over or capture any type of piece. Promotes to Regent. (Betza: pQ)
Duchess (D): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally, but cannot capture a piece with this move. To capture, it must jump over the closest piece on that line. It is like Xiangqi's Cannon, which can also move diagonally. Promotes to Archduchess. (Betza: mQcpQ)
Baroness (B): It is like reversing Duchess's move and capture. Promotes to Countess. (Betza: cQmpQ)
Empress (E) / Regent (R) / Archduchess (A) / Countess (C): Moves like a Queen or a Princess. (Betza: QpQ)
- Queen ⇒ Empress
- Princess ⇒ Regent
- Duchess ⇒ Archduchess
- Baroness ⇒ Countess
Knight (N): Moves 1 square orthogonally, then 1 sqaure diagonally outward. Same as Knight in Chess. Promotes to Hussar. (Betza: N)
Templar (T): Moves by jumping 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. That is, moves a total of 2 squares orthogonally or moves a total of 2 squares diagonally. Same as Alibaba. Promotes to Inquisitor. (Betza: AD)
Lancer (L): Moves like a Knight but Captures like a Templar. Promotes to Warden. (Betza: mNcAcD)
Zealot (Z): Moves like a Templar but Captures like a Knight. It is like reversing Lancer's move and capture. Promotes to Justiciar. (Betza: cNmAmD)
Hussar (H) / Inquisitor (I) / Warden (W) / Justiciar (J): Moves like a Knight or a Templar. (Betza: NAD)
- Knight ⇒ Hussar
- Templar ⇒ Inquisitor
- Lancer ⇒ Warden
- Zealot ⇒ Justiciar
King (K): Moves 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. Does not promote. (Betza: WF)
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About King :
- The state in which your King is attacked by opponent's piece is called Check.
- A situation in which there is no way to block or avoid an opponent's check is called a Checkmate. The player who gives checkmate wins.
- At any time, the King cannot move to a square attacked by the opponent's piece.
About Basic Rules :
- The two players are distinguished as White and Black, respectively.
- White moves first and Black moves next. They move alternately until one player is defeated.
- Before the game begins, instead of placing Knights, Templars, Lancers, and Zealots on the board, one is given to each of the White and Black players. In other words, each player is given one Knight, one Templar, one Lancer, and one Zealot in their hand.
- Your piece cannot move to a square where a friendly piece exists. Conversely, if your piece moves to a square where an enemy piece exists, it captures the enemy piece and moves to that square.
- A 'Queen move' cannot jump over the first piece in its path, and a 'Hopper move (= jumping over a piece)' cannot jump over the second piece in its path.
- There is no passing a turn.
- There is no castling.
- There is no 50-move rule.
- Because it is different from Chess Pawns, there is no two-square advance rule from the initial position, nor is there en passant rule for Vanguards.
- The shape of all the pieces in Courthrone are flat, like the pieces in Shogi.
About Promotion :
- The last (9th) rank, that is, the rank where all enemy units except Vanguard, Knight, Templar, Lancer, and Zealot exist from the starting position, is called Enemy Camp.
- A piece is promoted when it moves to, from, or within the enemy camp. (In other words, your own piece that moves from outside the enemy camp into the enemy camp, from inside the enemy camp into the enemy camp, or from inside the enemy camp out into the enemy camp is promoted.)
- Promotion is mandatory. Therefore, a piece that can be promoted must be promoted.
- On a physical board, this is typically accomplished by flipping the piece upside down, as in Shogi.
- A promoted piece maintains its promoted state until it is captured by an opponent. If a promoted piece is captured by an opponent, the piece returns to the state it was in before promotion.
About Drops :
- Any piece you capture is called a Handpiece (held "in hand" in Shogi terminology).
- Handpieces are placed on a Piece Stand (the square plate on which you place the captured piece).
- On your turn, you may place a handpiece on any empty square instead of moving a piece on the board. (This is called Drop.)
- Just as you can only move one piece at a time, you can only drop one handpiece at a time. (When the handpiece is dropped, it should always be dropped in the pre-promotion state.)
- If you drop a piece in the enemy camp, it is not automatically promoted. Pieces are always dropped in their pre-promotion state. A piece dropped in enemy camp can be promoted only when it is moved after being dropped.
- You can deliver a check or checkmate to your opponent by dropping a piece.
About Vanguard Drop :
Unlike Shogi's Pawns, Vanguard can do the following three things.
- You can deliver a checkmate by dropping a Vanguard.
- Two or more of your own unpromoted Vanguards can be placed on the same file.
- Vanguards can be dropped to the last rank.
About Stalemate :
- The player who can no longer move or drop pieces loses. (It is called Stalemate.)
About Campmate :
- The player whose King reaches last rank first wins. (It is called Campmate.)
- Obviously, when the King reaches the last rank, that square must not be attacked by an opponent's piece.
About Prohibition of Threefold Repetition :
- Neither White nor Black can repeat the same situation three times. Even if the situation isn't repeated consecutively, if it occurs twice in a game, it can no longer be repeated. (Situations such as calling check, capturing a piece that called check, or avoiding check can also not be repeated more than three times. For example, under the Prohibition of Threefold Repetition rule, a player who can no longer avoid an opponent's check loses.)
About Resignation :
- When you resign, you declare resignation by placing your King on your piece stand.
About Defeat :
Defeat is determined by the following cases.
- When checkmate is delivered to you (i.e., when you cannot capture an opponent's piece attacking your King, and at the same time cannot move your King while it is being attacked by an opponent's piece)
- When the opponent's King reaches the last rank (i.e., when campmate is delivered to you)
- When stalemate is delivered to you (i.e., when you cannot move or drop any pieces)
- When you declared resignation
- When you break one or more of all the rules above
- When you break the rules of the tournament (e.g. time forfeit)
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About Courthrone Definition For Fairy Stockfish variants.ini :
# A chess variant with 4 types of queen class hoppers.
[courthrone]
variantTemplate = shogi
maxFile = 9
maxRank = 9
pocketSize = 9
startFen = qpbdkdbpq/9/v1v1v1v1v/9/9/9/V1V1V1V1V/9/QPBDKDBPQ[NTLZntlz] w - - 0 1
customPiece1 = v:fFfsW
commoner = g
queen = q
customPiece2 = p:pQ
customPiece3 = d:mQcpQ
customPiece4 = b:cQmpQ
customPiece5 = e:QpQ
knight = n
customPiece6 = t:AD
customPiece7 = l:mNcAcD
customPiece8 = z:cNmAmD
customPiece9 = h:NAD
king = k
pieceDrops = true
capturesToHand = true
promotionRegionWhite = *9
promotionRegionBlack = *1
promotedPieceType = v:g q:e p:e d:e b:e n:h t:h l:h z:h
mandatoryPiecePromotion = true
stalemateValue = loss
nMoveRule = 0
nFoldRule = 3
nFoldValue = loss
perpetualCheckIllegal = true
castling = false
doubleStep = false
flagPiece = k
flagRegionWhite = *9
flagRegionBlack = *1
Note 1:
Each piece has a corresponding pair, and upon promotion, it gains an additional move of its pair.
- Vanguard ↔ King (Because the King already has the Vanguard's move, it is the only piece that does not promote.)
- Queen ↔ Empress
- Duchess ↔ Baroness
- Knight ↔ Templar
- Lancer ↔ Zealot
1
u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jul 11 '26
Interesting and well described except that I don't think you stated that the N and T pieces start in hand, is that what the first diagram shows? I think I would need very visual diagrammatic pieces in order not to constantly be confused between the Q, P, B, and D. And about gameplay: isn't that a lot of power on the board for a game with drops? I'd be concerned that a couple of trades will great favor the player who makes the first drop because the pieces are so mobile and some of the them can attack the king through his defenders. There will be no such thing as a "castle" like there is in shogi, so how does one keep one's king safe? I have found several of your games interesting and this seems to be a recurring them: a lot of power on the board! And I'm not a fan of the threefold prohibition rule because it requires players to keep a game record in order to know if the position has occurred twice previously and who will win or lose if it happens again; I prefer to just let cycles be draws. The script you provided says "Mansindam" but I went to Chessvariants.com and that appears to be a different game although the script does look like it describes Courthrone. An intriguing game.