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Noble Celts is often referred to as siege chess where the center of the
board is thought of as a castle or encampment.
The object of the game, as in traditional chess, is to capture your
opponent's king. Each player must move a piece to a new location
on their turn in the regular manner. An easy approach to orienting
yourself when first playing is to set up a standard chess board next to
Noble Celts and on each turn, duplicate the moves on both boards. On the
Noble Celts board, as in European chess, the white queen is placed on a
white circle (square) and the black queen on a black circle opposite it
and the rest of the pieces are placed on either side of them.
There is no advantage to playing from the inside or outside. The player
with the white pieces begins the game. A piece cannot be moved across
the center of the board. The Gaelic term for each piece is included as a
tribute to the Celtic influence on the design of Noble Celts.
KING (righ) - Moves one circle in any direction, unless castling.
QUEEN (banrighinn) - Can move the same as the rook (castle) or
bishop.
ROOK (caisteal) - Derived from the word Ruhk (Indian & Persian)
meaning chariot, a piece still used on many non European forms of chess.
It is moved horizontally around the board within the same row
alternating between light and dark circles (think between the ropes).
For example if your piece starts 3 circles in from the edge, its final
position must also be 3 circles in from the edge. It can also move
vertically, that is towards the center or away from the center of the
board.
BISHOP (easbuig) - Moves diagonally, spiraling along the
connecting lines (ropes) either towards or away from the center, never
both directions in a single move, and always moving to circles of the
same color. These ropes trace the Fibonacci Spiral, first explained
mathematically in 1202 by Italian Leonardo Fibonacci and common in
nature such as in spiral seashells.
KNIGHT (ridir) - Uses a horizontal and vertical combination
moving either two circles horizontally and one vertically or one circle
horizontally and two vertically. PAWN (ceatharnach) - Possibly
derived from the word Piyada (Indian & Persian) or Peon in Spanish, both
meaning foot soldier. The first move for the piece can be one or two
circles vertically. Subsequent movement is restricted to one
circle vertically forward, unless the pawn is capturing an opponent's
piece which is accomplished by moving one circle diagonally. Pawns are
promoted to any other piece besides a king upon reaching the opposite
side of the board. A queen is normally selected.
CHECK - In European Chess when it becomes possible to capture the
opponent's king one says check, unless you are playing a master player
who could take it as an insult, since it would be obvious. A player
cannot normally move into check, however, for a quick game don't call
check. This Assassin's Rule rule must be agreed apon at the start of the
game.
CHECKMATE - The word is derived from Persian and Sanskrit and
means "King Lost". It is when a player's king is in CHECK and there is
no position to which it can move without also being captured.
This is the final objective of the game.
CASTLING - The king is always moved 2 places towards a selected
rook and the rook is moved over the king and placed along side it so
long as there are no pieces between them, neither piece has been moved
and there is no opponent's piece that could capture the king in its
original circle, the circle he moves through or the circle that he ends
the turn on. In Noble Celts it is possible to "Castle" in 4 different
ways where each castle can be exchanged with the king in both
directions.
STALEMATE - We play by the rules of modern Chinese chess (XiangQi)
which is the most popular chess game in the world. Moving the same piece
repeatedly between the same 2 spaces is forbidden and if this is your
only option, you must forfeit the game. Also an infinite move where a
queen or rook is said to be going around the board continuously is
illegal. Stalemate or a tie occurs when a player's only move is to place
his own king in check, but its current circle is not threatened. A tie
also results if the pieces remaining on the board make checkmate
impossible, for example the only two pieces on the board are kings or
one player also has a bishop.
ABDICATION - This rule is suggested if you would like to play a
quick game and is derived from the Chinese Chess rule of "Nine Palaces".
If your king is moved out of the royal court, the 8 inner or outer
circles where the royal pieces are first placed, you forfeit the game by
Abdication.
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