Show HN: Timur's Chess – A 14th century chess variant with giraffes

timurschess.com

23 points·LarsDu88··7 comments

My weekend vibecoding project was to attempt to resurrect a 14th century chess variant favored by the Central Asian warlord Timur (Tamerlane). There are giraffes, elephants, citadels, and you can promote up to 2 additional kings! theres a working AI chess engine and relatively untested multiplayer

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Great job! I would also add the option to choose great rulers and military commanders, and ensure that each of them has unique traits.

Cool! Never heard of this before. Would be fun to get a physical board and try with my kids.

I can feel like a sultan for the first time. Unfortunately, it's Bayezid.

Bayezid may have gotten his ass kicked, but the Ottoman Empire lasted longer than Mughals

So the giraffe kinda moves like a knight that can't jump. It takes a mandatory diagonal, then must move at least three more squares. But then it can move any number of squares in that direction after those three.

Okay, so not really like a knight at all.

Wait until you find out about the cannon in Chinese chess. It's like a rook that not only can jump one piece, but must.

The Tamerlane picket works like the chinese cannon piece and so does the war engine. They both have to jump over the piece in the direction of their movement before being able to deal damage. I think the Chinese canon might be based on the picket + war engine. Timur did have aspirations to invade the Ming Dynasty after all

That’s cool, I love the vibe. Totally my style.

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