Chesquerque is a chess variant invented by George R. Dekle, Sr. in 1986. The game is played on a board equaling four Alquerque boards combined, and like Alquerque, pieces move along marked lines (9×9) to the points of intersection (81 points). All the standard chess pieces are present, plus one additional pawn and one archbishop fairy piece per side. The pieces move in ways specially adapted to the Alquerque-gridded board.
Chesquerque was included in World Game Review No. 10 edited by Michael Keller.
The illustration shows the starting setup. White moves first and the object is checkmate. Other standard chess conventions apply as well, but piece moves are specially adapted to the Alquerque-gridded board. Pieces move only along marked lines, and rest on the points of intersection.
A rook moves orthogonally any number of points in a straight line. A rook on a point having one or more diagonal connections can also move one step diagonally.
A bishop on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves diagonally any number of points in a straight line. A bishop can also move one step orthogonally.
The queen moves as a Chesquerque rook and a Chesquerque bishop.
The king moves one step as a Chesquerque queen. When castling, the king slides three points' distance whether castling kingside (0-0) or queenside (0-0-0).
A knight on a point having no diagonal connections moves in the pattern: one step orthogonally, followed by one step diagonally outward. A knight on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves in the pattern: one step diagonally, followed by one step orthogonally outward. Unlike a chess knight, the Chesquerque knight may not jump an intervening man.
The archbishop moves as a Chesquerque bishop and a Chesquerque knight. On a single turn it may move as only one of those pieces—not both.
A pawn on a point having no diagonal connections moves and captures one step forward. A pawn on a point having one or more diagonal connections moves one step straight forward, and captures one step diagonally forward. As in chess, pawns may optionally advance two steps straight forward on their first move, en passant captures are possible, and promotion occurs at the last rank.
