Janus Chess is a popular German chess variation. It is played on 10 x 8 chess board and introduces a new piece - janus - which combines the abilities of a knight and a bishop. It means that a janus can make both bishop-like diagonal moves and knight-like L-shaped jumps. Each player starts a game with two januses and each janus occupy the corresponding square between a rook and a knight. The following picture shows the starting position of Janus Chess:
The rules are the same as for standard Chess with the following differences:
When a pawn reaches the last row (from the player's point of view), it can be promoted to a queen, a rook, a bishop, a knight or a janus.
The castling is made, like in standard Chess, with a king and a rook. However, the final position of these pieces after the castling is different. These pictures display how the castling is made to both sides (before and after the move):
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