Shako

Invented by Jean-Louis Cazaux in 1990, Shako adds two unique pieces to the standard chess army: the Cannon and the Elephant. The Cannon moves like a Rook but captures by jumping over an intervening piece, inspired by Xiangqi. The Elephant moves two squares diagonally and can jump over pieces, inspired by Shatranj.

Shako is played on a larger 10x10 board to accommodate the extra pieces without crowding the back ranks. The Elephants are placed next to the King and Queen, while the Cannons are positioned on the outer edges. Pawns are arranged on the third rank instead of the second rank, leaving two empty rows behind them at the start of the game.

The Cannon in Shako captures exactly like the Cannon in Chinese Chess. It moves orthogonally like a Rook when not capturing, but to take an enemy piece, it must have exactly one piece (friend or foe) between itself and the target. This intervening piece acts as a screen for the Cannon to jump over.

In Shako, pawns follow similar rules to standard chess, but due to the 10x10 board size, they must advance further to promote. A pawn promotes when it reaches the opponent's back rank (the 10th rank for White, the 1st rank for Black). It can promote to a Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Elephant, or Cannon.