NOBLE CELTS is often referred to as siege chess where the center of the board is thought of as a castle. Pieces are moved on their turn in their accepted chess manner. When first playing, 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 Gaelic term for each piece is included as a tribute to the Celtic influence on the design.

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. 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 along the ropes connecting circles of the same color, either towards or away from the center, never both directions in a single move. 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 might 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 upon at the start of the game.

CHECKMATE - The word is derived from Persian and Sanskrit and means "King Lost". The game objective is to get the opponants’ king in CHECK and there is no position to which it can move without also being captured.

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.

OPTIONAL RULES: Use to make the game faster.
1/ - INDIAN RULES - The main difference between the original Indian game of chess known as Shatranj and traditional western Chess is that in Shatranj, a win can be achieved by taking all of your adversary’s pieces, except the King - you do not need to force checkmate.

2/ - ABDICATION - This rule 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.

3/ - ASSASSIN'S RULES - A king can be captured without saying check.

4/ - STALEMATE - Play by the rules of modern Chinese chess (XiangQi). Moving the same piece repeatedly between the same 2 spaces is forbidden and if this is your only option, you must forfeit the game.

STALEMATE: Used when not playing by the optional rules
If a player's only move is to place his own king in check, but its current circle is not threatened the game is a stale mate (tie)). A tie also results if the pieces remaining on the board make checkmate impossible.

ILLEGAL MOVES: A piece cannot be moved around the board back to its original position or across the center of the board. A queen or rook cannot be said to be going around the board continuously to force a stalemate. 

Link describing other forms of chess including those from China (Xiang Qi), Japan (Shogi), Burma (Sittuyin), Tailand (Makruk) and the original Indian games of Shaturanga and Shatranj.

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