It is played on a 10×8 board and features a fairy chess piece, the janus, with the combined moves of a bishop and a knight.
The usual set of chess pieces is extended with two pawns and two januses per player.
Due to the extra pieces, each player starts the game with considerably more "material power" compared to standard chess; however, the game has only a slightly higher material "power density",[2] since there is more room for players to maneuver pieces because of the larger board (10×8 = 80 squares).
Janus Chess has been popular in Europe[3] with regular tournaments drawing strong players.
[1] Several chess grandmasters have played this game including Viktor Korchnoi, Péter Lékó and Artur Yusupov.