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George Duke wrote on Wed, Dec 1, 2010 01:24 PM EST:

Jaguaribe concludes, ''Who wants to try this Gargantuan variant?'' Author of the Gargantua series, Francois Rabelais(1494-1553) had the new regina rabiosa Chess much in mind throughout his works, and Book V has couple of chapters the most relevant of all: foremost chapter 25 here ''How the Thirty-Two Persons at the Ball Fought,'' 
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/r/rabelais/francois/r11g/book5.25.html,
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Book?Chapter_XXV. It is a living Chess game. [The better Wikisource translation by Urquhart & Motteux] Opening d2-d4, ''the Nymph who stood before the Queen moved two squares forwards.'' It is modern chess because before then there was not allowed opening-double.  ''They only strike sideways'' means of course that Pawn capture mode had already stayed the same for a thousand years. Old-style Castling is described, called free castling, 
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz31.txt,
which has additional definition right now. King to Rook's spot like that described by Rabelais 'Book V Chapter XXV' is not permitted within Shatranj, so again Modern Chess.   And so on thirty-fold more clauses the same Gargantuan chapter, the likes of ''a mighty loss to that party'' indeed having one's Rook/Tower captured.
http://www.ebookmall.com/3492013349569634540/Ga-Pl.-AE55.pdf