Piececlopedia: Kangaroo

Historical notes

The Kangaroo was invented in 1937 by J. de A. Almay of Budapest, and is described in Anthony Dickins's A Guide to Fairy Chess. It is a rare piece, and the author has not seen it outside of problem compositions.

The Kangaroo is a variant of the common fairy piece the Grasshopper.

Movement

The Kangaroo moves on the Queen lines, but must jump over two pieces and lands on the first square after the second piece it jumps. To be precise: the Kangaroo moves in horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction until it encounters a piece (either friendly or unfriendly), it jumps over that piece and then continues on the same line until it encounters a second piece (also either friendly or unfriendly). It jumps over that piece and goes to the first square on the line after the piece that it jumped over. If that square is occupied by a piece from the opponent, that piece is taken, i.e., the Kangaroo takes in the same way as it moves without taking.