Check out Symmetric Chess, our featured variant for March, 2024.


DISCLAIMER: The ideas expressed on this page are the creative work of its author, Charles Gilman, and they might not be shared by others responsible for this website. They do not represent any convention, consensus, or standard regarding piece names.

Man and Beast 16: Diverging Further

My earlier articles MAB 02: Shield Bearers and MAB 04: Generalised Generals cover pieces moving as one coprime Straight radial piece when capturing and as another when not. Of two other articles before this one dealing with divergent pieces, ones with different noncapturing and capturing moves, MAB 06: The Heavy Brigade has pieces divergent regarding intervening pieces but not direction. Only MAB 10: The Hybrid Diagonal adds a full range of Pawn analogues using that direction. This article's pieces mix a wider range of noncapturing and capturing moves.

The acknowledgments, overview, and glossary to the series can be found here. Established pieces have a link to their Piececlopedia page. The images used in this series, and indeed in most of my pages, can be found here.

Pieces

The MAB 02 Pawn, Pawnrider, Steward, and Stewardess can be seen as taking a non-divergent piece, turning its capturing move through 45°, and (this giving no same-length move) multiplying the Square Of Leap Length (SOLL) by 2. Such a piece is a PAWNED form of the non-divergent piece, so that a Stewardess is a Pawned Rook. My Nested Chess concept named a few FO pieces and I have since devised symmetric ones, jumping off with the directions of the Pawn's and Steward's capture. Pawning the Ferz (to capture as a Dabbaba), Dabbaba (to capture as an Elephant), and Trebuchet (to capture as a Tripper) gives the STEVEDORE, STEAMER, and TAILOR. The first two share the Leap Chess influence on my Gun-boat/-deck, Catamaran/Cabin, and Caravel/Capstan while preserving the start of Steward. Forward-only (FO) versions are the ESQUIRE after the lowest rank of gentry, VANGUARD as it heads for promotion twice as fast as a Pawn, and TANNER as a menial leather worker. In this page's movement diagrams the number 1 indicates noncapturing moves and the number 2 captures. Here are those for the Esquire, face-to-face and corner, and the Vanguard likewise:

Oblique pieces too can be Pawned. The Pawned Knight (capturing as a Camel) or CHALLENGER generates the likes of ZHELLENGER (Zebra capturing as Zemel), GHILLENGER (Giraffe capturing as Gimel) et cetera. Pentagonal-prism boards can have Challengers, but none of the extrapolations. For FO pieces the 45° turn must be through the straight forward orthogonal (or diagonal in a corner orientation). The Pawned Helm (capturing as a Hump) or CARETAKER generates the likes of ZERETAKER, GIRETAKER, et cetera.

For pieces with an even SOLL an alternative to being Pawned is being YEOMANNED, dividing rather than multiplying by 2 to get the capturing move. This extrapolates from the Yeoman, Yeomarider, Contrasteward, and Contrastewardess. The Contra- prefix is carried through to make a Yeomanned Dabbaba a CONTRASTEVEDORE, a Yeomanned Elephant a CONTRASTEAMER, a Yeomanned Camel a CONTRACHALLENGER, and their FO forms CONTRAESQUIRE/CONTRAVANGUARD/CONTRACARETAKER. Pentagonal-prism boards can have Contrachallengers.

Long-range pieces follow the usual pattern - STEVERIDER, STEAMRIDER, ESQUIRIDER, VANGURIDER, CHALLRIDER, CARETRIDER. Long-range Contra- pieces add the suffix first and prefix that name, thus CONTRASTEVERIDER/CONTRACHALLRIDER/CONTRAESQUIRIDER. More complex Pawned and Yeomanned pieces can be considered in pairs where one piece's capturing move is the other's noncapturing one. The STEWAHOPPER, PAWNHOPPER, STEWASWITCHER, PAWNSWITCHER, and STEWADUELLER are Pawned forms of the Cannon, Cannonball, Panda, Pandacub, and Girlscout and their Contra- pieces Yeomanned forms of the Arrow, Arrowhead, Bear, Bearcub, and Boyscout. Other pairs include the PAWNED ROSE and YEOMANNED MACEL, PAWNED NIGHTFLYER and YEOMANNED CAMELSIDLER, PAWNED NIGHTSIDLER and YEOMANNED CAMELFLYER, PAWNED RATTLESNAKE and YEOMANNED BOA, PAWNED GRYPHON and YEOMANNED LAMA, and PAWNED ANCHORITE and YEOMANNED ANGEL. Pawned Rhino pieces capture not (Double one apart) as the corresponding Alpaca piece, but as the one with the Mirror prefix added or removed. 3d boards extend the definition from duals to semi-duals. Pairs of such pieces capturing as each other include the PAWNED VICEROY and YEOMANNED SEXTON, PAWNED SEXTON and YEOMANNED EUNUCH, and their riders. Note Challenger offshoots based on true duals - giving NHILLENGER/NIRETAKER and HHELLENGER/HERETAKER; semi-duals - giving LHELLENGER/LERETAKER, FHELLENGER/FERETAKER, NHULLENGER/NURETAKER, XHELLENGER/XERETAKER, WHILLENGER/WIRETAKER, and LHOLLENGER/LORETAKER; and arbitrary pairings - giving VHOLLENGER/VORETAKER and DHOLLENGER/DORETAKER.

If the non-divergent piece has Leaping or Stepping forms, or Long-Leap and Short-Leap, so does the Pawned or Yeomanned one. Esquires and Stevedores also have Leaping-capture and Stepping-capture forms, their captures not being coprime even though their basic moves are.

Compounds too can be Pawned or Yeomanned. Thus Steward+Steamer=SATRAP, Steward+Tailor=STITCHER, and Steward+Steamer+Tailor=LACKEY are a Wazbaba/Watcher/Guardian capturing as a Fearful/Fetcher/Wrestler. The names are inspired by their being to the Pasha/Piycher/Liondog what the Steward is to the Prince. FO versions are PAVILION/LIVERY/PAGE. All six have Contra- pieces. The Denethor+Stevedore=ECHIDNA of Timothy Newton's Outback Chess is a Pawned King, capturing as a Fezbaba. Pairs include the PAWNED QUEEN and YEOMANNED FEZBARIDER, PAWNED CHATELAINE and YEOMANNED INQUISITOR, PAWNED PRIMATE and YEOMANNED FEZBABANTE, PAWNED GAZELLE and YEOMANNED COGAZELLE, PAWNED INQUISITOR and YEOMANNED SABOTEUR, PAWNED WAFFLE and YEOMANNED CONFECTION, PAWNED MARSHAL and YEOMANNED CALIPH (likewise their landers, riders, and rovers), and PAWNED CARDINAL and YEOMANNED CARPEBANTE (ditto, Cardilander corresponding to Carpenter). Part-symmetric-based pairs include the PAWNED GOLDGENERAL and YEOMANNED SILVERDABCHICK, PAWNED SILVERGENERAL and YEOMANNED GOLDDABBABA, PAWNED GOLDDABBABA and YEOMANNED SILVERTHIEF, and PAWNED SILVERDABCHICK and YEOMANNED GOLDTHIEF. Pawning the Sow gives Steward+Vanguard=STEWAPIG, the Memsahib Pawn+Steamer=STEAMMASTER, and the Boar and Sahib the same prefixed with Contra-. The GOLDESQUIRE is a Cross capturing as a Dabbaba, the SILVERESQUIRE a Ferz capturing as a Dabchick (FO Dabbaba), the GOLDVANGUARD a Dabbaba capturing as a Tusk (FO Elephant), and the SILVERVANGUARD a Dabchick capturing as an Elephant. Inserting -contra- after the prefix swaps the capturing/noncapturing moves over. Stevedore+Contraesquire=SILVERSTEVEDORE, Contrastevedore+Esquire=GOLDSTEVEDORE, Steamer+Contravanguard=GOLDSTEAMER, and Contrasteamer+Vanguard=SILVERSTEAMER.

.

Hex 2d boards have no SOLL ratios of 2, but plenty of 3 (which square-cell boards lack), so for divergence in that geometry take a non-divergent piece, rotate its captures by just 30°, and multiply or divide the SOLL by 3. These are respectively BROKERED and LOWLAND forms of the original piece. Pieces using the orthogonal/ND pairing can be extended to the cubic board, with 55° replacing 30°. Pairs include the BROKERED PANDA and LOWLAND RACCOON, BROKERED VICEROY and LOWLAND TREBUCHET, BROKERED UNICORN and LOWLAND TREBURIDER, BROKERED DABBABA and LOWLAND EUNUCH, BROKERED TREBUCHET and LOWLAND ZOMBIE, BROKERED EUNUCH and LOWLAND BITREBUCHET, and BROKERED WAZBABA and LOWLAND VINNOCK. They also include FO counterparts and such compounds as BROKERED DUKE and LOWLAND BULLFROG, BROKERED DUCHESS and LOWLAND BULLFRIDER, BROKERED VICEREINE and LOWLAND MINOTAUR, BROKERED BESIEGER and LOWLAND BULLFTRANTE, BROKERED BULLFROG and LOWLAND TREBIZOND, BROKERED BRASSGENERAL and LOWLAND AZURETRECHICK, BROKERED AZUREGENERAL and LOWLAND BRASSTREBUCHET, BROKERED SOW and LOWLAND PIGLET, and BROKERED MEMSAHIB and LOWLAND NABOB. Oblique pairs include the BROKERED SENNIGHT and LOWLAND OVERSCORE, BROKERED AUROCHS and LOWLAND BARNOWL, and FO counterparts.

Likewise m+n:m:n cubic-board pieces include a BROKERED BISHOP and LOWLAND SEXTORIDER, BROKERED SEXTON and LOWLAND TRIPPER, BROKERED ELEPHANT and LOWLAND SRENE, BROKERED FORTNIGHT and LOWLAND VOTARY, and their FO forms. Compounds include the BROKERED FEZBABA and LOWLAND SEXTOPOTENTATE, BROKERED BOAR and LOWLAND SEXTOPIG, and BROKERED SAHIB and LOWLAND SRENEMASTER. On both geometries 60° Crooked and Curved pieces can be Brokered and (if SOLLs are divisble by 3) Lowland. The LONGWAITEHEXER is a Brokered Longgirlhexer and the LONGCONTRAWAITEHEXER a Lowland Longrangehexer. Likewise the SHAMMES of the 4 Linepiece Hex Chess subvariant so named, named after a lay employee in a synagogue, is a Brokered Finch and the CONTRASHAMMES a Lowland Rabbi. Other hex pairs include BROKERED LONGRANGEHEXER and LOWLAND LONGTREBUHEXER, BROKERED RABBI and LOWLAND ERTBUCHET, BROKERED LONGDABBAHEXER and LOWLAND LONGEUNUCHEXER, BROKERED BADBABA and LOWLAND NUEUCH, BROKERED LONGSENNIHEXER and LOWLAND LONGOVERSHEXER, BROKERED NESNIGHT and LOWLAND EVORSCORE, BROKERED LONGAUROCHEXER and LOWLAND LONGBARNOHEXER, and BROKERED RUAOCHS and LOWLAND RABNOWL, while cubic ones include BROKERED LONGBOYHEXER and LOWLAND LONGSEXTOHEXER, BROKERED APOSTLE and LOWLAND XESTON, BROKERED LONGSEXTOHEXER and LOWLAND LONGTRIPPHEXER, BROKERED XESTON and LOWLAND IRTPPER, BROKERED LONGELEPHHEXER and LOWLAND LONGSRENEHEXER, BROKERED FLAIL and LOWLAND SENE, BROKERED LONGFORTNHEXER and LOWLAND LONGVOTARHEXER, and BROKERED ROFTNIGHT and LOWLAND TOVARY. In the case of all the -hexers, Long- for 60° turns can be replaced with Short- for 120° ones, or dropped altogether for the compound of both.

Again pieces inherit any Leaping/Stepping subdivision of the non-divergent piece, while BROKERED SALTIRES/VICEROYS can be Leaping-capture or Stepping-capture.

On 3d boards standard-diagonal (SD) pieces are WARDERED and nonstandard diagonals (ND) HIGHLAND if they capture in each other's directions. On hex-prism boards BREAKERED orthogonal, WIELDERED SD, and OUTLAND ND pieces all capture along the hybrid diagonal. Pieces diverging the other way are respectively FLATCHICKED, HEXCHICKED, and OCTCHICKED. A significant omission from these adjectives, on both cubic and hex boards, is a Saltire capturing as a Dabchick, with its awkard SOLL ratio of 3/4. As this echoes the Outlander I term it an INLANDER, and its rider an INRIDER. For Viceroy capturing as a Dabbaba I reflect the connection to Waiter with WATERER. Conversely a Dabchick capturing as a Saltire is a CONTRAINLANDER, a Dabbaba capturing as a Viceroy a CONTRAWATERER, and their riders a CONTRAINRIDER and CONTRAWATERER. Other ND pieces have INLAND forms and even-only orthogonal pieces CONTRAINLAND forms.

These kinds of divergence can be repeated two or more times. An even number of times means that a piece captures in the same direction as its noncapturing move but a multiple or fraction of the distance - twice for TWICE-PAWNED, three times for TWICE-BROKERED, half for TWICE-YEOMANNED, and a third for TWICE-LOWLAND. Any piece can be Pawned or Brokered any even number of times even on a geometry where it cannot an odd number of times. Pieces with the Dabbaba's binding or a subset can be Twice-Yeomanned, and with the Trebuchet's or a subset Twice-Lowland. The LEOPARD in a subvariant of a Xiang-Qi-based variant, a thrice-Pawned Wazir, can be seen as applying the directional restrictions to the Waffle that the Steward does to the Prince. As this piece's name could be seen as "leaping-capture Steward" its FO form, a thrice-Pawned Point, suit the name LAWN as "leaping-capture Pawn". Conversely the CONTRALEOPARD and CONTRALAWN are thrice-Yeomanned versions of the Elephant and Tusk.

Multiply-divergent long-range pieces can become hard to recognise. If a Rook, Bishop, Queen, Unicorn, Nightrider et cetera is twice-Pawned it is restricted to not making odd-length captures. Conversely if a Dabba-, Eleph-, Aliba-, or Eunuc-rider is twice-Yeomanned it can also make odd-length captures. An obvious extension is a piece restricted in its even-length moves. CUBBED versions of the Rook, Bishop, Queen, Unicorn, Nightrider et cetera capture as a Panda, Bear, Harlequin, Raccoon, Nightswitcher et cetera and UNCUBBED versions of the latter pieces as the former ones. The term alludes to the Pandacub and Bearcub as the other prefixes are based on FO pieces such as the Pawn. The moves of the Twice-Pawned Uncubbed Panda/Bear/Harlequin/Unicorn are noncapturing for odd numbers of steps and capturing for any even number, and those of the Cubbed Twice-Yeomanned Dabba-/Eleph-/Aliba-/Eunuc-rider vice versa.

.

MAB 12: Alternative Fronts defines reservists, and FO pieces can also be divergent by capturing as these and vice versa - and as the two non-divergent pieces have the same minimum move length I treat them with equal dignity rather than use the Contra- prefix. The classic such piece is the Glinski's Chess Pawn analogue, a Point capturing as a Pointreservist, the MIGRANT in honour of Glinski himself. This concept may be extended to other non-symmetric pieces. The Migrant forms of the Wing, Forewazir, and Forerook - the MIGRARIDER, MINION, and MINIONESS - capture as a Wingreservist, Hindwazir, and Hindrook. A MIGRANT DABCHICK captures as a Dabchreservist, a MIGRANT POINTRESERVIST as a Pointrevisionist, and a MIGRANT POINTREVISIONIST as a Pointcoward. Glinski-level 3d boards have Migrant forms of the Cross/Mitre/Princeling/Princess/Caryatid/Abbot and Wellisch boards of the Saltire and Horn, all capturing as their -reservist pieces, and Migrant Fore- pieces capturing as the Hind- pieces. The opposite of Migrant, VAGRANT, defaults to a Pointreservist capturing as a Point. The Vagrant forms of the Wingreservist, Hindwazir, and Hindrook - the VAGRARIDER, VAGABOND, and VAGABONDESS - capture as a Wing, Forewazir, and Forerook. Square boards have Migrant and Vagrant forms of oblique pieces. For example the Knight's directions have the chains Helm-Helmreservist-Helmrevisionist-Helmcoward, Superhelm-Nightfiler-Superhelmrevisionist, and Crab-Barc in which the Migrant form of each piece captures as the next in the chain and the Vagrant form as the previous one. Here is the movement diagram for the Migrant:

This kind of divergence too can be repeated, or mixed with other kinds. The Glinski-board TWICE-MIGRANT POINT and TWICE-MIGRANT POINTERSERVIST and the square-board TWICE-MIGRANT HELM, TWICE-MIGRANT HELMRESERVIST, and THRICE-MIGRANT HELM are respectively a Forewazir, Hindwazir, Crab, Barc, and Nightranker restricted to noncapturing moves in their forward, and capturing in their backward, directions. On Glinski-level 3d boards a MIGRANT PAWN captures as a Crossreservist, a MIGRANT FORESTEWARD as a Hindferz, a VAGRANT HINDSTEWARDESS as a Forebishop, et cetera. Square-boards have such pieces in oblique directions.

MAB 12 pieces themselves have divergent forms. Thus a PAWNSINISTER moves 1 step along the leftward orthogonal unless capturing, which it does 1 step along either (or on a cubic board any) leftward SD, and a WARDEDEXTER 1 step along any rightward SD unless capturing, which it does 1 step along any rightward ND. Hopefully the meanings of ESQUICOWARD, VANGUCHIEF, CARETSINISTER, ESQUIDEXTERIDER, GOLDVANGUDEXTER are obvious. The GOLDPAWNCHIEF is a Steward capturing only upward. Note that while there is no Stewadexter, Stewasinister et cetera there are prefixed ones: thus GOLDSTEWASINISTER is Steward+Yeomasinister. The BWAITER is a Fwazir capturing as a Viceroy, the VWAITRESS a Brook capturing as a Unicorn, and the CONTRABWAITER and CONTRAVWAITRESS vice versa. Superpieces include a SUPERPAWN and SUPERYEOMAN. The BUSHMAN of Timothy Newton's Outback Chess can be considered a Superyeoman. The likes of STEWARANKER, STEWAFILER, WAITERANKER, WAITEFILER and their riders and Contra- pieces are rankers or filers in both noncapturing and capturing moves, but can exist in geometries where it only removes moves of one kind. Thus a 2d CONTRASTEWARANKER captures straight forward and backward but not sideways. On Glinski-ranked 3d boards a FORESTEWARD is a Forewazir capturing as a Foreferz, and a HINDSTEWARD a Hindwazir capturing as a Hindferz.

Bent pieces can be divergent between unprefixed, Contra-, and Double forms, and the simplest way to express this is as numbered type based on thrice the nocapturing type plus the capturing type where the type is 0 for Double, 1 for unprefixed, and 2 for Contra-. Thus the Type 0 is Gryphon is the Double Gryphon, the Type 4 Gryphon the unprefexied Gryphon, the type 8 Gryphon the Contragryphon, and intermediate type the divergent ones. Likewise with Anchorites, Gorgons, Reapers, Ancresses, Simurghs, Harpies, et cetra but not the likes of Gryphanchos. Pieces can however be divergent between Gryphon and Anchorite et cetera and again, as these two share the Knight destination the Simurgh and Farrier the Sexton one, and the Celebrant and Nag the Ninja one I again give the pairs equal dignity. The GROVELLER is a Gryphon capturing as an Anchorite, the ANOINTER vice versa, the SIMPERER a Simurgh capturing as a Farrier, the FARMHAND vice versa, the CENOBITE a Celewbrant capturing as a Nag, and the NAILER vice versa. All six can be of types 0 to 8, divergent even in types divisible by 4.

Pieces from MAB 15: Strengthened Across the Board likewise have divergent forms. In MAB 15 terminology half the Pawns in Byzantine Chess are CLOCKSTEWARDS and half ANTICLOCKSTEWARDS. The RANK-WRAPAROUND PAWN is an alternative to a promotable Pawn: on passing through the cut and thrust of the enemy camp it returns to what could be the relative remission of its own. Likewise for other FO pieces. The REFLECTING STEWARDESS, REFLECTING WAITRESS, REFLECTING CONTRASTEQWARDESS, REFRACTING STEWARDESS, et cetera are reflecting only as regards their non-orthogonal move. Chevron-rank analogues for the Pawn[rider] and Steward[ess] - a Point/Wing/Warrant/Warrarider capturing as an Investogator/Invesrider/Inspector/Insperider - are the CORPORAL, CORPORIDER, BATMAN (a soldier acting as servant in camp to an officer, plural Batmen), and BATWOMAN (plural Batwomen). As the plain Broker (cubic or hex) moves as a Point when not capturing and a Saltire when capturing, so the STOCKBROKER, the Stock analogue to the 2d Pawn and the piece inspiring the Stock- prefix, moves as a Stockpoint when not capturing and captures as a Stocksaltire. This gives equal numbers of capturing and noncapturing directions on an edge file (unless a corner one) and twice as many capturing as noncapturing directions on an interior cell, like a Pawn on a square-cell 2d board. Like the 2d Yeoman the STOCKLOW, a Lowlander with extra directions, reverses the relationship. The compound of Stockbroker and Stocklow is again the familiar Conqueror (Point+Cross+Saltire). Likewise the STOCKBROKERIDER is a Stockwingcapturing as a Stockhorn, the STOCKBWAITER a Stockfwazir capturing as a Stockviceroy, and the STOCKVWAITRESS a Stockbrook capturing as a Stockunicorn.

.

All the short-range pieces listed have pacifiers and snatchers. For example the ESQUIPACIFIER/VANGUSNATCHER/STEVESNATCHER/STEAMPACIFIER/CHALLPACIFER are a Mitre/Dabchich/Ferz/Dabbarider/Nightrider capturing as a Dabchick/Tuskrider/Dabbaridfer/Elephant/Camel. So do non-divergent short-range pieces. For example a NIGHTSNATCHER/GOLDPACIFIER/ELEPHPACIFIER are a Knight/Goldrider/Elephrider capturing as a Nightrider/Goldgeneral/Elephant.

The Ajax family of enhancements can be added to non-coprime pieces, and Ajaxriders and the like to one-step pieces. Whether the AJAX ELEPHANT and XAJA ELEPHANT can or cannot cross Xiang Qi Rivers by a one-step move depends on the variant. On the square board the Xaja enhancement adds capturing one-step moves to the Chinese-style Cannon/Arrow/Tank. It also adds them, and the Ajax enhancement noncapturing ones, to outright Hoppers such as the Grasshopper and the Korean-style Cannon/Arrow/Tank of Grand Jang Gi. Ajax and Xaja forms of the Panda and Bear relieve them of their Switching character by enabling triangulation. The AJAX ALIBABA is a Pasha capturing only as an Alibaba. Teucer enhancements parallel this on the hex board, except that on that board Pandas and Raccoons can triangulate anyway. Thus a REUCET CANNON gains one-step captures, a TEUCER/RECUET POCKET/PACKET/SCROOGE one-step moves at all, and the TEUCERIDER/RECUERIDER DUKE/VICEREINE/BESIEGER Scrooge moves. 3d geometries also adds pieces such as the TRAMBELUS ARROW/BEAR, TRAMBRIDER BARON/MODERATOR, TELAMON FAGIN, TELAMRIDER ARCHDUKE, and many others.

Shammes 4 Linepiece Hex Chess introduces Curved pieces with additional Curved capturing or Noncapturing moves. The UETCER FINCH and UETCER RABBI add the noncapturing move of the other piece and the CERUET FINCH and CERUET RABBI its capturing move.

The idea of Steward as Prince restricted to noncapturing moves in some directions and capturing in others can be generalised on boards such as the Take the Brain and Storm the Ivory Tower ones to noncapturing moves in marked directions and capturing in unmarked ones. Such pieces I term NERVOUS followed by the name of the usual Take the Brain - or indeed Storm the Ivory Tower - piece, from the idea of the nervous system "serving" the brain as a Steward serves a King.

Simple pieces too can be restricted to half the directions strictly noncapturing and the rest strictly capturing. Thus a Rookranker capturing as a Rookfiler is a ROOKBLINKER, the other way round a ROOKCONTRABLINKER. For diagonals a Bishop restricted to noncapturing moves on the back-left to front-right axis and capturing on the back-right to front-left one is a BISHORIGHTBLINKER and the other way round a BISHOLEFTBLINKER. In a corner orientation it is orthogonal pieces that have rightblinkers and leftblinkers and diagonal ones blinkers and contrablinkers. Oblique pieces can have all four in both orientations, with the directions flanking the radial piece's directions being restricted the same way. Thus a NIGHTBLINKER is a Nightranker capturing as a Nightfiler. The Pawn analogue in Mark Thompson's Tetrahedral Chess is a Point with half its moves capturing and half noncapturing.

A similar extrapolation to Ajax and Ajaxrider pieces is a non-symmetric piece to whose ordinary move is added a noncapturing move in the opposite direction(s). These I term SPEARSMAN pieces after the first piece of this type, from Centennial Chess. This piece is a Spearsman Pivoted Wing. A Spearsman version of a piece that is already divergent adds only the directions opposite to those with an existing noncaptuing move.

.

As the Cannon family are divergent in a sense unrelated to direction, so pieces capturing other than by simple displacement at the destination can be considered divergent. OVERTAKING pieces capture enemies that usually have to be the only intervening piece, en route to a necessarily empty destination cell. The kind of OVERTAKING DABBARIDER restricted to capturing on even cells can leap any number of, but capture no, intervening pieces of any army on odd cells. Even single-step pieces can be overtaking if Pawned or Brokered enough times to make the capture multiple-step. The array piece and promotee in Draughts are an OVERTAKING TWICE-PAWNED CROSS and OVERTAKING TWICE-PAWNED FERZ, and those in my variant Hafts an OVERTAKING ESQUIRE and OVERTAKING STEVEDORE. A piece able to move three or more steps is EARLY-OVERTAKING if the piece captured must be on the first intermediate cell, or LATE-OVERTAKING if it must be on the last. Ultima's LONGLEAPER is a Late-Overtaking Queen. EQUIOVERTAKING pieces can capture only pieces halfway to their destination, but are not necessarily bound as Equihoppers are since they can also make odd-length noncapturing moves if the unprefixed piece can. MULTIPLE-OVERTAKING pieces pass through any number of enemies, capturing them all. MULTIPLE-DISPLACERS (MD) capture both destination and intervening enemies, and I have often said that making an Elephant MD most closely reflects the eponymous animal. Again one-step pieces Pawned enough times can be MD. MD linepieces are powerful and should be used very sparingly. Pieces of their own army block both Overtaking and MD pieces. MD Hopping pieces capture only every second intervening piece. The eponymous piece of Wayne Schmittberger's Airplane Chess is an Overtaking long-leap Queen.

An overtaking piece that is also Curved or Wraparound or Reflecting might be allowed to capture within what would otherwise be a null move. RIFLE pieces always capture by a null move - staying where they are but removing an enemy piece as if they had moved to it. In a modest variant with RIFLE BISHOPS the best response to the opening e4e5 is c7c6, otherwise f1b5 will be able to rifle-capture any attempt to block Check. Rifle followed by the name of a displacing piece that is itself divergent captures the enemy as if the captor had made the capturing move. Thus RIFLE PAWNS capture pieces on adjacent files without actually leaving their current file (or indeed rank), and RIFLE CANNONS capture beyond an intervening piece without actually Hopping (or capturing) that piece. Intervening pieces block RIFLE XIANGS but not RIFLE ALFILS. MULTIPLE-RIFLE linepieces are too strong, but Multiple-Rifle short-range pieces may be of some use.

The LION of Chu Shogi is Squirrel+Multiple-Displacer Grand-Lemurian Prince - the Squirrel element allowing the piece to leap over pieces without capturing them. Cubic boards add (non-Lemurian) Viceroy and Sexton and hex-prism ones Bellman and Foal, but note that a Lion move cannot comprise a Viceroy or Rumbaba step followed - or preceded - by another step. This can be extrapolated to a LIONCUB adding Helm and Thief to the MDGL Princeling, a SUPERLIONCUB adding Superhelm and Superthief to the MDGL Superprinceling, a GOLDLIONCUB adding Superhelm and Goldthief to the MDGL Goldgeneral, a SILVERLIONCUB adding Helm and Alibaba to the MDGL Silvergeneral, and COPPERLIONCUB adding Helm and Thief to the MDGL Coppergeneral. A Lion restricted to directions marked on the squares in the style of Take the Brain I term a LOON.

COORDINATORS capture in conjunction with their King or other royally-restricted piece. At the end of the Coordinator's move any enemy sharing different orthogonals with both pieces is captured. IMMOBILISERS do not themselves capture but expose adjacent enemies to capture by preventing them from moving. The names can qualify any piece but default to Queens on square boards, Rooks on hex ones. PINCERS capture by moving next to an enemy but require an ally immediately the other side. Even on square boards these default to the PINCER ROOK, often confusingly called a "Pincer Pawn".

Notes

Pieces divergent across the radial-oblique divide are covered at the end of my later article MAB 19: The Vice Squad. Pieces requiring or capturing a piece outside the path of their move are covered in MAB 21: Lords High Everything-Else.

The Foresteward has no connecton with forests, let alone with MAB 10's Forest pieces! Likewise Spearsman ones have nothing to do with the Spear, Spearhead, and Spearthrower, although you can have a Spearsman Spearhead. The Steverider rings a faint bell, but I cannot recall who Steve Rider or Ryder is or was. On the other hand I know a Steve Dawe whose involvement in Green Party transport policy ties in well with the Stevedore!

Although the plural of Batman as a military servant, and therefore as a piece, is Batmen I can see a circumstance where Batmans might be used. One might ask, of the town in Turkey, "Are there any other Batmans in the world?" If anyone knows which is in general use as shorthand for, e.g., Batman films I will add it to this note.


This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By Charles Gilman.
Web page created: 2008-06-14. Web page last updated: 2016-05-24