Leon Carey wrote on Wed, Dec 23, 2020 11:40 AM UTC:
I actually disagree with my previous idea that on the ability for forcing checkmates. Whilst it is useful for looking at pieces that are the compounds of regular chess pieces, such as the princess, empress, amazon and queen as well as basic (1,1) or (1,0) riders, other, more 'exotic' pieces need a different classification system. The mann and the gold general are pieces I would call minor, despite their ability to force checkmate in a piece + k v. k (simplified endings), as they can only move to squares that are orthogonally or diagonally adjacent. The cannon (or pao) is a major piece though, despite its inability to force mate in an simplified ending, due to its mobility and ability to attack far away squares from behind a wall of pawns, which is also why the nightrider is major.
I actually disagree with my previous idea that on the ability for forcing checkmates. Whilst it is useful for looking at pieces that are the compounds of regular chess pieces, such as the princess, empress, amazon and queen as well as basic (1,1) or (1,0) riders, other, more 'exotic' pieces need a different classification system. The mann and the gold general are pieces I would call minor, despite their ability to force checkmate in a piece + k v. k (simplified endings), as they can only move to squares that are orthogonally or diagonally adjacent. The cannon (or pao) is a major piece though, despite its inability to force mate in an simplified ending, due to its mobility and ability to attack far away squares from behind a wall of pawns, which is also why the nightrider is major.