Check out Grant Acedrex, our featured variant for April, 2024.

The Piececlopedia is intended as a scholarly reference concerning the history and naming conventions of pieces used in Chess variants. But it is not a set of standards concerning what you must call pieces in newly invented games.

Piececlopedia: Champion

Historical notes

The champion was invented by Dan MacDonald in 1998 for his game Omega Chess.

Movement

The champion has the combined movements of the wazir, the alfil, and the dabbabah.
More specifically, the champion has one of the two following options:
- it can move a single square in any orthogonal direction.
- it can move exactly two squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction, regardless of intervening pieces.
The champion captures as it moves.

Movement diagram

In the diagram below, the Champion, which is normally symbolized by a warrior's helmet, is here represented by a heraldic image showing a cross surrounded by four dots. This image, which is used to represent it in the Abstract set, also serves as a kind of movement diagram. In the actual diagram, light dots represent the Champion's four one-step orthogonal moves, and dark dots represent its two-step leaps.

Remarks

Even a piece with the combined powers of alfil and dabbabah can only reach a fourth of the squares on the board; this problem is solved by adding in the single orthogonal step to the champion's movement.
You can see problems and sample games using the champion on the Omega Chess home page.

The Champion can generally force checkmate against a bare king, with the help of its friendly king, on boards up to 10x10. Try it!
This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.
Written by Ben Good and Fergus Duniho
WWW page created: February 15, 1999.