Gaul Chess
introducing the Gaul
The Gaul is a
bifurcation piece. It captures like a bishop,
but makes non-capturing moves in two legs, by leaping diagonally over an
intervening piece and temporarily land on the empty square immediately behind
the piece. From there it slides like a rook on any of the two orthogonals in the
prolonged movement direction. The Gaul's value is 3, that is, the same as a
bishop or knight (preliminary estimate). The Gaul is dependent on 'screens' for
moving, but as it can capture directly on the diagonals it can have a positional
influence also when it's unable to make non-capturing moves. Other rules are the
same as in standard chess, except for the possible promotion to Gaul. Gaul Chess
can also be played with Kwaggas instead of knights. Gaul Chess, and the
new Gaul piece, were invented by undersigned, October 2006.
The
Gaul was an early gladiator type in ancient Rome that used the weapons
and equipment characteristic of the Gaul people.
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 You can download my free Gaul
Chess program
here (updated 2007-02-23),
but you must own the software
Zillions of Games to be able to
run it. Don't
miss my other
chess variants. |
© M. Winther
(October 2006).
The Gaul can move in two legs, the
first is a diagonal slide followed by a jump, and the second is an orthogonal
slide. Capturing occurs diagonally on the first leg (red = capture).
The Gaul's movement principle. The
screens, that are used for leaping, occur anywhere on the first leg. Should the
screen be an enemy piece it can be captured.