Gladiatrix Chess
introducing the agile
Gladiatrix
The Gladiatrix is a
bifurcation piece. It moves by colliding,
diagonally or orthogonally, against any piece, and then deviating to any of the
two adjacent orthogonals or diagonals (in the prolonged movement direction). It
captures on the second leg only. The Gladiatrix can also move by colliding
against the margin, whereby only one movement direction is available after
collision. Without screens to collide against the Gladiatrix cannot move. The
Gladiatrix's value is 6, which corresponds to rook + pawn (preliminary
estimate). Other rules are the same as in standard chess, except for the
possible promotion to Gladiatrix.
The Gladiatrix is the most powerful
of the bifurcation pieces. It is, arguably, the most agile among all known
pieces. It has the capacity of zigzaging between the pieces and find its way in
quite congested situations. As it moves by coordinating with other pieces, the
Gladiatrix is a highly cooperative piece. The structure on the board decides its
possibilities. Although screens for colliding become fewer, the Gladiatrix does
not loose power in the endgame. But, unlike the rook, the Gladiatrix cannot,
together with the king, give mate to the enemy king.
Gladiatrix Chess
can also be played with Kwaggas instead of knights. Gladiatrix Chess,
and the new Gladiatrix piece, were invented by undersigned, February 2007. The
Kwagga was originally invented for my Bodyguard
Chess. As proved by Troitsky, two knights can give mate on this type of
board that has a two-square "dungeon". One must first force the king
into the dungeon. As the knights cannot gain tempo, it might be necessary to
triangulate with the king. See Troitsky's analysis
here.
Gladiatrix
(pl. Gladiatrices) : female gladiator in ancient Rome. Female gladiators were
often from upper-class families, seeking thrill and attention. Gladiatrices were
banned around
|
|
|
|
See also
Female gladiator
(Wikipedia article)
 You
can download my free Gladiatrix Chess program
here (updated
2007-03-25), but you must own the software
Zillions of Games to be able to
run it (I recommend the download version). Don't miss my other
chess variants. |
© M. Winther (March 2007).
The Gladiatrix moves in two legs, the first is a
queen slide and the second is a collision-move. Both movement and capture occur
on the second leg (red = capture).
The Gladiatrix's movement principle. The screens,
that are used for colliding, occur anywhere on the first leg.