Sagittar Chess
introducing the
Sagittar
The Sagittar is
a bifurcation piece. It always moves in two
legs. It slides diagonally and jumps any piece to the next square, from where it
slides on any of the two orthogonals in the prolonged movement direction. The
square behind the jumped piece must be empty and the Sagittar cannot stop on
this square. If the Sagittar lacks screens for jumping, then it cannot move. The
Sagittar is worth the same as a knight or bishop (preliminary estimate). Other
rules are the same as in standard chess, except for the possible promotion to
Sagittar. Despite the fact that the Sagittar is dependent on screens for moving
it is a dynamic piece that puts great demands on the chessplayer. While it
cannot move about freely its movement demands planning. One must try to make use
of its powers already in the opening. The Sagittar is a relative of the Korean
cannon (in
Korean Chess), which can only
move if there exist pieces to jump over.
The
Sagittar (lat. Sagittarius) means bowman. In ancient Rome this was a
gladiator type who fought wild animals armed with bow and arrow. The H-board
makes it possible to introduce this piece while maintaining a maximum of
strategical possibilities in a standard Western chess context. Sagittar chess,
and the new Sagittar piece, were invented by undersigned, September 2006.
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 You can download my free
Sagittar Chess program
here (updated
2007-10-03), 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
(September 2006).
The Sagittar always moves in two
legs, the first is a diagonal slide and the second is an orthogonal slide that
follows after a jump (red = capture).
The Sagittar's movement principle.
The screens, that are used for jumping, occur anywhere on the first leg. Compare
with the Korean cannon principle below.
The Korean cannon movement
principle. In any of the four directions it can jump over a piece. It cannot
stop before the screen.