Venator Chess
introducing the
Venator
The Venator is a
bifurcation piece. It always moves in two legs.
It slides orthogonally and jumps any piece to the next square, from where it
slides on any of the two diagonals in the prolonged movement direction. The
square behind the jumped piece must be empty and the Venator cannot stop on this
square. If the Venator lacks screens for jumping, then it cannot move. The
Venator 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
Venator. Despite the fact that the Venator is dependent on screens for moving it
is a dynamic piece that puts great demands on the chessplayer. It is not hard to
activate it from its initial position in the corner, although this demands
planning. The Venator is a relative of the Korean cannon (in
Korean Chess), which can only
move if there exist pieces to jump over.
The Venator ("Hunter")
was a gladiator type in ancient Rome that was foremostly pitted against wild
animals. The board type was conceived by
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 You can download my free
Venator Chess program
here, 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 Venator always moves in two legs, the first is
an orthogonal slide and the second is a diagonal slide that follows after a jump
(red = capture).
The Venator's movement principle. The screens,
that are used for jumping, occur anywhere on the first leg. Compare with the
Koran 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.