Falcon-Hunter Chess
Among the whole variety of chess variants, there are truly unique and unfairly forgotten inventions of those who tried to break out of the limits of the standard game of chess, who tried to bring something new and unexpected into the world of ordinary chess, revealing all the beauty and depth of this most popular logic game, filled with new ideas and concepts.
In 1943, Karl Schultz invented a chess variant in which he used two new and absolutely unique pieces by the standards of European chess.
These two fairy chess pieces were falcon and hunter.
Chess pieces that are not used in conventional chess are called fairy pieces. The world of fairy chess pieces or unorthodox chess pieces is quite bright and diverse. Such pieces are mainly used in a chess composition or for playing various variants of chess.
Since the development of chess variants with the use of fairy chess pieces always has a chaotic, uncoordinated character, the same fairy chess piece, sometimes, can have different names in various chess variants, while preserving its rules of movement and capture on the board. For example, in Capablanca's chess, the Chancellor combines powers of a knight and a rook, and in Carrera's chess, the absolutely same piece is called the Champion.
Also, some fairy chess pieces can have the same name, but absolutely different rules for moving and capture. For example, Giraffe - in Grant Acedrex, in Tamerlane Chess and in Congo - these are completely different pieces in terms of movement and maneuverability.
In this regard, Karl Schultz was not the discoverer of those pieces that he introduced into the standard chess set, inventing Falcon-Hunter chess.
Schultz's Falcon, moving forward like a bishop, and backward like a rook, was essentially a Free Tile - 奔瓦 hongoi, from a medieval variant of shogi on a 19x19 board - Maka Dai Dai shogi.
Schultz's Hunter, moving forward like a rook and backward like a bishop, was none other than the Archer, a piece from Spanish chess (1739). Moreover, a piece that has exactly the same properties as the Hunter was known in medieval Japan in Tenjiku shogi under the name Multigeneral - 雜将 suisho, and perhaps in the largest known variant of shogi - Taikyoku shogi - Global shogi.
However, Karl Schultz proved to be an innovator in European chess, introducing the element of the drop long before the advent of Crazy House and Seirawan chess.
Rules of the game.
Falcon-Hunter chess uses all the rules and objectives of standard chess, including the starting setup.
Each of the players in the reserve has one piece of the Falcon and the Hunter.
The falcon and hunter start the game off the board and out of play (see diagram). Once a player loses (or exchanges) their queen, a rook, a bishop, or a knight, they may, on any subsequent move, enter their falcon or hunter into play on any empty square of their two home ranks. Doing so constitutes a turn. The player becomes eligible to enter their remaining fairy piece (falcon or hunter) after losing a second piece (queen, rook, bishop, or knight). A move entering the falcon or hunter into play may also give check.
Already after the end of the Second World War, this variant of chess had small varieties, which included special rules for promoting pawns, the initial arrangement, and even the possibility of castling the king and queen (!) with the Hunter (this variant was called Hunter Chess in 1950). However, all these variations have sunk into oblivion, preserving the authentic idea of Schultz in the purity and order that was originally put into Falcon-Hunter chess.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that nevertheless, one of the variants of Schultz's chess stood out as a full-fledged and quite good one - Decimal Falcon-Hunter chess.
Decimal Falcon-Hunter chess (also known as great one-way chess), invented in the 1950s, is played on a 10×10 board with the falcon and hunter already in the starting setup (see diagram). All the standard chess rules and conventions apply, with the following differences:
- On its first move, a pawn may advance 1, 2, or 3 steps. There is no en passant.
- On its first move, a knight has the option to move or capture by leaping in a (2,4) pattern (i.e. two steps as a nightrider, where the square corresponding to the first step is jumped).
- The king slides three squares when castling either kingside or queenside.
Yes, the idea of dropping a piece was already missing here, and this deprived Schultz's chess of some charisma. However, even without the dropping rule, which gives a certain flavor to the game, we have a very, very attractive variant for a 10x10 board, which certainly has the right to exist as a separate variant of chess.
Well, let's go back to the 8x8 board and try to solve some Falcon-Hunter chess problems.
Pokshtya, Feb, 2023, ASHSHI
FH Chess, White #3
1. Hc7 Kh1 2. Hxg3 h2 3. Nf2#
Now try to solve the following problem yourself:
Pokshtya, Feb, 2023, ASHSHI
FH Chess, White #3
I hope you enjoyed Falcon-Hunter Chess and now you can play it and get new unforgettable impressions.
