Piece Dynamics in Custom Variants

Introduction

Learning how to use pieces when building a custom variant is one of the most important skills a creator must have, but, respectively, is also one of the hardest to master. Here I will discuss a few common ideas with each of the current 25 available pieces (pawns not included), uncommon concepts that you can try to apply yourself, a few good/bad examples of piece dynamics in action, and even some quiz questions to test your intuition.

Common Terms

Below is a list of common terms you will see throughout this article to help you in your understanding of piece dynamics:

• Colorblind | A piece that can only move to squares of one color complex (i.e., the bishop or the ferz). May also refer to a board of this kind.
  
  
• Double Colorblind | A piece that is colorblind and is further restricted to half of the available squares of a normally colorblind piece (i.e., the dabbaba or alibaba, and their rider counterparts). May also refer to a board of this kind.
  
  
• Hopper | A piece that cannot move unless there is an obstruction to "hop over". Only the grasshopper is considered a hopper.
  
  
• Leaper | A piece that moves to a square that is a fixed distance away, jumping over all obstructions in between (i.e., the ferz, the dabbaba, the camel, etc.). The so-called "step movers" (i.e. the ferz and wazir) are also considered leapers without loss of generality.
  
  
• Rider | A leaper that has its range expanded infinitely in all directions that the leaper itself can move to.
  
  
• Semi-Colorblind | A piece that is not colorblind overall but must switch color complexes every move (i.e the knight or the wazir).

• Triple Colorblind | A piece that is double-colorblind and is further restricted to half of the available squares of a normally double colorblind piece. Only the alfil and alfil-rider are triple colorblind. May also refer to a board of this kind.

The Pieces

If, at any point, you are confused as to how a piece move or some of its other mechanics, please refer to this article by @ChimpReturns. It has some great visuals that helps explain how the pieces work.

• Alfil (Rider): Excluding the pawns, the alfil is by far the weakest piece in the editor. Being triple colorblind, you would need 8 of them to reach every square on the board. Alfils and alfil riders are thus generally used on smaller board sizes or colorblind boards where attacking and defending is much simpler. 
  
  
• Alibaba (Rider): The alibaba is a double colorblind piece; you would need 4 of them to reach every square on the board. However, because of its leaping ability, it is nevertheless a piece that rivals the knight in capacity. Alibabas are often paired with bishops or archbishops because of their strong color complex control. The rider variant is most useful only in larger boards.
  
  
• Amazon: The amazon is the most powerful piece in the editor, with movements that combine those of the knight and the queen. In this manner, it is both a leaper and a rider at the same time. Because of its incredible board coverage, an amazon can forcefully checkmate a king without another piece to help it. It is for these reasons exactly that the amazon is not used very often, except on the largest of boards where it is one of the only major pieces for each player.
  
  
• Archbishop: The archbishop is a very useful piece in all board sizes, except the very smallest. Unlike a normal bishop, the added knight movement allows it access to both color complexes and thus it is not colorblind. The archbishop is commonly used with normal bishops, alibabas, or other colorblind pieces as a leader and also a support piece, showing its incredible prowess in all aspects of play.
  
  
• Bishop: The bishop is the strongest colorblind piece in the editor. Given that it is technically a ferz with infinite movement in those directions, the bishop is classified as a rider. Bishops are strongest when there is another on the opposite color complex to compliment it, or on colorblind boards such as in Mini Forest. Bishops are strong on boards of all sizes, and are often combined with ferzes or alibabas on the smaller boards and archbishops or queens on the larger boards. More than two bishops, however, is generally not recommended.
  
  
• Brick: The brick is technically not a piece, since it has no movement, but it is commonly used as obstruction. Bricks are mainly used to defend oneself from the opponent when pawns are not present, but they are also used in many other creative ways. For example, they can be used to trap pieces that can only be "unlocked" at a later moment in the game, or they can be used to block pieces, forcing a choice in the player's rerouting strategy.
  
  
• Camel (Rider): The camel is another colorblind piece, but its incredibly long range makes it a strong attacker on larger boards. Consequently, the camel is a poor piece on smaller boards, sometimes only being able to practically utilize a few squares because it is simply "too big to fit". Camels are often strong with another on the opposite color complex, but they are also all-rounding pieces that work with many other pieces nicely.
  
  
• Chancellor: The chancellor is an interesting piece. It is incredibly strong by itself, but lateral movement is quite hard to utilize until the late middlegame/early endgame. If there is even a slight opening, however, the chancellor will completely ravage the opponent. Therefore, it is important to consider many factors when balancing a game involving a chancellor as one of the major pieces.

• Dabbaba (Rider): The dabbaba is the generally considered the second weakest piece in the editor after the alfil, as it is double-colorblind, though the ferz and wazir are also commonly awarded this title. Dabbabas are mainly used on smaller boards to support colorblind attacks.
  
  
• Dragon Bishop: The dragon bishop is slightly weaker than the archbishop due to the special xiangqi knight movement, but the same general piece dynamics apply.
  
  
• Duck: The duck is very rarely used like a brick, but apart from pure aesthetics and the Duck Chess gamerule, it functions exactly the same as a brick. Gamerules are discussed later in the article.
  
  
• Ferz: The ferz is one of the weakest pieces in the editor, which is why it thrives as a defensive piece on a small board or as a royal piece on a medium-sized board. Because of its close range movement and its little value in comparison to other pieces, it is well-suited for forming fortresses with pawns.
  
  
• General: The general is usually the weakest of the four orthodox knight variants, but it is incredibly useful as both an attacking and a defensive piece. The general covers all the squares within a one-square radius and 75% of the squares within a two-square radius, making it apt for attacking the enemy's royal or defending one's own. This flexibility in usage makes the general an all-rounder piece that can be used in almost any situation.
  
  
• Grasshopper: The grasshopper is the only piece currently in the editor that is of the hopper piece type. It requires some form of obstruction, whether it be another piece or a brick, to jump over and land on the square immediately behind said obstruction. This mechanic makes the grasshopper one of the only pieces that cannot always go back to the same square after leaving it, but it also allows it to access squares that it previously couldn't, allowing for a variety of rerouting strategies in dynamic or positional variants.
  
  
• King: When not royal, the king is a strong defender, though obviously not as much as the general. It is also useful for attacking multiple pieces at once in the opening stage when pieces are close together. Having more than one king where the kings are in close proximity is usually frowned upon, since they are quite redundant because of their limited mobility. There are, of course, many exceptions, such as the most obvious War For Throne.
  
  
• Knight (Rider): The knight is best known for its tricky movement and jumping capability, making it a strong piece in attacks and in positional binds where it controls important squares. Knights are also the reason the fork tactic is so well known, so consider using it in your variants! The rider variant is used much less often, simply because it is really only useful on a large board.
  
  
• Queen: The queen, of course, is the most famous and most commonly used major piece. Because of the queen's combined bishop and rook movement, it is complimented nicely by the bishop pair and/or a pair of rooks in attacking ideas. The queen is also a strong defender, though it is not recommended to have it in a defensive spot in the starting position itself. The queen also works well with many other pieces, making it an all-rounder piece.
  
  
• Rook: The rook is the weakest of the major pieces, which makes it very useful as a support tower (literally!). With the queen, chancellor, and/or another rook, it can form batteries and completely ravage the opponent's position, though the double rook pair is not seen commonly in middlegames. The rook is also very strong in tandem with a bishop, where it can deliver discovered checks to the royal and windmill tactics. More than two rooks, however, is generally not recommended.
  
  
• Wazir: The wazir is one of the weakest pieces in the editor, though it is generally stronger than a ferz because of its full color seeing ability. The wazir thrives as both an attacker and a defender on a small board, but it performs very poorly on a larger board.
  
  
• Wildebeest: The wildebeest is very strong in closed positions where there are a lot of holes in the position that can be easily exploited. The wildebeest is also very good at delivering perpetual checks to an enemy royal, which makes it a useful tool in N-check variants. However, because of its strength, it is typically barred off by a wall of well-defended pawns and thus is quite weak on a smaller board.
  
  
• Xiangqi Knight: The xiangqi knight is slightly weaker than the regular knight due to it being unable to jump over obstructions. However, this very mechanic makes it useful for designing atomic or stalemate-reliant variants.

Examples of Piece Dynamics in Action

Take a look at this recently declined variant, Contrasting Strategies by imchesspro0930. While the concept is very unique and the game is strategically detailed, there is one major flaw (among some minor ones) that involves piece dynamics. Without using the Decline reason on VW, can you get a feel for the problem here?

You may use the editor to play out some moves to help you in your analysis of this variant.

I'll continue adding more material as time goes on. Meanwhile, post some of your ideas in the comments!

Another thing I'd like to add for Xianqi Knight is that it becomes more useful the smaller the board gets. (example: 8x8, 6x6)

lol add the FEN notation for each piece, could come in handy

that's unnecessary for this material, plus it's always linked in the other forum

Bleh alr

Very good

I have idea of Knights Chess my variant Here it is:

Please read https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-not-to-make-a-variant.

One "colorblind" term I have used that is also useful is "semi-colorblind" or "half-colorblind", and refers to pieces that must change the color of the square it is on each turn (such as the wazir and the knight).

Whch i consider to be as ad as clourblindness.

Yes I see a problem,the Alfil-Rider is not suitable for the board size.

Ouch contrasting Strategies mentioned

I came up with this as well!

The piece list does not include the transparent brick.

i was hoping that would be self explanatory but ok

You can't jump over transparent bricks iirc so that's one function it has

No I mean jump spell

lol

How did you change the theme in the "4 player and variants" section? I can only do it in regular chess.