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55-536: Part of the reason for adding the new pieces was to equalize the number of jumping pieces with sliding pieces. The wizard was created specially to be a color-bound piece, an analog to the bishop . Because of the symmetry and four additional corners, Omega Chess creates new tactical possibilities, including the possibility of forcing checkmate with two knights , or with a single bishop. Omega Chess has garnered endorsements by grandmasters Michael Rohde and Alex Sherzer. The normal rules of castling apply, and it

110-470: A rook pawn may be the wrong rook pawn , depending on the square-color of the bishop. This causes some positions to be draws that would otherwise be wins. The pawn has its origins in the oldest version of chess, chaturanga , and it is present in all other significant versions of the game as well. In chaturanga, this piece could move one square directly forward and could capture one square diagonally forward. In medieval chess, as an attempt to make

165-490: A draw even if one player has a pawn or sometimes two more than the other. The players tend to gain control of squares of opposite colors, and a deadlock results. In endgames with same-colored bishops, however, even a positional advantage may be enough to win. Endgames in which each player has only one bishop (and no other pieces besides the king) and the bishops are on opposite colors are often drawn , even when one side has an extra pawn or two. Many of these positions would be

220-449: A knight check, and avoiding stalemate . While some chess sets include an extra queen of each color, most standard sets do not come with additional pieces, so the physical piece used to replace a promoted pawn on the board is usually one that was previously captured. In informal games, when the correct piece is not available, an additional queen is often indicated by inverting a previously captured rook or by using different objects such as

275-458: A "shooter" meaning an archer , while in others it is still known as "elephant" (e.g. Russian slon ). In South Slavic languages it is usually known as lovac , meaning "hunter", or laufer , taken from the German name for the same piece ( laufer is also a co-official Polish name for the piece alongside goniec ). In Bulgarian the bishop is called "officer" ( Bulgarian : офицер ), which is also

330-456: A bishop can by itself lose a move (see triangulation and tempo ), while a knight can never do so. The bishop is capable of skewering or pinning a piece, while the knight can do neither. A bishop can in some situations hinder a knight from moving. In these situations, the bishop is said to be "dominating" the knight. On the other hand, in the opening and middlegame a bishop may be hemmed in by pawns of both players, and thus be inferior to

385-500: A bishop: ♗ U+2657 White Chess Bishop ♝ U+265D Black Chess Bishop 🨃 U+1FA03 Neutral Chess Bishop Pawn (chess) The pawn (♙, ♟) is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess . It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank . The white pawns start on a2 through h2;

440-489: A capture with a pawn, a player may end up with two pawns on the same file , called doubled pawns . Doubled pawns are substantially weaker than pawns that are side by side, because they cannot defend each other, they usually cannot both be defended by adjacent pawns, and the front pawn blocks the advance of the back one. In the diagram, the doubled c-pawns are a strategic disadvantage for Black. There are situations where doubled pawns confer some advantage, typically when

495-411: A die or coin. In tournament games, however, this is not acceptable; in the former case, it may result in the arbiter ruling that the upturned piece is a rook. The pawn structure , the configuration of pawns on the chessboard, mostly determines the strategic flavor of a game. While other pieces can usually be moved to more favorable positions if they are temporarily badly placed, a poorly positioned pawn

550-474: A fianchettoed queen's bishop for a knight is usually less problematic. For example, in Karpov – Browne , San Antonio 1972, after 1.c4 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 g6 ?! , Karpov gave up his fianchettoed bishop with 4.Bxf6! exf6 5.Nc3, doubling Black's pawns and giving him a hole on d5. An endgame in which each player has only one bishop, one controlling the dark squares and the other the light, will often result in

605-407: A king and three pawns, and the positions of the kings are about equal. In truth, White wins this endgame on the strength of the protected passed pawn, regardless which player moves first. The black king cannot be on both sides of the board at once – to defend the isolated h-pawn and to stop White's c-pawn from advancing to promotion. Thus White can capture the h-pawn and then win the game. After

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660-519: A knight is less capable of doing so. In an open endgame, a pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. A player possessing a pair of bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame. Two bishops on opposite-colored squares and king can force checkmate against a lone king, whereas two knights cannot. A bishop and knight can force mate , but with far greater difficulty than two bishops. In certain positions

715-521: A knight which can jump over them. A knight check cannot be blocked but a bishop check can. Furthermore, on a crowded board a knight has many tactical opportunities to fork two enemy pieces. A bishop can fork, but opportunities are rarer. One such example occurs in the position illustrated, which arises from the Ruy Lopez : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.d4 d6 8.c3 Bg4 9.h3 !? Bxf3 10.Qxf3 exd4 11.Qg3 g6 12.Bh6 ! In

770-433: A protected passed pawn (a passed pawn that is protected by a pawn). In this vein, a pawn majority , a greater number of pawns belonging to one player on one side of the chessboard, is strategically important because it can often be converted into a passed pawn. In the diagram, White has a protected passed pawn on c5 and Black has an outside passed pawn on h5. This position might appear roughly equal, because each side has

825-455: A vacant square ahead. The first time a pawn moves, it has the additional option of vertically advancing two squares, provided that both squares are vacant. Unlike other pieces, the pawn can only move forwards. In the second diagram, the pawn on c4 can move to c5; the pawn on e2 can move to either e3 or e4. Unlike other pieces, the pawn does not capture in the same way that it moves. A pawn captures by moving diagonally forward one square to

880-417: A win if the bishops were on the same color. The position from Wolf versus Leonhardt (see diagram) shows an important defensive setup. Black can make no progress, since the white bishop ties the black king to defending the pawn on g4 and it also prevents the advance ...f3+ because it would simply capture the pawn – then either the other pawn is exchanged for the bishop (an immediate draw) or

935-472: Is promoted to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The pawn is replaced by the new piece on the same move. The choice of promotion is not limited to pieces that have been captured; thus, a player could, in theory, have as many as nine queens, ten rooks, ten bishops, or ten knights on the board. Promotion to a queen is also known as queening and to any other piece as underpromotion . Reasons for underpromotion include tactical positions involving

990-466: Is a piece in the game of chess . It moves and captures along diagonals without jumping over interfering pieces. Each player begins the game with two bishops. The starting squares are c1 and f1 for White's bishops, and c8 and f8 for Black's bishops. The king's bishop is placed on f1 for White and f8 for Black; the queen's bishop is placed on c1 for White and c8 for Black. The bishop has no restrictions in distance for each move but

1045-405: Is a good bishop vis-à-vis Black's bad bishop. Black resigned after another ten moves. A bishop may be fianchettoed , for example after moving the g2 pawn to g3 and the bishop on f1 to g2. This can form a strong defense for the castled king on g1 and the bishop can often exert strong pressure on the long diagonal (here h1–a8). A fianchettoed bishop should generally not be given up lightly, since

1100-405: Is an isolated pawn . The square in front of an isolated pawn may become an enduring weakness. Any piece placed directly in front not only blocks the advance of that pawn but also cannot be driven away by other pawns. In the diagram, Black has an isolated pawn on d5. If all the pieces except the kings and pawns were removed, the weakness of that pawn might prove fatal to Black in the endgame . In

1155-534: Is attributed to "India", then a very vague term. About half a century later Muḥammad ibn Maḥmud al-Āmulī, in his Treasury of the Sciences , describes an expanded form of chess with two pieces moving "like the rook but obliquely". The bishop was also independently invented in Japan at about the same time (the 13th century), where it formed part of sho shogi and dai shogi ; it remains present in modern shogi as

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1210-455: Is done exactly as in chess, with the king moving two squares to either side: to h0 for White or h9 for Black when castling kingside ; to d0 or d9 when castling queenside (see diagram). As seen in the diagrams, the ranks are numbered 0–9 , and the corner squares behind a0, j0, j9 and a9 are notated w1 , w2 , w3 and w4 respectively. These squares are part of the board, and all pieces (except rooks and pawns) can enter them. (See

1265-489: Is impeded by friendly pawns is often referred to as a "bad bishop" (or sometimes, disparagingly, a "tall pawn"). The black light-squared bishop in the French Defense is a notorious example of this concept. A "bad" bishop, however, need not always be a weakness, especially if it is outside its own pawn chains . In addition, having a "bad" bishop may be advantageous in an opposite-colored bishops endgame . Even if

1320-527: Is limited in its movement and often cannot be so relocated. Because pawns capture diagonally and can be blocked from moving straight forward, opposing pawns can become locked in diagonal pawn chains of two or more pawns of each color, where each player controls squares of one color. In the diagram, Black and White have locked their d- and e-pawns. Here, White has a long-term space advantage. White will have an easier time than Black in finding good squares for their pieces, particularly with an eye to

1375-440: Is limited to diagonal movement. It cannot jump over other pieces. A bishop captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece stands. As a consequence of its diagonal movement, each bishop always remains on one square color. Due to this, it is common to refer to a bishop as a light-squared or dark-squared bishop. A rook is generally worth about two pawns more than a bishop. The bishop has access to only half of

1430-496: The kingside . Black, in contrast, suffers from a bad bishop on c8, which is prevented by the black pawns from finding a good square or helping out on the kingside. On the other hand, White's central pawns are somewhat overextended and vulnerable to attack. Black can undermine the white pawn chain with an immediate ...c5 and perhaps a later ...f6. Pawns on adjacent files can support each other in attack and defense. A pawn that has no friendly pawns in adjacent files

1485-572: The en passant capture spread to various regions throughout its history . The en passant capture intends to prevent a pawn on its initial square from safely bypassing a square controlled by an enemy pawn. The rule for promotion has changed throughout its history . The term pawn is derived from the Old French word paon , which comes from the Medieval Latin term for " foot soldier " and is cognate with peon . In most other languages,

1540-404: The middlegame , however, Black has slightly more freedom of movement than White and may be able to trade off the isolated pawn before an endgame ensues. A pawn that cannot be blocked or captured by enemy pawns in its path to promotion is a passed pawn . Because endgames are often won by the player who can promote a pawn first, having a passed pawn in an endgame can be decisive – especially

1595-605: The puzzle by Benjamin Good .) 1. f4 d5 2. Nd2 Ng7 3. Wa2 Cc7 4. Ng2 f7 5. Wj2 Wa7 6. e4 de4 7. Ne4 Bb4+ 8. Be1 Nd7 9. c3 Be7 10. Wi5 0-0 11. d4 Cc6 12. Bd3 b5 13. b4 Wd6 14. Cc2 Wj7 15. Ch2 Wi4 16. Nh4 Wh5 17. Wd1 We3+ 18. Kg0 c7 19. i4 Wg4 20. Be2 Wd5 21. Rc0 Bb7 22. Nc5 Nxc5 23. bxc5 Qd8 24. Qh3 Wxh4 25. Bxh4 Bxh4 26. Wxh4 Ch7 27. Wg2 Ce4 28. Cxe4 Wxe4 29. Qj3 j7 30. i5 i6 31. Wg7 hxg7 32. Ri3 Ki8 33. Qj4 Rh9 34. Rj3 Ci7 35. Re0 Qf6 36. Bc0 e6 37. Bb1 Wf5 38. Wf5 ef5 39. Re8 Rh8 40. Rje3 g6 41. Qi3 Qg7 42. j4 (diagram) b4 ! (Black seizes

1650-641: The English language, as the first mentioning of " biskup " in Icelandic texts dates back to the early part of the 14th century, while the 12th-century Lewis Chessmen portray the bishop as an unambiguously ecclesiastical figure. In the Saga of Earl Mágus , which was written in Iceland somewhere between 1300–1325, it is described how an emperor was checkmated by a bishop. This has led to some speculations as to

1705-459: The a- or h-files, a knight's pawn (on the b- or g-files), a bishop's pawn (on the c- or f-files), a queen's pawn (on the d-file), a king's pawn (on the e-file), and a central pawn (on the d- or e-files). The pawn historically represents soldiers or infantry , or more particularly, armed peasants or pikemen . Each player begins the game with eight pawns placed along their second rank. A pawn may move by vertically advancing to

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1760-507: The bad bishop is passively placed, it may serve a useful defensive function; a well-known quip from GM Mihai Suba is that "Bad bishops protect good pawns." In the position from the game Krasenkow versus Zvjaginsev, a thicket of black pawns hems in Black's bishop on c8, so Black is effectively playing with one piece fewer than White. Although the black pawns also obstruct the white bishop on e2, it has many more attacking possibilities, and thus

1815-523: The bishop is the " wrong bishop ", meaning that it is on the wrong color of square for some purpose (usually promoting a pawn). For example, with just a bishop and a rook pawn , if the bishop cannot control the promotion square of the pawn, it is said to be the "wrong bishop" or the pawn is said to be the wrong rook pawn . This results in some positions being drawn (by setting up a fortress ) which otherwise would be won. The bishop's predecessor in medieval chess, shatranj (originally chaturanga ),

1870-410: The bishops on opposite colors if one side has weak pawns. In the 1925 game Efim Bogoljubov – Max Blümich (see diagram), White wins because of the bishops being on opposite colors making Black weak on the dark squares, the weakness of Black's isolated pawns on the queenside , and the weak doubled pawns on the kingside . The game continued: In an endgame with a bishop, in some cases

1925-422: The black pawns start on a7 through h7. Individual pawns are referred to by the file on which they stand. For example, one speaks of "White's f-pawn" or "Black's b-pawn". Alternatively, they can be referred to by the piece which stood on that file at the beginning of the game, e.g. "White's king bishop's pawn" or "Black's queen knight's pawn". It is also common to refer to a rook's pawn , meaning any pawn on

1980-412: The chess piece was first recorded in the 16th century, with the first known written example dating back to the 1560s. In all other Germanic languages, except for Icelandic, it is called various names, all of which directly translate to English as "runner" or "messenger". In Icelandic, however, it is called " biskup ", with the same meaning as in English. The use of the term in Icelandic predates that of

2035-764: The direct descendant of sho shogi. Derivatives of alfil survive in the languages of the two countries where chess was first introduced within Western Europe—Italian ( alfiere ) and Spanish ( alfil ). It was known as the aufin in French, or the aufin, alphin, or archer in early English. The earliest references to bishops on the chessboard are two 13th-century Latin texts, De Vetula and Quaedam moralitas de scaccario . The etymology of "bishop" comes from Old English bisceop "bishop, high priest," from Late Latin episcopus, from Greek episkopos "watcher, overseer." The term "bishop" as applied specifically to

2090-555: The game situation, either may have a distinct advantage. In general, the bishop is slightly stronger than the knight. Less experienced players tend to underrate the bishop compared to the knight because the knight can reach all squares and is more adept at forking . More experienced players understand the power of the bishop. Bishops usually gain in relative strength towards the endgame as more pieces are captured and more open lines become available on which they can operate. A bishop can easily influence both wings simultaneously, whereas

2145-406: The guarding of consecutive squares in a file by the pawns prevents an invasion by the opponent's pieces. Pawns that are both doubled and isolated are typically a tangible weakness. A single piece or pawn in front of doubled isolated pawns blocks both of them, and cannot be easily dislodged. It is rare for a player to have three pawns in a file, i.e. tripled pawns. In chess endgames with a bishop,

2200-463: The initiative) 43. R8e5 bxc3 44. Rxc3 Bxh1+ 45. Kxh1 Rxb1 46. Ra3 Ch7 47. Rxa8 Ch5 48. Ra9 Qh7 49. Ree9 ?? Cj3! 50. Qxj3 Qxh2+ 0–1 1. f4 f5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qj5 Ng7?? (defending the pawn on f5) 4. Qxg8 # 1. Wa2 Ng7 2. Wb5 Ni6?? 3. We6# The four corner squares in Omega Chess offer many endgame possibilities and peculiarities. For example, unlike in standard chess, a lone queen (without

2255-607: The king's assistance) can force mate. Two rooks find it easy to mate provided the enemy king is not in a wizard or champion starting square. However, a king and rook cannot force mate, as the rook alone cannot force the king to the edge without driving it into a corner where it is unassailable. Other material combinations leading to relatively straightforward forced wins include two bishops, two knights (also unlike standard chess; see two knights endgame ), two champions, and champion and knight. The endgame with bishop and wizard (provided that they are on opposite colors) can also be won, though

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2310-404: The left or right, either replacing an enemy piece on its square (first diagram) or capturing en passant (second diagram). An en passant capture can occur after a pawn makes a move of two squares and the square it passes over is attacked by an enemy pawn. The enemy pawn is entitled to capture the moved pawn "in passing" as if the latter had advanced only one square. The capturing pawn moves to

2365-413: The middlegame, a player with only one bishop should generally place friendly pawns on squares of the color that the bishop cannot move to. This allows the player to control squares of both colors, allows the bishop to move freely among the pawns, and helps fix enemy pawns on squares on which they can be attacked by the bishop. Such a bishop is often referred to as a "good" bishop. Conversely, a bishop which

2420-463: The origin of the English use of the term "bishop". The canonical chessmen date back to the Staunton chess set of 1849. The piece's deep groove symbolizes a bishop's (or abbot's) mitre . Some have written that the groove originated from the original form of the piece, an elephant with the groove representing the elephant's tusks . The English apparently chose to call the piece a bishop because

2475-428: The pawn advances (an easily drawn position). Otherwise the bishop alternates between the squares d1 and e2. If two pawns are connected , they normally win if they reach their sixth rank , otherwise the game may be a draw (as above). If two pawns are separated by one file they usually draw, but win if they are farther apart. In some cases with more pawns on the board, it is actually advantageous to have

2530-697: The piece's alternative name in Russian; it is also called αξιωματικός ( axiomatikos ) in Greek, афіцэр ( afitser ) in Belarusian and oficeri in Albanian. In Mongolian and several Indian languages it is called the " camel ". In Lithuanian it is the rikis , a kind of military commander in medieval Lithuania . In Latvia it is known as laidnis , a term for the wooden handle part of some firearms. Unicode defines three codepoints for

2585-517: The pieces more interesting, each pawn was given the name of a commoner's occupation: The most famous example of this is found in the second book ever printed in the English language, The Game and Playe of the Chesse . This book, printed by William Caxton , was viewed to be as much a political commentary on society as a chess book. The ability to move two spaces and the related ability to capture en passant were introduced in 15th-century Europe;

2640-560: The projections at the top resembled a mitre. This groove was interpreted differently in different countries as the game moved to Europe; in France, for example, the groove was taken to be a jester 's cap, hence in France the bishop is called fou (jester) and in Romania nebun (meaning crazy, but also jester). In some Slavic languages (e.g. Czech/Slovak) the bishop is called střelec/strelec , which directly translates to English as

2695-418: The resulting holes in the pawn formation may prove to be serious weaknesses, particularly if the king has castled on that side of the board. There are nonetheless some modern opening lines where a fianchettoed bishop is given up for a knight in order to double the opponent's pawns, for example 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+!? 5.bxc3 f5, a sharp line originated by Roman Dzindzichashvili . Giving up

2750-452: The square over which the moved pawn passed, and the moved pawn is removed from the board. The option to capture the moved pawn en passant must be exercised on the move immediately following the double-step pawn advance, or it is lost for the remainder of the game. The en passant capture is the only capture in chess in which the capturing piece does not replace the captured piece on the same square. A pawn that advances to its last rank

2805-619: The squares on the board, whereas all squares of the board are accessible to the rook . When unobstructed, a rook attacks fourteen squares regardless of position, whereas a bishop attacks no more than thirteen (from one of four center squares) and sometimes as few as seven (from sides and corners). A king and rook can force checkmate against a lone king, whereas a king and bishop cannot. A king and two bishops on opposite-colored squares, however, can force mate. Knights and bishops are each worth about three pawns. This means bishops are approximately equal in strength to knights, but depending on

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2860-414: The technique is somewhat more complex. Other material combinations require that the king be kept out of the wrong-colored corner and thus a more precise technique; these include bishop and champion, wizard and champion, and bishop and knight. In 2008, the authors of Omega Chess developed an extension to the game called Omega Chess Advanced . Solution: 1.Ww3+: Bishop (chess) The bishop (♗, ♝)

2915-400: The term fichillín , a diminutive of ficheall ("chess") is sometimes used, though the term "ceithearnach" ("foot soldier") is also used. In Thai the pawn is called เบี้ย ( bîia ), which signifies a cowrie shell or a coin of little value. In Turkish the pawn is called piyon , borrowed from the French word Pion in the 19th century. Outside of the game of chess, "pawn"

2970-473: The word for pawn is similarly derived from paon (e.g., pionek in Polish), its Latin ancestor or some other word for foot soldier. In some languages the term for pawn is a name meaning "peasant" or "farmer", reflecting how the lower orders were conscripted as footsoldiers in wartime: Hungarian paraszt , Slovene kmet , German Bauer , Danish/Norwegian/Swedish bonde , Latvian bandinieks . In Irish,

3025-644: Was the alfil , meaning "elephant", which could leap two squares along any diagonal, and could jump over an intervening piece. As a consequence, each fil was restricted to eight squares, and no fil could attack another. The modern bishop first appeared shortly after 1200 in Courier chess . A piece with this move, called a cocatriz or crocodile, is part of the Grande Acedrex in the Libro de los juegos compiled in 1283 for King Alfonso X of Castile . The game

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