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George Duke wrote on Thu, May 24, 2018 10:03 PM UTC:

Marshall RN and Cardinal BN are peculiar in that most CV designs do not pair them, but use one of each.  Clearly they are two different piece-types. Other long-range pieces get the respect of generally being paired such as NN and the other Nightriders by Knappen, 40 some bifurcators by Winther, Cannon, Unicorn, you name it.

   Exceptions that do use two of these same piece-types symmetrically in backrank are Janus Chess having two Cardinals on 8x10 and Gross Chess two Marshalls on 12x12 and also two BN.   In CVs paired-piece placement especially long-range is just more aesthetic, when array is fixed.  Carrera compounds are great idea from exactly 400 years ago to show how the Queen came about differently as RB (one hundred years earlier).  Apparently though to most inventors, RN and BN cannot stand on their own hindlegs, you can't have one without the other.   Credit Janus and Gross  for not adhering to that philosophy.  Another balking at the convention of Carrera types having special need is recently cited Chancellor Chess, which chooses one RN to exclusion of BN. Also Gilman quite often uses one only RN without BN; it seems better to either pair them or choose one or the other.

Schizophrenic Chess has a Left Schizzy and a Right Schizzy one on each side of King, two distinct types connected by different orientation in manner of movement.  That's the sort of group Marshall and Cardinal are member of,  along with things like Great Herd that just strings one of each kind of different leaper across 8x8, not pairing any of them.

The Carrera-Capablanca RN and BN should be in top twenty variant pieces for historical interest and to ease those addicted to 64 squares to try something radical.

Probably only small fraction of GMs know even what RN and BN are by name.  Notwithstanding they get revived the same old way every generation -- chess master Bird in 1870s,  Capablanca in 1920s, Seirawan 2000s. Their phony stance that it is something original. This thread 'Fatally Flawed Marshall Cardinal' started with 28 comments earlier same title '1', and this is continuation.


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