Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, May 4, 2003 09:31 AM UTC:
Sorry if my previous criticism of the names was wholly negative. The piece
here called a Castle is called a Squirrel in the Piececlopedia. The one
here called a Chevalier is more usually called a Camel, including in
Tamerlane Chess. The name Courtier has no confusion with anything else,
but that piece is known widely enough as a Zebra for that to be a better
name. I know nothing of the culinary use of squirrel, camel, or zebra!
A slightly different piece is called Cavalier in the P'pedia, one from
Rennchess, but either way it is a poor name for something distinct from
the Knight. The Rennchess Cavalier I would call a Reversible Gryphon and
the Rennchess Duke a Reversible Aanca (see Bent Riders under the Gryphon
entry; I use Duke and Duchess for orthogonal+triagonal combined pieces).
The Cavalier here might be called a Concubine, reflecting Tamerlane's
polygamous lifestyle (although this has occasionally been used for other
pieces), or for uniqueness a Gryphoness, as the heraldic Gryphon is
sexually dimorphous. Either would reflect its Queenlike interchangeability
of orthogonal and diagonal moves.
For the game itself I would suggest the name of Tamerlane's chief wife
if I knew it, reflecting its status as a Tamerlane-like game but with a
Queen.