Check out Grant Acedrex, our featured variant for April, 2024.

The Piececlopedia is intended as a scholarly reference concerning the history and naming conventions of pieces used in Chess variants. But it is not a set of standards concerning what you must call pieces in newly invented games.

Piececlopedia: Zelig (in Zelig Chess)

Historical notes

The Zelig is the only piece (apart from kings and pawns) used in Zelig Chess, invented by Stan Druben.

Movement

The Zelig's move is not the same throughout the game; the move it could make the next time it moves, is based solely on its file on the board.

All pieces (not pawns or kings) are replaced with Zeligs, often shown as checkers and their move is exactly that as the file they are on - zeligs on the rook files (either Queen's side, or King's side) could move on their next move as if they were rooks. The same holds true for each file, even the King files (although zeligs on the king's file do not act completely as kings; they are called 'monarchs' and cannot be checked or mated.

For a more thorough explanation of zeligs, see the rules for Zelig Chess

This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.

Written by Peter Spicer.

WWW page created: October 19, 2001.