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Cannonrider Chess. The Cannonrider moves differently depending on square colour: on white squares as a Nightrider; else as a Chinese Cannon.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Kevin Pacey wrote on Mon, Dec 11, 2017 06:50 PM UTC:

On the page for this preset I don't understand the comment: "...In the opening, white cannot obtain any advantage by immediately moving the Cannonrider to g3, because black can guard himself indirectly by moving the c pawn (the queen-bishop pawn)." If I understand how the Cannonrider moves correctly, 1.CNg3 would be 'threatening' to capture on g8 'for free' if allowed (besides threatening mate by going to e3), and moving the c-pawn at move one (even to c5, which would be best so that d6 can be reached from b6 laterally) would do nothing to defend against this particular 'threat' (granted, once on g8 the White CN could be trapped a while, particularly if Black pushes his f-pawn, but it seems it would take quite a bit of fortune to ever win it at little cost, e.g. for just a pawn). However, Black apparently should retaliate by moving 1...CNb6 instead (which may be the only way to go for Black), defending against the mate White threatened at move 1, and thinking about winning the White Q, or the N/b1, in particular after CNxg8. If he wishes, White can then move his c-pawn to free his Q (and allow it to go to c2 to quickly mop up a Black CN on b1 for a mere pawn, if it arrives there with a capture), and then the game goes on...

Also (again if I understand the rules for the Cannonrider piece correctly), on move one White can instead apparently take the unguarded pawn on a7 for free with the Cannonrider on a1, though Black could in turn take the undefended pawn on h2 with his Cannonrider on h8. Maybe equal, but permitting an immediate trade of pawns for White would not be a particularly good way to have any given variant's setup, IMHO.