Thanks, H.G. A NW can't checkmate, my source was incorrect. No wonder I couldn't figure out how to mate with it. I want to give accurate information about the mating potential of Colorful Osmosis Chess pieces. As I'm revising the game page anyway, I want everything right. Can mate is important in the endgame--it might be quite bad to have a Caliph rather than a Cardinal. If I have this right, to have can mate, a piece cannot be either color-bound or color-switching but must be able to reach squares of both colors on a given move. In Chess, the Queen and Rook have this property, the Bishop and Knight. The Harvestman, Camel, Knight, and Bishop are all either color-bound or color-switching. Likewise, the Caliph (BC) and the Battlemaster (N - Havestman) should lack can mate. Cardinal, Evangelist, and Imam have the can-mate property. Of course, being neither color-bound nor color-switching is a necessary but not sufficient condition for can mate: King + Gnu vs. King is
A piece loses some value if K + piece can't force mate, but loses far less value than a piece that can't check the King. This might be a interesting way to reduce the power of an otherwise overpowered piece.
Thanks, H.G. A NW can't checkmate, my source was incorrect. No wonder I couldn't figure out how to mate with it. I want to give accurate information about the mating potential of Colorful Osmosis Chess pieces. As I'm revising the game page anyway, I want everything right. Can mate is important in the endgame--it might be quite bad to have a Caliph rather than a Cardinal. If I have this right, to have can mate, a piece cannot be either color-bound or color-switching but must be able to reach squares of both colors on a given move. In Chess, the Queen and Rook have this property, the Bishop and Knight. The Harvestman, Camel, Knight, and Bishop are all either color-bound or color-switching. Likewise, the Caliph (BC) and the Battlemaster (N - Havestman) should lack can mate. Cardinal, Evangelist, and Imam have the can-mate property. Of course, being neither color-bound nor color-switching is a necessary but not sufficient condition for can mate: King + Gnu vs. King is
A piece loses some value if K + piece can't force mate, but loses far less value than a piece that can't check the King. This might be a interesting way to reduce the power of an otherwise overpowered piece.