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Kangaroo. Moves on Queen lines to first square after second jumped over piece.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Charles Gilman wrote on Thu, Mar 4, 2004 08:36 AM UTC:
There is a different piece with this name which is used in a game: the Kangaroo of Outback Chess, which combines the moves of the leaping Elephant (Alfil) and the Knight. This is in keeping with beastly names for beastly compounds (cf Bison, Gazelle, Gnu) and the piece was introduced by Timothy Newton, who as an Australian might be more familiar with real-life kangaroos than Almay. On the other hand, Almay's Kangaroo is far older. So which piece has the better claim to the name in future variants?

Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Mar 28, 2004 09:20 AM UTC:
Correction to my previous comment: Timothy Newton is not Australian, just
thorough enough in his research to give that impression. I also mistook
his stereotyped opening to Outback Chess for a sign of the self-mocking
irony that the Australians share with the British. I discovered my error
in the interview with him as 84-square winner. Apologies to him if he is
offended, but hopefully he will instead feel flattered for writing so
convincing a themed game. To sum up the remaining claims of the Almay and
Newton Kangaroos:
	Almay: age, very impressive leap.
	Newton: used in a game and a pzize-winning game at that, maintains
beast-name convention of Gnu/Gazelle/Bison.

Michael Nelson wrote on Sun, Mar 28, 2004 05:26 PM UTC:
As I've said before Chess problems aren't Chess and Fairy Chess problems aren't Chess Variants--problemists have there own language and very often their own piece names. In my book, Timothy Newton deserves the honors.

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