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Grasshopper. Moves along queenlines to first square after jumped over piece.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
HaruN Y wrote on Thu, Nov 16, 2023 02:02 AM UTC in reply to H. G. Muller from Wed Oct 15 2008 06:50 AM:Excellent ★★★★★

HG Mulller's Grasshopper Chess

files=8 ranks=8 promoZone=1 promoChoice=NBRQG graphicsDir=/graphics.dir/alfaeriePNG/ squareSize=50 graphicsType=png symmetry=none lightShade=#4cba5f darkShade=#208d4e rimColor=#7adbac useMarkers=1 borders=0 firstRank=1 shatranj pawn:P:fmWfcF:pawn:a3,b3,c3,d3,e3,f3,g3,h3,,a6,b6,c6,d6,e6,f6,g6,h6 knight:N:N:knight:b1,g1,,b8,g8 bishop:B:B:bishop:c1,f1,,c8,f8 rook:R:R:rook:a1,h1,,a8,h8 queen:Q:Q:queen:d1,,d8 grasshopper:G:gQ:grasshopper:b2,g2,,b7,g7 king:K:KisO2:king:e1,,e8

H. G. Muller wrote on Wed, Oct 15, 2008 06:50 AM UTC:
Play-testing shows that in real games, the Grasshopper is a quite weak piece. Starting from a setup

r n b q k b n r
. g . . . . g .
p p p p p p p p
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
P P P P P P P P
. G . . . . G .
R N B Q K B N R

to prevent that a Grasshopper has immediate forks on opponent back-rank pieces, and thus cn be traded for something more valuable, it turns out that deleting the Grasshoppers of one side, and a single Knight on the other side, leads on average to a light victory of the Grasshoppers, while deleting a single Bishop in stead of a Knight resuts in a light advantage of the side with the Bishop pair.

If we adopt the Larry-Kaufman values of the normal Chess pieces (B = N = 325, B-pair bonus = 50), this would make the opening value of a Grasshopper in a normal Chess context ~175 cP. Hardly more than a Ferz (which has a value of ~150 cP), and probably even less in the end-game.

George Duke wrote on Wed, Aug 13, 2008 05:03 PM UTC:
Author Bodlaender says in first sentence, ''Probably tens of thousands fairy chess problems have been composed using the Grasshopper.'' T.R. Dawson's (1889-1951) fairy pieces appear in problems to solve in Chess magazines. Dominant style for all the centuries of Chess was infrequently to embody entire Rules-sets. That is, until artists Boyer and Betza trended towards designing personal collections of CVs never particularly to be played. Chess Variant Page now pursues artistic free rein, only half-mindful of prior similarities, to absurd extreme with hundreds rules-sets, mostly mediocre and poor to outsiders familiar with OrthoChess and standard alternatives like FRC.  To historians, it is self-evident that Dawson, Sam Loyd, J.R. Capablanca, GM Emanuel Lasker and other variantists 100 years ago (before Boyer and Betza) could easily have made a thousand different Rules-sets if so inclined. Rather, they had the sense and courtesy to discriminate, self-select, and forbear. It becomes difficult after 2000 to find the 1-2% that are potential gems, or solutions, when proliferation begins in earnest. Strewn about are all the false leads and red herrings taking investigators up the garden path  [MIXED METAPHORS galore!] , once personal artistic expresssion is the normal object. Now Dawson's most famous pieces out of many dozens are surely Nightrider and Grasshopper. Grasshopper invented 1912 moves along Queen-lines, jumps and stops at the next square, capturing if possible. The jump is mandatory (unlike Schmittberger's 
Airplane 70 years later). Grasshopper cannot move at all unless it can jump. Grasshopper is first piece of its kind altering Xiangqi Cannon -- unless someone finds earlier example(s). Please correct, if knowing of other past use of jumping along radial lines. It is very possible, as for example Winther's research finding Pasha from Paulovits' Game around 1890, as the earliest precedent for Winter's own Mastodon ( a legitimate solution on 8x10). Otherwise we assume Dawson is first with this genre of chess piece, consciously and respectfully differentiating from ancient eastern Cannon; and follow-up will look at Schmittberger's Airplane (1981) in the same class.

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