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Bodyguard Chess
. A 9x9 variant, with a Bodyguard and two Kwaggas per side (zrf available).[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]The array diagram on the link appears not to show any Kwaggas. Are they available only by promotion, or kept in reserve, or what?
Charles, they are actually on the diagram (striped horses). I strongly suspect that it's possible, in any big-board variant, to add Kwaggas in exchange for the knights. In some cases the game might become more attractive while the Kwagga seems always to have the same value, more or less, as a bishop. This means that they can be exchanged. Sometimes the knight seems to play a retiring role. Adding Kwaggas would change this. I will probably add Kwaggas to Mastodon Chess. I wonder how this extinct species would fare in all those popular Capablanca variants. /Mats
Is it possible to force mate with King + two Kwaggas against a lone King? I am looking for something more than a simple mate in one or two moves, resulting from a blunder by the lone King. See the Comments dated [2006-04-03] by myself and Joost Brugh for information on the cases involving pairs of Camels, Cannons, and Knights.
David, I don't know, but I think not, because the Kwagga cannot gain tempo. This it has in common with the knight. It is easy for a bishop to gain tempo (or lose a move, if you will), and this is why bishop and knight can give mate, together with a king. However, a Kwagga cannot possibly give mate together with a bishop if the Kwagga moves on the same square colour as a bishop(?). By the way, I have now implemented Kwaggas as second variant in Mastodon Chess (10x10). http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/mastodon.htm In this way one can compare the Kwagga's properties with the knight's, and see how it affects the game. /Mats
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