Icon Clearinghouse 4

In this section, I'll go through the many variations that have been applied to orthodox pieces, such as additional powers, tweaks to the moves, and so forth.

Note that these are subject to all of the same rules and guidelines as Part One, including finding the graphics themselves at /membergraphics/MSiconclearinghouse/ (not the counterpart for this page!).

Pieces

Though there's no shortage of pieces that fit this category, there's quite a shortage of special icons. These are the ones I've been able to find.

Simple Rotations

The most fundamental way to change an icon is to rotate it. Part 1 shows the orthodox pieces (and some others) turned upside-down; here are some other rotations.

While these exist mostly to fill in where no other icon seems to work -- and improvising with them is certainly the most common practice -- a few patterns have emerged. For example, the 90-degree counterclockwise (90 CCW) icons are sometimes used to represent the "cannon" version of a slider (even though dedicated icons for such pieces do exist).

Royal Variants

Sometimes a piece other than a King is Royal.

The Royal Knight is also known as Equus Rex (with various other spellings for "Equus"), or just Rex.

Enhanced Queens

Some of the best-known pieces in this category move like Queens, but have some unusual property, either instead of capturing or as an unusual way to capture.

The Edghog moves like a Queen, but must begin or end its move on an edge square. (At the time of this writing, there's no XBetza code for that.)

Altered Sliders

There are several ways to alter a slide.

Where a move is shown in the leftmost column, replace the X with the piece's initial (Q, B, or R).

*Reflecting Rook is meaningless, since reflecting orthogonally off the edge just sends the piece back in the same direction.

**Also see the "inverted" icons of each piece, found in Part One. Only Jean-Louis Cazaux actually labels them as Ski pieces, which is why they're there now.

Altered Knights

Knights, too, have their variations.

Short Pieces

These are pieces that move like a Queen, Bishop, or Rook, but only for a limited distance.

Half-Movers

These pieces are typically limited to half the usual distance -- that is, half the number of squares on the board (on a standard board, that's 4).

Besides "Half" and "Halfling," these may also be called "Short."

By Other Names

Though their names and icons aren't (necessarily) based on these three pieces, they function as shortened versions.

Some of these pieces are featured in other sections, but also belong here.

The Flying Dragon may also be called a Nun; the Violent Ox may also be a Hut.

*The Bodyguard normally has a Hia power, freezing any slider that enters an adjacent space (spell=freeze).

Riders & Roses

Riders are those pieces that take a leaping move, and continue in a straight line. Some take a single leap, others more than one, and a few mix leap-riding with stepping or sliding.

Roses also have repeated leap moves, but in a circle, with a turn of 45 degrees after each leap.

Something Else

Then there are icons that, while based on the orthodox, pieces, seem to represent something else, though it's not necessarily clear what. (That may or may not be intentional.)

This first set is used in Actualized Potential Chess (which does not have a page, as such, on this site) and similar games. In that game, "Potential" is an element of promotion rules; the icons can, of course, be used for any other purpose.

Pawns

There are many kinds of pawns used in many chess variants, and there's no reason that all pawns in a game have to be the same.

Different takes on the Standard Pawn are above; these are mainly variations of the Alfaerie version of that.

These may or may not actually be "common," but they don't stray too far from the basic principles of the Pawn. Those that do have moves well outside what pawns normally can do are (what I call) Enhanced Pawns.

These Pawns have extra, more powerful moves, but they can only promote if they reach the promotion zone using the pawn moves.

(Most of these icons are intended as Pawns that simply promote to the specified piece; this "repurposing" makes a good excuse to post them.)

Then there are Pawns with abilities far different from what Pawns normally have.

Notes

More than any other part of this, if you find, make, or otherwise know of any icon for a piece -- especially those marked as "not found" -- please let me know.

Last revised by Bob Greenwade.