Sam Trenholme wrote on Sat, Oct 7, 2006 03:32 AM UTC:
The crab by itself is a very weak piece. What makes the crab interesting is that crab + ferz (e4 to d6, f6, c3, g3, d5, f5, d3, f3), crab + wazir (e4 to d6, f6, c3, g3, e6, d5, f5, e4), crab + alfil (e4 to d6, f6, c3, g3, c6, g6, c2, g2), and crab + dabbah (e4 to d6, f6, c3, g3, e6, c4, g4, e2) are all pieces that are worth about as much as a knight. This allows one to take a chess variant that uses a knight (or even the knight part of a knight + something else, such as the Archbishop [knight + bishop] and Marshall [knight + rook]), and replace the knight by one of the above four pieces.
Another interesting idea is the crab eqivalent of a camel (e4 to d7, f7, b3, and h3), which is even weaker than a crab (colorbound). This piece doesn't have a name, so I'll call it a mirage. The 'mirage' can be combined with a ferz, alfil, or dabbah to make an interesting colorbound piece, or with a wazir to make an interesting non-colorbound piece. 'Mirage' + wazir is probably slightly less powerful than a knight on an 8x8 board, but slightly more powerful than a knight on a 10x10 board.
Another interesting idea is the crab eqivalent of a camel (e4 to d7, f7, b3, and h3), which is even weaker than a crab (colorbound). This piece doesn't have a name, so I'll call it a mirage. The 'mirage' can be combined with a ferz, alfil, or dabbah to make an interesting colorbound piece, or with a wazir to make an interesting non-colorbound piece. 'Mirage' + wazir is probably slightly less powerful than a knight on an 8x8 board, but slightly more powerful than a knight on a 10x10 board.
- Sam