Sam Trenholme wrote on Fri, Apr 27, 2007 04:25 PM UTC:
I just want to note that the Crab is also a piece invented by Ralph Betza that is a half knight. Betza's crab can move, from e5, to d7, f7, c4, and g4. It's a useful piece because it is not colorbound and is worth half as much as a knight. It can be used to create other pieces that are worth about as much as a knight: Crab + Wazir, Crab + Alfil, Crab + Dabbah, and Crab + Ferz, to name just four examples.
Might also be useful in a Capablanca variant to remove some power from the board.