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Alfil. Jumps two diagonally. Arabic for the elephant.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Charles Gilman wrote on Sat, Mar 1, 2003 08:09 AM UTC:

Regarding the name, the similarity between Alfil and Elephant is
fortuitous. The latter derives from Elephas, a word in Classical Greek
meaning both elephant and ivory. A similar coincidence in chess history is
that of Spider (literally spinner) and Ashtapada (literally
eight-footed).
Regarding the move itdose seem strange that so weak a piece represents so
strong an animal, and a leaping elephant seems very fanciful. A more
accurate portrayal of elephantine behaviour would be if it were blocked by
an allied piece (as in Xianqqi, the Chinese version) but captured any
enemy piece en route. This would mean that it could capture (a) on three
times as many squares as it can reach and (b) two pieces at once.