No that piece has not been invented in the Middle Ages. This is just wrong. According to Monté, a chess historian, this piece was suggested by Lucena as the promoted pawn in his treatise of 1497. This is the earliest allusion to it.
Then, it seems that some players of modern chess in Italy, i.e. after the reform which occured at the end of the 15th c., were using it in place of the Queen and they were calling it Donnacavallo (which means a horse-riding lady). That was criticized by Carrera, then by Philidor.
There are testimonies that this piece was used instead of the Queen by some players in Russia and Georgia in 1770-1820. At the same period it appears in Gustav III's Chess in Sweden as Adjudant-General.
Then, the piece is found in several chess variants in the 19th century in Europe (called Commander) and also in India (called Giraffe or Prince). The name Amazon was used and popularized by chess problemists in the early 20th c.
Hi Christine
No that piece has not been invented in the Middle Ages. This is just wrong. According to Monté, a chess historian, this piece was suggested by Lucena as the promoted pawn in his treatise of 1497. This is the earliest allusion to it.
Then, it seems that some players of modern chess in Italy, i.e. after the reform which occured at the end of the 15th c., were using it in place of the Queen and they were calling it Donnacavallo (which means a horse-riding lady). That was criticized by Carrera, then by Philidor.
There are testimonies that this piece was used instead of the Queen by some players in Russia and Georgia in 1770-1820. At the same period it appears in Gustav III's Chess in Sweden as Adjudant-General.
Then, the piece is found in several chess variants in the 19th century in Europe (called Commander) and also in India (called Giraffe or Prince). The name Amazon was used and popularized by chess problemists in the early 20th c.