Piececlopedia: Antelope

Historical notes

The antelope is a less well-known fairy chess piece. I know of no games that use it. Torsten Linss has a few problems using the antelope.

Movement

The antelope is a (3,4)-jumper, i.e., it moves (with or without taking) four squares horizontally and five vertically, or five squares horizontally and four vertically. It `jumps', i.e., it can move regardless whether the intervening squares are occupied or not.

Movement diagram

In the diagram below, the antelope can move to all the squares marked with a black circle.

Checkmating

The Antelope cannot inflict checkmate on a rectangular board with only assistance of its own King, and is thus a minor piece. Even with a pair of Antelopes you cannot force checkmate on a bare King, but paired with another minor this is sometimes possible. Due to the clumsiness of the Antilope the partner might have to be rather strong to force the bare King into a corner. Try it!

This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.