Grasshopper (chess)

White grasshopper
Black grasshopper
Common icons used in diagrams

The grasshopper is a fairy chess piece that moves along ranks, files, and diagonals (like a queen) but only by hopping over another piece. The piece to be hopped may be of either color and any distance away, but the grasshopper must land on the square immediately beyond it in the same direction. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond a piece is occupied by a piece of the opposite color, the grasshopper can capture that piece.[1]

The grasshopper was introduced by T. R. Dawson in 1913 in problems published in the Cheltenham Examiner newspaper. It is one of the most popular fairy pieces used in chess problems.[2]

In this article, the grasshopper is shown as an inverted queen and notated as G.

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Movement

abcdefgh
8
h8 black cross
a7 black pawn
d7 black cross
g7 black king
b6 black pawn
d6 white pawn
d4 white upside-down queen
e4 white pawn
f4 white pawn
c3 white pawn
b2 black cross
d2 white king
d1 black cross
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
The grasshopper must hop over other pieces in order to move or capture. Here, it can move to any square marked "x", or it can capture the pawn on a7.

In the diagram to the right, the white grasshopper on d4 can move to the squares marked with crosses (b2, d1, d7, and h8) or capture the black pawn on a7. It cannot move to g4, as there are two pieces to hop over.

Example problem

V. Onitiu, N. Petrović, T. R. Dawson
& C. M. Fox (1930)
abcdefgh
8
a8 black upside-down queen
f7 black upside-down queen
a2 black pawn
h2 black upside-down queen
a1 black king
c1 white king
h1 white upside-down queen
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White mates in 8 (with grasshoppers Ga8, f7, h2, and h1)

Solution:

1. Gh3 Gh4 2. Gh5 Gh6 3. Gh7 Gh8 4.Ge7 Gd7 5. Gc7 Gb7 6. Ga7+ Ga6 7. Ga5+ Ga4 8. Ga3#

Other related pieces in the problemist tradition are the eagle, hamster, moose, and sparrow, which move and capture like the grasshopper but are deflected (to either side) 90°, 180°, 45°, and 135°, respectively, upon passing the hurdle.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pritchard (1994), p. 227: "It moves and captures on Q-lines by hopping over a man of either colour to the next square beyond."
  2. ^ Dickins (1971), p. 8: "[...] the Grasshopper (G), (), which moves and captures on Queen lines by hopping over the first man of either colour standing on one of those lines to the square next beyond that man. This, the commonest and most familiar of the Fairy Pieces, was invented by T. R. Dawson at the end of 1912, the first G Problem being published in the Cheltenham Examiner, 3rd July 1913. [...] Some thousands of problems using Grasshoppers have been published."

Bibliography

  • Dickins, Anthony (1971) [corrected repub. of 1969 2nd ed., The Q Press, Richmond, Surrey, England]. A Guide to Fairy Chess. New York: Dover Publications Inc. pp. 8, 65. ISBN 0-486-22687-5.
  • Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.