Fairy chess

Oniţiu, Petrović, Dawson & Fox
1st Pr. Kniest TT. 1930
FIDE Album 1914-1944/III
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
Mate 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#

Fairy chess is the area of chess composition in which there are some changes to the rules of chess. It may involve changes to the board, pieces, or rules to express an idea or theme impossible in orthodox chess. An altered piece used in fairy chess is known as a fairy chess piece. The term fairy chess was introduced by Henry Tate in 1914. Thomas R. Dawson (1889–1951), the "father of fairy chess",[1] invented many fairy pieces and new conditions. He was also problem editor of Fairy Chess Review (1930–1951).

Although the term fairy chess is sometimes used for games, it is more usually applied in the context of problems.[2] Variations on chess intended to create complete, playable games are more typically referred to as chess variants.

  1. ^ Pritchard, D. B. (2007). The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.
  2. ^ Pritchard, D. B. (1994), The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, Games & Puzzles Publications, p. 107, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1