The Sagittar is a bifurcation piece. It always moves in two legs. It slides diagonally and jumps any piece to the next square, from where it slides on any of the two orthogonals in the prolonged movement direction. The square behind the jumped piece must be empty and the Sagittar cannot stop on this square. If the Sagittar lacks screens for jumping, then it cannot move. The Sagittar is worth the same as a knight or bishop (preliminary estimate). Other rules are the same as in standard chess, except for the possible promotion to Sagittar. Despite the fact that the Sagittar is dependent on screens for moving it is a dynamic piece that puts great demands on the chessplayer. While it cannot move about freely its movement demands planning. One must try to make use of its powers already in the opening. The Sagittar is a relative of the Korean cannon (in Korean Chess), which can only move if there exist pieces to jump over.
The Sagittar (lat. Sagittarius) means bowman. In ancient Rome this was a gladiator type who fought wild animals armed with bow and arrow. The H-board makes it possible to introduce this piece while maintaining a maximum of strategical possibilities in a standard Western chess context. Sagittar chess, and the new Sagittar piece, were invented by undersigned, September 2006.
The Sagittar always moves in two legs, the first is a diagonal slide and the second is an orthogonal slide that follows after a jump (red = capture).
The Sagittar's movement principle. The screens, that are used for jumping, occur anywhere on the first leg. Compare with the Korean cannon principle below.
The Korean cannon movement principle. In any of the four directions it can jump over a piece. It cannot stop before the screen.
• You can download my free Sagittar Chess program here (updated 2007-10-03), but you must own the software Zillions of Games to be able to run it (I recommend the download version).
• Don't miss my other chess variants.
© M. Winther (September 2006).
