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Bob Greenwade wrote on Sat, Mar 23, 2024 03:13 PM UTC:

249. Oenophilist and 250. Janitor. Though the result was (to me, at least) quite interesting, the origin for this weekend's pair is admittedly rather ridiculous: I wanted an excuse to start a piece's name with Π(the single-letter ligature form of OE).

The only word that I could find beginning with œ (or oe) that seemed at all suitable was œnophilist (alternately œnophile), a fancy word for a connoisseur of wines. While it's a cool-sounding word, it didn't seem really practical to come up with a representative move for sitting around and drinking wine. But if I stretched the definition somewhat,* I could see this as a piece that looks like it's wandering up and down the rows of grapes at a vineyard.**

My initial inclination was to have the piece moving like a vertical Rook until it reaches the edge of the board, then stepping one space to the left or right and then continuing in the opposite direction. In devising a way to get it to move like that on the board in XBetza, I ran into several issues, among them not remembering how to detect the edge of the board in XBetza,*** so I went with what I could find. So, as a piece, the Oenophilist (or Œnophilist) moves vertically like a Rook until it reaches an obstacle, then moves one step to the left or right and returns in the opposite direction. (vRvgabsRvgabsyafaR)

Not that, in this diagram, the Oenophilist can either capture the Black Pawn, or use it as the obstacle against which it reverses course.

My next problem was coming up with the name for a piece that does the same thing, but horizontally. The movement reminded me somewhat of the cleaning crew at a theater or stadium, going back and forth through the rows of seats to pick up garbage. So, I decided to go with the Janitor. (sRsgabsRsgabsyafaR)

I think that these would work best on slightly-large boards (10x10 or 12x12), especially with Shogi-like overtones.

The models were a different sort of challenge. The Oenophilist suggested a wine glass, so I tried going with that. For the Janitor, I almost went with a broom and standing dust tray, but that seemed too light and potentially fragile, so I gave a shot at making a garbage can.**** With both -- especially the garbage can -- I'm not sure how successful I was.

*OK, with this it's practically out of shape. If it's too much for you, go with an alternate name such as Vintner or Winegrower.

**My home state of Oregon has been rather noted for its quality wines, though in recent years the increasing incidence of wildfires have spoiled some of our harvests. Still, if I were a drinker of wines, I'd be quite interested in Firesteed, grown only about 9 miles from where I grew up (and about 26 miles from where I live now).

***Should I find (or someone present) an XBetza that goes with my original intent, I'll edit this entry to reflect the correction.

****For those worried that chess pieces should be bottom-heavy, I hollowed out the upper part of the garbage can.


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