External Link: Alseid Chess
The Alseid moves like a queen, any distance in any direction, but it cannot capture. Instead the Alseid, when it moves away from a piece that is hidden behind a screen, has the power to kidnap it and place it where the Alseid was located before the move. Any kind of piece can function as screen. The kidnapped piece, which can be of any colour, is the second nearest piece in the opposite direction of the move. Thus the Alseid can be used for transporting friendly pieces, or dislocating enemy pieces. Friendly pawns can be brought nearer to the promotion square. In the middlegame the enemy king can be kidnapped to the middle of the board, which is not a good place for it to be. This versatile piece introduces interesting new problems to the chessplayer, and will create many unusual possibilities. The Alseid's value is the same as a knight (preliminary estimate).Note: in an alternative variant the Alseid can only kidnap a piece if it moves one step. The 'weak' Alseid can better decide whether it wants to kidnap a piece. It can avoid dragging the piece along by moving farther than one step.
The Alseids (alsos, "grove") were nymphs of glens and groves. Like the other classes of nymphs, they were extremely long-lived, although not immortal.
A Zillions
program and more information is here.External Link: http://www.two-paths.com/bg/alseidchess.htm
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By M Winther.
Web page created: 2006-10-28. Web page last updated: 2006-10-28