The Piececlopedia: Amazon



Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.

The Piececlopedia is intended as a scholarly reference concerning the history and naming conventions of pieces used in Chess variants. But it is not a set of standards concerning what you must call pieces in newly invented games.

The Piececlopedia: Amazon

Historic remarks

The Amazon, which is a compound of the Queen and the Knight, was invented (but not under this name) in the middle ages. At certain places in Europe, one experimented with this piece instead of the Queen, trying out how to replace the old slow Ferz by a more powerfull piece. Dickins mentions four names for this piece: Omnipotent Queen, Terror, General, or Amazon. He also mentions that it was used before 1500 A.D. It's most common name these days is Amazon.

This piece has been used in these games, among others:

Year Game Piece Name Game Inventor
Middle Ages Amazon Chess Amazon Unknown
<= 17?? Great Chess - Indian / Turkish variant Giraffe Unknown
<= 18?? The Maharaja and the Sepoys Maharaja Unknown
1840 The Emperor's Game General L. Tressan
1978 Tutti-Frutti Chess Amazon Ralph Betza and Philip Cohen
1996 The Amazon Army (CDA) Amazon Ralph Betza
1996 Tiger Hunt Tiger David Paulowich
1999 Haynie's Great Chess Amazon Billy Haynie
1999 Fantasy Grand Chess Elder Peter S. Hatch
1999 Millennial Chess Empress John William Brown
2000 Beau Monde Chess Empress Sergey Sirotkin
2000 Cardmate Ace Ivan A Derzhanski
2000 Giant Chess General Köksal Karakus
2000 Perfect Chess General Köksal Karakus
2000 Terror Chess Terror Brian Wong
2000 Turkish Chess General Köksal Karakus
2014 Sac Chess Amazon Kevin Pacey

Movement

The Amazon is a compound piece that can moves as a Knight, Rook, or Bishop.

Squares where the Amazon can move to without jumping are marked with a green circle; squares where the Amazon can jump to are marked with a blue circle.

Notes

This piece can checkmate a bare king, without assistance. Try it!

AI Concept Art

A Black Terror, drawn by AI.
A White Amazon, drawn by AI.

Piece Graphics

Click on an image to view the full piece set it belongs to.

Abstract Set Alfaerie Set
Motif Set Cazaux Set

Printable Pieces

The following designs are available for printing on a 3D printer. Links are to Thingiverse.

Amazon by Jean-Louis Cazaux
Amazon by Bob Greenwade

References

Dickins, Anthony. A Guide to Fairy Chess, 1969.

This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.
Written by Hans Bodlaender and Fergus Duniho.
WWW page created: October 15, 1998.
Last updated: November 26, 2024.