Piececlopedia: Wizard
Historical notes
The Wizard was invented by Dan MacDonald in 1998 for his game Omega Chess.
Along with the Champion from the same game, it has been used in these additional games:- Wormhole Chess (2000) by Fergus Duniho
- Ximeracak (2002) by Glenn Overby
- Ten Cubed Chess (2005) by David Paulowich
- Gross Chess (2009) by Fergus Duniho.
- Yangsi (2016) by A. M. DeWitt
- Apothecary Chess-Modern (2017) by Aurelian Florea
- Soho Chess (2018) by Kevin Pacey
- Wide Soho Chess (2018) by Kevin Pacey
- Hectochess (2019) by A. M. DeWitt
- Grand Apothecary Chess-Modern (2021) by Aurelian Florea
The Wizard appears without the Champion in these games:
- Spinal Tap Chess (2002) by David Short
- Spinal Tap vs Terror Chess (2002) by David Short
- Treeleaders Chess (2003) by Erez Schatz
- Opulent Chess (2005) by Greg Strong
- Dervish Chess (2006) (under the name of Camel) by Benoit Dauphin
- Complete Chess (2020) by Thomas
- Obento Chess (2022) by Eric Silverman and Jean-Louis Cazaux
- Colorbound Chess (2023) by Lev Grigoriev
- Cutty Camels army (2023) by HaruN Y
- Desert Dust (2023) by Bob Greenwade
- Short Sliders (2023) by Bob Greenwade
- Timurid (2023) by François Houdebert
- Zwangkrieg (2023) by Bob Greenwade
Movement
The wizard has the combined movements of the camel and the ferz.More specifically, the wizard has one of the two following options:
- it can move a single square in any diagonal direction.
- it can move 3 squares in any orthogonal direction, and then one square in a perpendicular orthogonal direction, regardless of intervening pieces.
The wizard captures as it moves.
Movement diagram
In the diagram below, the wizard, which is normally symbolized by a crescent moon but is here represented by a sideways knight, can move to any of the squares marked with a black circle.
Remarks
Like the bishop, ferz, and camel, the wizard is colorbound, but because of its combined properties, it has neither the range limitations of the ferz or the awkwardness of the camel.You can see problems and sample games using the wizard on the Omega Chess home page.
Checkmating
The Wizard cannot inflict checkmate on a rectangular board with only assistance of its own King, and is thus a minor piece. Even with a pair of Wizards you cannot force checkmate on a bare King, but paired with another minor this is sometimes possible. Try it!
This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.
Originally written by Ben Good.
Revisions and graphics by Fergus Duniho.
WWW page created: February 15, 1999.
Last updated: November 27, 2024.