Knights and Leapers Explained

Intro

You may know about the Knight and how it leaps over other pieces, but did you know about other leapers?

What's a Leaper?

Leapers are fairy pieces that jump over other pieces in their movement.

Here's a bunch of them:

1. Ferz - a (1,1) leaper, the Ferz jumps to any diagonally adjacent square.
2. Wazir - a (1,0) leaper. Jumps to any vertically or horizontally adjacent square.
3. Cannon (Xiangqi) - Moves like the Rook, but it has to jump at least one piece (can be an enemy or ally) in order to capture a piece.
4. Alfil - (2,2) leaper, like Ferz but expanded to 2 squares instead of 1.
5. Dabbaba - (2,0) leaper, like Wazir but expanded to 2 squares instead of 1.
6. Threeleaper - (3,0) leaper, a Dabbaba that's been expanded to 3 squares as opposed to 2.
7. Giraffe - a (4,1) leaper, similar to the Knight. In the Grant Acedrex, the Giraffe had the same moves as the Zebra, meaning it was originally a (3,2) leaper, meanwhile, in H.J.R Murphy's translation, it moves as the (4,1) leaper we all know and love.
8. Zebra - a (3,2) leaper, also similar to the Knight. The Zebra's movement also belonged to the Giraffe in Grant Acedrex. Murphy's translation fixed the piece by changing the Giraffe to a (4,1) leaper. I can't stop discussing this!
9. Camel - a (3,1) leaper, appears as a Lancer in Brybelly's Faerie Chess, and a Giraffe in Giraffe Chess.
10. Knight - You know how it moves, silly!
11. Buffalo - Somehow it's a Knight, a Camel, and a Zebra all at once.
12. Amazon - Technically a leaper, it's a Knight mixed with a Queen.
13. Chancellor - Technically a leaper, as it's simply just a Knight-Rook combination. It earned the nickname of "the Knook" for its movement. Goes by many names, like Marshall, Chancellor (name widely used), Empress, Knook (referenced in Archbishop), and many more.
14. Archbishop - Like a Knook but it's a Bishop-Knight instead of a Rook-Knight. Other names for it include the Princess and Cardinal.
15. Wildebeest - Knight-Camel.

Honorable Mention: Xiangqi Horse

This piece moves horizontally or vertically one space, then moves diagonally forward one space. It can't jump, so it isn't a leaper. I just wanted to talk about him though.

Sneak peek at next article

Riders move endlessly as one piece. A "King-rider" would technically be a Queen, as it moves infinitely in any direction, as the King moves one space in any direction.