[ List Earliest Comments Only For Pages | Games | Rated Pages | Rated Games | Subjects of Discussion ]
Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.
Check out Janggi (Korean Chess), our featured variant for December, 2024.
The Imam should also be able to checkmate. The Checkmating Applet cannot handle lame leaps, but it says WNC can easily force checkmate on 9x9. This is only a small part of what the Imam can do, except that the N move there is the (lame) Mao. But in end-games the lameness almost never matters. The Gnu (NC) indeed cannot force mate, but this is an unlucky coincidence, caused by the King being in the way. Having even a single W move makes all the difference, though.
It is well known that two Camels (or in fact any pair of identical simple leapers) cannot force checkmate. Of course B+N on 9x9 cannot force checkmate if the Bishop is on the wrong shade, as all corners are of the same shade, and mate is only possible in the corner of the shade of the Bishop. Camel + Knight suffers from the same problem.
Gnu should pretty much be able to checkmate in combination with anything. The 3-vs-1 Applet shows it can even do it together with a Camel or Bishop of the wrong shade. If the other piece can cover (say) c1 with its own King on b3, it can keep the bare King at a1 & b1, and the Gnu can manoeuver at leasure to d2 to attack both of these. If the other piece can attack b1, you can trap the bare King likewise by putting the Gnu on d3 to cover c1, and after checking the bare King on b1 with the other piece, move the Gnu to b4 for checkmate. A Gnu is so strong that it can drive the King to a corner by itself.
Since Knight + Wazir can already force mate, Knight + Harvestman should be quite easy. Bishop + WN (as a poor-man's Harvestman) also appears to be won, even for the wrong shade; it appears edge checkmates can be forced in that case.