Wazir (chess)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
a5b5c5d5e5
a4b4c4 black crossd4e4
a3b3 black crossc3 white upside-down rookd3 black crosse3
a2b2c2 black crossd2e2
a1b1c1d1e1
The wazir moves one square orthogonally.

A wazir (or vazir) is a fairy chess piece that moves like a rook, but can go only one square at a time. In notation, it is given the symbol W. In this article, the wazir is represented by an inverted rook.

History and nomenclature[]

The wazir is a very old piece, appearing in some very early chess variants, such as Tamerlane chess. The general in xiangqi moves like a wazir, but has additional restrictions involving check and where it can move. It also appears in some historical large shogi variants, such as dai shogi, under the name "angry boar" (嗔猪 shinchō).

The name wazīr(vazir) (Arabic/Persian: وزير from Middle Persian vichir means "minister" in several West and South Asian languages, and is found in English as vizier. Wazīr (Vazir) is also the Arabic and the Persian name of the conventional chess piece called queen in English.

Value[]

Fortress positions in the
rook vs. wazir endgame
a4b4 white rookc4 white kingd4
a3 black kingb3c3d3
a2 black upside-down rookb2c2d2
a1b1c1d1
Black to move, draw
a4b4c4 white rookd4 white king
a3b3 black kingc3d3
a2b2 black upside-down rookc2d2
a1b1c1d1
Black to move, draw

The wazir by itself is not much more powerful than a pawn, but as an additional power to other pieces, it is worth about half a knight. Three wazirs and a king can force checkmate on a bare king, but not easily; two wazirs and a king can force stalemate on a bare king, but not easily. The endgame of rook versus wazir is a win for the rook except in two drawing fortress positions for the wazir. The ferz, despite being colorbound, is in fact more powerful than the wazir in the opening phase of the game due to its larger mobility forward. A wazir and a ferz cannot force checkmate on a bare king unless the bare king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color as the square of the ferz, but the combination of a knight and a wazir, that of a giraffe (the (1,4)-leaper) and a wazir, and that of a camel and a wazir can usually do so. 4.29% of the positions with knight and wazir against the bare king are fortress draws.

References[]

  • Endgame statistics with fantasy pieces by Dave McCooey, The Chess Variant Pages
  • Dickins, Anthony (1971) [Corrected repub. of 1969 2nd ed., The Q Press, Richmond, Surrey, England]. A Guide to Fairy Chess. New York: Dover Publications Inc. ISBN 0-486-22687-5.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""