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Chess Part XV (Fairy Pieces) Trivia Quiz

A Fairy Chess piece is any piece that is not in normal chess. This quiz mainly focuses on the endgame properties of these pieces. Unless specified, assume that the piece's movements are symmetrical. A 1,2 leaper implies all 8 movements of the knight.

A multiple-choice quiz by iggy4. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
iggy4

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
345,629

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
165

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. A Knight leaps in a path of 2,1 and can generally hold a draw against a rook. Which of these fairy chess pieces can also generally hold a draw against a rook? Hint

a piece that leaps in a path of 3,2

a piece that leaps in a path of 4,2

a piece that leaps in a path of 4,1

a piece that leaps in a path of 3,1

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. If chess had pieces that moved the same as their kings, but could be captured like any other piece, then how would their value compare to the value of a rook? Hint

often a better attacker, but a worse piece in general

often a worse defender, but a better piece in general

often a worse attacker, but a better piece in general

often a better defender, but a worse piece in general

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. A piece that moves like both rook and knight is useful against ______ and is preferred over a queen when playing against them. Hint

minor pieces

bishops

knights

rooks

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Make this a true statement: A king, bishop, and ______ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 chessboard. Hint

a piece that leaps in a path of 6,1

a piece that leaps in a path of 3,2

a piece that leaps in a path of 2,2 (if opposite color of bishop)

a piece that leaps in a path of 5,3 (if opposite color of bishop)

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Make this a true statement.
A king, a knight, and ________ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 board. Hint

a piece that leaps in a path of 4,2

a piece that leaps in a path of 3,2

a piece that leaps in a path of 6,1

a piece that leaps in a path of 1,1

6. A piece that leaps in the path of 4,1 can potentially access every square on an infinitely large chessboard. What fraction of an infinitely large chessboard, would it be able to potentially access, if its move choices were cut in half so that it was only allowed to make 4,1 leaps where each leap path is either parallel or perpendicular to all of its past moves? Hint

1/15

1/17

1/8

1/16

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. After a knight moves three times, it is possible for it to end up on a square adjacent to its starting square. Example with N on g8 (Nf6 Nh7 Nf8).
On a 3D chessboard, what x,y,z leaper can move three times and end up on a square adjacent to its starting square? Hint

8,1,2

4,1,8

2,1,2

2,1,4

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. A king and a piece that can leap like both ____________ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 chessboard. Hint

3,2 and 3,3

2,2 and 3,2

2,1 and 3,1

3,1 and 3,2

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. A piece that leaps in the path of 3,2 can potentially access every square on an infinitely large chessboard. What fraction of an infinitely large chessboard, would it be able to potentially access, if it was only allowed to make 3,2 leaps where the 3 leap always goes north/south and 2 leap always goes east/west?

Answer: (Enter Digit(s) of Denominator)

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. A piece that leaps in the path of 4,3 can potentially access every square on an infinitely large chessboard. What fraction of an infinitely large chessboard, would it be able to potentially access, if it was only allowed to make 4,3 leaps where both coordinates are positive or both are negative? Hint

1/24

1/8

1/7

1/25

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A Knight leaps in a path of 2,1 and can generally hold a draw against a rook. Which of these fairy chess pieces can also generally hold a draw against a rook?

Answer: a piece that leaps in a path of 3,1

Although a 3,1 leap can only access squares of the same color, the flexibility of the leap is usually more important than how many squares it can reach overall. If chess was played with this piece instead of bishops, then they would be worth only about a pawn less than knights. The other choices are almost as weak as pawns.

2. If chess had pieces that moved the same as their kings, but could be captured like any other piece, then how would their value compare to the value of a rook?

Answer: often a better defender, but a worse piece in general

The rook needs long range in order to be effective, so it is often a poor defender. In close-range situations, the king's ability to move diagonally is often more important than the rook's long range. A king can trap a rook on a 3x3 chessboard, and a king can perpetually attack a rook on a 4x4 chessboard.

3. A piece that moves like both rook and knight is useful against ______ and is preferred over a queen when playing against them.

Answer: knights

The fact that this piece moves like a knight prevents it from being forked by a knight. The queen is better against bishops since a king and queen cannot be forked by a bishop.

4. Make this a true statement: A king, bishop, and ______ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 chessboard.

Answer: a piece that leaps in a path of 3,2

The 3,2 is the most flexible. The 5,3 and 6,1 are too large, and the 2,2 only reaches 1/8 of the board.

5. Make this a true statement. A king, a knight, and ________ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 board.

Answer: a piece that leaps in a path of 6,1

There are two potential mating patterns.

Pattern A: Defender's king is on a1. Attacker's king is on b3. The knight controls c1. The other piece checks while controlling a1 & c1, then after the defender's king moves to b1, the knight moves and delivers checkmate.

Pattern B: Defender's king is on b1. Attacker's king is on b3. The other piece controls c1. The knight checks, forcing defender's king to a1. The other piece moves and delivers checkmate.

Although the 1,1 leaper can accomplish Pattern A, and the 4,2 leaper can accomplish Pattern B, these pieces are not flexible enough to actually force the defender's king into the corner most of the time. Although the 6,1 leaper can only reach 75% of the 8x8 board, its far leap is useful for preventing the defender's king from escaping to the center during the mating process.
The 3,2 leaper is the only choice that can actually reach every square on the chessboard, but it is a bad piece for mating against the lone king.

Answer: 1/17

The formula for figuring the accessing range of a piece that can move in 4 directions and create a perfect square with its path, is x squared plus y squared, so 1 squared plus 4 squared equals 17.

7. After a knight moves three times, it is possible for it to end up on a square adjacent to its starting square. Example with N on g8 (Nf6 Nh7 Nf8). On a 3D chessboard, what x,y,z leaper can move three times and end up on a square adjacent to its starting square?

Answer: 2,1,4

There's one leaper per dimension with this ability.

1
1,2
1,2,4
1,2,4,8
1,2,4,8,16
1,2,4,8,16,32

etc.

8. A king and a piece that can leap like both ____________ can generally force checkmate against a lone king on an 8x8 chessboard.

Answer: 3,1 and 3,2

The piece needs to be able to control c1 (to prevent defender's king from escaping to the center, and then control both b1 and a1 on the next move. The 2,1/3,1 leaper could do this if you disregard the kings, but the final positioning of the kings makes it impossible to force.

Answer: 12

A knight with these rules would be able to reach 1/4 of the chessboard. The formula is simply double the product of the two coordinates. A piece that leaps 1000 in the north/south direction and 2000 in the east/west direction would only be able to reach one four millionth of an infinitely large chessboard.

Answer: 1/7

It can reach every square on every 7th diagonal. If knights had the same rule, they would only be able to reach 1/3 of squares. A 3,2 leaper with the same rule can reach 1/5 of squares. The formula is the square of the larger coordinate minus the square of the smaller coordinate. Four squared minus three squared equals seven.

Source: Author iggy4

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

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