Falcon–hunter chess


Falcon–hunter chess is a chess variant invented by Karl Schultz in 1943, employing the two fairy chess pieces falcon and hunter. The game takes several forms, including variations hunter chess and decimal falcon–hunter chess added in the 1950s.

Moves of the falcon and hunter

  • The falcon moves forward as a chess bishop, and backward as a chess rook.
  • The hunter moves forward as a rook, and backward as a bishop.
Neither piece can move along a. The pieces capture the same as they move.

Rules

All the rules and conventions and objective of standard chess apply, including the starting setup. The falcon and hunter start the game off the board and out of play. Once a player loses their queen, a rook, a bishop, or a knight, they may, on any subsequent move, enter their falcon or hunter into play on any empty square of their. Doing so constitutes a turn. The player becomes eligible to enter their remaining fairy piece after losing a second piece. A move entering the falcon or hunter into play may also give check.

Variations

  • In one variation, the falcon and hunter are introduced only through pawn promotion: a pawn promotes only to falcon or hunter.
  • In another variation, the starting setup is without queens, and each player's king starts on a new square added to the end of the e-file. The hunter starts on the square normally reserved for the queen; the falcon starts on the square normally reserved for the king. A pawn may promote to any piece, including queen, falcon, or hunter.
  • Falcon–hunter chess was renamed hunter chess in the 1950s, with rule addition that either a queen or king may castle using a hunter.

    Decimal falcon–hunter

Decimal falcon–hunter chess, invented in the 1950s, is played on a 10×10 board with the falcon and hunter already in the starting setup. All the standard chess rules and conventions apply, with the following differences: