The mann (plural mannen [1] ) or man is a fairy chess piece that may move to any adjoining square. It is similar to the king, but it is not a royal piece (i.e. it is not subject to check and checkmate), and it cannot castle. [2] The mann is used in many chess variants. In this article's diagrams, the mann is represented by an inverted king.
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The mann has the basic move of a king in chess: it may move to any adjoining square. It is otherwise treated as a normal chess piece (i.e. it can be captured and is not subject to check or checkmate). The mann is unable to castle. It can be thought of as the combination of a ferz and a wazir.
In general, the mann is approximately equal in strength and value to the knight. The mann often takes a few moves to get properly developed in the opening. It is effective at close proximity, where its striking power is considerable. Although it is rather slow, the mann is excellent at both attacking and defending nearby pieces and pawns, similar to the king. [3] The mann reaches its peak strength during the endgame, in which its value is slightly more than a knight, despite being slightly less than a knight in the opening. [4] It is possible to force checkmate with a mann and a king against a lone enemy king; since the enemy king cannot move to attack either, it is quite easy to box the king into a corner.
The mann is one of the most simply described chess pieces and as such has a long history and has gone by many names. [lower-alpha 1] A similar piece known as the dabbaba was described c. 950 in a form of chess on a 10×10 board. [2] The mann is used in Courier chess, invented in the 12th century and commonly played until the 18th century. [5] Many chess variants have used the mann; modern instances include Quatrochess (as mann), Roman chess (as archer or chariot), and Knightmate (as commoner).
Each mann is represented by an inverted king in the following examples.
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The king is the most important piece in the game of chess; the object of the game is to capture the king by checkmate, and the loss of the king entails loss of the game. It may move to any adjoining square; it may also perform, in tandem with the rook, a special move called castling. If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture immediately. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, resulting in a loss for that player. A player cannot make any move that places their own king in check. Despite this, the king can become a strong offensive piece in the endgame or, rarely, the middlegame.
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally, combining the powers of the rook and bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases.
The bishop is a piece in the game of chess. It moves and captures along diagonals without jumping over intervening pieces. Each player begins the game with two bishops. The starting squares are c1 and f1 for White's bishops, and c8 and f8 for Black's bishops.
A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn.
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, represented by a horse's head and neck. It moves two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically, jumping over other pieces. Each player starts the game with two knights on the b- and g-files, each located between a rook and a bishop.
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess. It may move one square directly forward, it may move two squares directly forward on its first move, and it may capture one square diagonally forward. Each player begins a game with eight pawns, one on each square of their second rank. The white pawns start on a2 through h2; the black pawns start on a7 through h7.
This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.
This glossary of chess problems explains commonly used terms in chess problems, in alphabetical order. For a list of unorthodox pieces used in chess problems, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms used in chess is general, see Glossary of chess; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants.
Checkmate is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess and similar games, check is a condition that occurs when a player's king is under threat of capture on the opponent's next turn. A king so threatened is said to be in check. A player must get out of check if possible by moving the king to an unattacked square, interposing a piece between the threatening piece and the king, or capturing the threatening piece. If the player cannot remove the check by any of these options, the game ends in checkmate and the player loses. Players cannot make any move that puts their own king in check.
Checkless chess, also known as prohibition chess, is a chess variant where neither player may give check unless it is checkmate. All other rules are as in regular chess. The origin of the game is unknown, dating from the mid-19th century. The variant is a popular problem theme, usually requiring a fairy mate.
In chess, promotion is the replacement of a pawn with a new piece when the pawn is moved to its last rank. The player replaces the pawn immediately with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The new piece does not have to be a previously captured piece. Promotion is mandatory when moving to the last rank; the pawn cannot remain as a pawn.
In chess, a flight square or escape square is a safe square to which a piece, especially a king, can move if it is threatened.
A pawnless chess endgame is a chess endgame in which only a few pieces remain, and no pawns. The basic checkmates are types of pawnless endgames. Endgames without pawns do not occur very often in practice except for the basic checkmates of king and queen versus king, king and rook versus king, and queen versus rook. Other cases that occur occasionally are (1) a rook and minor piece versus a rook and (2) a rook versus a minor piece, especially if the minor piece is a bishop.
The nightrider, alternatively spelled knightrider and also known as the knightmare or unicorn, is a fairy chess piece that can move any number of steps as a knight in the same direction. The nightrider is often represented by an altered version of the knight's icon. In this article, the nightrider is represented by an inverted knight and notated as N; the knight is abbreviated as S for the German name Springer.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:
The amazon, also known as the queen+knight compound or the dragon, is a fairy chess piece that can move like a queen or a knight. It may thus be considered the sum of all orthodox chess pieces other than the king and the pawn. The amazon can force checkmate on an enemy king without the help of any other friendly piece.
The wazir or vazir is a fairy chess piece that may move a single square vertically or horizontally. In notation, it is given the symbol W. In this article, the wazir is represented by an inverted rook.
Chess on a really big board is a large chess variant invented by Ralph Betza around 1996. It is played on a 16×16 chessboard with 16 pieces and 16 pawns per player. Since such a board can be constructed by pushing together four standard 8×8 boards, Betza also gave this variant the alternative names of four-board chess or chess on four boards.
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