Grasshopper chess

Grasshopper chess is a chess variant, in which the pawns are alowed to promote to a fairy piece grasshopper. In some variations grasshoppers may also be present on the board in the opening position, in addition to the usual pieces, for example by moving the pawns forward and putting grasshoppers along the 2nd and 7th ranks.

The grasshopper was introduced by T. R. Dawson in 1913 in problems published in the Cheltenham Examiner newspaper. It is the most popular fairy piece used in variant chess problems. It moves along ranks, files and diagonals but only by hopping over another piece at any distance to the square immediately beyond. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond is occupied by a piece of opposite colour that piece is captured.

Sources

{J. Boyer, Les Jeux D'Echecs Non Orthodoxes, 1951}

External inks

• Grasshopper chess selected problems