Tripper (chess)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Tripper (notation G) jumps three squares diagonally, leaping over intermediate pieces.

A tripper is a fairy chess piece that jumps three squares diagonally, leaping over any intermediate piece. Below, it is given the symbol G from Betza notation.

Value

The tripper by itself is not much more powerful than a pawn, but as an additional power to other pieces it is worth slightly less than half a knight. This slightly reduced value is due to its limited mobility on the 8×8 board; Betza noted that it was a much more useful component on the 12×12 board, then having practically its ideal value of half a knight. Its value as a piece by itself is severely compromised by its being only being able to reach an eighteenth of the squares on any size of chessboard; combining it with other pieces usually masks this weakness to some extent.

References

• Ideal and Practical Values (part 4): Odds and Ends by Ralph Betza, The Chess Variant Pages
• Augmented [Different] Knights by Ralph Betza, The Chess Variant Pages