Dragonfly (also known as Shuttle Chess or Bird Chess) is a chess variant invented by

Christian Freeling Christian Freeling (born 1 February 1947, in Enschede, Netherlands) is a Dutch game designer and inventor of abstract strategy games, notably Dameo, Grand Chess, Havannah, and Hexdame. Freeling's designs cover a range of game types. Several o ...

in 1983. There are no

queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, and a captured

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, or

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

becomes the property of the capturer, who may play it as their own on a turn to any open square. The board is 7×7 squares, or alternatively a 61-cell

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A '' regular hexagon'' has ...

with two additional pawns per side. The game is an offshoot and simplification of a Freeling game named Loonybird (or Dragon Chess). Still, "Play is complex and interesting. Draws are rare too."

Game rules

The standard rules of chess apply, including winning by checkmate. But Dragonfly follows these special rules: * A bishop, knight, or rook that is captured enters the capturing player's pieces in hand in their own color. As a move, a player may drop any one of the pieces they have in hand on any open square (if the move is otherwise legal). Captured pawns do not go in hand and are instead removed from the game. * Pawns do not have an initial double-step option. (So, ''

en passant ''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...

'' is not possible.) A pawn promotes when reaching the furthest to any piece of the player's choosing from those currently held in hand by their opponent. (If the opponent has none, then a pawn move to the furthest rank may not be made.) The chosen piece is removed from the opponent's in-hand stock. * Castling is permitted, and normal castling conventions apply, with the king shifting over two squares in either direction. But castling with a dropped rook is not allowed.

Dragonfly hex

Dragonfly on the hex board is played the same as Dragonfly 7×7, except that pieces move and capture as in

Gliński's hexagonal chess Hexagonal chess is a group of chess variants played on boards composed of hexagon . The best known is Gliński's variant, played on a symmetric 91-cell hexagonal board. Since each hexagonal cell not on a board edge has six neighbor cells, there ...

(with the exceptions that pawns have no initial double-step option, and castling is permitted).

References

Bibliography * *

External links

Official website
MindSports.nl

by Hans L. Bodlaender, ''

The Chess Variant Pages ''The Chess Variant Pages'' is a non-commercial website devoted to chess variants. It was created by Hans Bodlaender in 1995. The site is "run by hobbyists for hobbyists" and is "the most wide-ranging and authoritative web site on chess variants" ...

''
Zillions of Games
by Ed van Zon

a simple program by Ed Friedlander (

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

) {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants 1983 in chess Board games introduced in 1983

Game rules

Dragonfly hex

See also

References

External links