The camel or long knight is a

fairy chess piece A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some unorthodox chess problems, known as fairy chess. Compar ...

with an elongated

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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. The concept of a knighthood ...

move.Piececlopedia: Camel
by Hans 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". ...

'' It can jump three squares horizontally and one square vertically or three squares vertically and one square horizontally, regardless of intervening pieces. Therefore, it is a (1,3)-leaper. The piece commonly represented in diagrams as an inverted knight.

Movement

In the diagram below, the white camel on d4 can move to the squares marked with black dots (a3, a5, c1, c7, e1, e7, g3 and g5).

History and nomenclature

The camel is a very old chess piece, appearing in some early

chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...

s, such as Tamerlane chess. It also appears in some modern variants, such as wildebeest chess.

Value

The camel by itself is worth about two pawns (appreciably less than a knight) because of its and lack of sufficient freedom of movement on an 8×8 board. However, a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

, a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, and a camel can force

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

on a

bare king In chess and chess variants, a bare king (or lone king) is a king whose player has no other remaining pieces (i.e. all the player's other pieces have been ). Effect on the game Historical In some old versions of chess, such as "baring chess" and ...

, assuming that the bishop and the camel are not on the same square color;Endgame statistics with fantasy pieces
by Dave McCooey, ''The Chess Variant pages'' a king, a

, and a camel can usually force checkmate on a bare king, but not easily, and there are thirteen types of fortress draws; lastly, a king, a camel, and a wazir can sometimes force checkmate on a bare king, but it can take up to 77 moves. A king and two camels cannot checkmate a lone king, even if the camels are on different square colors. While the rook versus camel endgame is usually a draw, more winning positions exist than there are in rook versus knight and rook versus bishop endgames; the longest win takes 35 moves. (All endgame statistics mentioned are for the 8×8 board.)

Usage and value as a component

As a component of other pieces, the camel has about the same value as a knight (both pieces can move to at most eight squares). The camel plus ferz compound is used in Omega Chess, where it is called a '' wizard'',"Omega chess"
/ref> and the camel plus king compound is used in Paulovits's Game, where it is called a ''general''. Its long move carries the danger of unstoppable attacks in the

opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...

and of capturing winning large amounts of

material A material is a matter, substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an Physical object, object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical property, physical ...

.DAN+, Different Augmented Knights
by Ralph Betza, ''

'' For example, if a camel plus wazir compound (CW in Betza's funny notation) replaces White's queenside rook, then White can immediately win material with 1.(CW)b4, threatening 2.(CW)e5 to win the black

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

and 2.(CW)b5 to win the black rook on a8; the threats cannot both be parried.

References

{{Chess piece Fairy chess pieces Camels in art

Movement

History and nomenclature

Value

Usage and value as a component

See also

References