Grasshopper (chess)


The grasshopper is a fairy chess piece that moves along,, and but only by hopping over another piece at any distance to the square immediately closest. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond a piece is occupied by a piece of the opposite color, the grasshopper can capture that piece. The grasshopper may jump over pieces of either color; the piece being jumped over is unaffected.
The grasshopper was introduced by T. R. Dawson in 1913 in problems published in the Cheltenham Examiner newspaper. It is one of the most popular fairy pieces used in chess problems.

Movement

In this article the grasshopper is shown as an inverted queen with notation G. In this diagram the white grasshopper on d4 can move to the squares marked with crosses, as well as capture the black pawn on a7. It cannot move to g4, because there are two pieces to hop over.

Example problem

Solution:

Related pieces

Other related pieces in the problemist tradition are the eagle, hamster, moose, and sparrow, which move and capture like the grasshopper but are deflected 90°, 180°, 45°, and 135° respectively upon passing the hurdle. The compound of all four and the grasshopper itself is the marguerite.