Empress (chess)

The empress is a fairy chess piece that can move like a rook or a knight. It cannot jump over other pieces when moving as a rook but may do so when moving as a knight. The piece has acquired many names[lower-alpha 1] and is frequently called a chancellor or a marshal.

A common icon for the empress used in diagrams

Chess moves in this article use C as notation for the empress.

Movement

The empress can move as a rook or a knight.

abcdefgh
8
e7 black pawn
d6 black circle
e6 black cross
f6 black circle
c5 black circle
d5 white pawn
e5 black cross
g5 black circle
a4 black cross
b4 black cross
c4 black cross
d4 black cross
e4 white chancellor
f4 black cross
g4 white pawn
c3 black circle
e3 black cross
f3 white pawn
g3 black circle
d2 black circle
e2 black cross
f2 black circle
e1 black cross
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
The empress can move, but not jump, to squares with crosses; jump to squares with circles; or capture the pawn on e7.
abcdefgh
8
e8 black cross
e7 black cross
d6 black circle
e6 black cross
f6 black circle
c5 black circle
e5 black cross
g5 black circle
a4 black cross
b4 black cross
c4 black cross
d4 black cross
e4 white chancellor
f4 black cross
g4 black cross
h4 black cross
c3 black circle
e3 black cross
g3 black circle
d2 black circle
e2 black cross
f2 black circle
e1 black cross
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Maximum range of an empress on an empty board

History and nomenclature

The empress is one of the most simply described fairy chess pieces and as such has a long history and has gone by many names. It was first used in Turkish Great Chess, a large medieval variant of chess, where it was called the war machine (dabbabah; not to be confused with the piece more commonly referred to as the dabbaba today, which is the (2,0) leaper). It was introduced in the West with Carrera's chess from 1617, where it was called a champion[lower-alpha 2], and has been used in many chess variants since then.

The name chancellor was introduced by Ben Foster in his large variant Chancellor Chess (chess on a 9×9 board, with a chancellor on the opposite side of the king as the queen), and the name marshal was introduced by L. Tressan in his large variant The Sultan's Game. José Raúl Capablanca used both in his large variant Capablanca Chess: he originally called this piece the marshal, but later changed it to chancellor, which was his original name for the archbishop. Both chancellor and marshal are popular names for the rook+knight compound, although a case could be made for marshal, as the word is related to mare (female horse) and thus fits better for a piece that can move like a knight than chancellor, which has no connection to horses. Also, there are many commonly used chess pieces that, like chancellor, begin with C (e.g. the cannon in xiangqi, the camel in Tamerlane Chess, the champion in Omega Chess, and the cardinal or princess), and using the name marshal for the rook+knight compound would reduce this difficulty.

The name empress is the most widely used name among problemists. By analogy with the queen, which is a rook+bishop compound, it was suggested that the three basic combinations of the three simple chess pieces (rook, knight, and bishop) should all be named after female royalty. Since the rook+knight compound seemed to be obviously stronger than the bishop+knight compound (as the rook is stronger than the bishop), the name empress was used for the rook+knight compound, and the bishop+knight compound was called the princess. However, the word empress suggests a piece stronger than the queen, while this piece is at best equal to and perhaps weaker than the queen, especially in the endgame.

Value
abcdefgh
8
f8 white king
h7 black king
f5 white chancellor
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White to move can mate in one with 1.Ch4#.

Ralph Betza (inventor of chess with different armies, in which the empress was used in one of the armies) rated the empress as about nine points, equivalent to a queen, as the knight and bishop were about equal and the empress and queen were simply the knight and bishop with the power of a rook added to both. He noted that the queen may be slightly stronger than the empress in the endgame, but that the empress, on the other hand, has a greater ability to give perpetual checks and salvage a draw in an otherwise lost game. Unlike the queen, which can move in 8 different directions, the empress can move in 12.

In the endgame of king and amazon (queen+knight compound) versus king and empress, the amazon usually wins, but in a few positions, the weaker side may force a draw by setting up a fortress. These fortresses force the side with the amazon to give perpetual check, as otherwise the side with the empress can force a simplification or give its own perpetual check. King and empress versus king is a forced win for the side with the empress; checkmate can be forced within 11 moves. In comparison, the queen requires 10 moves, and the rook requires 16.

The drawing positions in the queen versus pawn endgame do not exist in the empress versus pawn endgame.

Examples
abcdefghij
8a8 black rookb8 black knightc8 black bishopd8 black empresse8 black queenf8 black kingg8 black princessh8 black bishopi8 black knightj8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black pawnd7 black pawne7 black pawnf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawni7 black pawnj7 black pawn7
6a6b6c6d6e6f6g6h6i6j66
5a5b5c5d5e5f5g5h5i5j55
4a4b4c4d4e4f4g4h4i4j44
3a3b3c3d3e3f3g3h3i3j33
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 white pawne2 white pawnf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawni2 white pawnj2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 white knightc1 white bishopd1 white empresse1 white queenf1 white kingg1 white princessh1 white bishopi1 white knightj1 white rook1
abcdefghij
Capablanca chess starting position. Chancellors are on d1 and d8; archbishops are on g1 and g8.
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black chancellor
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
d1 white chancellor
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Almost chess starting position. Chancellors replace queens.

Many chess variants use a rook+knight compound, but due to its powerful ability, it is uncommon for variants to use more than one per colour on a normal 8×8 board. Seirawan chess uses one such piece (called an elephant) per colour. Capablanca chess uses one chancellor per colour on a 10×8 board.

Almost chess replaces queens with chancellors; these pieces are approximately equal in value.

Symbol

Both white and black symbols for the empress were added to version 12 of the Unicode standard in March 2019, in the Chess Symbols block:

🩏 U+1FA4F WHITE CHESS KNIGHT-ROOK
🩒 U+1FA52 BLACK CHESS KNIGHT-ROOK

See also
  • Amazon—the rook+bishop+knight compound
  • Princess—the bishop+knight compound
  • Queen—the rook+bishop compound

Notes
  1. Less common names the piece has acquired include admiral, cannon, champion, colonel, concubine, count, dabbaba, duke, elephant, guard, lambeth, lord chancellor, marshall, princess, samurai, superrook, tank, visier, and wolf.[1]
  2. The game seems to have been an afterthought to his chess treatise and it is mysterious to what extent, if any, he might have used it in practice while he lived, viz. Capablanca Chess.

References
  1. Pritchard, D. B. (1994), "Pieces", The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, Games & Puzzles Publications, p. 227, ISBN 0-9524142-0-1

Bibliography

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