Illustration of a queen (French: La Dame) from the Charlemagne chessmen, when she had the move of a ferz
The ferz is a very old piece, appearing in chaturanga and shatranj, the ancestors of all chess variants; it also featured in games such as Tamerlane chess. The ferz was a standard chess piece until the modern moves of queen and bishop were developed around the 15th century, with the ferz being replaced by the former.
The ferz also appears in some large historical shogi variants, such as in dai shogi under the name cat sword (猫刄 myōjin). The Thai variant of chess, makruk, retains the ferz from shatranj as the "Met", both as a starting piece and as the only pawn promotion option. Thus, much of shatranj endgame theory is also valid for makruk.
The piece was originally called the mantri (Sanskrit for "minister" or "counsellor"), which was translated by the Persians to farzin or farzīn (فرزین), which means "counsellor" or "wise man". This was shortened to ferz, and this became firz or fers in Medieval Europe. Its name later changed to queen, but when that name started being used for the modern chess queen, its former name ferz or fers began to be used in chess problems. In modern Eastern Slavic languages, however, ferz (ферзь) is the current name for the chess queen.
Valueedit
The ferz by itself is worth about half a knight. A king and three ferzes can force checkmate on a bare king if not all three ferzes are on the same square color; a king and two ferzes on opposite-colored squares can force stalemate on a bare king,[2] but not easily, and they cannot force checkmate. The endgame of rook versus ferz is a win for the rook. Despite being colorbound, the ferz is the strongest of the basic leapers during the opening phase of the game, even stronger than the wazir, due to its larger mobility forward. A wazir and a ferz can force checkmate on a bare king only if the bare king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color square as that of the ferz. While a knight and wazir can usually force checkmate against a bare king, a knight and ferz can only do so if the bare king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color square as that of the ferz. The wazir is better than the ferz in most endgames because of the wazir's ability to restrict squares adjacent to the squares last restricted.
Symboledit
Both white and black symbols for the ferz have been provisionally accepted for a future version of the Unicode standard, in the Chess Symbols block:[3][4]
U+1FA54 WHITE CHESS FERZ U+1FA56 BLACK CHESS FERZ
^Bala, Gavin Jared; Miller, Kirk (22 December 2023). "Unicode request for shatranj symbols" (PDF). unicode.org. Unicode. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
^Unicode. "Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline". unicode.org. The Unicode Consortium. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
Bibliography
Dickins, Anthony (1971) [Corrected repub. of 1969 2nd ed., The Q Press, Richmond, Surrey, England]. A Guide to Fairy Chess. New York: Dover Publications Inc. ISBN0-486-22687-5.
ferz, ferz, fers, fairy, chess, piece, that, move, square, diagonally, used, orthodox, chess, shatranj, form, chess, before, being, replaced, queen, abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghthe, ferz, represented, inverted, bishop, move, marked, square, capture, pawn, . The ferz or fers is a fairy chess piece that may move one square diagonally 1 It was used in orthodox chess and in Shatranj form of chess before being replaced by the queen abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghThe ferz represented by an inverted bishop may move to any marked square or capture the pawn on c5 Contents 1 History and nomenclature 2 Value 3 Symbol 4 References 5 External linksHistory and nomenclature edit nbsp Illustration of a queen French La Dame from the Charlemagne chessmen when she had the move of a ferzThe ferz is a very old piece appearing in chaturanga and shatranj the ancestors of all chess variants it also featured in games such as Tamerlane chess The ferz was a standard chess piece until the modern moves of queen and bishop were developed around the 15th century with the ferz being replaced by the former The ferz also appears in some large historical shogi variants such as in dai shogi under the name cat sword 猫刄 myōjin The Thai variant of chess makruk retains the ferz from shatranj as the Met both as a starting piece and as the only pawn promotion option Thus much of shatranj endgame theory is also valid for makruk The piece was originally called the mantri Sanskrit for minister or counsellor which was translated by the Persians to farzin or farzin فرزین which means counsellor or wise man This was shortened to ferz and this became firz or fers in Medieval Europe Its name later changed to queen but when that name started being used for the modern chess queen its former name ferz or fers began to be used in chess problems In modern Eastern Slavic languages however ferz ferz is the current name for the chess queen Value editThe ferz by itself is worth about half a knight A king and three ferzes can force checkmate on a bare king if not all three ferzes are on the same square color a king and two ferzes on opposite colored squares can force stalemate on a bare king 2 but not easily and they cannot force checkmate The endgame of rook versus ferz is a win for the rook Despite being colorbound the ferz is the strongest of the basic leapers during the opening phase of the game even stronger than the wazir due to its larger mobility forward A wazir and a ferz can force checkmate on a bare king only if the bare king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color square as that of the ferz While a knight and wazir can usually force checkmate against a bare king a knight and ferz can only do so if the bare king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color square as that of the ferz The wazir is better than the ferz in most endgames because of the wazir s ability to restrict squares adjacent to the squares last restricted Symbol editBoth white and black symbols for the ferz have been provisionally accepted for a future version of the Unicode standard in the Chess Symbols block 3 4 U 1FA54 WHITE CHESS FERZ U 1FA56 BLACK CHESS FERZReferences edit Piececlopedia Ferz at The Chess Variant Pages Variant Chess 60 pp 92 94 Bala Gavin Jared Miller Kirk 22 December 2023 Unicode request for shatranj symbols PDF unicode org Unicode Retrieved 4 February 2024 Unicode Proposed New Characters The Pipeline unicode org The Unicode Consortium Retrieved 4 February 2024 Bibliography Dickins Anthony 1971 Corrected repub of 1969 2nd ed The Q Press Richmond Surrey England A Guide to Fairy Chess New York Dover Publications Inc ISBN 0 486 22687 5 External links editEndgame statistics with fantasy pieces at The Chess Variant Pages The Ferz by Ralph Betza The Chess Variant Pages Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ferz amp oldid 1203148535, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
