Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for September 24, 2019

Marigold is probably offended that the knight in human chess is represented by a regular horse and not a unicorn.

Who would win, chess pieces or checkers?

I could use help like that myself.

32. C3PO x Q

Mate in 6, Max.

She’s too young to know it yet, but I wasn’t very much older than she appears when I figured out that cheating to win just isn’t as much fun as winning without cheating. I admit that I was at least occasionally able to win without cheating. If you never win, maybe it takes longer to learn that lesson.

Really, Max, don’t look so surprised at this.

Check doesn’t mean Mate, Phoebe. Look carefully. After that, you can use alternate rules.

In this rare case, the German expression “schachmatt” for “checkmate” is the pretty accurate pronunciation of the Persian expression “شاه مات” (schāh māt) – “The king is under attack/beaten/helpless”.

“It was the dumb way the pawns went off and slaughtered their fellow pawns while the kings lounged about doing nothing that always got to him; if only the pawns united, maybe talked the rooks round, the whole board could’ve been a republic in a dozen moves.”

— Why Sam Vimes doesn’t play chess, in Thud (Discworld, by Terry Pratchett)

Now we know why Darrin didn’t wanted Samantha to use magic so much on Bewitched (1964-1972) unless it was really necessary. What Phoebe and Marigold are doing here isn’t.

Do the alternate rules call for the game to be played on a 9×8 board?

That devious look on Marigold’s face in the last panel.

And you’ll surely lost again.

Nice strategy, Phoebe, to declare your intention to cheat, to your opponent!

Maybe Max could get an alternate set of rules from his dragon friend.

Those expressions.

On the chess board, the first square to the left of the players must be white. On the contrary if they are playing checkers, the first square must be black.

Rule changes are not cheating as long as all players agree to abide by them.

Always someone horning in…

Cheat yourself this way. Playing can improve yourself against a stronger opponent.

Unicorn Chess Description and History (On Internet)

This entry into the 100 Square Contest is played on a 10×10 board. Each side has 10 Pawns and 12 pieces. New pieces are the Chancellor (moves like a Rook or a Knight) and the Unicorn (moves like a Bishop or a Night-rider). I first tried Chancellors on the corner squares in an earlier variant (on a 10×8 board).

I got the idea of giving each side 22 men from Great Chess, but decided to place the Knights on the 2nd and 9th ranks.

The Night-rider makes repeated Knight moves along a “straight line” and can only be blocked by a man on one of the squares the Night-rider touches down on. There is no legal checkmate on a board with only a King, a Night rider, and the opponent’s King. I avoided this frustrating problem by combining a Night rider with a Bishop to make a new piece, the Unicorn. Even the name is (almost) new – the earliest use I recall is in a 3D variant. On 100 squares, the Unicorn is about the same strength as the Queen. However, Knights and Chancellors are definitely weaker than Bishops and Queens on 100 squares.

White Pawns on the second rank may advance 1 or 2 squares. The same rule applies to White Pawns on e3 and f3. NOTE: if White plays d2xe3, the new Pawn on e3 still has the right to advance either one or two squares (to e4 or e5), in spite of the fact it has already made its first move. Similar rules apply to Black Pawns on the ninth rank, also e8 and f8. En Passant rules hold for this variant. A Pawn promotes to a Chancellor, Queen, or Unicorn of the same colour upon reaching the player’s tenth rank. These are the only choices allowed for promotion.

YES! After a four-day binge, I finally caught up. No more past me!