Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 January 10

= January 10 =

Names of level 5 leapers in chess
I've been familiar with the princess, empress, and amazon as fairy chess pieces; they're the easiest ones for me to understand the moves of because they simply combine the knight with other pieces. However, I'm now getting chances to know more about other fairy chess pieces. To understand them, let's first define the familiar rook, bishop, and knight's moves by how many ranks and files their new square is from their old square:


 * Knight moves are 1,2 or 2,1.
 * Bishop moves are n,n for any n.
 * Rook moves are n,0 or 0,n for any n.

The "fairy chess pieces" this is about are those where at least one of x,y is > 2 and x is not equal to y. (The Bishop is for any x=y where x = y > 0.) The Fairy chess piece article says:


 * Camel = 1,3 or 3,1.
 * Zebra = 2,3 or 3,2.
 * Giraffe = 1,4 or 4,1.
 * Stag = 2,4 or 4,2. (The only thing that's unclear to me about these pieces is whether the stag can leap over a piece that's in the average of its starting and destination squares.)
 * Antelope = 3,4 or 4,3.

Now, I want to know if anyone has proposed names for the level-5 hoppers; that is, those where it's n,5 or 5,n for any n in the 1-4 interval. (0,5 or 5,0 and 5,5 are less interesting because we already know the bishop is n,n; the rook is n,0 or 0,n, and the queen is any of n,n; 0,n; or n,0.) The name "ibis" is revealed for n=1 in the following URL:

http://gambiter.com/chess/variants/Fairy_chess_piece.html

But the above URL reveals no name for n=2, 3, or 4. Georgia guy (talk) 14:25, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Are any of such (±n,±5) / (±5,±n) leapers (1 < n < 5) used in actual fairy chess games? This may be your opportunity to coin names for them. There seems to be a convention that the new names are common names for a species of animals, mostly mammals, that are great leapers, but the wading "ibis" is an exception; why not "ibex"? --Lambiam 14:20, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * As the leap size increases past half the board (n>4), the leaper is restricted to ever smaller regions of the board. For example, the 8,8 leaper would be restricted to two squares, if it can make a legal move at all. I suspect n,5 and larger leapers see little use for this reason. 93.136.199.162 (talk) 06:24, 14 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Orthodox chess uses an 8x8 board, but 93.136.199.162's comment isn't necessary true for larger chessboards that some chess variants can use. Georgia guy (talk) 14:10, 14 January 2021 (UTC)
 * There are also boards that "wrap round", giving a cylinder or torus (or even a Moebius strip or Klein bottle), so that a piece can move an unlimited distance in some directions. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 14:41, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

voices cross the Mersey
When I hear the original "Ferry Cross the Mersey", I'm puzzled because I have a memory of hearing it sung by a voice more like Peter Noone or Davy Jones. Could I be remembering one of the covers? I know this question is vague. —Tamfang (talk) 22:39, 10 January 2021 (UTC)


 * A long list of covers is here. Alansplodge (talk) 16:39, 11 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Now, if I knew what those bands sound like, I'd be all set :/ —Tamfang (talk) 02:49, 12 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Watching and listening to the original, I'd say the late Gerry Marsden has a voice kind of similar to Peter Noone's. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:12, 12 January 2021 (UTC)