Wazir (chess)

Name etymology

The name wazīr (vazir) (Arabic/Persian: وزير from Middle Persian vichir) means "minister" in several West and South Asian languages and is found in English as vizier. Wazīr (Vazir) is also the name of the queen in Arabic, Persian, and Hindi.

History and nomenclature

The wazir is a very old piece, appearing in some very early chess variants, such as Tamerlane chess. The wazir also appears in some historical large shogi variants, such as in dai shogi under the name angry boar (嗔猪 shinchō). The general in xiangqi moves like a wazir but may not leave its palace or end its turn in check.

Value

The wazir by itself is not much more powerful than a pawn, but as an additional power to other pieces, it is worth about half a knight.

Three wazirs and a king can force checkmate against a bare king and two wazirs and a king can force stalemate against a bare king, but not easily.

The endgame of rook versus wazir is generally a win for the rook, but there are two drawing fortress positions for the wazir.

The ferz, despite being , is more powerful than the wazir in the opening phase of the game due to having greater mobility.

A wazir and a ferz cannot force checkmate against a bare king unless the king is significantly close to a corner that is the same color as the square of the ferz, but the combination of a knight and a wazir, that of a camel and a wazir, and that of a giraffe (the (1,4)-leaper) and a wazir can usually do so. 4.29% of the positions with knight and wazir against the bare king are fortress draws.

References

References

1. Kotesovec, Vaclav. (2017). "Fairy chess endings on an n x n chessboard".
2. Kotesovec, Vaclav. (June 2001). "King and two generalised knights against king". International Computer Chess Association.
3. "Endgame statistics with fantasy pieces".