In this game, the standard rules of chess apply, but there is an additional rule allowing queens to move as knights as well. These specialized queens are referred to as “amazons,” hence the game’s name.
This straightforward modification significantly enhances the power of the queens. The history of this rule change dates back to the late Middle Ages in certain European regions, where it was commonly employed in chess. However, the traditional rule of queen movement ultimately prevailed, likely due to the overwhelming strength conferred by the amazon’s moves.
Even this time, we have a sample game in our database. Let’s go through it. As we don’t have an amazon piece in our diagrams, let’s suppose the queen has the knight abilities as well:
1. e4 e5 2. ♘f3 ♞c6 3. ♗c4 ♝c5 4. c3 ♞f6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 ♝b4+ 7. ♘c3 ♞xe4 8. O-O ♞xc3 9. bxc3 ♝a5? (So far, the game followed the usual Giuoco Piano main line. However, the last bishop’s move is a bad mistake. Black should have player 9. … d5 to keep the balanced position.)
10. ♖e1+ ♞e7 11. ♘g5 d5 12. ♕h5! (The amazon strike! Remember, it possesses the knight’s abilities, so the amazon attacks both f7 and g7 pawns.)
12. … ♜g8 13. ♗b5+ c6 14. ♗a3 ♝e6? 15. ♘xe6 ♛d7 16. ♗xe7 ♛xe7 17. ♘xg7+ (Black resigned. The amazon is pinned and will be lost in the next move.)
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