💡📝H. G. Muller wrote on Mon, May 6 04:05 PM EDT in reply to Sergio from 12:33 PM:
It is easy to see this piece cannot checkmate. The only mate positions are white: Ka3 or b3, Xc6; black Ka1 (and symmetry equivalents). But to force the King to a1 the X would have to cover c1 while the bare King is on b1. And to be able to move to c6 you have to cover that. But it cannot cover c1 and c6 at the same time; its move spans only 5 squares on the same rank or file. So there aren't any forced mate-in-2 positions.
FXDY could in principle do that, because it can cover c1 and c5 (where it has to be to deliver checkmate) at once. But it turns out to be too clumsy to drive the bare King towards the corner. Add a WX move, and it can, though.
It is easy to see this piece cannot checkmate. The only mate positions are white: Ka3 or b3, Xc6; black Ka1 (and symmetry equivalents). But to force the King to a1 the X would have to cover c1 while the bare King is on b1. And to be able to move to c6 you have to cover that. But it cannot cover c1 and c6 at the same time; its move spans only 5 squares on the same rank or file. So there aren't any forced mate-in-2 positions.
FXDY could in principle do that, because it can cover c1 and c5 (where it has to be to deliver checkmate) at once. But it turns out to be too clumsy to drive the bare King towards the corner. Add a WX move, and it can, though.