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AAnca vs Griffin on crowded boards[Subject Thread] [Add Response]
Aurelian Florea wrote on Tue, Sep 13, 2016 06:29 PM UTC:

Thanks!


Garth Wallace wrote on Tue, Sep 13, 2016 06:28 PM UTC:

AIUI "aanca" is a hapax legomenon in the Libro de los Juegos of King Alfonso X. Murray translated it as "gryphon" but the text just describes it as a large bird, not a chimeric creature. According to Musser-Golladay and Cazaux, it's a borrowing of the Arabic word "anka", the elephant bird, a real but now-extinct very large bird (legends make it similar to the roc, capable of carrying off an elephant hence the name "elephant bird", though the real thing was flightless).


Aurelian Florea wrote on Sat, Sep 10, 2016 08:28 AM UTC:

Not really, rooks always have the larger mobility, Bishops are running the show as they are the weaker piece and so opening principles state that it should be developed earlier. The fact it can go through pawn chains and better forwardess helps that but strictly mobilityly speaking rooks are better than bishops. What I think could be the case is that the aanca is actually a short range rook and the griffin is an short range bishop if the board is crowded enough that short range is all you get (50%). I am still baffled by this result, but the more I think about the more it makes sense.


H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Sep 10, 2016 08:11 AM UTC:

It seems that Aanca means Griffon in Spanish... The name 'Aanca' was taken from the historic large-board variant 'Grant Acedrex', where it is used for a piece that moves as a Griffon.

Griffons are 'double-barrel' Rooks, and Aanca's double-barrel Bishops. What you observe sounds reasonable, and also applies to Rooks and Bishops in orthodox Chess. Rooks cannot do much in the early middle game, and Knights and Bishops run the show, supported by the Queen.

Still a Rook remains more valuable than a Bishop, even when traded in the opening. Because it is apparently not easy to undo such a trade, so that in the end-game, where the fullpower of the Rook can be exercised, you would be left at a disadvantage. This is what I meant when I said that piece values are heavily dominated by their end-game values,on a sparsely populated board.


Aurelian Florea wrote on Sat, Sep 10, 2016 07:07 AM UTC:

I was goofing around with calculations of mobility for aanca and griffin, and I got a counter-intuitive result. I think my algorithm is wrong as it gives a slightly bigger mobility for the aanca on very crowded boards. As the board empties of course the griffin has more squares so a bigger mobility. The question is: Is my algoritm wrong claiming stronger aanca on very crowded boards or am I wrong stating the opposite?

Unrelated: What does aanca mean in spanish?


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