ferz

Although popular opinion has it that Ferz and Wazir , the name of another piece, are connected etymologically, Murray maintains that they are not. He says, I do not fully agree with this. Even if the words are not etymologically related, they are similar enough in meaning that one could be substituted for the other. Perhaps their similarity in sound even led some people to assume an etymological relation that wasn't there, making them more likely to accept the substitution. Although both words were of Persian origin, the word vizir might have been more familiar to Europeans. After all, vizier can be found in an English dictionary, but no variation of Ferz can. The image shown here is in a collection of Chessmen at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and it is identified by the name Vizir. Since the Ferz was a piece in medieval Chess, and the Wazir was not, it does appear that Vizir was being used as a name for the Ferz. This may be a case of people favoring the word they knew over the less familiar word they didn't know. Overall, the received opinion is that the name of this piece means counsellor. Unfortunately, Gollon's translations are more widely spread, because Gollon has been more widely read by Chess variant enthusiasts. Although his book has played the important role of awakening an interest in Chess variants in many people, it is not an especially scholarly work, and it seems that it should not be trusted on matters of correct translation. In Xiangqi , the Shi moves the same as the Ferz, but it may not leave the "palace" (3x3 areas at the bottom and top center of the board). The Ferz is a colorbound piece. This means its movement is limited to spaces of only one color on a suitably checkered chessboard. It is limited to only one color, because it moves diagonally, and the board is checkered such that diagonal movement never changes the color of the space a piece is on. Because of its diagonal movement, the Ferz is limited to only half of the board. The Bishop is another colorbound piece. While the Ferz and the Bishop can ultimately reach any other space of the same color, some colorbound pieces are more restricted in their movement. The Dabbabah can reach only half as many spaces as a Ferz, and an Alfil can reach only one quarter as many spaces.