Mathematical_Recreations-Kraitchik-2e

Games 289
if Black), the guide alone is commissioned as an officer (by
being turned over), though the whole column moves as he
moves as long as he continues to guide it. A column guided
by an officer may move forward or backward one step along
either diagonal to an unoccupied cell.
Capturing. A column captures only the guide of an opposing
column - it never captures more than one piece at a
time from a given column. A column may capture the guide
of an opposing column only when (1) the cell on which the
latter rests is one to which (if it were empty) the capturing
column could legally move in one step, and (2) there is an
empty cell immediately beyond. When a capture is to be
made the capturing column is placed on top of the column
whose guide is to be captured, the guide is added to the bottom
of the capturing column, and the column thus augmented
is placed on the cell beyond. If a capture may be
made it must be made, and this applies - with one apparent
exception - to a succession of possible captures in a single
move. The exception occurs when a column guided by a
soldier reaches a cell at which the soldier is to be promoted.
In this case the move stops with the promotion of the guide,
even though a capture from this cell would have been possible
if the guide had been an officer when he reached it. If at any
stage two or more alternative captures are possible, the
player may choose anyone of them, and must choose some
one of them.
The game is won by a side when the opposing side can
make no move in its regular turn. This may happen because
the first side has captured all the opposing pieces - that is,
because every column on the board is guided by his own
pieces - or because the opponent is blocked from making
any move.
It will be seen that a column consists of at most a set of
pieces of one color surmounted by a set of pieces of the other