You asked what a Grenke is.

A Grenke is an animal which lives in Southern Germany and the Northern slopes of the Alps. It looks like a small deer, about half the size of a roe. Its front half is red-brown and its rear half brown-red. It eats insects and small animals - frogs, mice and the like - which it catches by baiting them with a lure hanging from its single horn. Despite this horn, it is not known to be related to the unicorn.

Like the Wolpertinger with which it shares a habitat, it is often claimed to be fictional. Unlike the Wolpertinger, but like actually fictional creatures like the Gryphon and the Elephant, it is sometimes used as a fairy chess piece. It moves like a Ferz, one step diagonally, but may capture two steps diagonally.

The first Grenke Tournament was actually a fairy chess tournament, in which all knights were replaced by Grenken (the proper plural, by the way). It was not a success, and subsequent Grenke Tournaments have been ordinary chess tournaments.

So now you know.

Reveal Hidden Content

Thanks Shallow Blue,

A Tata is thing that steels chess pieces. Not steals, but steels them.

A friend of mine brought the Caruana- Hou endgame to the club, just to show me what she missed. It is equal parts beautiful, entertaining, and instructive, and to see it the very next day in your blog tells me that it may well show up in endgame books at some point.

And as a Karpov fan, that picture gave me chills! Great blog- my favorite among your recent ones.

Originally posted by @shallow-blue
You asked what a Grenke is.

A Grenke is an animal which lives in Southern Germany and the Northern slopes of the Alps. It looks like a small deer, about half the size of a roe. Its front half is red-brown and its rear half brown-red. It eats insects and small animals - frogs, mice and the like - which it catches by baiting them with a lure hanging f ...[text shortened]... hich sponsors the tournament. But you knew that. What I want to know is: what's a Tata?[/hidden]