Desperado (chess)

In chess, a desperado is a piece that is (in the first meaning) either en prise or trapped, but captures an enemy piece before it is itself captured in order to compensate the loss a little, or (in the second meaning) is used as a sacrifice that will result in stalemate if it is captured.^[1] The former case can arise in a situation where both sides have hanging pieces, in which case these pieces are used to win material prior to being captured.^[2] A desperado in the latter case is usually a rook or a queen; such a piece is sometimes also called crazy or mad (e.g. crazy rook).