User:Harrar/Workbench2

"You are not Tsavong Lah's equal, but he sends his compliments. He believes the kintan strider death gambit to be the only worthy move in your infidel dejarik game."

- Romm Zqar, to Borsk Fey'lya

The kintan strider death gambit was a move utilized in dejarik, an ancient game of strategy popular throughout the galaxy. A tactic that entailed the sacrifice of the most powerful piece on the board, the kintan strider, in return for the infliction of a greater defeat against an opponent, it was often mistaken for a move of poor judgment that left the kintan strider a tempting target seemingly wide open for attack. Once the opponent had moved against the vulnerable kintan strider and eliminated it from the game, the player who was utilizing the tactic would use less powerful pieces to strike against the opponent's overstretched resources. Despite its provenance in dejarik, the kintan strider death gambit was not limited to the game alone. The tactic could be extrapolated for military purposes and deployed in warfare. A tempting target&mdash;the military equivalent of a kintan strider&mdash;would appear vulnerable in order to draw in the enemy, only for the enemy to suffer a greater defeat in the process. The tactic was contingent, however, upon the loss of the "kintan strider", as only with the enemy's certainty of success could the crippling counterstrike be realized.

In 27 ABY, during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah was taught the tactic by his advisor Vergere, as he advanced his armada upon the Core Worlds and the galactic capital, Coruscant. When his fleet attacked Coruscant and defeated its defenses, one of the warmaster's subordinates contacted him with a message from New Republic Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya, who had demanded a meeting with Lah, ostensibly to surrender the embattled planet to the Yuuzhan Vong. Fey'lya had planned to lure Tsavong Lah to his offices in the Imperial Palace before detonating a proton bomb and eliminating the Yuuzhan Vong leader; the warmaster, however, was counseled by his advisors and recognized Fey'lya's use of the kintan strider death gambit for what it was. While Fey'lya's suicide bomb failed to eliminate Lah, it did incinerate over 25,000 Yuuzhan Vong warriors and earn the Bothan Chief of State a respected reputation as a martyr.

Behind the Scenes
This game move is similar in both name and technique to the Chess move Queen's Gambit, in which the player sacrifices his or her queen for a more strategic outcome.

Appearances

 * Star by Star