Method of playing a variant of chess

Details Method of playing a variant of chess Method of playing a variant of chess

2001-05-16

2002-11-19

Martin-Wallace, Valencia (Department: 3713)

Amusement devices: games

Board games, pieces, or boards therefor

Piece moves over board having pattern

C273S242000, C273S243000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06481716

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to chess games, and more particularly to a variation of a chess game.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Without a doubt, former World Champion (1921-1927) Jose Capablanca was a phenomenal chess player. Although a term like “genius” is often blearily bestowed to infranacious recipients, Capablanca surely exceeded all such criteria, which merit this adornment by orders of magnitude in the chess domain.
Capablanca's vision of what was coined the “state of chess” extended the bounds of his own lifetime by at least 50 years. In the 1920's, Master players were achieving draws roughly 25% of the time against members of their own class. Perhaps this lead to the eventual manifestation of the euphemism:
“The result of a game well-played is a draw”.
In direct consequence to the increasing frequency of draws, chess time controls were lengthened. Since the end of World War II, longer secondary, and eventually tertiary temporal controls, have become status quo. Games previously lasting a couple of hours could now traverse one-fourth of a day or longer. This prompted Edward Lasker, as early as 1949, to issue the remark:
“We have reached a point where physical fitness and thorough knowledge of analyzed play are apt to decide the outcome of a match between front-rank chess masters, rather than ingenuity and profundity.”
In the year 2000, it is not uncommon for Grandmasters to peacefully conclude a game as a draw, as early as the twelfth move. This is basically a mutual concession that the yet unplayed lines, well-known by both, perhaps even in a variation contested against each other in a previous encounter, offer nothing but the promise of several hours of trying to find what is not there; i.e. something new that is also worthy of testing. There are, of course, an infinitude of lines to avoid, that have not been played (all for good reason), so while these would be ‘new’, we naturally exclude them as ‘unworthy to test’ in tournament play.
It would be beneficial to provide a variation of chess that reaches beyond the traditional 8×8 chessboard and cast of pieces. One that will challenge the grand masters now and 50 years into the future.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a method of playing a variation of chess. The method comprises the step of providing a rectangular chessboard having 80 contiguous playing squares disposed thereon. The rectangular board includes two player edges that are opposite each other and two non-player edges that are adjacent to the two player edges. The board has a-j contiguous columns that are aligned along each of the player edges and 1-8 contiguous rows that are aligned along each of the two non-player edges.
The method further comprises the step of providing a plurality of conventional chess pieces. The plurality of conventional chess pieces include two Rooks, two Bishops, two Knights, a King, a Queen, and eight Pawns for each player. The method also comprises the step of providing a plurality of non-conventional chess pieces. The plurality of non-conventional chess pieces include a Chancellor, an Archbishop, and two additional Pawns for each player.
The method includes the step of initially locating the conventional and non-conventional pieces on the two rows of the rectangular chess board that are disposed most proximate to each of the two player edges. The Rooks are located at column and row positions a
1
, j
1
, a
8
, and j
8
respectively. The Knights are located at positions b
1
, i
1
, b
8
, and i
8
respectively. The Bishops are located at positions c
1
, h
1
, c
8
and h
8
respectively. The Queens are located at positions d
1
, d
8
respectively. The Kings are located at positions f
1
, f
8
respectively. The Archbishops are located at positions g
1
, g
8
respectively. The Pawns are located at positions (a-j)
2
, (a-j)
7
respectively. After the initially locating step, the Chancellor may be moved, at an option of a player, as either a conventional Knight, or a conventional Rook and the Archbishop may be moved, at an option of a player, as a conventional Knight or a conventional Bishop.


REFERENCES:
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patent: 5690334 (1997-11-01), Duke
patent: 5692754 (1997-12-01), Rostami
patent: 6095523 (2000-08-01), Lampman
patent: 6116602 (2000-09-01), McLoy
patent: 6336632 (2002-01-01), London
patent: 2 435 269 (1980-04-01), None
John Gollon, Chess Variations Ancient, Regional and Modern, 1968 Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. Chapter 30, pp. 219-222 and Chapter 34, pp. 230-233.*
<<www.chessvariants.com>>.

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