GB2497748A - Asymmetric chess game board - Google Patents

Abstract

A game board for playing variants of chess comprises playing squares located in a grid which has rotational symmetry of order no higher than two. The squares are preferably alternately coloured black and white in chequered fashion. In one embodiment the board comprises a square central section of 8 rows x 8 columns, six additional columns extending from each of the first and eighth columns, five additional rows extending from each of the first and eighth rows, and a respective 3x3 half-square section spanning across each corner formed between the additional columns and rows. Other embodiments are disclosed having varying numbers of additional columns and rows and sizes/shapes of half-square sections (see figures 13-18). The board is preferably used to play four player variants of chess, and provides additional diagonals to allow attacking routes between adjacent players. A number of rule variants for four player chess are also disclosed, e.g. knights being able to make a 3+1 L-shaped move as well as the conventional 2+1 move, pawns being able to move forward three squares in their initial moves, and pawns moving into one of four central squares being eligible for promotion.

Description

Board game

Background

The game of chess has been possibly the most popular game in the world for more than a thousand years. Variants of the game have been played in India and China long before the development of the modern game as we know it.

One of the reasons for the games enduring popularity is its adaption from earlier forms. The precursor to modem chess "Chaturanga" was a very slow game, suitable for the slow pace of life of the medieval world, but unattractive to the modern mind.

Rule changes made in fifteenth century Italy revitalized the game and maintained its popularity in a new era.

Much more recently, three and four player versions of chess have appeared. These have introduced a more social element to the games. Now interactions between the competitors involve more than just puffing their wits against each other. Alliances, either permanent or shifting become a part of the strategic make-up of the game.

Players may be vulnerable if pieces are exchanged with one of their opponents, in case it makes them vulnerable if alliances shift. Great care is needed in the design of the game to ensure fairness and to ensure a dynamic game. It is perhaps for these reasons that the multiplayer versions have not achieved the popularity of the two player game.

The current invention is just such a way of ensuring fairness and a dynamic game, by providing asymmetry between opposing players and additional lines of attack between adjacent players. Just as the rule changes between Chaturanga and modem chess revitalized the two player game, it is proposed that the variants on the board and rules herein described will revitalize the four player game.

Description of the Figures

Figure 1 shows a playing board for a four player chess game according to the prior art.

Figure 2 shows the underlying grid for such a board.

Figure 3 (a) shows a grid with rotational symmetry of order 4.

Figure 3 (b) tows a grid with rotational symmetry of order 2, but lacking symmetry of order 4..

Figure 4 shows a first option for initial placement of the pieces according to the prior art.

Figurc 5 shows an alternativc option for initial placemcnt of thc picces according to

the prior art.

Figure 6 illustrates a problem with the arrangement in Figure 4 Figure 7 illustrates a problem with the arrangement in Figure 5.

Figure 8 shows a solution to the problem of opposition of Queens and Bishops

according to the prior art

Figure 9 illustrates a problem which the solution of figure 6 causes.

Figure 10 illustrates a prior art solution to the problem illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 11 illustrates a playing board according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Figure 12 illustrates the board from Figure 9 broken up to clearly see the playing areas.

Figure 13 illustrates the board from Figure 9 with the pieces in their initial positions.

Figure 14 illustrates a board according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Figure 15 illustrates a board according to a third embodiment of the invention.

Figure 16 illustrates a board according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

Figure 17 illustrates a board according to a fifth embodiment of the invention.

Figure 18 illustrates a board according to a sixth embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description

In its broadest scope, the present invention provides a board for playing games which is rotationally asymmetric in order greater than two. The board is divided into playing areas on which pieces may stand and move to and from in the course of the game.

Figure 1 shows a playitig board for a four player chess game according to the prior art. The board comprises ahernating black and white squares, located on points of a regular grid, with the traditional sixty four square chess board in the centre and additional "home" areas for the pieces added to the sides. Figure 2 shows the underlying grid. An object is said to have rotational symmetry of order n, if it can be rotated 360°/n without change to the appearance of the object. Examples of objects with rotational symmetry of order 2 and 4 arc shown in figures 3(a) and 3 (b) respectively. The grid in figure 2 therefore has rotational symmetric of order 4, as it may be rotated 900 without change.

A problem exists with the arrangement of the board in figure 1. This is illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. Figures 4 and 5 illustrate two different options for the initial positions of the kings and queens. The standard notation of K for King, Q for Queen, R for Rook, B for Bishop, N for Knight and P for pawn are used. In Figure 4 the Queens arc positioned to the left and in Figure 5 the Queens and Kings arc positioned so that Queens face Kings across the length of the board.

The majority of games of chess between players of a good standard began with the double move of either the pawn in front of the King or the pawn in front of the Queen.

Either of these moves increases control of the strategically important centre of the board and allows the development of a bishop and the Queen. Ideally, both central pawns are quickly advanced.

Figure 6 shows the initial arrangement as in Figure 4 after Player A makes a first move. Player B's options are now limited by the "pin" on the pawn in front of his Queen. In chess, a piecc is said to be pinned if it is unable to move because to do so would expose a more valuable piece to attack. If the first piece is moved, it may result in the capture of the more valuable piece or if the more valuable piece were the King, then the move would expose the King to check and hence the move would be illegal.

Figure 7 shows the initial arrangement of pieces as shown in Figure 5. In Figure 7, there is the problem of an early opposition of queens, for example, which may result in early exchanges of queens. If this happens to all the queens, there is a risk of a sterile and lifeless game. If only one set are exchanged, two of the four players will be at an immediate disadvantage compared with the other two, particularly if an "all-play-all" game is being played. The bishops opposing each other also creates similar problems.

One solution to this would be to extend the home areas and drop the pieces back further away from each other. This solution is illustrated in Figure 8. However, this has the problem that now the game starts far more slowly as the armies take a large number of moves to move into position. In particular, there is little way in which players immediately adjacent to each other can attack each other early in the game.

The bishops are severely limited by the shortening of their diagonals. This problem is shown in Figure 9.

One solution to this problem would be to use an enlarged square board as disclosed in US2006/0279042. This type of board is illustrated in Figure 10. This however introduces a fiirthcr problem in that "castling", the traditional means of achieving King safety, a factor of paramount importance in chess strategy, would still leave the Kings open and vulnerable. This would be likely to encourage players to be overly defensive in their approach, leading to a slow and dull game.

In one aspect of the invention there is provided a rotationally asymmetric board, with short and long sides. This aspect of the invention addresses the problem of the early opposition of Queens and bishops.

In a second aspect of the invention there is provided additional playing areas placed between the adjacent home areas to provide additional diagonals for early attack between adjacent players without the increased exposure of the Kings inherent in the solution in Figure 10.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to figure 11.

Figure 11 shows a playing board according to the invention. A plurality of playing areas are provided, square in shape and alternating black and white as in a conventional chess board. These playing areas are arranged into sections of the board S as follows: a central section comprising a conventional 8 x 8 chess board, two 6 x 5 sections opposite each other on the short sides of the board and two 6 x 6 sections opposite each other on the long sides of the board. Additional playing areas are provided in sections in the corners between the 6 x 6 and 6 x 5 sections. It would be evident to the person skilled in the art that the number of playing areas (squares) in each of the sections may be varied. Figure 12 shows a view of figure 11 with the sections separated so as to see the parts of the board clearly.

In an embodiment, the board may be used with four sets of conventional chess pieces, usually each of a different colour. Alternatively, it may be used with other pieces, such as draughts pieces, Chinese chess or other variants. Where conventional chess pieces are used, then the starting positions of the pieces arc located on the board as shown in figure 13. The person skilled in the art would appreciate that the starting positions of the pieces are not fixed and variants such as "Fischer random chess" may be used.

In an embodiment, the standard rules of chess are used. In an alternative embodiment, the knight may move 3 squares in any direction followed by a movement of a single square in a direction perpendicular to the first direction of movement. In a further embodiment, the initial pawn move may be three squares. In yet another embodiment, pawn promotion may take place in the central four squares of the board. The person skilled in the art will appreciate that other variants are possible in the movement of the pieces, such as those in the original Indian form of the game "Chaturanga" or any variant thereof.

The person skilled in the art will appreciate that there arc multiple arrangements of the rotationally asymmetric board which may be used. Four playing chess boards according to further embodiments of the invention are shown in Figures 14 -17.

The skilled person will also readily see that the rotationally asymmetric board according to the invention affords itself easily to other variants of the game. The invention is not limited to versions of the game in which there are equal numbers of pieces for each player. Figure 18 shows a variant which allows a single player to take on 3 opponents.

The skilled person will also readily appreciate that computerised or "online" versions of the game are possible. In such games, a virtual version of the board would be displayed on the screens of the players and a programmed matrix of the positions of the pieces on the board would be stored to record the sequence of moves made in a games. In an Internet version of the game, moves of the pieces would be recorded, suitably encoded and transmitted across a transmission medium.

Claims (1)

1. <claim-text>Claims 1. A board for playing games, the board comprising a plurality of playing areas, each playing area located on a point of a grid, wherein the grid has rotational symmetry of order no higher than two.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A board as claimed in claim 1 wherein the points of the grid are snbstantially regularly spaced in two dimensions.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. A board as claimed in claim I or claim 2 iii which the playing areas are square.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. A board as claimed in any previous claim in which the playing areas are alternately coloured black and white in chequered fashion.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. A board as claimed in any previous claim comprising a substantially rectangular central section.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. A board as claimed in claim 6 further comprising at least one line of playing areas appended to at least one edge of the central section.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. A board as claimed in claim 7 comprising a plurality of lines of playing areas appended to each edge of the board.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. A board as claimed in claim 8 wherein each appended line of playing areas comprises the same number of playing areas as there are present in an edge row of the central area to which it is appended.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. A board as claimed in claim 9 further comprising a plurality of playing areas located adjacent to the appended lines.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. A game played using a board as claimed in any previous claim, played by a plurality of players.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. A game as claimed in claim 10, comprising at least one set of conventional chess pieces.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. A gamc as claimed in claim It wherein thc at least one set of convcntional chess pieces are initially placed in the appended lines of playing areas.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. A game as claimed in claim 12 wherein the initial arrangement of the pieces is the same as in conventional chess.</claim-text> <claim-text>14. A game as claimed in claim 12 wherein the initial arrangement of the pieces lbllows the procedure of Fischer random chess.</claim-text> <claim-text>15. A game as claimed in claim 11 comprising two sets of conventional chess pieces.</claim-text> <claim-text>16. A game as claimed in any of claims II to 15 wherein the pieces are moved as in conventional chess.</claim-text> <claim-text>17. A game as claimed in any of claims 11 to 16 wherein the pieces are moved as in conventional chess, except that a knight may move three playing areas in a first direction and then one square laterally or 1 square in a first direction and three squares laterally as well as the conventional knight move.</claim-text> <claim-text>18. Agame as claimed in any ofclaims Ilto I7whereinthepiecesaremovedas in conventional chess, except that a pawn may be moved three squares %rward on its initial move by at least one of the players.</claim-text> <claim-text>19. A game as claimed in any of claims 11 to 18, wherein the pieces are moved as in conventional chess, except that the move of a pawn into one of four central playing areas allows the promotion of said pawn to one of a Queen, rook, knight or bishop.S</claim-text> <claim-text>20. A playing board substantially as herein described with reference to the diagrams.</claim-text> <claim-text>21. A game substantially as hcrcin describe with reference to the diagrams.</claim-text> <claim-text>22. A computer program comprising steps to generate a virtual gaming board iii accordance with any of the preceding claims.</claim-text> <claim-text>23. A computer program comprising steps to record positions of virtual playing pieces on a virtual gaming board with characteristics according to any of claims ito 21.</claim-text> <claim-text>24. A computer program adapted to transmit across a telecommunications medium the recorded positions of playing pieces on virtual board according to claim 23.</claim-text>