US3881731A

US3881731A - Chess pieces

Info

Publication number: US3881731A
Application number: US424858A
Authority: US
Inventors: Laurence E Droney
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-12-14
Filing date: 1973-12-14
Publication date: 1975-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 1992-05-06

Abstract

The specification discloses a chess game made up of an ordinary chessboard and a set of chess pieces in the form of cubes having symbols of chess pieces on each of the six sides of the cubes, the symbols being so oriented that when placed on the board, the next lowest possible value piece faces the opponent of the player. Also, the opposite sides of each cube total seven when the value of the piece is considered, when the pawn is considered to be one, and the king as six, opposite each other; the knight two and the queen five being opposite each other. This gives the player an immediate knowledge of the piece on the bottom. The pieces of the two opponents are identical except for color.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Droney CHESS PIECES [76] Inventor: Laurence E. Droney, 429 Hess Ave,

Erie, Pa. 16507 [22] Filed: Dec. 14, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 424,858

3,734,508 5/1973 Snyder 273n34c FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 257,515 3/1913 Germany 273/137 R Primary ExaminerDelbert B. Lowe [57] ABSTRACT The specification discloses a chess game made up of an ordinary chessboard and a set of chess pieces in the form of cubes having symbols of chess pieces on each of the six sides of the cubes, the symbols being so oriented that when placed on the board, the next lowest possible value piece faces the opponent of the player. Also, the opposite sides of each cube total seven when the value of the piece is considered, when the pawn is considered to be one, and the king as six, opposite each other; the knight two and the queen five being opposite each other. This gives the player an immediate knowledge of the piece on the bottom. The pieces of the two opponents are identical except for color.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures CHESS PIECES GENERAL STATEMENT OF INVENTION The chess piece disclosed allows chess to be played in the usual medieval fashion. It also allows for a new method of play, wherein any piece, or pieces, on the board may become king, queen or any other piece value. A player must have at least one unchecked king, at each turn, or the game is lost.

The game where all 16 pieces change value, depending on the way they are played, I have called Revolution." This is the way politicians change status depending upon the moves they make during a political revolution, and also describes the move or method of play of the piece. The game where only the rear or royal rank changes value, I have called Surrogate Chess." This game allows any piece except a regular pawn to be a stand-in or surrogate for the king or any other piece used in the game. A single king, in check, may be sacrificed without loss of the game if another surrogate piece has a move that allows it to achieve king value. It then makes this move, and must be in a non-checked square to continue the game.

The six values of each piece allow for choice of value for subsequent moves. The skill, strategy, memory, and intuition required to master revolution or surrogate chess is thus six-fold and revolutionary.

This new method of play is made possible by the invention of a new chess piece. This piece has many advantages. It is easy to package. It can be manufactured cheaper than present pieces. This cost reduction is apparent when all pieces on the board are simple, and all pieces are identical. The pieces may be constructed from any material, such as plastic or stone, or fabricated from cardboard.

The six sides of the cube are marked with the six symbols for the six pieces used in the medieval chess set. The symbols may be standard, esthetic, or a simple symbol designating the method of moving the piece.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an improved chess piece.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chess piece that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, and simple and efficient to use.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved chess pieces.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of a chessboard according to the invention, showing the symbols representing the chess pieces in place on the board.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the covering for the cubical chess pieces.

FIG. 3 is a view of a chess piece having the symbols on the outside thereof.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a chess piece in a box.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Now with more particular reference to the drawings, the chessboard is indicated at 10 and the covering box for a chess piece is indicated at 11. The chess piece itself is indicated at 20.

The chessboard 10 is of a conventional type and is shown having the chess pieces of the two opponents arranged on the opposite sides of the board. The chess pieces indicated at 20 are in the form of cubes and may be made of wood, plastic, metal, or other suitable materials. The covering for the chess pieces may be made from a sheet of material such as sheet plastic or heavy paper. The covering, as shown in FIG. 2, is cut in the form of a Latin cross. The Latin cross has the ordinary transverse beam 12 and upright member 21. The center square 15 as well as the bottom square 13 and the intermediate square 14, the top square 16, the left side square 17 and the right side square 18 are all of equal area. The bottom square will have a symbol of a bishop thereon. The bishop, however, will be inverted. The intermediate square 14 will have a queen. The center square 15 will have a rook, both of these being upright. The side squares l7 and 18 will have a pawn and a king respectively thereon, each inverted, and the top square 16 will have a knight or horse thereon rotated to the left counterclockwise. When the Latin cross is folded along the margins of the squares, it is formed into the covering of a cube and the cube as indicated at 20 in FIG. 3, will have six sides, each of which is made by one of the squares of the cross.

The orientation of the symbols as shown in FIG. 2 serves three purposes: (I) the pieces when placed on the board have the next lowest possible value piece facing the opponent, (2) the opposite sides of each cube total seven when the value of the piece is considered. The pawn is being considered as one, the king six, opposite each other; the knight is two and the queen is five opposite each other. This gives the player immediate knowledge of the symbol on the bottom of the playing piece and is necessary for playing the game according to the invention. (3) the most important reason is to set a pattern for manufacture, that makes all pieces identical from the start. The opponents pieces are identical except for color. Sixteen pieces are made of one color and sixteen pieces of another color. Two sets of partners are required for a four player game and a total of four separate colors are required and four sets of pieces.

The medieval or orthodox method of chess can be played by nesting each of the chess pieces in small open-top boxes indicated at 30 in FIG. 4 with the top square showing through the open top so that the only visible symbol on the chess piece is the particular one for that piece.

The regular pawns, are nested in the boxes with the pawn symbol showing on top. When the chess piece is promoted," the box is removed and the pawn is promoted to a surrogate piece.

The nested pawns used in the surrogate game have five sides hidden.

The Game The pieces are started in the normal orthodox position for chess. Outer pieces are rooks, next toward center are the knights, then the bishops, and in the two center squares, the king and queen, as in medieval chess. The piece is a cube nested in its individual box with the open top having the face exposed that represents the piece for that position. The other five faces are hidden by the box. The standard chess game can now be played. All chess rules apply with no change.

Surrogate chess is played when the boxes are removed from the pieces in the rear or royal rank. Revolution is played with the boxes removed from all pieces on the board. A piece with its box in place and covering five faces of the cube is always played as in the standard chess game and all the same rules apply that apply in the regular chess game.

A piece with its box removed has all six sides exposed. The piece is played with the rules applying to the uppermost face. A queen moves with all privileges of a queen.

The change in the method of play can best be shown with the rook. A rook placed in the center of the board and oriented in the same position as at the start of the game, has a knight on the side facing the opponent, a queen on the side facing the player, a king to the right and a pawn to the left. The bishop is on the bottom and cannot be considered in the next move of this piece.

A rook moves along ranks and files, in a linear direction, any number of unoccupied spaces, and has four directions to move.

The knight, on his turn to move, has a move that consists of two linear moves, two spaces in one of the four linear directions, plus another space to the left or right of the first direction. it therefore has two rotations per move. A knight placed in the center of the board, and oriented as at the start of the game, has a pawn on the side facing the opponent, a king on the side facing the player, a rook on the left and a bishop on the right. A knight moving one or two spaces toward the opponent is temporarily a king and finally a bishop if the second direction is to the left or a rook if the second direction is to the right.

The other type of move on the chess board is the diagonal move. This is performed by turning the piece clockwise to align the flat side of the cube in the diagonal direction. The move is made along the diagonal in the same fashion as along the linear and the move is completed with a further clockwise roation to align the flat side of the cube with the flat side of the space. This is rest position.

A bishop placed in the center of the board and oriented as at the start of the game, has a knight on the side facing the opponent, a queen on the side facing the player, a king on the left and a pawn on the right. A diagonal move toward the right and toward the opponent is made by rotating the bishop on its vertical axis, 45 clockwise in the direction of the move. This brings the 4 knight face in line with the diagonal, and the bishop moves along the diagonal and becomes a queen. The queen is further rotated 45 clockwise to rest position. The result of this move is a queen with a king face facing the opponent, a pawn facing the player, a rook on the left and the bishop on the right.

The king, queen, and pawn make linear moves similar to the rook and diagonal moves similar to the bishop. A move ending in the far rank and having a pawn uppermost is treated like a pawn being promoted, and the piece is lifted and returned to the board with any other face uppermost and with any orientation at the discretion of the player making the move.

A movement of the king in any linear or diagonal direction results in a piece of a value other than a king, and castling is not possible. A checkmate occurs when all kings or king is in check and no surrogate can be turned up to give an unchecked king. This applies under all conditions such as a queen in a position to simultaneously check three of an opponents three kings. The queen must be captured to remove the triple check or a fourth king turned up to prevent checkmate.

A move that would place a players own king in check is not allowed. This applies to the standard rules but is mentioned here because of the possibitlity of having other nonchecked kings on the board.

Gambit and en passante apply to pawns in revolution or surrogate chess.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invention which it is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A chess set comprising a plurality of identical chess pieces,

each said chess piece comprising a cube shaped member having six equal sides,

each said side of a said cube having a different symbol thereon, each symbol representing one of the chess pieces of a chess set,

a plurality of boxes,

each said box having five equal sides and an open the inside dimensions of each said box being substantially equal to the outside dimensions of said cubes, each said cube fitting snugly into a said box with one side of each said cube exposed.

Claims

1. A chess set comprising a plurality of identical chess pieces, each said chess piece comprising a cube shaped member having six equal sides, each said side of a said cube having a different symbol thereon, each symbol representing one of the chess pieces of a chess set, a plurality of boxes, each said box having five equal sides and an open top, the inside dimensions of each said box being substantially equal to the outside dimensions of said cubes, each said cube fitting snugly into a said box with one side of each said cube exposed.