:Chakra (chess variant)
{{Short description|Chess variant invented by Christian Freeling}}
Chakra is a chess variant invented by Christian Freeling in 1980. The uniqueness of Chakra is owed to the invention of a new fairy piece named transmitter.{{efn|"Chakra's reason for being is a very special 'piece', the transmitter". (Freeling)}} Freeling considered an earlier version of the game as insignificant.{{efn|"Chakra was one of the first, if not the first Chess variant I invented. The resulting game deviated too little from Chess to have any independent justification."}} "Then one night in the early eighties, Ed [van Zon] and I dreamed up the 'transmitter', a piece consisting of two parts called 'chakras', that would function as a 'portal' for transmitting pieces."
The game was first featured in The Gamer magazine in 1981 (issue 3), resulting in much interest and the sale of many Chakra sets.Pritchard (2007), p. 173 Chakra is included in 100 Other Games to Play on a Chessboard (1983, 2002) by Stephen Addison.
Overview
Chakra is played on a standard chessboard and has many of the standard play conventions as in chess, including check and the winning objective, checkmate. Stalemate, as in chess, is a draw. The king in Chakra is named emperor.
Each player starts with 16 pieces: 1 emperor, 1 empress, 1 samurai, 1 monk, 2 monkeys, 2 courtesans, 2 chakras, 6 swords. The emperor, empress, and monkey perform identically to their chess counterparts (king, queen, and knight, respectively). The others are governed by special fairy rules. There is no castling in Chakra.
Move rules
- The samurai combines powers of a chess king and a chess knight. (On the chess variants page, it is said that the powers of a chess king and chess rook are combined)
- The monk combines powers of a chess king and a chess bishop.
- A courtesan moves and captures like a chess king, but has an additional power: whenever it has an open path to its own emperor along a {{chessgloss|rank}}, {{chessgloss|file}}, or {{chessgloss|diagonal}}, it can move or capture along the rank, file, or diagonal in either direction.
- A sword moves like a chess pawn, except there is no en passant. It promotes upon reaching the {{chessgloss|back rank}} to any previously captured piece, except a chakra. (If no captured piece is available, a sword cannot promote; however, in that case it can still give check.)
= The ''chakra'' and ''transmitter'' pieces =
{{expand section|date=November 2017}}
Notes
{{notelist|notes=}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book
|last=Pritchard
|first=D. B.
|author-link=David Pritchard (chess player)
|title=The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants
|publisher=Games & Puzzles Publications
|year=1994
|pages=45–46
|isbn=0-9524142-0-1}}
- {{cite book
|last=Pritchard
|first=D. B.
|author-link=David Pritchard (chess player)
|editor-last=Beasley
|editor-first=John
|title=The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants
|publisher=John Beasley
|year=2007
|isbn=978-0-9555168-0-1}}
Further reading
- {{cite book
|last=Addison
|first=Stephen
|title=100 Other Games to Play on a Chessboard
|publisher=Peter Owen Ltd
|year=2002
|orig-year=First pub. 1983
|isbn=978-0720606171}}
- {{cite journal
|editor-last=Wood
|editor-first=P. C.
|title=Chakra
|publisher=British Chess Variants Society
|journal=Variant Chess
|date=May 2005
|volume=2
|issue=13
|pages=65–66
|issn=0958-8248}}
External links
- [http://www.mindsports.nl/index.php/the-pit/521-chakra Official website] MindSports.nl
- [http://www.chessvariants.com/ms.dir/chakra.html Chakra] The Chess Variant Pages
{{Chess variants|state=collapsed}}