"The mind and the world are opposites, and vision arises where they meet.

When your mind doesn't stir inside, the world doesn't arise outside.

When the world and the mind are both transparent, this is true vision.

And such understanding is true understanding" (Bodhidharma)

"The master P'eng Mou Chang said:

'Drive to the head vitality vibrating

And roll your eyes to control (vital) breathing

To cultivate the immortal seed by day

And night so that it rays out light from within the brain'

(from Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality, by Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk) 1970)

I'm living in Hong Kong, but am a Yank from New Jersey/New York. In addition to playing Classical Chess (otherwise know as "chess"), I am looking for people to play Force Field Chess with. It's a simple concept: We are all familiar with the implicit force field of each piece, which corresponds with its range of movement. In Force Field Chess, every empty square within the range of movement of a piece is "charged" by that piece. A given empty square can thus be charged by more than one piece, some of one's own, and some of one's opponent's. Whomever has the highest charge on an empty square "controls" that square, and the opponent can't cross it or land on it. Occupied squares and squares with no charge or equivalent charges from both players are neutral territory. Check out the rules below for specifics.

The best way to play Force Field Chess is as "Online Chess" using the advanced option to specify a Takeback game, rather than as Rated or Unrated. This would allow each player to tell the other if a move was illegal and allow the other player to take it back. It also assures that ratings won't be affected by losing a game because the opponent illegally took a piece you put in a position that would have been "en prise" in Classical Chess, but that you thought was safe as in FFC it's square was unreachable by the opponent. Eventually, one could play it live, but as unrated, again so ratings don't reflect one's skill in a variant rather than in Classical Chess. The name of the game could be specified as Takeback Forcefield Chess. Here are the rules, and some other variants we could try. To challenge me to an unrated game in which you can take back moves if you realize they were illegal, click Play, Online Chess, Start a New Game, then name it Takeback Forcefield Chess, put my member name (Force Field Chess) as the opponent, click "Show more advanced options," and where it says "Rated" click "Takeback Game" instead of Rated Game or Unrated Game. This the game won't affect our ratings, and we can discuss the rules and moves in Chat and take back moves if we realize they were illegal.

Force Field Chess:
The Original Chess of Atlantis and Mu

Inventor: Kaplan "Kap" Sacharovich

Copyright © 2008 by Kap Sacharovich

Rule 1: Relationship With Classical Chess. All rules of Classical Chess apply except as modified below.

Rule 2:Force Field Intensities. Each element projects a force field, the relative intensities of which are as follow: Pawn = 1, Knight = 2, Bishop = 3, Rook = 4, Queen = 5. The King does not project a force field.

Rule 3: Force Field Trajectories. An element's force field activates all currently empty squares (a) to which or through which it could legally move in Classical Chess if it were its player's turn, (b) through which or upon which it could legally capture or check in Classical Chess if it were its player's turn and if it were occupied by an opposing piece.

A Pawn's force field projects both forward and diagonally to empty squares within its range of movement or capture.

A Knight's force field projects to all empty squares to which and through which it could pass if all of its possible destination squares were empty.

Occupied squares, line boundaries and point intersections are not activated by force fields.

Rule 4: Force Field Charge and Control of a Square. The Force Field Charge (FFC) of a square is equal to the sum of the charges projected to it by the elements of one player minus the sum of the charges projected to it by the elements of the other. A square is controlled by the player whose elements exert the largest charge on the square. Occupied squares are neutral, as are empty squares equally charged by the force fields of both armies.

Rule 5: Legal Moves and Captures. An element may legally move through or to any square that is neutral or controlled by its army. An element may not move through or to an empty square controlled by the opponent. An element may capture, check or mate upon any square to which it has legal passage through all intervening squares. A Knight may take a legal 2 + 1 or 1 + 2 route to a legal destination square even if alternative routes would be illegal. A King may move at will unimpeded by force fields. Potential threats to one element by another, including check or mate, are neutralized by intervening squares controlled by the threatened element's army. It is illegal for an element to move in such a way that relinquishes control of an empty square that is currently neutralizing a Classical check on the element's own King.

Rule 6 (When played using a computerized chess platform that does not allow moves that put a King in classical check or that allow the King to remain in classical check): In this case, one could play a modified form of FFC that we shall call "Classic Check Force Field Chess." In this version, FFC rules would not apply to direct threats to the King. An alternative would be to use the computerized platform until it prohibits a move that is legal in FFC, and then continue by using notation in the Chat window and a regular board.

Example Game: To Be Posted

Here are some other variants I've toyed with:

"Bully Chess": Each piece can only capture equal or weaker pieces, with values being: P=1, Kn=2, B=3, R=5, Q=9, K=INFINITY.

"Ghandi (Nonviolent) Chess": Capturing is illegal.

"Jnana Yoga (Self-Inquiry) Chess: Before each move, ask yourself "Who is moving?" Answer: "I am." Ask yourself: "Who Am I?" Answer: "Who wants to know?" Answer: "I do." Ask: "Who am I?" etc. Remember that the answer is along the lines of I am not my body, or my thoughts, or my name, or my social status, etc. I am Pure Awareness, Awareness of the question, Awareness of the questioner, Awareness of the Awareness, etc. Find the Source . . .

ForceFieldChess