♔ O V E R C H E S S ♛ A game of chess played by two teams of up to 16 players each. -♗- One player on each side is the Commander and the other 15 are their Lieutenants. The two Commanders play a game of chess, referred to as the over-game. Their board is the over-board and their pieces are the over-pieces. Each over-piece, save the king, represents a 16 piece chess set controlled by one of the 15 lieutenants on that Commander's team. These 16 pieces consist of half of a standard chess set, eight pawns, two each rooks, knights, and bishops, and a single king and queen. These are referred to as the sub-pieces and they make up a sub-set. Whenever an over-piece of one side is moved to a square occupied by an over-piece of the opposition, instead of the attacking piece removing the defending piece from the board like in standard chess (taking), a sub-game of chess is played between the two Lieutenants whose sub-pieces are represented by the two over-pieces.The over-piece representing the winner of this sub-game remains in square and the other overpiece is removed from the board. However, the victor of the sub-game does not emerge unscathed. Any sub-pieces taken in the course of the sub-game are not replenished, and the victor will enter any subsequent sub-games missing any of the sub-pieces that were taken in prior sub-games. When sub-games are started that involve one or more sub- set that are missing pieces, the Lieutenant may choose where to place their remaining pieces, as long as that piece begins the sub-game in a position it would normally be in. For example, a white sub-set that is missing a bishop and three pawns may place the remaining bishop on either the c1 or the F1 position, but nowhere else. The 5 remaining pawns may be distributed at will anywhere on the 2nd rank, possibly allowing for a rook or the queen to make the first move. The attacking team (white in standard chess) sets up their side of the sub-board first, then the defending team (black in standard chess) sets up their side. The attaching team moves first, regardless of the color of their pieces. The aim of the above is to reinvigorate chess by adding an amount of uncertainty to the over-game and making it less susceptible to rote openings. Likewise the sub-games have an additional layer of strategy considering that losing a sub- piece not only affects the current game, but also all subsequent games utilizing this sub-set. In addition, when a sub-set that has taken many losses plays a sub-game against a sub-set that is still complete, their aim may be to take as many opposing pieces and cause as much damage to their opponent as possible if the result of the game appears to be all but certain. Out of fairness and perhaps logistical necessity, it is not necessary for a team to consist of exactly 16 people. Not all pieces in a game of chess are used equally and this could result in some players not taking part in the game at all if their over-piece is never used. It may be that one person controls all the pieces of a specific type (rook, pawn, ect.), or players could participate in sub-games on a rotational basis. Likewise, the commander doesn’t need to be a single person but could make moves on the over-board by a democratic process or be a role that changes hands over the course of the over-game. However the teams are structured, it is important that the number and type of pieces in each sub- set and to which over-piece they belong is kept track of. If required, a numerical value or other indication could be attached to each over-piece to indicate the strength or completeness of its associated sub-set. -♞- Additional, optional rules: To prevent powerful pieces becoming more or less useless after a single attack, some optional rules can be added to allow pieces to regenerate their capabilities. In all of the below, a sub-set may never have more than eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen and one king. Prisoners: Any surviving pieces on the losing side of a sub-game may be captured to replace sub-pieces lost by the victor. Any sub-pieces that cannot be captured (i.e. would result in the subset exceeding the roster listed above) are lost. Consolidation: Instead of making a move on the over- board, an over-piece may be removed from the board and its constituent sub-pieces redistributed amongst the remaining sub-sets. Any sub-pieces that cannot be relocated to different sub-sets are lost. Reserves: Each sub-set (or perhaps each team), has a limited number of spare pieces that can be re-added to the sub-set (or sets) either at the end of its sub-game, or before its next move on the over-board. Each team must agree on the number and type of reserve pieces before the game starts. They do not necessarily need to be the same for each side, but they need to be agreed upon by both teams. Fog of war: When a sub-game is initiated, it is not played and its result is not applied to the over-board, until after the next move on the over-board has been completed. The contested square on the overboard is considered to be occupied (i.e. blocks movement), and cannot be attacked again until the sub-game has been played and it is known what over- piece remains in that position. For example, black attacks a white piece on the over-board. The square is contested, and cannot be attacked or moved through. White must make their move on the over-board before the sub-game is played. If, on their turn, white also makes an attack on the over-board, the first sub-game is resolved, black then makes their next move on the over-board, and then the second sub-game is resolved. -♖- Of course, this scheme can be extended to bsurdity; each piece taken in a sub game could be represented by a sub-sub- game which in turn produces sub-sub-sub games. This sounds like it would get less interesting and more tedious the deeper the Matryoshka gets. -♟- eHyde - 2024