Forchess
Encyclopedia
Forchess is a four-person chess variant
developed by an American engineer named T. K. Rogers. It uses one standard chess board and two sets of standard pieces.
. Rogers believed in the educational merits of chess and felt that making the game a more popular social activity would benefit society.
Rogers wanted the game to use only standard pieces and a standard board so that everything necessary to play would be readily available. He also did not want to severely limit the number of pieces each player had.
In 1992, Rogers published the instruction set as a 64-page booklet Forchess: The Ultimate Social Game, designed to fit in a shirt pocket. The booklet also contained strategies for playing the game and a new technique invented by Rogers for analyzing both chess and Forchess games. He called it influence indicator.
In 1996, Rogers posted a free instruction set on the then newly-founded Intuitor
website. He simultaneously began distributing thousands of free instruction brochures to schools and colleges.
The game is played by four people in teams of two. At the outset, each player controls an entire quadrant of the board with a full set of chess pieces (minus one pawn). Partners occupy quadrants diagonally across from each other. The diagram at right shows the initial layout of the Forchess board (K=King
, Q=Queen
, R=Rook
, B=Bishop
, N=Knight
, and P=Pawn
). Note that only 4 squares are initially unoccupied.
All the pieces move and capture in the same manner as conventional chess, except the pawn, which moves diagonally and captures laterally. A pawn may not move two squares at a time, and there is no en passant
capture. There are no checkmate
s and no stalemate
s: kings are captured like all other pieces. When a player is in check and has no legal moves to escape check, he may make a "token move" every turn until his king is actually captured. When a player loses his king, his remaining pieces subsequently become the captor's. The game ends when one team has lost both kings or chooses to concede.
Partners typically coordinate their moves as part of a single strategy. Thus, communication of that strategy becomes a requirement of the game. Clandestine forms of communication such as code words, furtive gestures, or secret notes are not allowed. All strategizing between partners must be done openly in front of their opponents. This rule lends Forchess much of its social character.
. In this respect, Cutthroat shares strategy elements with the board game Risk
.
Chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
developed by an American engineer named T. K. Rogers. It uses one standard chess board and two sets of standard pieces.
History and motivation
Forchess was developed around the year 1975. Its inventor T. K. Rogers wanted to create a pure strategy game with the social dynamic of card games like BridgeContract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
. Rogers believed in the educational merits of chess and felt that making the game a more popular social activity would benefit society.
Rogers wanted the game to use only standard pieces and a standard board so that everything necessary to play would be readily available. He also did not want to severely limit the number of pieces each player had.
In 1992, Rogers published the instruction set as a 64-page booklet Forchess: The Ultimate Social Game, designed to fit in a shirt pocket. The booklet also contained strategies for playing the game and a new technique invented by Rogers for analyzing both chess and Forchess games. He called it influence indicator.
In 1996, Rogers posted a free instruction set on the then newly-founded Intuitor
Intuitor
Intuitor is a website promoting creative learning as both a method of enlightenment and a cultural theme in its own right. Created in 1996, two of its earliest features were instructions for the founder's own four-handed chess variant Forchess and an essay entitled Why Now Is the Most Exciting...
website. He simultaneously began distributing thousands of free instruction brochures to schools and colleges.
Overview of the game
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | K | R | N | P | P | B | R | K | 8 |
| 7 | R | Q | B | P | P | N | Q | R | 7 |
| 6 | B | N | P | P | B | N | 6 | ||
| 5 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | 5 |
| 4 | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | P | 4 |
| 3 | N | B | P | P | N | B | 3 | ||
| 2 | R | Q | N | P | P | B | Q | R | 2 |
| 1 | K | R | B | P | P | N | R | K | 1 |
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
The game is played by four people in teams of two. At the outset, each player controls an entire quadrant of the board with a full set of chess pieces (minus one pawn). Partners occupy quadrants diagonally across from each other. The diagram at right shows the initial layout of the Forchess board (K=King
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
, Q=Queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
, R=Rook
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
, B=Bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
, N=Knight
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
, and P=Pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
). Note that only 4 squares are initially unoccupied.
All the pieces move and capture in the same manner as conventional chess, except the pawn, which moves diagonally and captures laterally. A pawn may not move two squares at a time, and there is no en passant
En passant
En passant is a move in the board game of chess . It is a special pawn capture which can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an enemy pawn could have captured it had it moved only one square forward...
capture. There are no checkmate
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
s and no stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
s: kings are captured like all other pieces. When a player is in check and has no legal moves to escape check, he may make a "token move" every turn until his king is actually captured. When a player loses his king, his remaining pieces subsequently become the captor's. The game ends when one team has lost both kings or chooses to concede.
Partners typically coordinate their moves as part of a single strategy. Thus, communication of that strategy becomes a requirement of the game. Clandestine forms of communication such as code words, furtive gestures, or secret notes are not allowed. All strategizing between partners must be done openly in front of their opponents. This rule lends Forchess much of its social character.
Cutthroat Forchess
Forchess has a variant called Cutthroat, in which there are no partners and only one player wins by defeating all three opponents. Successful strategy in Cutthroat Forchess can differ greatly from "regular" Forchess, as fluid alliances may spark a game of psychological manipulationPsychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
. In this respect, Cutthroat shares strategy elements with the board game Risk
Risk (game)
Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
.