Human chess is a variant of chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, often played at a Renaissance fair

Renaissance Fair

A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are...

, where people each take on the role of a chess piece

Chess piece

Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...

. Human chess is typically played on an outdoor field, with the squares of the board marked out on the grass. Many Human Combat Chess Matches are choreographed stage shows that are performed by actors who are trained in stage combat

Stage combat

Stage combat is a specialized technique in theatre designed to create the illusion of physical combat without causing harm to the performers. It is employed in live stage plays as well as operatic and ballet productions. The term is also used informally to describe fight choreography for other...

. A move that results in a piece being taken and then removed from the board will cause a choreographed fight to be played out, to determine whether the piece is actually taken. Alternatively, the pieces may spar, following rules that are similar to those used by the Society for Creative Anachronism

Society for Creative Anachronism

The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century...

. The fight can be refereed as in a wrestling match or a judo

Judo

is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...

 fight.

A costumed human chess game has been staged every two years in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 city of Marostica

Marostica

Marostica , is a town and comune in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It is mostly famous for its living chess event and for the local cherry variety.-History:...

, near Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 since 1923. The game commemorates a legendary and possibly fictional chess game that was played in 1454 by two young gentlemen, to settle which of them should woo the fair lady that both had fallen in love with.

In fiction

Human chess appears before 1923 in written fiction, such as Through the Looking Glass

Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...

(1871) by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

 and The Chessmen of Mars

The Chessmen of Mars

The Chessmen of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the fifth of his famous Barsoom series. Burroughs began writing it in January, 1921, and the finished story was first published in Argosy All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial in the issues for February 18 and 25 and March 4,...

(1922) by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...

 (as the Barsoom

Barsoom

Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...

ian game Jetan

Jetan

Jetan, also known as Martian Chess, is a chess-based strategy game with unclear rules. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series...

). Later it appears in "All the King's Horses" by Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...

 as well in Pawn in Frankincense and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard...

. In the Discworld

Discworld

Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....

 novel Interesting Times

Interesting Times

Interesting Times is the seventeenth novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.The opening lines explain that the title refers to the phrase "may you live in interesting times".-Plot summary:...

, it is played by the Emperor of the Agatean Empire, and those who portray captured pieces are summarily executed.

On television it can be seen in The Prisoner

The Prisoner

The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...

episode "Checkmate

Checkmate (The Prisoner)

Checkmate is the ninth episode of the television series The Prisoner; as its title suggests, the plot centres around a game of chess in which the pieces are humans, directed by a mysterious "man with a stick". The chess game has been described as a metaphor for life itself, albeit a somewhat...

" and the Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

episode "Tennis the Menace

Tennis the Menace

"Tennis the Menace" is the twelfth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11, 2001. In the episode, the Simpsons build a tennis court in their backyard, but Homer's inferior tennis ability...

."

This term may also refer to political maneuvering between individuals and/or groups that resemble a chess match.

In computer games

Computer chess programs have often simulated living chess matches with animations of combat between pieces. The first and most infamous of these games was Battle Chess

Battle Chess

Battle Chess is a computer game version of chess in which the chess pieces come to life and battle one another when capturing. It was released for the Commodore Amiga and subsequently on the 3DO, MS-DOS, Apple IIGS, Apple IIe, Commodore 64, Amiga CDTV, CD32, Atari ST, Apple Macintosh, Acorn...

by Interplay

Interplay

Interplay may refer to:* Interplay , a 1957 album by jazz musician John Coltrane* Interplay , Jerome Robbins, 1945* Interplay , a 1962 album by jazz musician Bill Evans...

, released in 1988, which featured comical but bloody battles between animated characters. Other variations include pop culture icons such as Star Wars Chess. The most popular commercial chess program on the market today, Chessmaster

Chessmaster

Chessmaster is a chess playing computer game series which is now owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess franchise in history, with more than five million units sold .-Timeline:...

, features an option to use animated 3D pieces that assault one another.

Many video games have included chess themed levels, such as American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice is a third-person action game released for PC on October 6, 2000. The game, developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, is set in an alternative universe of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...

and World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

, which have incorporated chess iconography and some chess rules, but usually do not simulate an actual game.

Cosplay human chess

In 2004, Metrocon

Metrocon

METROCON is an annual anime convention based in Tampa, Florida. It was first presented in 2003 out of a Crowne Plaza Hotel nearby to the Florida State Fairgrounds, and beginning in 2005 moved to the Tampa Convention Center after two years of rapid growth....

 created and hosted the first ever anime human chess match. It was pre-scripted and used choreographed combat which resulted in a new type of anime stage show.

Since then, other anime convention

Anime convention

An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels...

s ranging in size from Anime Boston

Anime Boston

Anime Boston is an annual three-day anime fan convention held in the spring in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The convention features a number of events which include a masquerade, an anime music video contest, video programming rooms, an artists' alley and art show, karaoke, game shows,...

 to Manifest

Manifest

Manifest has different meanings. It may refer to the following:Arts* Manifest , the Melbourne Anime FestivalBusiness* Manifest Limited, the UK marketing companyComputing...

 began featuring cosplay human chess, in which the chess pieces are people cosplay

Cosplay

, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...

ing as anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 or video game characters. Some cosplay chess matches have themes for the teams, such as good vs. evil, Shounen vs. Shoujo, occult vs. science, or angst vs. sugar. Often those running the match and controlling the chess boards are also in costume.

Depending on the convention, the game of chess may be pre-scripted or improvisational, and its format may vary a great deal. The Anime Human Chess performed at Metrocon

Metrocon

METROCON is an annual anime convention based in Tampa, Florida. It was first presented in 2003 out of a Crowne Plaza Hotel nearby to the Florida State Fairgrounds, and beginning in 2005 moved to the Tampa Convention Center after two years of rapid growth....

 is a wholly preplanned stage show. Each year's cast members are selected by auditioning. The show is rehearsed for months in advance, with all captures and victories decided ahead of time. The fights take place with choreographed stunts and stage combat, often with live steel and special effects.

Smaller conventions such as Vericon

Vericon

Vericon is an annual science fiction convention at Harvard University, organized by the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association. Lasting over a three-day weekend, for the first nine years of its existence it took place on the last weekend of January; for 2010, however, it was moved to...

, Connecticon

ConnectiCon

ConnectiCon is an annual massively multi-genre convention dedicated to "a celebration of pop culture - everything from anime, to science fiction, comic books and card games." Past guests of honor have included popular North American voice actors for anime and video games such as Carlos Ferro and...

, and AnimeUSA have held much simpler matches where pieces are played by volunteers who come to the convention in costume, sometimes selected only a half hour before the match, who follow a live chess game improvised by two chess players as the match continues.

Anime Boston

Anime Boston

Anime Boston is an annual three-day anime fan convention held in the spring in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The convention features a number of events which include a masquerade, an anime music video contest, video programming rooms, an artists' alley and art show, karaoke, game shows,...

 has developed a hybrid of these two styles. There, the chess pieces are convention attendees who apply in advance online and are selected, thirty-two to be pieces on the board and more to be special attacks, which are extra characters who come out from back stage to help or interfere with a combat, as well as two chess players who also portray characters. The special attacks are often pre-scripted, as are certain special events, in which groups of characters attack or interfere with the chess game as part of an ongoing plot line fitting the game's theme. The order of moves and overall chess game may or may not be improvised as decided by the chess players.

AnimeNEXT

AnimeNEXT

AnimeNEXT is an annual three-day anime convention held on a weekend in the New York / New Jersey metropolitan area, and is the ninth largest convention in the US. The first event was held in 2002 in October, but later moved to June in 2004...

has their own style of cosplay chess as well. The game is completely improvised by the coordinators to generate the best battles possible on the board with preselected pieces. Also the coordinators have one player playing out both sides, while someone else "mock" plays the other side. With one person making all the moves, it gives the mock player a chance to banter with the emcees - usually voice actors are emcees for AnimeNEXT - and keep the audience entertained.

The chess at Tora-Con is performed by RIT Cosplay Troupe. The entire show is scripted and rehearsed beforehand, with preparations starting months in advance. The people in command of the chess pieces have been characters acting outside the board as well as pieces themselves. When pieces come into conflict, the board is temporarily cleared for space as they engage in a mock battle. Although the rules of chess are followed for the most part, brawls and fights involving multiple pieces are not uncommon. The show is peppered with comedic banter. Themes in previous years include anime vs. video game and good vs. evil. Members of the RIT Cosplay Troupe design their own matches and provide their own costumes.

External links

• http://www.metroconventions.com – METROCON – Florida's largest anime convention featuring the original Anime Human Chess Match. Located in Tampa, Florida.
• http://humanchess.typepad.com/project/ – an ongoing series of life-sized chess games in urban settings
• AnimeBoston.com – featuring New England's most complex Cosplay Human Chess game
• http://www.ng-master.org/cm/thumbnails.php?album=554 – detailed photos of Anime Boston 2007 cosplay chess
• http://www.macsproductions.com/Cosplaychessindex.html/http://www.animeiowa.com Animeiowa 2008–2009 anime themed human cosplay chess
• http://www.animenext.org/cosplay-human-chess - AnimeNEXT's Cosplay Human Chess
• http://ritct.webs.com/http://ritct.webs.com/ - RIT Cosplay Troupe official website