From the often amusing Eye Of The Tiber:
Society of St. Pius X chess grandmaster Larcel Mafebvre has turned four of his pieces into bishops without approval from the World Chess Federation, officials have confirmed.
“Mr. Mafebvre has, without approval from the Federation, created bishops out of pawn pieces,” said World Chess Federation head Antonio Salamanca. “After speaking with Mr. Mafebvre regarding abiding by the new chess rules, wherein players are given the freedom to concelebrate the match, and to say the words of ‘checkmate’ in the vernacular, he has sadly decided to ignore our requests.”
Salamanca went on to tell reporters that Mafebvre had automatically incurred excheckommunication because of his disobedience.
“I must do what is in my conscience to preserve the dignity of the game,” Mafebvre told EOTT in an exclusive interview. “Therefore, I have decided to consecrate four of my pieces into bishops to help my depleted side, for, from some Fischer, the smoke of Satan has entered the chessboard of God.”
At press time, one time follower of Larcel Mafebvre’s, Bavid Dawden, told EOTT that he has decided to become head of the World Chess Federation, though he only has three pawns to play with.
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Ah, fantasy chess! (We bought a ‘Chess Empire’ set – with lots of extra pieces and spaces (surprisingly? – in a sort of ‘sell out’, once) – but have experimented with it less than I expected…
Perhaps if they played in Capuchin cowls…
I ran a homeschool chess club for a couple years back in San Diego. We called it “Good Bishops”.
There are surprisingly few good Catholic games and surprisingly few Catholic game sites. I had wanted to set up such a site, but I couldn’t get any people who wanted to help and could make the commitment. I got permission from the Catholic Encyclopedia online people to use their listings to create word searches and crosswords. There is plenty of room for creativity. I could see a first person shooter game called, Demon-Slayer.
Has anyone made a chess set using ecclesiastical offices or rank (other than bishop, of course)?
The Chicken
The Masked Chicken asks, “Has anyone made a chess set using ecclesiastical offices or rank (other than bishop, of course)?” What a good idea – and it sounds likely, once you ask it: I hope someone knows the answer.
And says, “I could see a first person shooter game called, Demon-Slayer.” But,… in what sense ‘slain’, given how demons as evil spirits are normally understood? (A sort of ‘first-person exorcism’ exercise?)
Not exactly a Catholic game site, but I’ve enjoyed various game-related things by Thomas L. McDonald, down the years – and missed others, clicking “Games” in his wordcloud shows me – like this one!:
https://thomaslmcdonald.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/a-game-for-training-missionaries-about-indigenous-cultures/
Re: Masked Chicken, there are in fact invented chess pieces (rarely seen in sets but often encountered in certain chess problems or in obscure invented chess variants) that bear the names of other ranks.
The “archbishop” or “cardinal” for example is a piece that can move either like a bishop or a knight, in the same way a queen can move either like a bishop or a rook. There’s also a piece called the “pope” which moves like a bishop or a king, and is also checkmate-able. Maybe some deacons are in order?
Funny. I got in trouble with the World Chess Federation for the same thing, except I was changing all my pawns into knights!
Several of the pawns refused however.
I wonder whether that particular offence has been confirmed yet . . . by the Chancellor of the Exchequer ?
“Salamanca went on to tell reporters that Mafebvre had automatically incurred excheckommunication because of his disobedience.”
They were so close. Shouldn’t that be, exchesscommunication?
The Chicken
Chess for Trads:
Play facing away from your opponent.
or, better yet, Chexcommunication.
The Chicken
I don’t know Chicken , I kind of took a liking to “exchesscommunication” . . . it got me wondering what Chessterton might’ve had to say, had he lived through the time of Mafebvre’s castling. :)
@ comedyeye : lol
comedyeye says,”Play facing away from your opponent.” Ah, the delights of ‘ Kreigspiel’: players back-to-back with only their own pieces, someone between to record all moves and advise if a proposed move is impossible. (That’s how we used to play it, anyway. Alas, I never progressed to blindfold chess…)