New Concept in Chess

[Edward Bermingham]

Hi all,

lm totally new to this forum but l thought it would be a good place to start, l would value any opinions from members with regards to a new product l am developing called Nexchess. Nexchess has been developed to represent modern day conflict around the world today, 21st century.

Furthermore it is believed that the new format will encourage youngsters between the ages of 8yr - 14yr to learn the great game of chess, Nexchess is played as a normal chess game but with playing pieces that represent today, ie Presidents,
Generals, Jet Fighters, Helicopters, Tanks, Marines.

l visited a couple of schools in my area ( Liverpool ) and asked youngsters which chess game would they be prepared to learn the game, Staunton or Nexchess, the results were overwhelming for Nexchess, around 90%

Nexchess is not just another character set of which there are thousands, ie Star Trek / Harry Potter, l have designed it to represent the 21st century, l believe there is room in the chess playing world for a modern set which represents today.

l would appreciate any views members may have before l commit to further financing of my project, all designs / packaging etc are finished, l will be ordering the first 100 sets to arrive no later than April.

If any members would like to view the designs just enter " nexchess " on google.

Best Regards,

Edward Bermingham

[Greg Breed]

It looks pretty cool Edward. Would you mind if i post the pic here?



Various colour schemes would also go down well i presume.

[IM Jack Rudd]

l visited a couple of schools in my area ( Liverpool ) and asked youngsters which chess game would they be prepared to learn the game, Staunton or Nexchess, the results were overwhelming for Nexchess, around 90%

That's all well and good, but it runs into the same problem that the Dvorak keyboard runs into: technological lock-in. Most people who already play chess will be familiar with, and want to use, Staunton sets - playing with nonstandard designs creates extra work for the brain when you want to use your brain for thinking about chess.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It also appears to glorify war. In the sense of encouraging modern technological warfare.

[Greg Breed]

I reckon the helicopters would last one game with kids.

[Jonathan Bryant]

... with regards to a new product l am developing called Nexchess ....

Well for a start it's not a new concept - there was a letter in Chess magazine proposing a similar idea back in 1981 (see halfway down this post) and no doubt it dates back much further than that too.

Second, you might not see it as a 'character set', but that's how serious experienced players will see it. There's absolutely no chance whatsoever that this set will ever be used in any meaningful competition. Not just for the reasons for that Jack outlines above either.

That said, it wouldn't at all surprise me if there was a market amongst casual players - e.g the 8 to 9 year-olds who don't currently play that you mention. Good luck with it, but aside from any profit motive, I wouldn't set my heart on it being anything other than a novelty set if I were you.

[Jonathan Bryant]

... l visited a couple of schools in my area ( Liverpool ) and asked youngsters which chess game would they be prepared to learn the game, Staunton or Nexchess, the results were overwhelming for Nexchess, around 90% ....

Incidentally, if you're serious in your belief that a set of this kind is necessary for children in your target age group to learn the game, you might want to try to explain the ongoing expansion of the Chess for Schools programme which seems to be running along quite nicely with Staunton pieces.

[David Robertson]

Toys for the boys. Just the job to encourage girls

[Richard James]

Sorry Edward, but although the set is undeniably attractive, at least to boys, I think it's a seriously bad idea. Children find standard pieces very attractive (maybe too attractive) anyway.

There are all sorts of reasons, some of which have already been mentioned, why it's important that children use standard pieces when learning chess.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Toys for the boys. Just the job to encourage girls

Hey, the queen got replaced by a male President (I think). Unless it is a unisex President. That's not on! (Or has the queen been replaced by a general, anyway, they are both wearing trousers, which might not mean anything, but still). Oh, and I agree with what Richard said as well.

[Going all topical, maybe the King should be a Pope and give lessons in how to resign?]

[John Foley]

I have had classes where the children play with military figures as well as chess pieces. For example, a helicopter may be placed atop a chess piece. The key thing for me is whether or not the powers of the pieces are thereby affected. As long as there is a logic and consistency to their "fairy" chess then I am content. From my observation, children seem perfectly happy with the Staunton pattern pieces. In fact, they love them. If NexChess involved different piece moves then it could be interesting. There are numerous fairy chess pieces already defined. For example, I would like to see an Amazon piece i.e. Queen + Knight compound. Of course, none of this is new - the Q+N has been round since the Middle Ages.

[John McKenna]

Surely something's missing - the elements of asymmetrical warfare. May I suggest a "pocket knight" in the form of a drone? One could go further and deploy pocket nukes but that would be too much, even the Pentagon have not used those babies, yet.

[Chris Rice]

I agree with John and think that Mr Bermingham needs to think outside the box on this one. If this is supposed to represent modern day warfare then why not place some landmines along the fourth and fifth ranks? Forget the toy soldiers and throw in some hostages and suicide bombers while you're at it.

[Peter D Williams]

Heroscape game has suicide bomber in it and is a better game than chess.

At its essence, Heroscape is an epic battle between and among characters from multiple cultures, periods, and genres, taking place on a three-dimensional gaming surface of various elevations and terrain types. Although the game manual contains ideas for scenarios, many players combine multiple sets of terrain tiles to create large playing surfaces, and develop their own house rules and custom scenarios. The heroes are inspired heavily by popular science fiction and fantasy, as well as the Old West, the Roman Empire, ancient Greece, feudal Japan, the Scottish highlands, the Nordic sagas, American history, medieval Europe, and classic mythology, among others. A single team may consist of heroes from many genres, with dragons, elves, robots, angels, demons, vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs and wizards fighting alongside (and against) soldiers, vikings, knights, samurai, cowboys and futuristic agents and more, including various forms of animal life, such as wolves, spiders, and serpent-like vipers.

This appeals to boys as it has so many figures who all have different powers its a really good game And you can chose what type of fight action you want and you can build different maps to play on.

If you could make chess like heroscrape you be on to something.

Different types of chess sets have been tried before and have not really took off with the public.

Appears to be getting a lot colder keep warm every one.

[John McKenna]

Ta Peter, the mind boggles at the huge potential for... er, heroism. Did you mention damsels in distress or have they gained an equal capacity to save themselves now - like Princess What's-her-name?