New Concept in Chess

[Simon Brown]

I was responding to Andrew's comment. My son thought it looked ridiculous as well.

[Edward Bermingham]

Dear Members,

Thank you all for your responses, some l have made a note of, some l have ignored, some made me laugh, especially the gentleman that said if it were chocolate and cheese he would eat it, lets hope Nexchess plays as well as it looks and tastes!

Thank you to the member who downloaded the wrong picture of Nexchess, this was an early presentation which shows two
pieces incorrectly placed, the correct version is on my website marked NEXCHESS.

Some members have mentioned that Nexchess glorifys war, l dont think so. l have never seen war promoted as much as with current games dvds, ie Call of Duty 123. Nexchess is a boardgame without special effects, if anything the special effects attached to these type of war games are promoting / gloryfying war, the more blood and guts the better. The results of watching our kids spend 10 hours a day with their Xbox can be seen today on our streets. The purpose of Nexchess is to try and take some of those 10 hours to teach children something meaningful in the game of chess, not to get involved in blood splatter on the streets. Nexchess does not glorify war, it represents current global conflict of the 21st century, not of the 15th century. The Battle of Trafalgar chess set, is this glorificaton of war? or just a lesson in good sailing ?

Thank you to the members who mentioned the helicopter blades, since your comments l have now spoken to the manufacturer regarding this matter, we have agreed to change the composition of the blades from poly-resin to plastic, they will be fixed seperately when assembling at the factory. Thank you, as this was an ongoing concern.

Some members have mentioned the lack of girls playing, all l can say is watch this space. Nexchess for me is a project for life,
the picture on this site you have seen is the basic Nexchess, l have in progress at this very moment designs to encourage girls to play chess, and no it is not Barbie chess set, on top of this there is in the pipeline Nexchess 2 / Nexchess 3 / Nexchess 4 Battle of Britain.

Another member mentioned brain confusion when moving Nexchess pieces, trying to remember that the jet fighter is the bishop, as an avid character chess set collector l know exactly what you mean, the target market for Nexchess is 8yr - 14yr.
The idea is to encourage children this age to learn the great game of chess, at the moment, after visiting various schools and speaking to hundreds of schoolchildren it was concluded that children who would wish to learn chess would prefer to learn playing with Nexchess, why ? because current Staunton models are.........boring ! Today l have three schools and dozens of children all calling me and asking when is Nexchess arriving.

Lets talk about confusion shall we, these are a sample of questions some children asked of me.

1. Does the Queen of England go out to war ? 2. Does she live in a castle ? 3. Who is the King ? we dont have a king.
4. What is a bishop ? 5. What is a knight ? 6. Does the bishop of liverpool go to war ?

These are just a sample from hundreds of questions, lets talk about confusion shall we. A rook ! lm not going down that road.
Children think a rook is a bird. With Nexchess, a marine is a marine, a tank is a tank, a helicopter is a helicopter etc

One member mentioned the chess for schools programme, l think you will find that problems have developed with this due to lack of goverment funding, l actually read this snippet of news on this site !

The purpose of Nexchess is not chess competitions......not in this century, maybe the next, l sincerely believe this, but if l can convince 1% of the world chess playing population to convert to Nexchess, l would consider this a success.

To summarise, thank you all for your comments, keep them coming, l have not been deterred from further investment in Nexchess ( manufacturing ) the first 100 sets will be arriving around April this year.

Best Regards......Edward Bermingham

[Christopher Kreuzer]

because current Staunton models are.........boring !

The premise here is that to get children interested in chess, you need to make the pieces exciting. That is completely the wrong approach. The children who want the chess pieces to be 'exciting' are not necessarily those who will continue playing chess. You may be misleading many children about what makes chess exciting, in order to find the few that will find the game-playing, logical thinking, and strategy makes them want to carry on playing.

1. Does the Queen of England go out to war ? 2. Does she live in a castle ? 3. Who is the King ? we dont have a king. 4. What is a bishop ? 5. What is a knight ? 6. Does the bishop of liverpool go to war ?

Maybe what is needed here are history lessons? Most children should know what a king, queen, bishop and knight are. The rook can be called a castle if the 'rook' name causes confusion. Pawns can be called foot-soldiers. But really, it is best not to depict chess as a war game. It is a board game.

One member mentioned the chess for schools programme, l think you will find that problems have developed with this due to lack of goverment funding, l actually read this snippet of news on this site !

Where is the face-palm symbol? Hopefully others will be able to correct you here, or fill in the history.

[Greg Breed]

I've seen a lot of negativity here. I think it's a great idea. If it gets the kids playing then great. If and when they decide they want to go further, then the shape of the pieces will not be a hindrance. Kids have supple, agile minds and will pick up the change from Nexchess to Classical Staunton in no time at all.

And if they don't immediately want to play "normal" chess with others, does it matter? I'm sure that if they love the game then they will eventually.

[Peter D Williams]

I've seen a lot of negativity here. I think it's a great idea. If it gets the kids playing then great. If and when they decide they want to go further, then the shape of the pieces will not be a hindrance. Kids have supple, agile minds and will pick up the change from Nexchess to Classical Staunton in no time at all.

And if they don't immediately want to play "normal" chess with others, does it matter? I'm sure that if they love the game then they will eventually.

Its long term ideas we need to keep juniors playing chess regular into adulthood not gimmicks or fads which are 5 minute wonders.I think Richard has given example of this on here.I had a boy thinking he could move a chess man like a plane and was rather annoyed to find you could not!
It wont just happen by some gimmick that children will want to go further with the chess and that is what we should all want.
My own view is it may rather suit some to not have juniors playing chess regular into adulthood
They is a view on here that it will all just happen by chance like those that can not admit they practice or study chess books but appear to know a great deal about chess theory.

Time for hot cholcate drink.

[Edward Bermingham]

Thanks Greg,

Nice to read an open-minded comment, its all about choice, if a child wishes to play chess using Nexchess, it is teaching them the principles of the game, it is encouraging learning, if they then wish to proceed to Staunton at a later date thats fine.
Would they even think about learning chess in its old format ? the comments l have heard, the answer is no. Nexchess is another opportunity to learn in a modern way the great game of chess. Thanks very much.

Best Regards.....Edward Bermingham

[Jonathan Bryant]

Thanks Greg,

Nice to read an open-minded comment ....

So when you said you would "value any opinions" you didn't mean it, then?

[John McKenna]

Historians of chess tell us that the ancient Indian game of chaturanga (four parts/divisions/limbs) is the ancestor of chess. The pieces in that ancient game represent the four divisions – infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants - of an Indian army around the time of Alexander the Great (who made a military excursion across the Indus river into N. India and defeated an army said to include 200 elephants). In addition to the pieces in it (foot soldier, horse, elephant and chariot), representing the four divisions, chaturanga also had a Raja (King) and a Sentapi (General).
NEXCHESS/Nexchess/nexchess is a return to this original idea in a modern guise. In it there is a President and a General plus the four divisions of a modern armed forces – the two parts of the army (tanks & infantry), the navy (Marine helicopters) and the airforce (aircraft).
The problem with this has been pointed out in posts above – the standard chess set in use today is based on the Victorian Staunton design of pieces, which are generally smooth, stylised representations of the divisions in a medieval European country – king, queen, castles, clergy, knights and peasantry. As such the Staunton set is not warlike in appearance and, as pointed out in a post above, has lost the connection to a war game and become a board game.
Nexchess, in my opinion, reconnects chess to war and does so because young minds in our culture readily recognise the instruments of modern war since they are confronted with images of them in many ways these days, but without understanding their true nature and real cost in human lives and suffering their use involves. For young children, particularly boys, war is still exciting and even glorious if they are on the winning side (vae victis). Therefore the appeal of recognisable modern military figures, and the preference for them versus abstract Staunton ones, to a certain age group is only to be expected.
The question is – should we continue to try to mask or hide the connection between chess and war? War (defence) still exists and is planned for and funded on a large scale but used nowadays, on a smaller scale, by nations as a sovereign right (supposedly only in response to aggression). Should we not acknowledge the reality of the world in which we live and stop pretending we live in one without armed forces and wars? Why not turn the nexchess ‘general’ into a tactical nuclear weapon, representing it by a short-range nuclear missile, rather than pretending such things don't exist? The power a queen has on a chessboard approximates to one since it radiates in all possible directions allowed in chess. (Also, lose the helicopter rotor blades and replace them with a disc to represent the blades in motion. It would then be easier to pick up and less likely to break.)

[Edward Bermingham]

Dear John,

Thanks for your post, regarding changing General to Nuclear Missile, 3 years ago when l first started designing Nexchess there was no General, the Queen had been replaced by a missile, l still have the designs. The problem faced with a missile was the fact it looked liked a falic symbol, it did not match the back line of remaining pieces, l believe changing to General was the right decision, l also have tried to include reality into the pieces as you have previously mentioned, with the President being the tallest piece on the board, l could not have a missile smaller in size.

Regarding your helicopter idea of which l think is superb ( tiddlywink ) as blades, only yesterday l ordered the prototype at a cost of £ 600.00, once the prototype has arrived l will play for several days identifying any weaknesses in the pieces, if l find the blades are breaking l will definately change to tiddlywink, before full production. The cost of the prototype includes making the molds which will then be used for production. Great idea !

l came on to this site to obtain valuable opinions, it has provided that. l am 55yr old, l have been playing chess since the age of 12yrs, and during my many years of playing l have persistently wondered why there has never been a chess set which represents today the 21st century, when l became unemployed, this concept became my motivation to develop Nexchess.
Most children l have spoken to about learning chess with standard pieces show no interest at all, show them the Nexchess idea and lm asked " when is it arriving, l want one " . This is why l believe Nexchess will succeed. Of course there are people on this site that are negative, have played with Staunton all their lives and will never change, l wish them well ! But lm not directing Nexchess at them, lm directing it towards our youth / next generation. As time presses forward, attitudes change and thank god they do or where would we be now.

Best Regards....Edward Bermingham

[Peter D Williams]

Dear John,

Thanks for your post, regarding changing General to Nuclear Missile, 3 years ago when l first started designing Nexchess there was no General, the Queen had been replaced by a missile, l still have the designs. The problem faced with a missile was the fact it looked liked a falic symbol, it did not match the back line of remaining pieces, l believe changing to General was the right decision, l also have tried to include reality into the pieces as you have previously mentioned, with the President being the tallest piece on the board, l could not have a missile smaller in size.

Regarding your helicopter idea of which l think is superb ( tiddlywink ) as blades, only yesterday l ordered the prototype at a cost of £ 600.00, once the prototype has arrived l will play for several days identifying any weaknesses in the pieces, if l find the blades are breaking l will definately change to tiddlywink, before full production. The cost of the prototype includes making the molds which will then be used for production. Great idea !

l came on to this site to obtain valuable opinions, it has provided that. l am 55yr old, l have been playing chess since the age of 12yrs, and during my many years of playing l have persistently wondered why there has never been a chess set which represents today the 21st century, when l became unemployed, this concept became my motivation to develop Nexchess.
Most children l have spoken to about learning chess with standard pieces show no interest at all, show them the Nexchess idea and lm asked " when is it arriving, l want one " . This is why l believe Nexchess will succeed. Of course there are people on this site that are negative, have played with Staunton all their lives and will never change, l wish them well ! But lm not directing Nexchess at them, lm directing it towards our youth / next generation. As time presses forward, attitudes change and thank god they do or where would we be now.

Best Regards....Edward Bermingham

The people on here you say are negative have a great deal of experience in teaching running a successful junior chess club such as Richard James with the really good work he has done at Richmond Junior chess club and the running of the Richmond rapid plays.

Fads and gimmicks will not get children playing chess long term and then as adults on a regular bases. In real rated chess events we do use the Staunton chess sets and young players need to get used to these chess men. and the real rules of chess.Chess clocks are used to.
Its all been tried before with various chess sets but none have led to a real upshot in children playing chess with real chess men on a regular bases.A lad i taught at scouts had a star trek chess set and wanted to move one of the chess men like a plane and was rather shocked to find its not allowed

[Andrew Camp]

NO, NO, NO!

And in case I am not clear, NO!!!

[Matt Mackenzie]

I agree with the above posts

[John McKenna]

Is Andrew's post above a prime example of the 'negativity' already alluded to multiple times in this thread?
I once tried to get my theory of negativity published but nobody wanted to read, let alone publish it. Still, after what Ed. Bermingham wrote in his 'Dear John' post - about times changing - I am getting more optimistic. In fact I'll be over the moon if times become so bad that my theory gets a fair hearing.
Oh, and Ed, if you read this, think big... big TIDDLYWINK! After all its only plastic so don't skimp or you may live to regret it.

[Edward Bermingham]

All l can respond with to Andrews post is Yes Yes Yes, and in case lm not clear enough..YES. That was a pretty intelligent
conversation, thanks very much.

[John Hickman]

I once tried to get my theory of negativity published but nobody wanted to read, let alone publish it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcYppAs6ZdI