Martian chess The Martian Chess Set won the Origins Award for "Best Abstract Board Game of 2000". The rules to the game were reissued in "3HOUSE" booklet in 2007, again by 2013 in Pyramid Primer #1 and in 2016 as a part of "Pyramid Arcade" boxed set. Each player starts with nine pieces: three small ("pawns"), three medium ("drones"), and three large ("queens"). The color of the pieces is irrelevant to the gameplay. A mix of colors is recommended. Players initially place their pieces in the corners of the board as shown. In a two-player game, only a half-board is used. The
John Littlewood (chess player) siblings. He did not start playing chess until he was 13, when he was introduced to the game by a friend. He kept on losing to his friend, so he went into the school library and checked out every single chess book. He then read a lot of chess tactics, and eventually beat his friend. At 16 he had improved and joined the local chess club. As he had not played that many people, he was surprised when he found he could beat everyone in the club. At this point he became very keen on the game. While at Sheffield