Almost Chess Almost Chess Almost Chess is a chess variant invented by Ralph Betza in 1977. The game is played using a standard chessboard and pieces, except the players' queens are replaced by chancellors, which combine the moves of a rook and a knight. Almost Chess was featured in NOST magazine "Nost-algia", beginning with issue 205. Other than the replacement of queens by chancellors (notated "C"), the game follows all the rules and conventions of standard chess. The Fool's mate in Almost Chess begins 1.Cc3. Replacing queens with chancellors imparts a radical change to the nature of the chess game, despite the
Chess in the arts readers that it singlehandedly inspired other authors to create poems about chess. In the 20th century, artists created many works related to the game, sometimes taking their inspiration from the life of famous players (Vladimir Nabokov in "The Defense") or well-known games (Poul Anderson in "Immortal Game", John Brunner in "The Squares of the City"). Some authors invented new chess variants in their works, such as stealth chess in Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series or Tri-Dimensional chess in the "Star Trek" series. Palatine Chapel in the Norman Palace in Palermo you can admire the first painting of a chess game that