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 Poul Anderson's short story "Immortal Game", inspired by the 1851 game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky (which also appears in the film "Blade Runner"); or Waldemar Łysiak's "Szachista" (), centered on a game played between Napoleon Bonaparte and The Turk. The game Frank Poole versus HAL 9000 from the film "" is also based on an actual match, albeit not widely known. Other artists drawn their inspirations from the life of players. Vladimir Nabokov wrote "The Defense" after learning about Curt von Bardeleben, while the musical "Chess" was loosely based on the life of Bobby Fischer. Some authors