Chess Football - Presogna Productions

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CHESS FOOTBALL
Invented by Mr. J.V. Presogna

This Page Contains the Board Diagram and the Rules
2nd Edition - HTML Representation

© Copyright 2004
All Rights Reserved
Mr. J.V. Presogna

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All You Need to Play is a Chess Board and Chess Pieces

All Exclusive Rights to CHESS FOOTBALL
including Marketing and Trademark Rights
Are the Property Solely of
Mr. J.V. Presogna

No Person May Market or Distribute this Game in Any Way

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INTRODUCTION

Yes, you can play football with your chess board and pieces. Actually, that is all that you need to play CHESS FOOTBALL.

What you are getting here are the instructions and how to set up my game.

I invented this game in the early 1970s, and there are really no changes from the original final version. This edition, however, is a full color presentation of the game and the board to play it on, in HTML format.

There are some variations possible in setting up the offense and defense as far as "formations" go, but the chess pieces assigned to each football position cannot be changed.

CHESS FOOTBALL

"The Rules of Play"

SET UP: OFFENSE

The offense uses 5 pawns as offensive linemen which must be in a line at the 4^th rank.

2 rooks, as offensive ends, must also be on the line.

A king, who has the ball, is the quarterback, and he must be positioned behind the center pawn, but one additional space back, so that there is a square between the king and the center pawn.

A bishop is the flanker, and the 2 knights are the backs, all of which can be placed in any position behind the line of scrimmage in the backfield, provided they do not hinder the snap of the ball to the king.

SET UP: DEFENSE

The defense uses 5 pawns as defensive linemen which must be in a line at the 5^th rank.

2 rooks, as defensive players, can be placed on the line with the defensive pawns, or "one space back" if desired.

The king is a linebacker, the bishop is a defensive back, and the 2 knights are the safeties, and they can be placed anywhere on the defensive grid.

PLAYING THE GAME

The ball is hiked to the king (quarterback) of the white team, and he has possession of the ball at the start of the game. This hiking of the ball does not count as a move, but it is merely how the game is started.

1. White makes the first move, by either capturing a black piece, or by moving a white piece to another square.

2. Black makes the next move, by either capturing a white piece, or by moving a black piece to another square.

3. All pieces move as they normally would move on a chess board.

4. This action takes place, one turn at a time between the players, either moving a piece, or in capturing a piece, like normal chess attacks and defenses.

5. The OBJECT OF THE GAME is to get the king (quarterback) to the 8^th rank, without being taken by the defense. No handoffs are allowed. The king ALWAYS has the ball, and he always runs with it.

6. Once the king is taken, or the king scores at the 8^th rank, the players switch sides and go again.

7. Time limit of the game is up to the participating players.

GAME PLAYING ADVICE

Be careful in setting up the pieces, because you must protect the pieces whether you are offense or defense.

Do not always be so anxious to trade pieces, because the field will become wide open, and your king will be vulnerable. But, trading pieces is almost mandatory sometimes.

Do not always be in a hurry to move the king forward. Advancing the king is the object, but setting up your blocking is important. Make the defense capture some other pieces before getting a good shot at threatening your king with "check."

Finally, remember your king can capture the defensive pieces too. A pawn is a danger to the king only when it is diagonal to the king. Vertical or horizontal, the king wins the battle, unless the pawn is protected by some other defensive piece.

The only advantage the offense has over the defense is that it moves first. The defense really has the overall advantage in this game, even if it is a small advantage, because the defense is not concerned with moving anything forward to any rank. The defense can concentrate on placing the king in "check" all the time. This simplifies the game for the defense, and makes it more complicated for the offense.

HISTORY OF THE GAME

Back in the early 1970s, I had this great impulse to create a new game.

I started playing chess differently, and I came up with CHESS FOOTBALL.

My friend, Martin Quinn, and I played the game, and Marty helped in getting the bugs out.

The first bug we got out was the position of the quarterback. We originally had the king directly behind the center pawn, but that proved to be a great disadvantage for the offense. Moving the king back one square helped a lot.

Eventually, the game turned out the way it is now.

You can set up your formations any way you want. Just make sure you keep the football rules in mind. 7 linemen, 4 backs, always, on offense. On defense, 5 pawns on the line are mandatory here, but the rest of the defense can be placed in any formation, provided the 2 defensive rooks are only one space behind.

Marty and I had a lot of fun with this, and we'll tell you that the defense is easier to play. It is tough to score on a good defensive player.

Chess variants are quite popular, and my variant of chess is not the only one. The point is that this football actually works like real football on a board.