“As above, so below.”

— Hermes Trismegisto

 

 

Chess rehearses war campaigns in the real world previously simulated on a table. Battles have always been fought in the three dimensions of the physical plane, but for over 1,500 years, pieces were limited to sliding in the width and length dimensions of the board. Only the Knights, with their peculiar movement in L jumping over any pieces, and the Rooks during castling jumping over the King to switch sides with him, had the power to “fly” over other pieces.

In LOCKING CHESS, this power has been adapted and transposed to all pieces!

 

 

Now pieces and pawns of the same color can climb over each other as if they were the rung of a ladder and then move above the other pieces and pawns that are still on the board level as if they were squares. This unique option to rise, land and move on own pieces doubled the number of first opening moves from 20 to 40, reinventing and updating chess!

In LOCKING CHESS, the familiar 8×8 chessboard expands without the need to shift or multiply the squares, stack multiple layers of boards or assemble gigantic (or tiny) and oddly shaped boards by adding a multitude of extra pieces with confusing moves.

Why mischaracterize this magnificent game with double moves that only delay the development of the pieces, the time between moves and the rhythm of the matches?

Why deform the harmonic symmetry of the squared territory of the chessboard?

Why add exotic pieces and complex rules to it when you can play ancient chess in a smart, dynamic, and much more challenging way?

LOCKING CHESS has renewed chess without subtracting anything, simply extending combat on the ground into the airspace! After all, contemporary battles take place on land and in the air!

LOCKING CHESS creates a second board that is equally changeable and full of traps on top of the pieces, with them now going up, sometimes going down and going up again, moving one over the other as if they were squares on a higher floor. This second threat from above reshaped opening theories, preserving the original chess setup and gameplay.

 

Let’s remember the 6 Basic Rules of LOCKING CHESS:

1. The pieces of both chess players have the option of climb atop and superimposing their own pieces (maximum of one superimposition per piece).

2. One piece on top of the other will “lock” the one below. And it can move and “lock” another piece or return to the chessboard level at any time, “unlocking” and freeing that piece that was bellow it.

3. Pieces “locked” on the chessboard level can be captured.

4. A superimposed piece can capture another superimposed piece. When a piece is superimposed on another of its own color it is an EQUAL superimposition, and eventually both can be captured in the same move, either by an opponent’s piece at the chessboard level or in a superimposition.

5. Only Knights at the chessboard level capture an opponent superimposed piece atop another color (OPPOSED superimposition). And superimposed Knights can also capture a piece alone on the chessboard level.

6. The only way to seizure a King is to surround and leave him with no way out, and in LOCKING CHESS this goal was even more evident! Therefore, a second special type of checkmate appeared, the LOCKMATE! A “locked” King is subject to LOCKMATE, a fatal attack that can also be applied even with a King chasing and giving a point-blank check to this immobilized King (the ROYAL LOCKMATE)!

 

 

 

Check out the complete LOCKING CHESS RULES here!

 

In addition to three-dimensionality and the leverage of infinite combinations between pieces, a new extra type of castling, the CASTLOCK, and en passant, the EN PASSANT Superimpose, the other qualities of LOCKING CHESS are:

• The greater ability of pawns to advance and change files, superimposing other pieces towards promotion.
• The valorization of the pair of Knights and Bishops and the synergy of these pieces with the Queen, the Rooks, and the pawns in the hunt for the King.
• The empowerment of Kings, forcing them to be more aggressive – instead of passive and sheltered behind the castling fortress – going to fight together with their soldiers.
• And the unprecedented possibility of this warrior King applying checks and the rare ROYAL LOCKMATE and ROYAL MATE on the opposing King!

BUT BE VERY CAREFUL: “locked” and “refugee” Kings, without being in check and without valid moves, are considered in LOCKOUT or DEADLOCK respectively, and will be a stalemate!

 

 

 

 

 

In LOCKING CHESS, you must be very careful not to draw with a lost victory or lose the chance to draw with an imminent defeat.

 

 

“— How to notate a game of LOCKING CHESS?”

It is enough to underline the moves in which one piece superimposed the other and when a superimposing piece or at the level of the board captured another superimposing piece. It is also possible to add an asterisk (*) in the algebraic notation of these superimposing moves.

 

Examples:

1. Bg2  Bg7 (both players fianchettoed their Bishops on the first move, superimposing the g2 and g7 pawns respectively)

…d5 – d6 (white pawn already superimposed on d5 advances superimposing another pawn on d6)

…d5 – Bd6 (white pawn already superimposed on d5 advances superimposing Black’s Bishop on d6)

…Nf5xg7 (Knight already superimposed on f5 captures free pawn on g7 returning to board level)

O-O-O (Long CASTLOCK)

20. a4  b4-a3 eps (white pawn’s two-square move from a2 to a4 is immediately answered by Black with the EN PASSANT Superimpose of the superimposed pawn on b4 to a3)

 

“— And how do I play LOCKING CHESS with my common pieces?”

Make some adaptations at the base of the pieces and at the top of the Knights. Note the shape of the Rooks. This piece has already been carved in the ideal format to accept the superimposing of any piece on top!

 

 

FUN FACTS: most models of chess pieces already have a small sphere (and a cross in the case of the crown of Kings) at their finials, with the ideal size to fit inside each other’s base. Furthermore, considering that in the popular CHECKERS there is an overlapping of two stones to differentiate the newly promoted king, and that in the HIVE® game some of the “insect pieces” can climb and move over the others, it is intriguing – and impressive – that the possibility of playing chess by moving pieces over each other has gone unnoticed by thousands of chess players since the 6th century!

 

Below, a classic STAUNTON model of hollow pieces was adapted by gluing a felt (or plastic or leather) round to its base and making a small hole to fit in the top of the others. The forelocks of the Knights’ manes and ears have been trimmed and flush with their foreheads to make it easier to place the pieces on them.

 

 

 

 

 

For an even more dynamic superimposition, these elegant and minimalist pieces in a cubic shape similar to the famous Bauhaus model were designed:

 

 

Dare to go beyond pre-arranged openings and repeating rehearsed moves!

LOCKING CHESS is pure chess in its natural state, free from memorizing hundreds of cataloged openings and their thousands of derived lines. It will be the TACTICAL-STRATEGIC CREATIVITY that Bobby Fischer appreciated to the point of inventing CHESS960 — which can be successfully played on the rules of LOCKING CHESS! — which will reign from the opening.

For these and other reasons, in LOCKING CHESS the spatial vision of chess players expands to detect unexpected tactical patterns, avoid blunders, and plan fluid mate stratagems!

Be prepared: twists are a constant in LOCKING CHESS!

 

— Will you be the first professional LOCKING CHESS player?

Review the LOCKING CHESS DEMO GAMES and try playing alone to feel its incredible potential. Then invite that strong chess player who tormented you in traditional chess to fight in this other field. From this point you will already be one of the PIONEERS participating in the next chapter in the history and evolution of chess!

And until they program a “STOCKFISH” with the LOCKING CHESS rules, this first generation of professional chess players will be the main study reference for those to come.

 

Welcome to LOCKING CHESS, the complete chess game with new Checkmates!

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