Pawns keep protagonists on the board-RC's response to'Minnesota'

firstly pawns are not 'taking over the chessboard by any means'- they do not remove other pieces from the field of play in order to win. They win by keeping the other protagonists on the board.

it engenders the idea that the multitude have agency whilst working in a lateral structure and that the world will not necessarily become ugly and chaotic if they are not working for a higher power. It engenders the idea of personal responsibility to the multitude regardless of perceived individual or personal power.

it also engenders in dedicated and expert chess players, the idea that it might be useful to consider applying their talents to solving problems in a different more humanistic framework. The thinking goes that if players dedicate and nurture their energies to learning how to manipulate and conquer other 'tribes' using hierarchical structures (mirrored on the chess board' that they are likely to draw parallels in every day life and see this as the primary means of exercising personal will. I observe in chess there is a huge respect for Grandmasters of chess like there are for the 'winners' of big business.

This project has really annoyed a lot of serious chess players.

oh... now I wonder if you've actually seen the new online game, Activate:3 Player Chess that just went online on this Saturday. http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/

my original image of the reconfigured chessboard (higher pieces on one side and pawns on the other) definitely illustrated the problems that you raise but in the process of chatting with other people and developing the game i think that i addressed some of this stuff.

My sense is that we have exhausted the polarizations that gave rise to the political changes of the 70's and 80's globally...including perestroika, etc. In fact, the whole concept of polarization, us vs. them, is pretty destitute of solutions or ideas. It invites simple rehashes of hippy/radical protest and definition by exclusion. But it doesn't keep things working that need to work and identify the excess baggage that needs to be left at the train station, so to speak.

i agree

What do you know of Buckminister Fuller and his World Game, and his concept of sustainability?

Very aware and appreciative of Buckminster Fuller. I was not aware of his World Game- but can see how relevant it is to my project- so I will have a proper look - thanks for that!

Games are a powerful imago and participatory transformation tool. What kind of game allows people to be King, Knight, Rook, Pawn, and back up again, and play their role in the grand design of destiny without devolving to insane greed or pathetic resentment?

the problem for me lies in the question, what motivates a person to want to be King, Queen, Knight, Bishop, Rook, Pawn. If it is anything less than humanistic service of the multitude we get in trouble. Also it is very hard for anyone in any of these hierarchically defined roles to really get a grip on what their purpose is and remember to not think that they are intrinsically superior or inferior because of the role that has been assigned to them.

That is what I think about. But I also think that the "game " must have a real place in one's sense of fortune and fortunes. If it is too speculative, i.e. didactic, it floats off into the blue vacant space of inconsequence.

I feel that my next job with this project is to persuade chess players that it is worth their while learning to play Activate: 3 Player Chess- the idea being, to change the way their clever synapses fire and so change the filter through which they see the world.

Minessota's response to RC's post