Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
The leaning tower of Piezo

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                                                             

Sumo chess

Banzai!!
  (+11)(+11)
(+11)
  [vote for,
against]

Sumo and chess have a great deal in common, aside from both having been invented by the French. Both games are symbolic battles, both are ancient, and both are not quite exciting enough to get major television coverage.

Clearly, much is to be gained by combining the best features of both.

Sumo chess takes place on an arena 80ft x 80ft, divided into 10ft squares. Black and white sand is used to create the usual chequerboard pattern.

At the start of the game, the opponents (16 per team) occupy the first and last two rows of squares, arranged in the usual way. Elaborate but unencumbering head-dresses indicate the different types of piece (pawn, knight, bishop etc), whilst black or white mawashi distinguish the two teams.

In contrast to conventional sumo, the players of sumo chess are divided into three weight categories. All pawns must be lightweights (under 190 pounds); rooks, bishops and knights must be middleweights (190-240 pounds); the queen must be a heavyweight (over 240 pounds). The king must be a lightweight.

Play takes place much as in conventional chess, with the captains of each team calling out moves in alternation. Allowable moves are the same as those in chess.

The main difference from conventional chess is in the way pieces are taken. In chess, the attacking piece always wins (for example, a pawn can take a queen). In sumo chess, however, there is no such certainty: the two opposing players must complete a regular sumo match in the square being contested. The only difference from conventional sumo is that the arena is a 10ft square rather than the more usual circle. Defeated pieces leave the arena.

Thus, some careful thought must be given to attacking moves. A knight will have a weight advantage over a pawn, but a nimble and fresh pawn may out-maneuver a queen who has been exhausted by several prior bouts.

Players reaching the opposite side of the board may be substited by any other player except a king.

Winning sumo chess differs slightly from winning regular chess. In normal chess, the game is lost when the king is in checkmate - it cannot move to any square which is not attacked by an opponent's piece. In Sumo chess, however, checkmate does not assure victory - the attack must be carried through. If the plucky lightweight king can defeat an attacking heavyweight queen, for example, then he survives and the game continues.

MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 07 2010

Chess Boxing http://wcbo.org/content/e14/index_en.html
A Western variation of this idea. [Wrongfellow, Oct 07 2010]

D'Echecs, pour M. [Wily] Pretend_20everythin..._20someone_20French
[Jinbish, Oct 08 2010]

Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.
Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee
Destination URL. E.g., https://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)






       Would the Queen be played by a woman?
hippo, Oct 07 2010
  

       I thought about that. I'm not entirely sure of the propriety of inter-gender sumo, what with the costumes and all, but I'm sure a way could be found. Of course, all-female teams could be fielded.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 07 2010
  

       Yes, of course. <daydreams....>
hippo, Oct 07 2010
  

       <smack>   

       Naughty [hippo], back in your cage ...
8th of 7, Oct 07 2010
  

       Remember that Sumo doesn't have a weight category (although I am sure that weight is an advantage in many circumstances). I am also not sure that you have the right weight levels - Mushasimaru, the former USian yokazuna, was over 500lb.
(Of course, he was a *big* boy!)
  

       Ah - according to WikiP, amatuer Sumo weights are:
Lightweight: Up to 187lb
Mediumweight: Up to 253lb
Heavyweight: Over 253lb
Jinbish, Oct 07 2010
  

       Point taken about the weights - amended. Thanks.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 07 2010
  

       Re. the Chess Boxing (link) - this is clearly a horse of a different feather. Chess Boxing appears to be alternating complete chess matches with complete boxing matches, thereby combining the dullness of both rather than the excitement of both.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 07 2010
  

       //Players reaching the opposite side of the board may be substited by any other player except a king// Obviously you meant "sub-sitted' meaning to crush by sitting on.
xenzag, Oct 07 2010
  

       //Obviously you meant...//   

       Nope. And, for the recorded, when I wrote "defeated" I meant "defeated", not "defecated" or "de-feeted".
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 07 2010
  

       And by “meant...not” you meant “mentally substituted...with”, I presume?
pocmloc, Oct 07 2010
  

       //combining the dullness of both//   

       I have to agree. I've always thought that chess boxing would be more interesting if the boxing matches decided the outcome of the chess captures, like in this idea.
Wrongfellow, Oct 07 2010
  

       If you are losing really badly, could you give some sort of command, say 'Charge!' and your players would swarm all over the other guys, sort of like when you get frustrated and flip the chess board off the table? Your defeated players could rush back into the arena, rested, substiting the remaining players.   

       Of course, you *could.* Not sure why I had to ask. Flipping the board isn't written into the rules. You just do it when you have to. Sometimes you have to.
Boomershine, Oct 07 2010
  

       This is a really interesting idea [+].   

       My only observation being "chess was invented by the French"? Actually, it's usually thought to come from India (from an earlier/different Chinese version); whence it went to Persia (where it picked up some terminology like "check mate" - Shah mat: the king is dead); then to the Muslims where the Moors introduced it to Spain; and then France...   

       However, I could see this being a great hit in Japan - (assuming the game is switched to Japanese chess: shogi).
Wily Peyote, Oct 08 2010
  

       Au contraire. "Chess" derives from the olde French "Chez de l'Est", because the game was developed by the early French spice-traders who needed something to amuse themselves while they were away from their families in their "House in the East".   

       "Check mate" is actually a corruption of "Chacun mort", which was a polite way of consoling your opponent when you won ("Everyone dies" - i.e., "you can't win them all.")   

       Likewise, "Sumo" wrestling derives its name from the ancient French private school of Saumur. Traditional wrestling had long been practiced there, until one day a plucky schoolboy decided to pick up his opponent's balls and run with them, creating "Saumur Wrestling." (This is also the origin of the famous 'whine of Saumur'.)
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2010
  

       !
Well played, [MB]. Well played.
Jinbish, Oct 08 2010
  

       Thanks for the link, [Jinbish], I thought I was going crazy for a minute...
Wily Peyote, Oct 08 2010
  

       Any time, [WP]!
Jinbish, Oct 08 2010
  

       //Nope. And, for the recorded,//..... I'm still having trouble with that word "substited" and now I'm beginning to think that it might be some kind of tit that over which a patch of skin has grown, in which case it should surely be subs-titted?
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       I am starting a campain for equal rights for disabled words.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2010
  

       //Sumo and chess have a great deal in common, aside from both having been invented by the French. //   

       When a HBaker slips such an unlikely sounding bit into an idea or anno, it can be difficult for some of us HBakers to discern the difference between verifiable fact and just witty bloviation.   

       His prowess in this ruse, of course, is what makes [MB] one of the true Masters of the Halfbakery. (Nod to [MB]).   

       A True Master rarely, if ever, edits typos or misspellings (he/she makes very few in the first place), the better to dupe (and amuse) us.   

       One will find it safest and most effective, when commenting on [Max]'s (and many others') posts, to assume they are all of the factual kind, or at least to respond as if they are. Careful research or deliberate, practiced pleonastics are advised before posting replies.
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       [Wily]//I thought I was going crazy for a minute...//   

       [+] Another bun to [MB].
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       I'll try and remember that.   

       Perhaps to be of even more help, you could post a sample annotation that us lesser mortals might follow when wanting to provide the great master with an opportunity to illuminate us as to his way with miss-spelled words.
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       //campain// def -Rotating knob with a projecting aspect that delivers an unpleasant sensory stimulation to a nerve ending.
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       Boomer, Boomer, Boomer..... I would be deeply amberrassed by your undeserved praise, had I but a single modest hair in my body.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2010
  

       Hang on. Did you call me a Masterbaker?
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2010
  

       [xenzag] //...post a sample annotation//   

       The idea presented on this page is a good sample. The art is not just in misspellings, of course. But, you know this...   

       I would consider you one of the Masters, as well. I don't want to turn this into an awards ceremony, but to quote you--in reply to how you come up with such great ideas:   

       "I just imagine you reading it and it comes easily.[Xenzag]"   

       I am a humble newbie. That post above was more a declaration of "Oh, NOW I get it" than a lecture to anyone.
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       [MB]//...had I but a single modest hair in my body.//   

       How's that egobesity coming along, btw?   

       //Did you call me a Masterbaker?//   

       No, sir.
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       [Xen] //I would be deeply amberrassed..[MB]//   

       There, see?
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       //had I but a single modest hair in my body// modest hair... def - hair which used to be a member of a 60s youth movement in UK characterised by (inter alia) use of scooters covered in mirrors, but then underwent form of seminar training developed by former used car salesman Werner Erhard.
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       //safest and most effective//... //to assume they are all of the factual kind, or at least to respond as if they are//   

       Whoa! With the best of respect [B'shine], that's bollocks. That kind of reasoning does not just endanger the gullible, it lets down all those freshbakers that have had their ears chewed for some misdemeanour. It's our duty- nae, our pleasure to pursue a suspicious & pedanterous course of action whenever we can.   

       It is then incumbent, as you comment, on the baker to defend, sidestep, reflect attention from, re-write in a sinister Orwellian fashion, or batter ahead in a Black Kiniggit stylee.
Jinbish, Oct 08 2010
  

       I agree... each "baker" should receive a device in the post into which they must insert the fingers of one hand when posting an idea or annotating. On confirmed detection of a spelling mistake etc, a piece of one finger is snipped off by the device.   

       This may seem harsh, but it's a fair method in a cruel world.
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       [Jinbish] //It's our duty- nae, our pleasure to pursue a suspicious & pedanterous course of action whenever we can.//   

       Agreed, of course. I suggested Bakers (fresh or otherwise) assume that posts are 'the factual kind, or at least to respond as if they are.'   

       Perhaps I should have said 'respond as if they *might* be (factual),' thereby showing respect while the responder pursues the 'suspicious & pedanterous'...or pedantic.
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       OK, OK. Back to work, everyone.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 08 2010
  

       //Factual posts// Fencing uprights with pages of Encyclopedia Britannica inscribed into wood grain.
xenzag, Oct 08 2010
  

       [Xenzag] //This may seem harsh//   

       It is harsh. Poor [Max] would be fingerless by now just for his intentional misspellings. The man has 'not a single (modest) hair' on his body. Now you want to cut off his fingers? Is this a Bakery or an abattoir?
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  

       //OK, OK. Back to work, everyone.//   

       [MB], the relentless jester.
Boomershine, Oct 08 2010
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle