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Enochian chess is a four-player chess variant, similar to Chaturanga, associated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The name comes from the Enochian system of magic of Dr. John Dee (magus and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I), which was later adapted by Victorian members of the Golden Dawn into 'a complete system of training and initiation.'
Enochian Chess was created by William Wynn Westcott, one of the three founders of the Golden Dawn, but the rules of the game were probably never completed by him. The game was finished by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, who put its rules into final form.[1] The game was four-handed because each set of pieces corresponded to one of the four classical elements and their several watchtowers, and the game was used for divination as well as competition. The four sets of pieces were variously colored, and identified with Egyptiandeities or 'god-forms'. The main identifications of the pieces were:
- Osiris, represented by the king;
- Isis, the queen;
- Horus, the knight;
- Aroueris, the bishop; and
- Nephthys, the rook or castle.[2]
The chess board itself was also varicolored, and divided into four sub-boards in which each of one of the four elemental colors predominated.[3] The rules of the game were partially derived from shatranj and other historical forms of chess; the queen is played like an alfil, with a two square diagonal leaping move.[4] The four players would form pairs of two, with each player having a partner. MacGregor Mathers, who finalised the game's rules, was known to play with an invisible partner he claimed was a spirit. Joseph Hone, biographer of William Butler Yeats, claimed, 'Mathers would shade his eyes with his hands and gaze at the empty chair at the opposite corner of the board before moving his partner's piece.'[5]
Chess programs like Sargon, and others led to ChessMaster 1-x. Their problem, all of. On my Mac, I use ChessX. By itself, it's dumber than. In layman's terms, what is the difference between Enochian chess and regular chess?
The game, while complex, was in actual use; Georgie Yeats, wife of poet William Butler Yeats, relates actually playing the game as a part of her occult training in Golden Dawn circles.[6] Her husband took part in some of these games, as did MacGregor Mathers.[5]
Notes[edit]
- ^Ellic Howe, The magicians of the Golden Dawn: a documentary history of a magical order (Taylor & Francis, 1972; ISBN0-7100-7339-9)
- ^The Golden Dawn: a complete course in practical ceremonial magic : the original account of the teachings, rites, and ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Israel Regardie, Cris Monnastre, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, eds., p. 686 (Llewellyn, 1989; ISBN0-87542-663-8)
- ^Regardie et al., p. 684.
- ^Regardie et al., p. 691
- ^ abJoseph Hone, W.B. Yeats, 1865-1939, p. 106
- ^Ann Saddlemyer, Becoming George: The Life of Mrs. W. B. Yeats, p. 71 (Oxford University Press, 2004; ISBN0-19-926921-1).
Further reading[edit]
- Chris Zalewski: Enochian Chess of the Golden Dawn: A Four-Handed Chess Game. Llewellyn's Golden Dawn, 1994. ISBN978-0-87542-895-6.
- Steve Nichols: Rosicrucian Chess of the Golden Dawn. Mandrake Press, 2017. ISBN978-1-906958-78-7.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Enochian_chess&oldid=872902368'
Developer(s) | GNU project |
---|---|
Stable release | 4.9.1 / July 31, 2016; 3 years ago |
Repository | |
Operating system | Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Microsoft Windows, macOS |
Type | Computer chess |
License | GPL |
Website | XBoard |
XBoard is a graphical user interfacechessboard for chess engines under the X Window System. It is developed and maintained as free software by the GNU project. WinBoard is a port of XBoard to run natively on Microsoft Windows.
Overview[edit]
Originally developed by Tim Mann as a front end for the GNU Chessengine, XBoard eventually came to be described as a graphical user interface for XBoard engines.[1] It also acts as a client for Internet Chess Servers,[2] and e-mail chess,[3] and can allow the user to play through saved games.[4]
XBoard/WinBoard remain updated, and the Chess Engine Communication Protocol has been extended to meet the needs of modern engines (which have features such as hash tables, multi-processing and end-game tables, which could not be controlled through the old protocol).
XBoard/WinBoard also fully support engines that play chess variants, such as Fairy-Max. This means the GUI is able to display a wide range of variants such as xiangqi (Chinese chess), shogi (Japanese chess), makruk (Thai chess), Crazyhouse, Capablanca Chess and many other Western variants on boards of various sizes. It offers a Westernized representation for these games, but the almost limitless configurability of XBoard/WinBoard also allows a high-quality representation of non-Western style games.[5]
Screenshot of XBoard showing a game of shogi
Another computer chess protocol is the Universal Chess Interface (UCI). XBoard/WinBoard supports this protocol (and its dialects USI and UCCI, which are in common use for shogi and Chinese chess) through adapter programs such as Polyglot and UCI2WB.
Since 2014 there exists a special version of XBoard that better integrates with Apple's OS X. It is distributed from WinBoard forum as an OS X App, including several engines (for chess and many chess variants), and adapters for running engines in non-natively supported protocols. It also contains supporting software for connecting with the popular Internet Chess Servers FICS and ICC for on-line play. XBoard OS X Apps that specifically configure XBoard for oriental-style shogi or xiangqi are also available.
WinBoard is a version of XBoard adapted to MS Windows, and is available in a similar package.[6]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Hagen, William von (13 May 2010). Ubuntu Linux Bible: Featuring Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 15–16. ISBN978-0-470-88180-4. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^Negus, Chris (9 May 2003). Red Hat Linux 9 bible. Wiley Pub. p. 242. ISBN978-0-7645-3938-1. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^Mui, Linda; Quercia, Valérie (1994). X user tools. O'Reilly & Associates. p. 186. ISBN978-1-56592-019-4. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^Johnson, Chris F. A. (2005). Shell scripting recipes: a problem-solution approach. Apress. p. 294. ISBN978-1-59059-471-1. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^'XBoard'. gnu.org. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ^http://home.hccnet Fairy-Max: an AI for playing user-defined Chess variants.
External links[edit]
- XBoard on GNU Savannah
- FAQ for the use of Xboard and Winboard chess engines
- Listing of Xboard and Winboard chess engines
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=XBoard&oldid=921402502'