Baby Natura invents BlankChess

Hello dear chess lovers!

Thanks to @pawnman44004 on Twitter who told me about the short video above of a little girl who invented a new kind of chess game.

Since I have a little girl almost 3 years old, I am interested in what one can do at such a young age, and went to check it out. I must say I liked it very much!

The little girl is called Natura and she just turned 5 years old 11 days ago. (Happy birthday! Write me an email and I will send you a birthday gift)

Natura, the inventor of "blankchess"

On her web site, one can read:

Baby Natura invented BlankChess when she was 4 years 4 months old. She is placing chess pieces on the board as shown on a print out to learn knight forks. She started placing with King pieces and she got this idea. She told her father to play like that way. Interestingly, he thought that this game could be a chess variant and he searched on the web, but this is not existed. He realized this will become a wonderful chess variant. He named it BlankChess and he decided to make her the youngest Grand Master. She is now practicing more and seeking invitations, promoters and support to create more wonders.

On her blankchess site, she explains the rules:

The beauty of this game is playable with normal chess set

and also great stuff for beginners as well as very tough for grand masters.

This game follows all normal rules of regular chess, but where the opening of the game does play a major role.

As the name states “blank chess”, the game starts without pieces on the chess board. And the chess board divides horizontally into two equal fields, virtually those are white's field and black's field. Each player should introduce their pieces randomly anywhere in their own field starting with King, one by one, also can move or capture on their turn with already introduced pieces wherever possible on the board. Remaining rules are same as the regular chess and no special moves.

I immediately liked this idea since it's much better than all those chess variants that have crazy new chess pieces, and can be played with a normal chess set. Also, it starts with fewer pieces, introducing them one by one, which is a nicer idea, and avoids the panic many kids have facing unknown openings.

Baby Natura can be reached by email, and the link to the original video on YouTube is here.

Best wishes to Natura, her family, and to blankchess!

Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com

www.kosteniuk.com