What is Beyond Chess?
Beyond Chess is chess evolved. Literally! Imagine moving your piece... then a square. As the game progresses, the terrain on which it's played reshapes itself again and again. Paths to victory one moment become traps of defeat the next.
Chess has been a challenging game for some 1500+ years. But Beyond Chess compounds that challenge and take strategy to whole new levels. Not only are you moving a piece, you are also shifting a square and a rift (areas with no square). Pieces must stay on the squares and must play around the rifts, except the knight, the only piece that can jump.
Read over our Quick Start Guide for the basic rules of Beyond Chess. We also invite you to watch a full game of Beyond Chess where we explain the rules and some basic strategy in this video demo/tutorial. (runtime: 12:47 minutes) Once you’re done reading the Quick Start Guide and watching the video, you’ll understand Beyond Chess, but in a lifetime, you’ll never master it.
Beyond Chess set, circa 2008.
“Beyond Chess really is the ultimate sandbox of the chess YOU
niverse, kind of like Minecraft, only it’s chess.”
— Ray Crockett, Creator of Beyond Chess
Coming soon: Beyond Chess, 2021.
Design your board, again and again and again. You’re only limited by your imagination!
Move a piece, then shift a square. The board is ever-changing and directly effects the strategy of the game as it constantly evolves!
Beyond Chess is the YOUniverse of chess, and you are the explorer with endless adventures and challenges!
Why is Beyond Chess not just another chess variation?
Beyond Chess puts the ‘YOUniverse’ of chess in your hands. It’s a literal chess variant sand box with endless possibilities! Design boards, and then play them for endless challenges and adventures in chess! Beyond Chess is every chess variation to infinity!
Through the ages, chess players have attempted to change the game to make it more challenging and interesting. They've rearranged the pieces, played with larger or smaller armies, even made "custom" boards to play on. Let's face it, at some time, just about every chess player has gotten bored playing his opponent over and over.
But with Beyond Chess, never are two games ever the same. In fact, Beyond Chess' concept is so unique, the board isn't even the same from turn to turn.
The designers of Beyond Chess worked very hard to design a concept that preserves the essence of traditional chess. Beyond Chess merely takes the principles of chess to a whole new level by applying them in an environment that is ever changing.
Beyond Chess is sure to provide you with endless possibilities and challenges to measure your limits of strategy and cunning.
Beyond Chess may one day become as popular as traditional chess. There may even be a day when people play traditional chess as a nostalgic variation!
One thing is for sure, if you like the strategic challenge of traditional chess, you will absolutely love the infinite complexity of Beyond Chess!
Original black/white Beyond Chess board, circa 2006.
History of Beyond Chess
Beyond Chess was created in 2001 by Ray Crockett. Ray was a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, Cali. One day as he was driving home from a weekend field training operation, he began relating his training to the game of chess. He realized a modern battle field is much more dynamic and ever-changing than battle fields of old when armies met in an open field to fight. Then it struck him, “What if the board moved?” It wasn’t long before Ray realized the significance of such a simple concept.
Beyond Chess was popular in stores and at chess conventions for several years until the market crashed in 2008. But now, 20 years after chess evolved, Beyond Chess is back and better than ever!
The future of Beyond Chess
We’re launching a Beyond Chess Federation which will grow Beyond Chess in tournaments and community outreach. We now have our first Beyond Chess Club of San Antonio, Texas.
We are also excited to soon be launching Beyond Chess Online, where you can build/share board designs and play anyone in the world! And finally, later this year, we will be relaunching a new Beyond Chess set with much, much more to come!
Creator of Beyond Chess, Sgt. Ray Crockett, USMC. Baghdad, Iraq, 2003. Ray played Beyond Chess with fellow Marines in Iraq during downtime on a board he fashioned from cardboard and duck tape! Ray still has the board to this day!