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Ecological action seeks to change some of the objectives by which we live. Part way through this game, an extra objective was imposed. Retain species diversity. The pieces still move as with traditional chess. The "Kings" still represent the players, now with corporate power symbols. All the other pieces (which can be sacrificed) have ecological symbols. The king-player should still act to win, but lose as few pieces as possible.

It is an analogy of our society. The player is entitled to cease play and accept the loss of one game rather than destroy too many species. But as with any striving human, there is also the desire to survive and win. (Compare Biodiversity)

 
 
Kings
Queens
Rooks
Bishops
Knights
Pawns
Arjan


Helmut 		Change display to
[ Normal format ]
List of moves
 1. e4    e6
 2. d4    Nf6
 3. Nc3   Bb4
 4. Bd3   Nc6
 5. Nf3   Ba5
 6. Bd2   0-0
 7. Ne2   d5
 8. e5    Ne4
 9. Bxa5  Nxa5
10. Bxe4  dxe4
11. Nd2   Qd5
12. Nf1   Rd8
13. Ne3   Qb5
14. b3    Nc6
15. c3?   Nxe5
16. Nc1   Nd3+
17. Nxd3  exd3
18. Nc4   Qc6
19. 0-0   b5
20. Ne5   Qxc3
21. Rc1   Qxd4
22. Nc6   Qd7
23. Nxd8  Qxd8
24. Rc3   d2
25. Rc2   Bb7
26. Rxd2  Bd5
27. f3    c5
28. Qc2   Qb6
29. Kh1   a5
30. a4    Bxb3
31. Qxb3
 
The white whale is now extinct. (An excess of scientific research?)
The black bear and whale are endangered species.

The conserve species rule was imposed at:  8. e5, black to move.  (in July 2000)

The design origins of the symbols.

Kings Queens Rooks Bishops Knights Pawns

The symbols represent ecological damage, except for the kings.

The kings are the players as actors. On the one hand, the City of London, the largest share-trading centre in the world. And as a comparison, Dallas oil money. Or you could view them as the senior civil service of London, and a Texas president. In essence, power.
The pawns are equatorial rainforest and northern acid blighted forest.
The rook is a rookery. Chosen as a pun, and because the symbol could be drawn to evoke a castle.
The knight is a bear. The polar bear was left with a tendency to melt into a white background.
Bishops are whales. The white whale implies a hunted whale.
Finally, the freely moving queens are the raptors, the eagles.

Anyone wishing to suggest alternative images are free to do so. Or send us an email about your interpretation of the images. Copying of the board (for non-commercial purposes) is encouraged. We would like to see more eco-boards out there.

The technical design constraints that evolved were:

  1. Symbols have ecological significance, except kings represent power.
  2. Each symbol has two versions, black and white.
  3. Black and white colours only. Readily printed (possibly on a grey square).
  4. Symbols visible against light and dark green backgrounds.
  5. Size is within 35x35 pixels.

Note that the images, limited to black/white/transparent average about 170 bytes. This makes for fast transmission speeds. Netscape requires empty squares to have either an 'empty' image or '&nbsp'.

30SEP2002
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