Chakra's reason for being is the Transmitter, a very special 'piece' that consists of two parts called 'chakras' that are part piece, part square and that together form a warp portal between the squares they occupy. The piece was dreamed up together with Ed van Zon, a long long time ago and it is generic for movement games. The current housing was provided by a Chess game that I already had and that in itself had no reason for being. The object is checkmate and stalemate is a draw. Play Chakra interactively or against AI

• The King moves like the king in Chess.
• The Queen moves like the queen in Chess.
• The Samurai (to the right of the King) moves like a rook or a king.
• The Monk (to the left of the Queen) moves like a bishop or a king.
• The Monkey moves like the knight in Chess.
• The Courtesan moves like the king in Chess, but has a special relationship with the King: whenever a Courtesan can 'see' her King along a straight or diagonal open line, she controls the lenght of this line, up to the King in one direction, upto the next obstacle in the other, and including that obstacle if it happens to be an opponent's piece.
• The Pawn moves like the pawn in Chess but may not move two steps initially.
• The Transmitter consists of two parts called chakra's. In some respects a chakra is a 'piece': on his turn a player may move a vacant chakra, just as any other piece. A chakra moves like a king or a knight, depending on which side is up (square or circle respectively). After the move the player may flip the chakra as part of the same turn. A chakra is also a 'piece' in that an opponent's piece may move onto, but not over it. Thus a chakra can interpose on a straight or diagonal check. A chakra may never move onto another chakra of either color.
  The only piece that can capture a chakra is the opponent's King. It can only do so by capturing a vacant chaka: if the chakra is occupied the King can only capture the piece, but not the chakra. If a chakra is captured the other chakra, whether occupied or vacant, also is removed. Any piece occupying it remains in place.
  In all other respects the chakra is a 'square' as much as it is a piece, and a player can move over his own chakra's as if they weren't there.

Basic property
The basic property of the Transmitter is this: If a piece moves onto a vacant chakra of it's own color, and the other chakra is either vacant or occupied by an opponent's piece, then the piece is transmitted to the other chakra, capturing the opponent's piece as the case may be. If the second chakra is occupied by a piece of like color, then the Transmitter doesn't work and the result of the move will be the player occupying both his chakra's.

Note that a pawn can be promoted instantly by having one chakra in front of it, and the other on the backrow. A pawn is promoted to any piece previously lost by its side. If the second chakra is occupied by an opponent's piece, the pawn 'captures as it goes'.

If the opponent's king occupies one of a player's chakras, which is the case after having captured a piece on it, then the other king may be able to give check (and in rare circumstances even deliver mate) through the Transmitter by moving next to the other chakra, provided it is vacant.


How we invented ... Chakra
External links

Chakra © MindSports