Chess is without a doubt the most important board game in the history of mankind, not only because it has been an ideal entertainment for those evenings sharing with friends since centuries, but also because of the development of intelligence and the capacity for analysis that playing it regularly entails. Chess has been elevated to the status of a sport, being the protagonist of numerous international championships, to the point that some of its best players have become as famous as music or Hollywood stars.
However, and despite its importance and long trajectory that began in the Middle East almost a millennium and a half ago, and then reached Europe in the tenth century, chess has remained intact in its system of play for five centuries.
That is why a group of Venezuelans have set to work to bring Chess to its next evolution. Thus, in the past Comic-Con of Caracas, Arepa Digital interviewed the creators of "The Three Kingdoms", or better known as Three-Chess, a game that is shown as the next step to classic Chess.
Josué Briceño, the game's promoter, who is in charge of publicizing and teaching us how to play, comments: "The game was born from the Empathy and Evolution Foundation as a way of financing our work. And for us, chess has had a very important educational potential, and in this sense, we wanted to take it further and also take advantage of this educational potential to give a message of coexistence, of working together as humans to recover the living conditions of the planet, because we are peaceful and humanists".
Josué Briceño, promoter of the game at the Comic-Con of July 14 and 15 in Caracas.
In fact, unlike the original chess, in the Three Kingdoms, the winning king establishes himself as the king of the three nations without the need to "kill" the other kings. The game is based on finding solutions and testing the players to see who is the most suitable King and thus reach the ultimate peace.
In the playing system, The Three-Chess also has new pieces like the Sorcerer, who converts to his side the opposing pieces, and the unicorn. In addition, on the game board there is a series of coordinates that allow players to create their own moves and thus decide which kingdom to conquer. There can be alliances or all against all.
Being circular, the game is quite striking and allows a wide range of movement to the pieces. Also, the third kingdom is red, which adds to the classic black and white of chess.
It should be noted that the game has its own narrative. Each piece represents a character who has his role in the story, and of course, has its determined movements.
"Actually, more than a game, it is a medieval fantasy tale, in which three kingdoms need to resolve the situation they present. They have grown to the point where populations have begun to mix. The Monarchs of these kingdoms come together to solve this situation in the best possible way. A game of strategy that shows who is the best leader to take these kingdoms forward as one and rule the fate of the resulting kingdom. The story guide us to this exciting board game full of surprises.
The game has been in development for 6 years, but in the last three months the talented Venezuelans have patented the game and released it under the name of "Ajetrez" (a mix of words between the number three and chess in spanish), precisely to take the classic board game to the next level.
"And that evolution of the game, now has its own history, has a goal that is to take care of the planet, and of course, it is a game and an idea developed by Venezuelans," Briceño says.
It is worth mentioning that part of the profits obtained from the game sales will be used to support the activities of the Empathy and Evolution Foundation, which aims to give life to the urban areas of Venezuelan cities through the planting of fruit trees, the protection of green spaces, and to bring the culture of recycling to the Venezuelan people.
In this July 2018 Comic-Con, the game was presented by Andrea Garcia, Executive Director of the Empathy and Evolution Foundation, and was supported by the community of Calabozo Criollo, which specializes in promoting board games, role-playing games, and wargames to Venezuelans.
"The Three Kings is something totally innovative in the world. The Empathy and Evolution Foundation wants to contribute to Venezuela that grain of sand with this game that is perfect to entertain and at the same time educate the following generations, and also, to leave the Nation high when announcing that the next playable leap of chess was born in Venezuela".
To learn more about the Foundation and this impressive game, we invite you to visit its website http://ajetrez.com/
