FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Games

3D-Printed Chess Set Puts Modern Twist On Age-Old Game

Artist Nova Jiang's "Orthogonal/Diagonal" explores various iterations of the game of chess and unites them under a common design theme.

The game of chess, generally considered to have evolved from the the ancient Indian game Chaturanga, is hundreds of years old and has many variants and derivatives across the globe—each variation comes with its own cultural lexicon and a big part of that is the specific designs of the decorative pieces. Exploring the mutations these games have taken in both form and structure, while also seeking to unite them, is artist Nova Jiang in her latest work Orthogonal/Diagonal.

Advertisement

Using eight different variants of the strategic game—modern European Chess, its ancient predecessor Shatranj, along with Makruk (Thailand), Janggi (Korea), Shatar (Mongolia), Sittuyin (Myanmar), Shogi (Japan), and Xiangqi (China)—Jiang has designed and 3D-printed pieces for the eight iterations.

Makruk

"I chose the ones that I thought would yield the biggest variety of sculptural forms, have unusual rules, or are played by the most people in the world," Jiang says about why she chose these particular strains of the game over others.

As any one who's played chess will know, each piece has its one unique way of moving about the board and capturing its opponents. And it's these movements, which differ in the various games, which helped inform the abstract geometric designs of the pieces.

"Does it move diagonally or orthogonally? Does it range or step? Can it hop over other pieces? What’s its relative power on the board? In Japanese Chess (Shogi) for example, many pieces can be promoted and gain different powers of movement. The challenge was to encapsulate both pre-promotion and post-promotion rules in a single game piece," the designer explains.

European Chess

Along with reflecting the movements, Jiang also wanted the pieces to share a common design theme which would nod to the individual rules but also give the pieces a sculptural cohesion. "I tried to develop a vocabulary of forms that would be comprehensive enough for all the variants that exist," she notes. "Korean Chess (Janggi) for example is really different from Mongolian Chess (Shatar), but my system has to be able to accommodate both."

Advertisement

After designing the pieces and creating CNC'd game tables to play them on, Jiang asked the public and former chess champions to take part in a tournament at the Enjoy Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand. This way the pieces weren't just passive museum exhibits, but functioning, living games.

Shatranj

As the pieces are abstract expressions, the cultural references usually associated with them wasn't so potent, so any intimidation players may have felt about playing an unfamiliar version of the game vanished. This made the experience more inclusive once players got to grips with the rules, while still presenting the challenge of encountering and engaging new rules at each game table.

Breaking down these cultural barriers was an important part of the project for Jiang, who used the Bauhaus Chess Set by Josef Hartwig as a reference point, and meant that players could compare and contrast the games as variants on one system. It also allowed Jiang to explore the alternate methods of play and structure while referencing their common ancestry. Check out some of the designs below.

Makruk

Shogi

Shatar

Xiangqi

Janggi

Sittuyin

Photos: Nova Jiang

Related

Get Lost In Nova Jiang's Moving Maze, "Landscape Abbreviated"

A Stylish Battle Between Good And Evil Fought On The Chessboard

Star In Your Own Generative Comic