I’m thinking of creating a chess WIP, where you play as a young protagonist who strives to be chess world champion. However, I’m not certain if anybody here knows how to play chess. Of course, I would include a tutorial for readers who don’t have an inkling of what chess is. But I’m not sure if anyone would go to the trouble of learning it. That’s why I created this post, to know if anybody in this forum knows how to play the game. Cause I think it would just be a waste of time, to make a story that nobody reads because they don’t know the basic principles of this 1500-year old masterpiece.
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I can vouch that I do indeed know how to play chess
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Write the game for your core audience: people who would want to read a book about chess. I think it is very safe to assume that they will understand chess!
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I know how to play, and I think if you highlight the ‘young protagonist who strives to be world champion’ aspect, you’ll get more people reading your story even if they don’t necessarily know how to play or care about the game at first. Just look at something like the Queen’s Gambit that increased interest in chess because it focused on both chess moves and the protagonist’s coming-of-age/addiction stories.
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Please tell me you’re making a game about chess to the death!
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I sure am 
, I even made this:
You are a thirteen-year-old boy/girl who aspires to be chess world champion. Ever since you saw the match against Kasparov and Deep Blue, you became passionate about chess and dream of one day taking the prestigious title of world chess champion. However, it’s not that simple. Chess is as much a psychological warfare than just a battle on a board. A myriad of skilled opponents stand in your way from achieving your dream. Each of which has the ability to send you and your goal to the cemetery of broken ambitions, where countless players who failed to leave their mark on the scroll of history are laid to rest.
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Good luck to you, and if you want to see code of a working chess game in ChoiceScript, check out Missing Wings. The Realm of Death is a game of chess, albeit with the ability for a king to move into check.
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Thank you so much for the kind words, I really needed that 
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Yes, finally now I can play this game and lose because I don’t know how to play chess but I know the pieces now that I think about it, that summary could make a good Roguelike
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I can play lol and would be interested in such a game.
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I’ve been kicking around ideas for Chess IFs for years but have never actually started any. I’m rated 1800 USCF and 2300 online so I’d definitely be interested in higher level chess content and I’m sure others would too.
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Thanks for the support, everyone 
. I appreciate it a lot. As for the story itself, it’s currently around a thousand words long. I’ve only started writing the prologue and parts of chapter one, three hours ago. So it might take a while before I accumulate enough content to share it with you guys here. Nevertheless, I’ll try my hardest to put on a demo as soon as possible. But not too quickly, because I don’t want it to be a scrawl that no one will enjoy reading.
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I think there would be more people that at least know the basic rules so go ahead! There’s been an uptick in popularity in the past few years with queen’s gambit and streamers.
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Right! . And if they don’t, then, I’ll just include a simple tutorial to get them started.
Update: I might be able to post a demo much sooner than expected. That’s if everything goes to plan. I hope it does because I can’t wait for everyone’s feedback. The estimated release date is ambigous, but It’ll probably be around November 7 or 8. Until then, I’ll be on my laptop writing. If anyone has further questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. Adios.
PS: I refined the summary, check it out.
You are a thirteen-year-old boy/girl who aspires to be chess world champion. Ever since you saw the match against Kasparov and Deep Blue, you became passionate about chess and dream of one day claiming the prestigious title of world chess champion. However, it’s not that simple. Chess is as much a psychological warfare than just a battle on a board. A myriad of skilled opponents stand in your way from achieving your dream. Each possessing the ability to send you and your goal to the cemetery of broken ambitions, where countless players who failed to etch their mark on the scroll of history are laid to rest. Will you rise above countless players, like a majestic eagle soaring through the sky? Or will you crumble under the weight of reality and become a feeble turtle, forgotten by society? The wind of destiny is calling, and you have no choice but to answer it. What will you become?
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Good start. However, don’t have the plot of the story be such that it feels similar to Emily Short’s Bee. (similar, but it’s about winning the national spelling championship.) It is going in that direction, so try to add something that will make it feel different.
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I would say the question here is, how much does the player need to know chess? Does the player actually play the chess games move-by-move, or is it just a story where the character plays chess? The requirements for the player’s knowledge are vastly different.
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You don’t need to know much about chess to enjoy the story. All you need to know is how the pieces move and some basic principles (Which I’ll happily include in the stats screen). And as for whether the player will play the game move by move or not, it’s a mix of both actually . I plan to have the reader make choices that will impact the result of the game, but not too often because the number of branches I would have to make will grow exponentially.
@RockmanX Didn’t know there was another If similar to this 
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Creating a chess-themed story is amazing! I remember when I first learned chess - it was through a storybook where each piece had its own personality and abilities.