Business chess

Lore & Background

Business chess was invented in 1992 by Dr. Grachya Ovakimyan of Moscow with the aim of making chess more entertaining and spectacular. In his view, free discussion and collective decision-making increase dynamism and reveal players' thinking processes. The game is played by two teams, recommended to have five members each, using up to five demonstration boards side-by-side, each representing a branch of the game with its own rating.

Reader's Guide

The game begins on one board with a rating of 10. Teams can create new branches by copying a position to a free board and making a different move, distributing the parent branch's rating between the child branches. If a team has a lost position on a branch, it may resign that branch and transfer its rating to a sibling branch, giving the opponent points equal to the lost rating. Passing allows transferring one rating unit between branches without gain or loss. The final score is the sum of each branch's chess result multiplied by its rating. Only one team member may move pieces on the demonstration boards after collective decision. The game uses one chess clock, with each team limited to one hour; if one branch remains in the endgame, an additional five minutes is given.

Did You Know?

• Business chess was invented in 1992 by Dr. Grachya Ovakimyan of Moscow.
• Up to five demonstration boards can be used simultaneously, each with its own rating.
• Branching allows splitting a branch into two, distributing the parent's rating between the children.
• Selection lets a team resign a lost branch and add its rating to a sibling, while the opponent scores points equal to the lost rating.