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This is a guest post by Gary, WA0ZSU. Thanks, Gary! I’d like to run more guest posts here. If you have something that you’d like to publish here, send me an email….Dan

Radio and chess share a colorful history. When the USA and Russia were butting heads immediately after World War II, the two countries viewed chess as a field of struggle between communism and capitalism. With the tension between the countries, there was no way for players from the countries to get together and play. Instead, a radio match between the two was arranged in 1945.

In 1965, the Cuban government sponsored a chess tournament in Havana and invited the best US player Robert Fischer to participate. The US government didn’t like the idea of an American playing in a high-profile tournament in a communist country. Fischer participated in the tournament by teletype from the Marshall Chess Club in New York.

In the 1980s, Vince Luciani, K2VJ, created CARI (Chess and Amateur Radio International), a ham radio chess club, which eventually grew to more than 200 members. The group published a newsletter and sponsored on-the-air tournaments, becoming a chess club on the air for hams. It also arranged radio chess matches between university clubs under the auspices of the school’s ham radio club stations.

A highlight for the group was a 20-meter SSB match between 5 US players and 5 in Oceania. (The US won the match 3-2).

When K2VJ became a silent key, the group became less active. Members continued to play radiochess, but the games were more informal and not as organized.

So, how do you play chess on the air?

You can use chess notation to send moves and play chess games on the radio. The CARI group often met on the air to play informal games and tournaments. There were active groups in US, Canada, and Australia/New Zealand. Much of the activity was on 40 and 20 meter SSB.

Chess on CW

Some CARI members preferred to play chess on CW, citing the efficiency of the mode and the ability to stay in contact for long periods.

One CARI member invented an efficient and effective way to send the moves. I have played many games using the approach.

NOTE: Most radio chess players use algebraic chess notation, where the squares are designated by a letter (A-H) and a number (1-8). So, the square three spaces in front of white’s king is labelled e4, and the space three spaces in front of black’s king is similarly called e5. So, if you open like many people do with the king pawn opening, you send it as “E4”. Moving white’s king knight would be “NF3”. If you’re interested, look up “algebraic notation” under chess. Many boards have the square names on them.

The challenge to playing on CW is to avoid mistakes. The CARI player’s invention was using combinations of the letter “R” to distinguish the moves.

To send a move, you send R R R, the move (twice), and another R. My first move might be R R R E4 E4 R. If my opponent hears it correctly, he sends back R R, the move, and another R. So his confirmation of the move might be R R E4 R. Finally, if I agree with the move he returned to me, I send another R.

So the sequence is:

From me: R R R E4 E4 R

From my opponent: R R E4 R

From me: R

Notice that we both agree on the move. Now it’s my opponent’s time to think about his response. When he’s ready, he starts with “R R R”.

There are a couple of benefits to this approach. A key one is that it makes sure the players agree on the moves. The other one is that the player waiting for his opponent’s move can police the frequency by ID’ing frequently (for example, with “DE WA0ZSU ES AE1B CHESS GAME TKS”). It usually keeps things quiet (as a friend used to say, “we would ID every time we heard a flea fart”. That may be a slight exaggeration). Sending repeated ID’s also helped advertise radiochess. We met several players on the air that way.

If you know someone who plays, you can use this method immediately.

Finding Games

I started playing radiochess by calling CQ CHESS. You will be amazed how often you get an answer to that call: I found several opponents by doing this on 40 meters CW, and once we made contact, we played repeated games. You have to be persistent, but it does work. And it also works on SSB.

In addition, anyplace where hams congregate or exchange information is a venue to look for opponents. I and other CARI members had success checking into MCARS and other nets and asking for games.

Good luck finding opponents and playing chess on the air. If you don’t find any opponents, get in touch with me.

Happy pawn pushing on the air.