Military chess

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Tak-Tik, military chess
Defense chess with starting grid
Defense chess with starting grid
Game data
publishing company Bernhard Lehnert,
publishing house Die Wehrmacht
Publishing year 1938
Art Tactical game
Teammates 2
Duration
Age

Wehrschach , also called Tak-Tik , was a variant of chess for two players that was widespread among soldiers in Germany during the Second World War . It was first presented in April 1938 in the Illustrierte Deutsche Schülerzeitung and published in 1939 by Bernhard Lehnert in Berlin, who also founded the Wehrschach sports management . The rules of military chess are closely based on those of Chinese chess , with the player colors blue and red being used.

history

A basic idea of military chess, which in terms of its rules stems strongly from Chinese chess , was published in the magazine Der Teutsche Merkur as early as 1779 . From the war chess game of the 18th century, precursors of modern military simulation games had developed after a few decades .

The game was advertised before the war, for example in Die Wehrmacht No. 11/1938. In addition, the Wehrmacht regularly published compact military chess tasks and solutions similar to chess puzzles . Although Wehrschach had a circulation of 25,000 games, doubts were expressed as to whether the game was actually as widespread as the publisher claimed. The militaristic habit of military chess is similar to Battle Chess , the 1933 AS Yurgelevich in the Stalinist was propagated Soviet Union.

Style of play

Game board

The military chess included military names, but ultimately only changed the rules of chess. It was played on a board with 11 × 11 fields, which were divided into several areas by two diagonals and two additional lines. There are also two lake areas on fields b5 and k7, which are marked by wavy lines. The game material also consisted of 18 blue and red game figures made of synthetic resin, which symbolized the troops and weapons of the players, including the main character in the form of the Wehrmacht eagle , the fighter pilots, the armored vehicles, the artillery and the infantrymen . Not only tanks were used in the Wehrschach , but also the then new wonder weapon " V2 " with a rule change in the later course of the war .

The aim of the game was to either take any five fields of the opponent with "earth weapons" or to defeat the main character of the opponent. Alternatively, if the enemy had less than five earth weapons left or six infantrymen lost, the enemy lost.

  • Wehrmacht eagle in the Mémorial de Caen

  • Wehrmacht eagle in armed forces chess

  • Defense chess pieces

Quote from the German military chess sports management

"We also welcome the continued active cooperation and support on the part of the military chess athletes through constant submission of military chess problems and study papers on the military chess problem or of captivating, interesting photos from the military chess sport life at the front or at home is suitable for publication in the press or in the Wehrschach-Handbuch. " (German Wehrschach Sportleitung (approx. 1941))

swell

  1. ↑ Cf. Das Wehrschach (1940) or JCL Hellwig: Advertisement for a new war game . In: Der Teutsche Merkur (1773–1789.). 3rd quarter of 1779, pp. 193–195 .
  2. ↑ a b c Kerstin Merkel, Constance Dittrich: Playing with the Reich. National Socialist ideology in toys and children's books. Writings from the Eichstätt University Library Volume 65, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011; P. 196, cat.-no. 13c.

literature

  • Rudolf J. Schmeißer, Otto Schmeißer: The Wehrschach: opening games, studies and problems according to the tournament regulations of the Greater German Wehrschach-Bund . Ed. By the Wehrschach sports management, 3rd edition "The Wehrmacht", Berlin 1940.

Web links

Commons : Wehrschach  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files