CHESMAYNE
happiness
“I want to hold your hand”
Hand
01 The whole man
in miniature. Symbol of fidelity (
02 The thumb depicts will and intellect
(logic).
“If it was so, it might be; and if
it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic” (Through the Looking
Glass).
03 Below the thumb, the mounts
of Venus and Mars next to it (the mounts of love and war are juxtaposed).
04 Symbol, with a plethora of
associations, in every major religious tradition.
05 The symbol of
God’s hand is used to depict God’s power over His creation and stretches out to
provide blessing and protection and to exercise judgement.
06 In Hindu temples images of the
deity have many arms and hands symbolizing power and competence and are used in
prayer and supplication, either outstretched or clasped. They also function as transmitters of divine
power.
07 They are placed
on an individual to bestow a blessing or to heal and used to consecrate and
ordain people for service.
08 Washing the hands has come to
signify an abdication of responsibility.
09 Raising a hand is used to
signify allegiance, or the touching of a sacred object, signifies fidelity and truth.
“Praying Hands”, Sir
Peter Paul Rubens
10 Mudras:
symbolic gestures of the hands used in classical Indian dance and in Hindu and
Tantric rituals or, hand gestures made by the Buddha. They are profoundly symbolic and tell a vivid story to Buddhist devotees as they gaze at a Buddha
image. Indian dance uses hundreds of
‘mudras’ in standard yet beautiful miming gestures.
11 To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a
Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold
Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And
Eternity in an hour.
12 Thumb, foreman
or pointer (index-finger) because it is used for pointing (denoting eloquence,
if square), ring-finger, gold-finger (in the belief that a nerve ran through it to
the heart). Little man, or little
finger (ear-finger). Thumb (Venus), index finger (Jupiter), middle finger (Saturn), ring finger (Sun), small finger (Mercury). Hand and finger gestures are
used extensively in Indian dance and art. A finger
placed on the mouth indicates silence. The Hamsa (also known as Khamsa)
is a hand shaped amulet used for protection by both Jewish and Muslim
people. Its name comes from a Semitic
root and literally means “five”. The
Hamsa is usually shaped in the form of a symmetrical hand. Full article Hamsa.
13 Chieromancy
(palm-reading).
14 Feet: placing a
foot on an enemy is a symbol of submission.
Bare feet: humility and poverty.
Kissing the feet: submission.
Washing the feet: act of hospitality, ritual cleansing (done on Holy
Thursday). The footprints of venerable
people are revered.
15 A young man approached his
girlfriend’s father and asked, “I would like to ask for you daughters
hand”. The father replied, “You might
as well, you got everything else.”
Hand Shogi is a game, invented by John William Brown, and described in his book Meta Chess, published in
the beginning of 1997.
The idea behind Hand Shogi was to make a chess variant (in Brown’s
terminology: a Meta-Chess game) that bridged the gap between chess and playing
cards. The name has a double meaning:
‘Hand’ both points to the fact that players have many pieces in hand (even more
as in Shogi, players have pieces off-board that they can drop on empty squares), but also to
the fact that individual games are so short that players play a number of
different conflicts in a row (in card games, one round of play is often called
a hand).
This is an original and fast
Shogi variant.
The game is played on a 9 by 9 board.
Two additional lines mark zones where half-knights can be dropped, but
are not essential and can well be left away.
Players start with nine pieces on the board, and ten pieces ‘in hand’,
i.e., of the board. The setup is as
follows:
White (Player 1):
King e1; Golden General c1, g1; Pard e2; Soldier c2, d3, e3, f3, g2.
Black (Player 2):
King e9; Golden General c9, g9; Pard e8; Soldier c8, d7, e7, f7, g8.
Both players have at the
start of the game in hand: an Onager, an Hasty; a Tycoon; a Shogun; two
Half-knights; two Silver Generals; and two Lances.
Apologies for the poor
quality of this diagram; a better diagram will be made in the future.
The King moves as a usual king, one square in an arbitrary direction.
The Golden General moves as in Shogi: one square diagonally
forward; or one square horizontal or vertical.
The Silver General also moves as in Shogi: one square straight
forward, or one square diagonally.
The Lance moves like a rook, but only in the forward direction, i.e., an
arbitrary number of squares straight forward.
The Soldier moves one square to the left, one square to the right, or
one square straight forward.
The Pard moves exactly two squares diagonally, horizontally or
vertically and may jump over other pieces when moving. (For instance, white could start with Pard e2-e4,
or Pard e2-c4.)
The Onager moves exactly two squares horizontally or vertically and may
jump when moving.
The Hasty moves exactly two squares diagonally and may jump when moving.
(It is a piece, borrowed from Chaturanga and Shatranj.)
The Tycoon moves like a bishop, but may only go a distance of one, two
or three squares in one move.
The Shogun moves like a rook, but may only go a distance of one, two or
three squares in one move.
The Half-knight moves like a knight, but may only go forward
Each turn, a player may either make a normal move (following the
movement rules described above) or may drop
a piece that was held ‘in hand’ by the player.
At the start of the game, a player has one onager, one hasty, one
tycoon, one shogun, two half-knights, two silver generals, and two lances in
hand. Pieces that one takes from the
opponent also become ‘in hand’ and can be dropped later.
There are a few restrictions for dropping pieces: one may not drop a
piece on a square where it can never move again (e.g., white may not drop a
lance on a9); hastys and onagers may only be dropped in a move where they give
check; half-knights may not be dropped on last three rows, e.g. white may not
drop a half-knight on a7, a8, a9 or any other square on these rows.
Any move (drop or ordinary move) that results in having two of ones own
soldiers at the same column is forbidden. So, white may not start with d3-c3.
Half knights that arrive at the last rows promote to Golden
Generals. No other piece promotes in
this game.
A match consists of several individual games, called hands. To win a hand, one must mate the king of the
opponent. A number of hands will be
played in a row, with players have alternatingly the first move. To win the game (match), one must win two
hands in a row.
The inventor writes that
there are many fools mates in this game.
Source: Meta Chess, by John
William Brown.
Written by Hans
Bodlaender.