Made-in-Vietnam Chess

The man who created “made-in-Vietnam” chess
08:29′ 20/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – After more than 20 years of persuading scientific authorities to recognise his “math” chess, Vu Bay from Bac Ninh province is succeeding now as the provincial education department plans to promote it.

That means incorporating the original chess game into school curricula. Mr. Bay’s chess, the total number of possible moves is 87 power 87, far exceeding the 32 power 32 moves of Chinese chess or 16 power 16 of “king” chess, is also receiving attention from the Bac Ninh province People’s Committee.

Experts from the Vietnam Sports Committee have met him and promised to popularise it throughout the whole country as well. The Bureau of Art and Literature Copyrights recognised it in 2005.

And there has also been a US$1million offer for the rights to it. Yet, it wasn’t at all easy for Vu Bay’s invention to win such attention. One day 20 years ago, he rode his bike from his home in Bac Ninh city to the National Science Committee in Hanoi to present what he named “math” chess.

But instead of asking questions about his invention, many confronted him with such inquiries as, “Do you known foreign languages?” or “Have you ever been abroad?” They suspected he had stolen the idea from some foreign sources.

Vu Bay told them no, that he had only finished Grade 7, and knew nothing about foreign languages. The committee did ask former Soviet Union experts to look into the game, though. But the experts couldn’t solve how much 87 power 87 was, so they refused to recognise it.

He later sought out other authorities, none of whom could see the originality of his “math” chess. Not until May 5, when the Bureau of Art and Literature Copyrights under the Ministry of Culture and Information was established, did he find some one to give him credit for coming up with a new chess game.

Things started to brighten up. Reading about the game in a Hanoi newspaper, a Chinese chess expert offered Vu Bay US$1million for its copyright under the condition that the new owner would also have the right to change the name from Vietnam Math Chess to International Math Chess as well as add Chinese numbers on the faces of chessmen.

Vu Bay immediately turned down the offer. “I can’t let people change the game’s name since what inspired me to work on it was the idea that I could create a Vietnamese chess, something with Vietnamese origin,” explained he.

Here is the full story.