Bosworth Field was where Richard III, losing the decisive battle of the Wars of the roses, bellowed (if you believe Shakespeare): "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" It's a clever name for a chess variant in which only some of your pieces are on the board at any one time- often not the ones you need.

The board is a 6 x 6 grid. Each player begins with an identical set of 16 cards of one color representing the standard chess forces. To begin, each player places four pawns faceup along his edge of the board (his "field camp"), shuffles and stacks his remaining cards facedown, and draws a hand of four cards off the top. The other eight cards are reinforcements.

At first you can move only a pawn. Once its space is vacated, you must fill it with any card from your hand, then replenish you hand from your reinforcements. You can place a new piece only on a vacancy in your own field camp.

Play continues as in chess, except that there is no castling, en passant, pawn promotion, or check. If an attacked king can't escape, it's captured and its owner retires. If only two are playing, the game is over.

The moment your king enters the fray, it attracts your opponent's most serious attention. You can avoid this for a while, since you choose which cards to place in your field camp and you don't always have to vacate a space there. But soon enough the king will make an appearance. This is when you'll be crying "A horse, a horse!" etc.

Bosworth is a tense game of cat-and-mouse for two, a wild melee for three or four. Real chess strategy plays only a small role, so you can enjoy it even if you know little more than how the pieces move.

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