If Chess was invented today ...

What would be different if the game would be a thing of just the very recent past?

Here are some of my predictions:

-the boards would be larger and more diverse with different terrains and tile arrangements, your armies would consist of significantly more pieces, the squares would be hexes instead

- every turn your kingdom would accumulate a set amount of "credits" which you could spend in-between moves to upgrade your units or buy a tile

- the rules would change ever so slightly every few years

-you could purchase new unit designs or buffed versions of the original pieces via the Steam Workshop

-the first-move advantage of White would be abolished to avoid accusations of racism targeted towards the game designer; actually, the whole color palette might be switched to something more "neutral" like Red and Blue

-games aren't turn-based but both armies move simultaneously in real time

-instead of simply capturing a piece, a close-combat battle between the two units would ensue whose outcome would be decided by a throw of dice (where stronger pieces like Queens or rooks have a much higher chance for a good roll)

- but overall, it wouldn't be really a popular game and only be played by a mere fraction of today's community :p

The design of the board and pieces would not be abstract, but much more thematic and realistic. The mechanics would also reflect real world battles more accurately (so knight won't be able to just 'jump over' enemy pieces for instance). In fact all the piece movements would probably be different.

If chess was invented today, probably Bobby Fischer would be alive...

If chess was invented today, it would be ignored while modern video games continue to dominate the market.

Hardly anyone would know about it. Without the influence of chess, and the many years of exploration thereof, the newly invented game would probably be inferior to what we have now. It isn't easy to design a good chess game without an existing example to emulate.

I don't know exactly how much the example of chess has affected other games, but it certainly must have had some effect; so if chess didn't exist until now, other games would probably be different too. Would modern games be as complex as they are? If not, a newly invented chess might be almost as simple as the chess we know.

A newly invented chess (if it had a fixed setup) would probably be played on a hexagonal board, or on a square board with an odd number of squares on each side, to mantain symmetry.

One obvious difference is the pieces would not be black and white as our politically 'correct' world would not allow such colours do battle. A president and a general instead of king and queen. Billionaires as rooks , professors as bishops. Computer experts/espionage spys as Knights. Middle class as pawns because of course working class and poor people do not get to play on the same field as the controlling pieces.
Sounds like a great game.

Most likely the Queen would be transgender and the pawns number would be reduced to 5 due to the poor economy. The Bishops would not be allowed to participate in "discovered attacks" and the white knight's would talk backwards.
Of course Alice would be Champion.

#3 That's genius! :)

In think chess is perfect how it is. :)

the inventor would patent it and charge players for every move.