Panajedrez, by Xul Solar

A game of universal and total creation.

By Julia Pérez Bustamante, in Tres Mancias Consultancy

In 1939, Xul Solar (1887–1963, Sagittarius) began to devise the concept of panajedrez (panchess), also known as pangame or creole chess, and developed it over the next seven years. The game involves two players who deploy their own creations, absorb or sweep away the creations of the other, expand or reduce their own, and all to the extent they wish. The traditional chess removes pieces from the board until the opponent is cornered and immobilized, whereas the pangame is an invitation to explore and unfold in company, like a philosophical meditation on one's development and the development of the partner, the own space and the space of the partner.

It's an astrological game, since some chess pieces symbolise a zodiacal sign or planet. But it's also a linguistic creation, since some pieces are also consonant syllables, and the chess squares where they're placed on are vowel syllables. The game is also a musical creation, since some pieces are even notes and, when superimposed, form chords. And, since the pawns represent numbers, mathematical equations are also formed. At the same time, an abstract pictorial creation emerges by including intense colors. Furthermore, the squares on the board are not only vowels but the degrees of the celestial circle, and thus a kind of calendar is formed, indicating days, months and years.

The game's structure

The board consists of twelve columns by thirteen, generating 156 squares, each one of them with vowel syllables. The colors of the pieces correspond to musical notes. This is a visual representation of music, in which the artist does not adopt the traditional distinction between natural and altered sounds (sharps, flats) and, instead, structures two scales of six tones each (just as there's 12 astrological signs). However, in the traditional representation of the zodiac, the positive signs and lunar nodes are on round pieces, and the negative signs on square pieces.

In addition to the traditional chess pieces, there's also the Tri-Rook, the Counter-Rook, the Double-File, the Tri-File, and the Counter-File. In total, each player counts on thirty pieces, plus one called "chance". They include not just colors but lines, shapes, and taps. They were handcrafted, carved from oil-painted broomstick wood, and are flat-shaped (so they can be stacked).

Another important feature of the board is that the column numbers are graphically specular, indicating that this is a game in which two total creators develop their own mirror.

Dynamics while playing

The pieces begin the game off the board, although there's a column, number 13, which is understood as the entry and exit point of the game. However, this game has no specific starting or ending zone, as players place their pieces at will, according to the creation they wish to deploy in each move and emplacement.

If one piece sweeps other one, it assumes the values of the last one, along with all the correspondences eventually assigned to it (numerical, musical, linguistic, astrological, pictorial ones). Considering this, and during the game, diverse dialogues are formed with the other player, not only linguistic ones but also musical counterpoints, pictorial, or astrological, since the moves could also reflect each participant's natal chart.

The choices each player makes involve multiple references: the participant might have in mind the representation of an astrological position, but that same representation could vary to a musical sound, a pictorial combination of colors, words, or numbers... To do this, they simply turn the cubic pieces on their sides, or flip them over if they only have two sides. For example, one of the zodiacal pieces is red and represents A letter character, number 12, Aries, and C-sharp. With all these correspondences at hand, the players not only deploy a creation according to the meaning they have in mind but also and simultaneously discover different dimensions to which each layout could refer. As the game progresses, then melodies, paintings, poems, and equations show up on the board, depending on the multiple associations and the skill to considering them at the same time.

The pieces can also be superimposed once placed on the board squares and, with or without superimposition, the set of syllables thus gathered (vowels and consonants) progressively expresses the artist's own language, the panlengua.

Panlengua on the board

As we've seen, the game includes simultaneous languages, and in an attempt to universalise the expression, the artist added his own linguistic way of speech. The panlengua (panlanguage) is a phonetic creation (pronounced as written), has no grammar, and is based on numerical and astrological bases.

The syllables can be combined at will: the consonants represent categories and ideas, while vowels add them characteristics. Furthermore, both types of characters can be used according to a positive or a negative polarity. In Astrology, a positive polarity is a solar one (progression and liberation), and a negative polarity is a lunar one (regression and densification). The solar polarity is driven by planetary exaltations, whereas the lunar polarity remains in its usual rulerships.

For differentiating them in the game, the lowercase consonant "r" indicates the negative. As for the vowels, "i-u" are positive, and "e-o" are negative. Only the "a" indicates a neutral term. For example, the syllable "Ta" translates the idea of ​​quantity. If the idea is a lunar one (Tr), it corresponds to Jupiter and Sagittarius (where the planet rules). If the idea is a solar one (T), it corresponds to Saturn and Libra (where the planet is exalted). After that, the piece can undertake a solar or lunar move depending on where is placed on the board, since squares are vowels. In a solar move: Ti=little and Tu=much, and in a lunar move: Te=less and To=more.

Another example. The R character refers to the idea of ​​acting (Ra), where Ri=to do and Ru=to undo, Re=to exchange, and Ro=to move. Used according to the aforementioned solar order, the piece corresponds to Neptune and Leo (where the planet is exalted). But played according to the lunar order (Rr), it corresponds to Uranus and Aquarius (where the planet rules). In brief terms, the consonants indicate a zodiacal sign understood in its positive or negative polarity, and the vowels in turn indicate the tendency to deploy from that sign. Thus, it's possible to predict the partner's play, since those choices tell about the orientation taken to express the natal chart (a solar or lunar one).

Rules!

A creation encompasses multiple spheres or dimensions, and necessarily incorporates different parameters to regulate relationships and set spaces within each of them. Basically, the panajedrez is a game to move freely between those dimensions depending on how the very game unfolds itself. And, of course, it implies applying the rules governing each sphere.

"Knowing how to play" is much more than understanding and correctly applying each logic of operation, order, or a tactic or a strategy. The referral points to know how to move vary because they're multiple, which means they're not defined exclusively by a single sphere of the experience. The game's development could start from an astrological intention to deploy a specific pattern. But the corresponding sonority of those positions of the pieces could lead to focusing the attention on the emerging melody, and then the parameter for continuing could become the move's harmonic echo. The new focus could also become the picture appreciated in the color combination, and then the parameter for playing could be a visual contrast or continuity.

"Knowing how to play" requires flexibility, a deep understanding of the different expressions or correspondences of a sound, of a color... And, of course, it also requires the ability to keep multiple perspectives at the same time. In this sense, the artist often wondered "What are we playing at?".

Playing at creation requires skills, knowledge, and the ability to read one's and others' displays, which are unfolded on different levels. Meanwhile, there's the chance to start a dialogue with the other player, learn about different expressions, and decide what happens to the elements of each creation. Do pieces ingress into the board, remain in use, are swept away by the other player, or do they voluntarily retreat to the 13th column?

Whether or not different rules are applied also depends on the type of creation the other participant develops. Their chords could represent a dissonance for the own creation, so sweeping them away in the manner of the classic chess isn't always appropriate here, since doing so absorbs their qualities... The goal when playing panajedrez is far beyond prevailance, victory or defeat: what effects does the incorporation of some part of the partner's creation produce? What kind of elements are incorporated by expanding the own space? It's a game of creations meeting each other, and as such, the spirits moving and combining the pieces are a single spirit: one is not without two, and two are one.

Note of the author. The panajedrez is a much more complex activity than what has been mentioned here. The artist left no written instructions about the elements he included in the composition, nor how to operate with them.