Diatonic Chess is an interactive system that translates the formal mechanics of chess into harmonic and rhythmic structures. Each move on the board generates a chord and a beat pattern, enabling users to experience strategic decision-making as musical development.
The system can be used to play new games or to explore 9000+ matches by the 15 historical most important grandmasters rendered as musical chord and beat progressions. Diatonic Chess is part of a broader artistic research practice focused on translating structured systems into sonic form without compromising their internal logic.
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Random Master Game and the Selection of Grandmasters
In addition to playing new games, Diatonic Chess invites users to explore over 9000 historically significant matches through the Random Master Game feature. Each game is selected at random from a curated archive of victories by 15 of the most important grandmasters in chess history. These are not merely the strongest players by rating, but the figures who have shaped the cultural, aesthetic, and theoretical development of chess across centuries.
This carefully chosen group spans from the pioneers of strategic thinking to the modern universalists. It includes foundational theorists like Wilhelm Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker, intuitive geniuses such as José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Tal, revolutionary figures like Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, and the unmatched versatility of Magnus Carlsen.
The collection also honors trailblazers in defensive mastery (Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov), in endgame perfection (Akiba Rubinstein), and in bridging the classical and computer-driven eras (Vladimir Kramnik). Importantly, the archive features Vera Menchik, the first female world champion, who stands as a lasting symbol of pioneering spirit and excellence in a historically male-dominated field.
Artistic and Epistemic Vision
Diatonic Chess is developed within the framework of Methodical Transfer Epistemology (MTE), a method for generating knowledge by translating complex systems across domains in a structurally consistent manner. In this context, chess is not aestheticized but made audible through a rule-based sonic mapping. The work invites players and listeners to engage with game logic not only through cognition, but also through perception — hearing the unfolding of structure, resolution, repetition, and tension as musical form.
Concept and Methodology
The system operates on a strict mapping between spatial and musical parameters: Each square on the chessboard corresponds to a specific chord. Each move triggers a bass note and a chord, defined by the target square. The length of the move, measured in steps per piece, determines the duration of the rhythmic pattern it triggers.
Rhythmic material is drawn from a structured pool of 35 precomposed beat loops, organized into seven folders according to move length (1 to 7 squares).
Each folder contains five distinct rhythmic samples, all composed to fit the same duration and groove, but with individual rhythmic variation. When a move is played back, the system randomly selects a beat sample from the folder corresponding to the move’s spatial length.
The system runs at 120 BPM in 4/4 time, and each move covers a fixed temporal span:
- One square = one half note
- Two squares = one full bar
- Up to seven squares = 3 1/2 measures
Each beat is accompanied by a bass note and chord played on synthesizers, all triggered at the same moment. This temporal alignment reinforces a musical sense of phrasing, even as the individual beats vary.
Because all beats within each length group are composed to be modular and interchangeable, the system allows variation without incoherence. The effect is one of structural cohesion with local detail, where the listener perceives intentionality — even though the beats are chosen at random.
This balance between determinacy (fixed form) and variation (random selection) is central to the system’s musical character.
Concept, Design, and Development: Tao Højgaard
Beat Samples and Rhythmic Composition: Steen Lund Holbek
The Diatonic Diamond: A Harmonic Foundation
The harmonic system is based on a fixed mapping of chords across the chessboard, derived from a two-dimensional model called the Diatonic Diamond. The diamond is constructed according to intervallic relationships within a heptatonic (seven-tone) scale.
Each node in the diamond represents a four-note chord (root, third, fifth, seventh) built on one of the scale’s degrees.
The grid is arranged so that movement directions reflect shared tones:
- Diagonal right (↘): chords share 3 tones
- Diagonal left (↙): chords share 2 tones
- Vertical (↓): chords share 1 tone
This structure creates predictable harmonic relationships across the board. It allows the player to control musical tension through spatial choices — consonance via shared tones, or contrast via tonal shifts.
Additionally, the diamond exhibits fractal properties: each chord exists within a larger lattice of self-similar harmonic structures. This recursive design ensures that the system maintains internal coherence, regardless of the scale used (Diatonic Chess currently uses A minor, but the model supports 18 different heptatonic scales).
In summary, the Diatonic Diamond provides not just a musical palette, but a structural grammar for harmonic movement within the game.
Visit the dedicated Diatonic Diamond page here!