Chase

Chase was created by Tom Kruszewski in 1985 and published by TSR.

Clark D. Rodeffer and I (João Pedro Neto) we wrote an article about the game in the magazine Abstract Games #9 (2002). It's a remarkable game that is unfortunately almost forgotten. I recommend reading the article and trying the game for yourself.

A review of the game by Steffan O'Sullivan:

Pushes and trades are other key elements to consider in the game. You might be carefully setting up a fork, thinking you’ll get a good capture next turn, when suddenly your opponent makes a pushing move that protects both pieces at once and threatens to enter the Chamber!

One thing that chess players have a hard time getting used to is the concept of trading in this game. It seems like a good trade, capturing a “6” die with a “1” die, but after the trade, both players still have the same number of dice, totaling 25 points! Very intriguing, you have to learn to think differently from Chess.

As your dice pool dwindles, you become less flexible. Yes, you still have 25 movement points total, but if those points are concentrated on five dice instead of nine, you’ll find it harder to make certain types of moves. Most of the dice will be high-value, and you won’t be able to sneak up on your enemy. Worse still, you can’t afford to lose another die at that point, and the game becomes quite tense. Much of the strategy centers around the Chamber: whoever has the most dice at any given time has the advantage, unless their position is really bad.

Positioning is something you learn over time: there are key lines that radiate from the camera that are very important. It's also important to keep at least some of your dice together. This not only allows for trade moves, but also provides good pushes. But this is something you'll learn best through play, so I won't go into detail.

Here is another review, this time by Sid Sackson, published in the magazine GAMES No. 68,

— John Pedro Neto