Ah the way you phrased it you had morphy changing the world of engineering along with nikolai tesla.
have to admit chess is my least favourite board game. I like an element of randomness in a game.
Now if they introduced dice so you could only move the piece the dice indicated - that would make it a little more interesting
Seatbelt slings are long established, should be plenty info on how to make them around the forum.
Double denim works extremely well as a leather substitute.
take old pair of jeans. Cut legs into flat panels.
Turn one panel 90 degress and using a fair bit of pva glue, glue the two panels together, weigh down and leave 24 hours.
Viola double denim. All the leather pouch templates work pretty well with it.