Chess variant
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One of the 960 possible starting positions of the Chess960 chess variant
A variant of chess is any game that is derived from chess . A variant of chess can be similar to or completely different from chess. Basically, a chess variant defines a new game with different rules than chess, to which the tried and tested chess strategies cannot be transferred without changes.
Different forms of the game of chess, in which the basic rules of the game are retained (e.g. simultaneous chess or correspondence chess ) are called chess forms .
In addition to the variants derived from the modern European chess game, there are also those that have developed in Asia in an independent line of development from the Indian "original chess" Chaturanga - the most famous ones that are still cultivated today are the Chinese Xiangqi , the Korean Janggi , the Japanese Shogi and the Thai Makruk .
Classic variants
The following chess variants are known internationally. They only change the general rules of chess minimally. First and foremost, the size of the board and the basic position are changed, with new figures being added, but these result from known movement patterns.
Chess960
According to an idea of the former world chess champion Fischer , one of 960 possible starting positions will be drawn. One would like to avoid that memorized opening moves lead to an advantage. This variant of chess is called Chess960 . A conceivable disadvantage of this variant, that one side might get a significant advantage, is compensated for by the fact that starting positions are drawn immediately before a game. Strictly speaking, the game originally called "Fischer Random Chess" is not a chess variant, but a generalization. Classic chess is included here in one of the 960 possible starting positions.
With the FIDE rules of 2009, Chess960 received its own section in the official chess rules.
Default game
Until the 19th century, the game with handicap was popular, which was used to compensate for the different strengths of the opponents. There was a system of levels (tower handicap, knight handicap, pawn and move) that enabled the chess players to be divided into categories. The different material specifications each correspond to a chess variant. In the textbooks , the handicap game was dealt with in special sections at the time, which included approaches to a special opening theory.
Fairytale chess
Today, the term fairy tale or fairy chess denotes a large number of chess variants in which newly developed pieces are used, the moves of which are mostly combinations of the normal types of moves. In practice, fairytale chess often leads to shorter and particularly tactically demanding games in spite of the larger “playing fields” and more pieces. Here, some important variants were established very early on.
Janus chess
Janus chess , which is played on a 10 × 8 board, is widespread . In addition to two additional pawns, each player receives two pieces called Janus or cardinal, which can move like a bishop or a knight. The Janus is set up in the basic position between the tower and the jumper. Since he is the only piece on the board who can checkmate without the help of another, he is an interesting addition to the game, especially when it comes to mating attacks.
Capablanca and Carrera chess
Capablanca chess, invented by world chess champion José Raúl Capablanca in 1940, is also popular . A Janus (combination of bishop and knight) and a chancellor (combination of rook and knight) are added to the normal chess pieces . It was originally played on a 10 × 10 board, later the 10 × 8 board became popular. The starting line-up is tower-jumper-Janus-runner-lady-king-runner-chancellor-jumper-tower.
Many other lineups of the same ten pieces have been proposed throughout history, beginning with Pietro Carrera in 1617. In Carrera chess, the chancellor stands between rook and knight in the b-line and Janus between knight and rook in the i-line .
In 2009 Sam Trenholme tested different lineups with the computer to see which lineup was fairest, i. H. where the advantage of white is smallest. Aberg's variant (rook, Janus, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, chancellor, rook) is ahead of Carrera chess and four other tested setup variants.
The naming of the combination figures is inconsistent. The chancellor is often called marshal, while Janus is called archbishop, cardinal, paladin, pegasus and centaur, among others.
Capablanca Random Chess
This variant connects various elements on the 10 × 8 board. For Capablanca's extended set of figures with Chancellor and Archbishop (also Janus), a starting position from 48,000 options is drawn, those with uncovered pawns are discarded. As with the Chess960, castling remains unchanged as part of the game. Capablanca Random Chess is related to Capablanca Chess like Fischer Random Chess to classical chess.
One of these starting positions was patented in the USA and is sold there under the name Gothic Chess . For this reason, some starting lines in Capablanca Random Chess will be discarded and drawn again.
Seirawan chess
In this variant, released in 2007 by Yasser Seirawan and Bruce Harper , the Janus and the Chancellor come on the board. Seirawan chess is played on an 8 × 8 board and the starting position is the same as in traditional chess. The Janus (called Falcon by Seirawan) and the Chancellor (called Elephant by Seirawan) are in reserve and may be used in the back row when a field is cleared for the first time.
Los Alamos Chess
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| Los Alamos chess, basic position |
Los Alamos chess is played on a 6 × 6 board and without a bishop. At the beginning the pawns are only allowed to take a single step and are only converted into queen, knight or rook. There are no castling and en-passant strokes. The name refers to the Los Alamos National Laboratory , where Paul Stein and Mark Wells developed a chess program in 1956 . Since computing time for the MANIAC I computer was short, this simplified game variant was used for test games. It is the first variant of chess (including normal chess) in which a computer has played an entire game.
Reform chess
László Polgár has developed some chess variants for practice purposes. He did not introduce any further pieces, but reduced the board size to 8 × 6, 5 × 8, 9 × 6 (with two queens) or 6 × 9. The arrangement of the figures is arbitrary. However, some favorable starting positions have emerged.
Other variants on an 8 × 8 chess board
Andernach chess
The capturing piece changes color (except for the king). This variant is somewhat similar to the Japanese shogi . It takes its name from the annual meeting of chess friends in Andernach , where it was introduced in 1993.
Arimaa
Arimaa is a strategic board game for two players, invented in 2002 by the Indian-American computer scientist Omar Syed. It can be played with a normal chess set, but the rules are very different. A development goal was that it should be very difficult to develop a strong Arimaa playing computer program. This should be achieved in particular by the fact that each move consists of up to four movement steps, so that there are many possibilities to make a single move. The game tree branches out much more than in chess.
Atomic chess
In atomic chess (sometimes also called phantom chess), when a stone is hit, all the stones in immediately adjacent fields are removed from the board at the same time, as if an atom bomb has detonated . In atomic chess there are often very short games, and white has a considerable pull advantage. After the opening move 1. Ng1 – f3, f7 – f6 is the only move to prevent a win on f7 in the third move. Often there is the rule variant in which only officers, not farmers, are destroyed by the explosion. In other variants, the check command and checkmate are ignored, or pawns' moves do not cause explosions. In a further variant with a considerably smaller draw advantage, the pawns, but not the kings, are destroyed by the explosions on neighboring fields. The king is only threatened by direct attacks. Here the king can capture himself, but not a covered piece, even if the covering piece would be destroyed by the explosion.
Extinction chess
The king has no special position here. You win when the opponent no longer has all six types of pieces, i.e. either no king, no queen or no bishop, etc. Pawns can also be converted into kings. A converted pawn counts as the piece it is converted into. So you lose if you move your last pawn because you no longer have a pawn. However, you win if you convert your last pawn and capture the last piece of a kind from your opponent. If you have a farmer z. B. converted into a queen, you can lose the original queen without losing the game. You can cast a cast from chess or over a threatened square. Erasure Chess was published in 1985 by the American game designer R. Wayne Schmittberger .
Basque chess
Basque chess means that two players play against each other on two boards at the same time, so quasi a two-sided simultaneous chess. Typically, players have white in one game and black in the other.
Pawn chess
In pawn chess , you only play with pawns or with the addition of a few other pieces (e.g. the two kings (endgame training!)). You win by reaching the opposing back row with a pawn. Peasant chess is suitable for children from around 4 years of age to learn the elementary rules of chess.
Crazyhouse or betting chess
Crazyhouse is a variant similar to tandem chess, with the difference that only two players play against each other on one board. If a player defeats his opponent's piece, he is given the corresponding piece in his own color, which he can use according to the same rules as in tandem. This variant requires a second set of pieces on a real chessboard; there are various programs for computers and the Internet.
Dark Chess
Dark Chess requires a computer and is often played over the Internet. It's classic chess with the difference that you only see the squares that you can reach on the next move. The joke is based on incomplete information. A predecessor of Dark Chess was called " War Game " and needed a referee who could be questioned at times. For the foreseeable future, there will be no chess computer that is not directly involved that can help you play Dark Chess against another person, because the computer cannot know how the opponent drew if he did not send him any information.
Forchess
The Forchess is a chess variant for four players in two teams, which was invented in 1975 by the American T. K. Rogers.
Soccer chess
The usual rules of movement apply. Chess does not need to be played, however - the king is a normal piece. The aim of the game is to score a goal. The white goal is squares d1 and e1, the black goal is squares d8 and e8. As soon as a white piece moves into the black gate, white has won and vice versa. In contrast to other chess variants, which z. Some of them are hardly seriously playable or where white has a significant advantage, soccer chess is balanced and playable. The usual cooling time is two to five minutes per game and player.
King of the Hill
The normal rules of movement apply. The player who reaches one of the center squares e4, d4, e5, d5 or mates with his king wins.
War game
In a war game , both players only see their own figures.
Kungfuschach
Kungfuschach, which can only be played online, is played in real time. Both players can move all of their figures at any time, with the restriction that each figure needs a time to reach its target space, which scales with the step length of the move. Each piece must also pause for a fixed amount of time after it has been drawn. The winner is the player who first beats the opposing king. However, the corresponding website was taken offline in May 2014.
Maharajah
In Maharajah chess, Black only has the king and three to six pawns on the d, e and f-file or up to the b- and g-file, White has all pieces. Black is allowed to make two moves in a row: The black king can also move over check if he is not in check after the second move. Black is also allowed to bid check in the first of his two moves and capture white king with the second move, or white is “mate” if it is Black's turn in such a situation. Black can also win by capturing the white king with his king, or by “mating”. Six black pawns are only given to very weak players. Even with five black pawns, White has no chance from an opponent level of high club player strength. Experts play with three or four black pawns. With three pawns, White could be the favorite.
Mass chess
Two players play on a normal chessboard with the normal starting line-up; the figures keep their normal gait. However, the player may move each piece up to once, which means that up to 16 moves can be made at once (but there is no obligation to move). "This game is very dynamic, and its main advantage is that the most unusual and magical positions arise on the board, which are never possible in ordinary chess." (J. Gik, Chess and Mathematics.) Inventor: A. Ratuschny.
Garbage chess / Wühlschach
The normal rules of chess apply, but if an opposing piece is captured, it must be used again immediately as part of the move. The insertion must not lead to an irregularity. Since all pieces always remain on the board, it is important to make opposing pieces increasingly passive by placing them and to expose the opposing king.
Coin chess / pfennig chess
In this type of game, a coin is placed on the e4 square at the start of the game. The same rules apply as in normal chess . You not only move a chess piece at a time, but also the coin, in the same direction and distance as the piece. The coin may not leave the board or land on an occupied space. For example, White moves 1. e2 – e4 and the coin moves e4 – e6 at the same time, or 1. Ng1 – f3 and e4 – d6 follow. The coin is always drawn in front of the figure, which means that the figure drawn can move onto the starting space of the coin, but not the other way around. You win if you checkmate or the opponent can no longer make a legal move.
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The basic position of the four-player variant Nava requires two light and two dark, distinguishable chess pieces.
Navaschach is a variant for four players. It is played in two teams. The eight pieces of each player are in the basic setup in a corner. Each player has four pawns and one of the minor pieces, a rook and a king. The game works with two normal sets of chess pieces with distinguishable light and dark pieces. The figures must be clearly assigned to a player. There is no queen on the field at the start of the game. The goal is to beat both kings of the opposing team. There is no check, no checkmate and no stalemate, no double move for pawns, no "en passant" and no castling. The pieces move as in chess, with the exception of the pawns, who are allowed to move in the direction of both opposite edges of the playing field. As in chess, they move straight and capture diagonally. Pawns cannot move or capture backwards. The players take turns playing counterclockwise. White begins. The players may agree in advance, but not during the game. The king, like the other pieces, can be captured. There is pressure to act. If a king falls into a stalemate, he must make one last move. If a king is captured, the corresponding player is out of the game. Now the remaining player on a team can take over the remaining pieces. However, he may only move once per round. Pieces of your own team can be beaten if this results in an advantage.
Special features of Nava are as follows: Since each player has only one runner and the players of a team sit opposite each other, they each have a runner of the same field color. A bishop of the other field color can only be reached for the team by converting a pawn. Pawns can be converted when they reach the end of the field in their direction of move. A pawn can be converted into a knight, bishop or rook at the player's choice. A queen can be reached when the king gets to the center square furthest from his starting position. The queen is placed on the corresponding center square, the king is removed from the game. The queen now has the function of king. Any team can give up or offer a draw at any time.
Paco Ŝako
Unlike in chess, no pieces are captured in Paco Figurenako , instead they are combined into pairs, which are then drawn together by both players and can only be released again through new combinations. These train conditions can trigger chain actions in which several couples are involved. The winner is the player who first merges his own piece with the opposing king.
Presto chess
In the original variant, the first player to bid chess wins. Also called "chess to first chess". Here, however, White can already achieve a decisive advantage by moving 1.Nc3. Therefore, this variant of chess is usually played in a different way: the winner is whoever bids chess first in such a way that the piece bidding cannot be captured. In another variant, you win if you bid check for the third time or checkmate. With three checks it is no longer clear whether White really wins after 1. Nc3, e.g. B. 1. Nc3 c6 2. Ne4 d5 3. Nd6 + Qxd6: White has already given the first check at the expense of a minor piece, but Black has control over the center and some free moves.
Quantum chess
In quantum chess, in addition to the moves of the normal chess game, you can also make quantum moves for which the target field is not clearly defined. The figure then exists on several fields at the same time. If another piece moves onto one of these spaces, a “conflict measurement” takes place: it is determined by chance whether the piece in question is on this space or another. This corresponds to the situation that an elementary particle is not located at a certain location, but is described by a wave function until the location of the particle is measured, which causes the wave function to collapse .
Robber chess (slap chess, food chess)
In robber chess , the goal of the game is to lose all of your pieces (alternatively: to have no more moves available). There is a compulsion to hit , d. H. if it is your turn and can capture a piece from your opponent, you must capture a piece too. Check and mate are canceled: The king can be captured like a normal piece. It is also possible to convert pawns into kings.
When awarding chess hitting is also mandatory, but the king is not defeated. The winner is the one whose king is checkmated first or who has lost all stones except for the king.
Diamond Chess (Diagonal Chess)
Rautenschach was published under the English name in The British Chess Magazine in March 1886 as a chess species by Porterfield Rynd , in which the normal chess board is placed like a diamond on the white-squared point of h1. In this way, the board lies in front of the two players, each with a white point. Except for the pawns, all pieces move as usual. The pawns move diagonally (in the direction of the bishop).
Concentricity
At least three players play on one board in the round. Similar to the variant in table tennis, a player changes sides after his move and thus also the color. The normal FIDE rules apply to the possible moves, but you only have limited time to think about a move. A player is eliminated if he makes an impossible move, ponders too long or is checkmated. The two remaining players at the end play a game of blitz or bullet chess in the final .
Chess or capture chess
This chess variant (not to be confused with the so-called "robber chess") was reinvented and is based on the classic chess game. The normal rules of chess are adopted with regard to the starting position, the gait of the pieces and the board. Contrary to the normal rules of chess, it is also permitted to capture your own pieces, but not your own king.
Sequence chess (sequential chess)
A chess variant in which the player whose turn it is must occupy the field with one of his pieces that his opponent has just left on the move. If this is not possible, he can make a free move. The winner is whoever beats the opposing king. It is entirely permissible to move your own king into check or to leave him in check. This can be useful if the opponent is forced to move to a square that has just been left. Since there are often very long combination chains in sequential chess, a small mistake can lead to the inevitable loss of the game.
A short example game should make this clear: 1. e4 Nf6? 2. e5! Ne4 (forced) 3. Qh5! (threatens 4. Qxf7 h5 5. Qxe8) 3.… g6 4. Qh4! h5 (forced) 5.Qxe7 h4 (forced) 6.Qxe8 1: 0
Placed chess
Two players, one after the other, place all stones on the board as they wish, observing the following rules:
- The position of stones placed is no longer changed.
- Pawns may not be on the bottom or top row.
- Both runners stand on different colored fields.
- No stone may be placed on a space that is already threatened.
- Whoever can no longer bet has lost.
Super chess
Superschach is a term that is used for several different types of chess, including Janusschach . In the Netherlands, “Superschaak” is a variant in which the players can independently decide which fairy tale chess figures they can use on the normal 8 × 8 board.
Tandem chess (Bughouse / conference / Berlin foursome)
When tandem chess is by far the most applied chess variant. A team is formed from several - mostly two - players, with the team mates all sitting on one side and the opponents on the opposite. The pieces that a player captures from his opponent can be given to one of his teammates, who can bring them back into play as his own pieces (the placement counts as a move). For this it is logically necessary that the team mate has the different color (black or white) than his neighbor. A game is usually played with a limitation of the time limit to five minutes for the entire game.
If a player of a team has now won his game by mating, surrendering or exceeding the time of the opponent, the whole team has won and the remaining games are abandoned.
However, there are also different forms of play with this variant. A distinction must be made between “tandem with mating” and “tandem without mating”. Mating means here that a piece is inserted (not drawn!) In such a way that the opposite is immediately checkmated .
It is not possible to place pawns on one of the basic rows (1st or 8th row). Whether pawn conversions take place at all also depends on the previously agreed rules - for example, it can be agreed that pawns who reach the last row go directly to the opposing party. (Farmers "expire")
It is also possible to play with more than two boards. That means tridem with three boards .
Pocket diver chess
The game is played on a normal board with a standard set of pieces. Before the start of the game, both players take a knight, usually the queen's knight, from the board and put it in their pockets. On any occasion, this knight is placed on the board and takes effect immediately, because the placing counts as a move. In the further course of the game the pocket diver moves like a normal diver. Depending on the agreement, one or both jumpers can become pocket jumpers, and up to two additional pocket jumpers per player can be used.
Toroidal chess (torus chess)
The toroidal chess is played on an 8x8 board, in which the a- and h-lines as well as the first and last rows are connected. The same rules apply as in classic chess, with the exception that the usual starting position is not possible. It is mainly used in chess composition and chess mathematics .
Trojan chess
In addition to the normal rules of chess, you can stack on your own pieces (even several times). The resulting pile has the move right of the top piece and can later be divided into two piles at your own discretion. Hence the name of the game (see Trojan horse ). For this variant you need special pieces, since normal chess pieces can hardly be stacked. Since you can also carry pawns to the last row, the special rule applies that they can only be converted into pieces that have already been captured. The king must always remain alone in a space and may never be stacked.
Turkish chess
Turkish chess is a variant of chess in which only pawns are allowed to capture. However, as usual, all pieces except the king can bid for chess. This means that as soon as a piece gets behind the opposing pawn, this piece can no longer be captured for the rest of the game and can hunt down the king without being forced. The queen in particular is then very dangerous: she can move uncovered to a square adjacent to the king, which often means mate. Turkish chess was invented in 1985 by Michael Ehrhardt and Hans Popielas.
Transformation chess
Capturing pieces take on the captured piece type: a white pawn who captures a black queen becomes a white queen. If the king captures a piece, he moves like the captured piece, but otherwise remains a king, i.e. H. is the stone that has to be checkmated and has to evade chess rules.
Veto chess or protest chess
Here every player has the possibility to reject an opponent's move (veto). You always have to take the second move. As a result, you always need two ways to escape a chess, but also two ways to checkmate. In the end, it is hardly possible to checkmate with this rule structure - victory is usually carried off by a chess with only one answer. Veto chess is more similar to normal chess through the rule variant: If a chess can only be answered in one way, no veto is possible against this move; and: A mate wins - no veto is possible against the mate move.
Dice chess
Here each player throws the dice before moving to determine which piece to move with. King = 6, queen = 5, rook = 4, bishop = 3, knight = 2 and pawn = 1 or in ascending order starting with pawn (6) up to king (1). The player whose king is captured loses (alternatively there is the stipulation that the player who is checkedmated or who cannot fend off a check loses because he is not allowed to move the king [no 6] or none of the pieces who are allowed to move, which chess can fend off by hitting or moving in between (it is possible to switch this rule off by having to roll the dice in chess bids until a correct move is possible)
if the piece thrown is no longer on the board or The rolled piece cannot or is not allowed to move, you have to sit out (alternatively there is also the rule that you have to roll again until a move is possible).
Scoring chess
The two players take turns taking turns. The attracting pulls once, the pulling pulls then twice in a row, then the pulling pulls again, namely now three times, etc. Then there are longer and longer sequences of moves. As soon as someone bids chess, this means for the player concerned that he has to return the move to his opponent. This chess variant is characterized by subtle sequences of preparatory moves, the aim of which is to reach the checkmate.
Two move chess
Each player draws twice in a row. If check is offered in the first move, then the second move must be foregone. A chess bid must be parried in the first move. Stalemate is reached when a player still has a first, but no second part move.
Cylinder chess
Cylinder chess is classic chess on 8 × 8 squares with the difference that the a- and h-lines are connected. To do this, imagine the chessboard as a roll of paper with the sides glued together. A jumper can therefore z. B. jump from h2 to b3.
Variants on other chessboard shapes
The great chess 10 × 10
The Big Chess 10 × 10 is a new, modern chess variant with 100 fields and 60 pieces.
There are now four line figures (minister and cardinal as well as hammer and arrow), which, like the pawn, pull and hit differently, and two jumpers-like figures (unicorn and eagle).
The pawns on the 3rd or 8th row are just as far apart as in classic chess, which is why, despite the expansion, there is an astonishing similarity to familiar positions. Almost all known openings such as Queen's Gambit or Sicilian are also playable.
Triple chess
In triple chess, three players play on a board with 96 fields. The board has the shape of a hexagon. There are different variants.
Gach
The chess variant Gach , also known as Gess (from Go and Chess), is played on a Go board with Go pieces. Figures consist of their own stones placed in a 3 × 3 square. The position of the stones determines the movement possibilities of the pawn.
Grande Acedrex
The Grande Acedrex described by King Alfonso X of Castile is also of historical interest . It is played on a board with 12 × 12 fields. Each side has twelve pawns, which are placed on the fourth and ninth rows. The remaining stones are on the back row. These include exotic figures such as "lions", "unicorns", "giraffes", "crocodiles" and "griffins", which have special opportunities to move. One variant of the game provides that dice are used to decide which pieces should move.
Grand Chess
Grand Chess was invented in 1984 by game writer Christian Freeling . It is played on a 10 × 10 board and is a further development of Capablanca chess (see above). The pawns are each on the third row. The figures including the cardinal and chancellor are on the second row, except for the towers, which are positioned in the corners of the first row.
Hexagonal chess
Under the common name Hexagonal Chess there are different variants that are played on a chessboard made up of hexagonal fields. The game board usually consists of 91 hexagons. The most popular variant was developed in 1936 by the Pole Wladislaw Gliński .
Jester's Game
Jester's Game (English jester = court jester) is a board game based on chess for three instead of two players. Compared to the chess game, the Jester character has been added. The jester can be characterized as a mixture of knight and queen according to the possible moves, but has no right to capture opposing pieces. He himself can only be beaten if he is threatened by two opponents at the same time. The figure hitting him leaves the field with the jester. So the weak fool becomes a strong figure in the game. An additional specialty of this game is that the individual fields are neither square nor hexagonal, but triangular.
Circle chess
Several chess variants are combined as circular chess and are played on a circular or ring-shaped game board. Depending on the design, there are different starting positions and different rules of movement. In India a circle chess for several players was also developed.
Coalition chess or alliance chess
This variant for four players was designed by the composer Arnold Schönberg in the 1920s. On a playing field of 10 × 10 fields, two “great powers” (yellow and black with twelve pieces each, including a king) and two “small powers” (green and red with six pieces each) face each other. The figures of the great powers symbolize the infantry, the small powers stand for the navy and air force, each with specific movement options for the figures. There is no fixed starting position and two coalitions must be formed within the first three game rounds. Then the allied parties try to checkmate the opposing king.
Courier game
In the medieval courier game , both sides had a widened chess board of 12 × 8 fields. In addition to the known stones, additional figures were added, including the courier that gave it its name . This moved according to the method of movement of the then unknown runner . The courier may have served as a model when converting Alfil , who jumped diagonally into the next but one field, to bishop in the course of the reform of the chess game .
Dragonfly chess
Another variant of the game of chess on a smaller field is Dragonfly Chess (German: Libellenschach) by the game developer Christian Freeling. This variant does not include women on a field of 7 × 7 = 49 fields. The pieces move and capture as usual, but there is no double step with the pawns and therefore no en-passant capture. Defeated officers change hands and become "figure in hand", so they can be used on any free field, similar to the Japanese Shogi . Otherwise, the rules of the conventional game of chess apply.
Octagonal chess
The chessboard of octagonal chess in the variant by J. Pinter (2012, Greifswald) has 120 fields (al) x (01-12) with four corners cut off with six fields each and 48 pieces (conventionally 32). It is played with 2 additional pawns (row 3 - white; row 10 - black), an additional 6 officers (b1 – g1; b12-g12) and 8 conventional officers (c2-i2; c11-i11) according to the usual chess rules.
Russian fortress chess
Four players play Russian fortress chess on a board with 8 × 8 fields, on which two rows are appended as base lines on each side. In addition, there are four “fortresses” of 4 × 4 fields each, which are only accessible via the right two fields of the baseline. The field is reminiscent of the symbol for sight "⌘". In these fortresses there are also a tower, a runner and a jumper as a reserve.
Chess on triangular fields
There is a group of variants of the game of chess that are played on chess boards made up of triangular individual fields . The best-known representatives are the aforementioned Jester's Game, Tri-Chess and Triangular Chess. In contrast to most other chess variants, the same FIDE pieces, especially rooks and bishops, move differently from variant to variant. In the case of triangular individual fields, the notation must partly be carried out using three coordinates, unless Cartesian notation is used, as the individual fields cannot otherwise be clearly identified. Two coordinates are sufficient for square and hexagonal fields.
Chess on 6 × 6 fields
In addition to numerous variants of the game of chess on enlarged fields or with fairy tale chess figures, a number of small-field variants have also been developed. The best known of these is the aforementioned Los Alamos chess , which is played without a bishop. In all 6 × 6 variants , the pawns do not have an initial double step and therefore no possibility of an en-passant hit. FIDE pieces that are missing in the starting position cannot be created by converting pawns. Otherwise the rules of the classic chess game apply. Castling is not possible in all variants. In addition to the variants mentioned, there are others that not only contain FIDE figures, but also fairy tale chess figures.
Check the smart one
Chess the Clever Head is a simplified variant with a childish and funny theme, but should be taken seriously. Arrows are drawn on the 7 × 8 fields which determine in which directions a piece can move from this field. There are fools who move a square, rascals who move as far as they want , and one clever head on each side who moves a square and corresponds to the king: the goal is to beat the opposing clever head.
Four chess
In four- chess , four players play on a board with 8 × 8 fields, on which 2–4 rows (usually 3) are appended on each side so that the board has the shape of a "+". The pieces move according to the rules of normal chess. There are different variants with different detailed rules and game objectives; Usually two players each play together, but sometimes everyone also plays for himself.
Military chess
During the Second World War , Wehrschach was promoted as a game for German soldiers. It was heavily influenced by Xiangqi and was played on an 11 × 11 board that was divided into several areas by two diagonals and two other lines. The military chess modified the chess rules and gave the pieces a modern military touch. So among the 18 figures per player were z. B. the tank or fighter pilot figure.
3D chess
The term 3D chess ( three-dimensional chess) includes all chess variants that extend “normal” ( two-dimensional ) chess by a coordinate axis , that is, leave the level and advance into space. In addition to the different number and arrangement of the fields, there are also different sets of rules for most 3D chess games. The Baltic chess master and former math teacher Lionel Kieseritzky constructed a three-dimensional chessboard as early as the middle of the 19th century .
Room chess
In 1907 Ferdinand Maack , a doctor and author of esoteric works, developed room chess (originally "chess room game "). After initially experimenting with eight board levels, Maack decided on a more easily playable “cube” with five boards, each with 5 × 5 fields, one on top of the other. He also recommended the introduction of a special room chess piece.
Star Trek Chess
A known 3D chess variant is the game of chess, which because of its origin from the television series " Star Trek " as Star Trek chess is known: It is the flat chess very similar (64 fields, same characters, with the usual number, Gait and values), only the game is played on three boards with four movable "attack decks" on top of each other. One level consists of sixteen, an attack deck of four fields. Each figure can move across levels.
Information and programs for chess variants
ChessV is a free program that masters many popular chess variants.
Zillions of Games is a commercial program for Microsoft Windows that can play many variations of chess and other mind games and that can easily be expanded to include other games.
There are also programs that specialize in solving fairy tale chess problems , including the free Popeye and the commercial Alybadix and WinChloe .
Others
A chess variant is not to be confused with an opening variant in chess .
See also
literature
- David Pritchard: The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants 2nd edition. John Beasley, Herts 2007, ISBN 0-9555168-0-3 .
- German Chess Youth (Ed.): Chess with a difference . 4th edition. German Chess Federation Wirtschaftsdienst GmbH, 2012
- Lars Döring: Alternative chess. Seitenstraßenverlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-937088-19-8 .
- Lars Döring: Alternative chess. New rules for the game of kings . Schachverlag Urania, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-332-01920-9 .
Web links
- chessvariants presents a lot of, also "absurd" variants and sub-variants (English)
- Chess variants in German, with and without deviating chess rules
- Variant Chess magazine all issues of the British trade magazine (since 1990)
- kreuzschach.de for playing different types of chess
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.chessvariants.org/historic.dir/carrera.html Carrera's Chess on Chessvariants.org (English)
- ^ The Chess Variant Pages - Display Comment. (No longer available online.) In: www.chessvariants.org. Archived from the original on December 5, 2015 ; Retrieved July 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.seirawanchess.com/ Seirawan Chess
- ↑ Home - Welcome to the world of great chess 10x10. In: das-grosse-schach.de. Retrieved June 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Octagon chess - a portrait. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
