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. In all 6 × 6 variants, the pawns do not have an initial double step and therefore no opportunity to capture en passant . FIDE figures that are missing in the starting position cannot be created by converting pawns. Otherwise, the rules of the classic chess game apply. The castling is not possible in all variants. In addition to the variants presented below, there are others that not only contain FIDE figures, but also fairy tale chess figures. The best-known variant is Los Alamos chess , which is played without a bishop . Haynie's Primary is like the counterpart to Los Alamos Chess , here will take on the runners complete the Springer waived.
Another variant is Diana or Ladies Chess . It was introduced by Hopward as early as 1870. There are no queens , neither initially nor through conversion, and initially only one knight, who in the starting position takes the queen's square (next to the king ). Castling takes place under the usual conditions. The variant by Serge L'Hermitte presented in 1969, which uses the same set of figures as the Diana chess , is very similar . However, kings and knights are not directly opposite each other, the starting arrangement is centrally symmetrical (mirrored by the center of the board, not the center line). In addition, the knights may not be moved during the first three moves and the king can enter the knight's starting square without losing the right to castling.
Wardley presented the 1977 Crossbreed Chess (Engl. "Simpler Chess") in several versions ago, in which one group of FIDE characters is removed, so either the towers , bishop, knight, or even kings and queens together. Without the bishops you have Los Alamos chess , without the knights you get Haynie's Primary . If you play without kings and queens, the variant is called Electra . With the queen and a knight, but without a king on each side, the variant is called Minerva . Where the kings are missing, the game is played until the last stone is lost, otherwise mate is considered a victory.
Jeff Mallett introduced the variant "knight against bishop", in which Black has the bishops and White has the knights. On the standard board, the bishops are considered stronger and more valuable than the knights, on this smaller board it is assumed that both pieces are equal.
Another, exotic variant called Sylvia does without the pawns and instead completely occupies their row with jumpers.