Questions tagged [chess-variants]
Questions about variants of normal chess including bughouse, Chess960 (Fischer Random), atomic chess, racing kings, crazyhouse, antichess, etc. Can be used together with a more specific chess-variant tag, like [chess-960], [bughouse], etc. (see tag wiki for suggestions).
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When can 'il vaticano' be played?
I have found that il vaticano can be played when two bishops have two pawns of the other color inbetween them, where they can capture one pawn each and then swap locations.
Can the move be played both ...
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Why can't I move my knight from d5 to c7?
I am a foreigner learning to play chess with my computer. The blue move is the last move and the red one is suggested to go.
I wonder why I can't move my knight anymore. The computer doesn't allow me ...
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Who has the edge in "gg chess"?
EDIT: I think a better name is gg chess, because "gg" (good game) is what folks frequently say at the end of a game.
At major chess events, at the end of a drawn game, the players & ...
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How much would chess change if Black always had the last move?
In a hypothetical minor variant, could White's first-move advantage be compensated for by Black's right to last move?
Normally, White wins have White play N+1 plies to Black's N. How would the game ...
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How to ask an AI engine to test this chess variant?
I would like to use an AI engine to test how well the following chess variant would work: The rules are as in usual chess, except
Castling is not possible; instead, the next rule takes its place:
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What are the pros and cons of introducing chess 960 without castling as a new chess variant?
Chess 960 is a popular chess variant that can be played on many platforms. All rules are standard, except the starting position is randomly generated. Some of these 960 positions give more than usual ...
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Checkmate in ω² moves with finitely many pieces
The post Checkmate in ω
moves? has inspired a lot of discussion and mathematical research into positions on an infinite chessboard where white can mate in a transfinite amount of moves. The current ...
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Is there a crazyhouse+bughouse chess variant?
I would like to know if the following chess variant or a closely related one exists.
There are 4 players, say 1 to 4. Players 1 and 2 form a team and play aginst players 3 & 4 team. Player 1 plays ...
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Chess-like games and exercises that are useful for chess coaching
Chess 960 popularised by Fischer could be useful to teach opening principles (mainly because the players has to think about development consciously). LaPingvino asked "What other games or chess ...
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Record stockfish level 8 in atomic?
What is the shortest possible game against Stockfish at its hardest setting in
Atomic Chess? You cannot allow the computer to blunder the game on move 1 or 2, otherwise the shortest possible game is 3 ...
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How to gain a better understanding/intuition in queen races?
In antichess, queen races are when both players have their queens on opposite sides of the board, continually capturing each other's pieces.
In my experience playing antichess, queen races are very ...
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Mate-in-N problems where N scales indefinitely with board size
Motivation - Long range mating patterns
This question is inspired by my recent interest in infinite chess and the post on MathOverflow Checkmate in ω moves?. Since my chess endgame skills are quite ...
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What is the idea behind 1. nh3 h6 in atomic chess?
On the Lichess analysis board for atomic chess, it suggests for white to play 1. nh3, an unorthodox move that seems to leave the knight in a terrible spot on the side. But even more bizarrely, the ...
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King and short rook checkmate
Suppose White has a king and a range-x rook and black has a bare king on a chessboard with dimensions y times y.
What is the minimum value of x such that for all sufficiently large y, White, moving ...
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Is any research being done in penguin chess? Especially, is there a tablebase?
First here are the rules for penguin chess. Everything is the same as in normal chess, except:
Any piece, except the kings, can move to any empty square.
Pawns can't move to the 1st and 8th rank.
I ...
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When is K vs K+R in antichess winning? How to win these endgames?
Note: This is not a question on standard chess, where obviously K+R vs K is a win for K+R.
Here are two example K+R vs K positions in antichess, both having white to play and white having K+R.
...
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Is bughouse a win for a team with excess time?
In bughouse it is a huge advantage during the game to have more time on your clocks than your opponents.
So I wonder what happens if one team starts with a time advantage (from now on called the time ...
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Analysis of positions with only one king on the board?
Endgame positions with just one king on the board may be very rich. Has any analysis of simple positions done? Maybe even tablebases for small numbers of pieces?
There are some existing problems with ...
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Variant where White cannot lose?
I was pondering an asymmetrical variant where White's king is just a regular piece that moves like a normal king, but can be captured without consequence (and hence check for White does not exist). ...
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What are the rules of Shatranj?
According to this answer to this question (Is Chaturanga/Shatranj an early form of chess or is this altogether different?):
Chaturanga is the ancient game that gave birth to board games chess, shogi, ...
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Hourglass chess timer
Consider the following time control idea (which obviously would
not be implemented with a sand clock, but a modern
electronic clock): The hourglass starts in neutral, each
move reverses it. Thus any ...
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Is there a website that records the moves of a chess game in video or gif format, and also allows illegal moves?
I've wanted to record some chess games in 2d video or gif form from a version that I made that has different rules, but it won't allow me to import it because it has illegal moves. Is there a way to ...
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Do chess960 and chess differ for reasons 'far beyond just opening theory'? [closed]
David said in What exactly does Bobby Fischer mean by 'talent' re 'I'm better than Morphy' in 2005 (probably re chess960)?
The differences between classical chess and 960 go far ...
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Engine for Pawn Sideways Chess
Is there an engine I can download or buy that plays the variant described by AlphaZero in which pawns have additional sideways moves in addition to their regular moves? Fairy-Stockfish does not yet ...
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Chess variants with less tactics and more strategy?
I really enjoy standard chess, but I was wondering out of pure curiosity: are there variants (or other non-chess games), that diminish the importance of tactics and put more emphasis on strategy? I ...
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Armageddon: How much more desirable is black in chess than chess960 based on airthings masters 2023 vs 2022 WFRCC?
All games in question are 15 minutes.
In the 4 armageddon games in the 2022 (inaugural rapid, not the real, classical) WFRCC (both qualifiers and final 8), the Black winning bids are: 13,13,11:10,11:...
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Chess960 castling controversies in the 2019 vs 2022 WFRCC, where both are Nepo vs Wesley So
Why did Ian Nepomniachtchi get a replay for the castling issue in the 2019 WFRCC vs Wesley So, but Wesley So didn't get a replay for the castling issue in the 2022 WFRCC vs Nepo?
I mean I know the ...
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Chess960 castling controversy in the 2019 WFRCC: Where can I see the original Nepo vs Wesley So game?
Apparently in the 5th game Ian Nepomniachtchi originally had to play 13. Rf1 instead of 13. 0-0 but then they allowed Nepo to replay the whole game.
The ff is the replay game:
https://lichess.org/...
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What were all the chess960 armageddon games played in St Louis Chess 9LX and the WFRCC, and which colour won in each?
Well I think I know for
2019 WFRCC 3rd qualifying round and onwards
2022 WFRCC qualifiers quarter-finals and onwards
Every Chess 9LX
If anyone knows and has bothered to check the previous rounds, ...
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Is there any UCI GUI for arbitrary variants?
I have a UCI-compatible chess engine which I modified to play a chess variant (gravity chess, where all non-pawn pieces fall towards increasing rank). However, there's no easy way to play against the ...
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When was the last time Magnus Carlsen lost 2 classical games in a row to the same player besides to Wesley So?
Related questions:
When was the last time Magnus Carlsen lost 3 classical games in a row besides to Wesley So?
When was the last time Magnus Carlsen lost 2 classical games in a row to the same ...
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Why was the 2019 WFRCC called 'slow rapid' when it's actually classical (45+15=60)?
I'm asking about the '45 minutes for 40 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest, without increment' portions of the matches (for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals), which consisted of those and ...
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Why didn't Wesley So get full championship privilege in the 2022 WFRCC unlike Magnus and Vishy did since 2008?
Wesley So didn't get full championship privilege in the 2022 WFRCC unlike Magnus and Vishy did from 2008 to 2021. They got only 1 opponent to defend against, namely the unique winner of a candidates ...
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How does FIDE define slow rapid & fast rapid?
I don't think I've ever heard these terms 'slow rapid' and 'fast rapid' outside chess960. Just now I tried looking up "slow rapid" "chess" "fast rapid" and "slow ...
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In the 2019 WFRCC, did anyone catch up in a match after losing in the 'slow rapid' (classical?) portion?
From Wikipedia
Each match of the quarterfinals consisted of two “slow” rapid games (45 minutes for 40 moves plus 15 minutes for the rest, without increment), two “fast” rapid games (15 minutes plus 2 ...
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On an Torodial board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?
I saw this question On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate? and was inspired by it.
Many mating combinations won't suffice on a toroidal board.
For example, queen vs king will be a ...
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How can I get a chess engine to play custom chess variants?
How can I get a chess engine to play custom chess variants, for example Los Alamos chess, anti-chess, or chess where pawns can only advance one square?
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Opening Theory in Hexagonal Chess?
Is there any opening theory in Glinski's hexagonal chess (rules here)? If so what are some standard openings?
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Are bishops and knights more powerful than rooks on an 8x8x8 board given these rules?
Let's say that on an 8x8x8 board rooks can move any number of spaces, only moving through one dimension at a time. Bishops move the same number of spaces in exactly 2 dimensions at a time. Knights ...
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Where can I get a free engine to play Hexagonal Chess?
This question asks about the rules for Glinski's hexagonal chess. If I want to play a game of Glinski's hexagonal chess against the computer where can I get a free downloadable engine?
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Do amphibians usually have more synergy than other compound pieces?
Reading about fairy pieces I can see that an amphibian is a type of compound piece that has a larger range than either of it's components. For instance the 3 leaper is restricted to approximately 1/9 ...
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Is there an engine for Duck Chess?
Is there a chess engine for the chess variant Duck Chess? If not, is there a known plan of development of such an engine?
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Would a stalemate declared a win be theoretically equivalent to this larger board chess variant?
Most drawn endgames where one side is stronger than the other (e.g. has an extra pawn) are drawn because the weaker king can force being stalemated on the rim if the stronger side avoids a repetition.
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How much of a handicap is it to have more than one piece that can't be taken?
In the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone, towards the end, Harry, Ron and Hermione have to win a game of chess while they themselves have to act as pieces. Now, I'm no ...
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What are the rules of Glinski's Hexagonal Chess?
Wladyslaw "Bill" Glinski was a Pole who came to London immediately after the end of WW2. He developed what is probably the most popular version of hexagonal chess, a variant played on an ...
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Are randomly created Queen's Quadrille and Hippodrome puzzles always solvable?
I found two chess puzzles on chessvariants.com, Queens's Quadrille and Hippodrome.
I'm thinking of creating random Queen's Quadrille and Hippodrome puzzles with a computer program.
My question is can ...
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Is white winning in chess with the 1st and 8th ranks reversed?
Here is the position I am referring to:
[FEN "RNBQKBNR/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/rnbqkbnr w - - 0 1"]
It seems that there are no forced checkmates for white, any f3-Qh4# plans are thwarted ...
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A fun game (for problem composers, mostly...)
A game leading to a given position is called a proof game. Of course any proof game can be prepended with 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8, so we defined a shortest proof game as, duh, the shortest possible proof ...
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Are knights more powerful in Duck Chess?
In the chess variant Duck Chess (full rules), each player moves the shared blocking "duck" piece to any free square on their turn, taking away one or more moves for the opponent.
One ...
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Fastest stalemate in Duck Chess
Seeing the meteoric rise in popularity of Duck Chess (full rules), I'd like to ask how to stalemate the fastest (from the starting position) in this variant, because the stalemated player wins here.
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