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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How can I load a position without kings into an engine?
I would like to be able to do load a position into a whatever possible (advanced) engine without kings. For example, the goal of the game would be to annihilate all the possible pieces instead of ...
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What are the origins of Hand & Brain chess?
I was recently leafing through Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants when I noticed that the variant Hand and Brain which has recently become popular, in which one player states the piece to the ...
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In Hand and Brain chess, is the stronger player generally preferred to be the hand or the brain?
Exactly what it says on the tin, as the British say:
In Hand and Brain chess, is the stronger player generally preferred to be the hand or the brain?
And secondarily:
Is the answer to the previous ...
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How do convert/parse/extract data from a PGN into a spreadsheet/google sheet/excel file?
Sequel to this question: Live statistics chess960 from chess.com?
So suppose I go to like
https://api.chess.com/pub/player/gmwso/games/2020/12
or
https://api.chess.com/pub/player/gmwso/games/2020/12/...
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Chess480: Why 480?
From wiki:
Lewis has named this chess variation "Chess480"; it follows the rules of Chess960 with the exception of the castling rules. Although a Chess480 game can start with any of 960 ...
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Live statistics chess960 from chess.com?
Cross-posted stackoverflow, but nothing.
Both lichess and chess.com have the feature to play the variant chess960 live. However, only lichess has a graph showing how your live chess960 rating has ...
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Winning percentage (white win/draw/black win) in chess960/9LX in 2021?
How does the winning percentage (white win/draw/black win) in chess 960 (Fischer random) compare to that of regular chess?
The above was asked here: Winning percentage in chess 960. I would like to ...
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5D Chess - Why is white king not in check in this position?
Why cannot black rook on c5 in the bottom timeline capture the king on c5 in the top timeline? Why is the king not in check?
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Can you solve this chess problem of a lone knight against numerous opposing pieces?
[FEN "8/1nq5/bppp4/1p1k1K1N/1rrp3b/2pp2p1/8/n7 w - - 0 1"]
I found this interesting and unique chess problem online.
Disclaimer: This is not necessarily a position from a game. It's just a ...
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Would move sealing make sense in chessboxing? Or do the chessboxing people explain why they don't have?
In chessboxing, I think that every switch from a chess round to a boxing round is kind of an adjournment. Yet, I notice chessboxing doesn't have move sealing. Some ways a switch is not quite an ...
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Looking for a simple GUI for variants of chess
I am currently coding an engine for a variant of chess called Monster Chess. I was wondering if there a GUI existed that would simply take pieces from a square to another (eg e4 to e5) without ...
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What is the solution to single-check chess?
Single-check chess is a variant where the first person to give check wins. There is a website that claims it has been solved, with white winning in four moves; however, I cannot find the moves ...
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Are there any official rules for Bughouse?
I came across this question - Formal rules for two-player bughouse without a clock - which asks if there is a formal way of breaking deadlock situations where one player on each side doesn't want to ...
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The slowest Fool's Mate in Chess960
The fastest Fool's Mate in Chess960 is obviously 1. d4 g5 2. Qxg5# with any ..Q.BRKR setup, which even beats standard chess. But which is the starting position with the slowest mate? I checked a few ...
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What sites have different ratings for different time controls for Chess960?
Both lichess and chess.com and have ratings for live chess960, but this is regardless of time control. Please recommend a site that has separate ratings for different time controls for chess960.
There ...
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The Chess960 analogue in shogi, xiangqi, etc
Bobby Fischer said
In chess so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century did not know as much as I do and other players do about opening theory. So if you just brought ...
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Patterns in Chess960 positions
I have two questions.
Where can I find more studies like this Lichess one, please? I got it from this answer elsewhere on this site.
The Lichess study is talking about this position
[White "...
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Relation between ratings for Chess960 and standard chess
Is there any relation or any attempt at discovering a relation between Chess960 ratings and standard chess ratings? This can be for GMs, for (any)M's, for pro players, or for all players on lichess/...
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Why Chess960/9LX and not Chess959?
This question asks if Chess960 is really Chess960 and not Chess959, i.e. the dice are really not re-rolled (positive, instead of normative). The answer is yes, it really is.
However, why is Chess960 ...
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Chess training to get to 2000 rating [closed]
I have been playing chess (sometimes a lot, sometimes none) for a very long time.
I want to become an international master in 4 years, or have a rating of 2000.
I am 15 right now and have a rating of ...
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Response in antichess to 1. e3 b5 2. Bxb5 Bb7
I've been playing a lot of blitz Giveaway Chess (aka Antichess, etc; a chess variant in which capturing is compulsory, the goal is to lose all the pieces or be stalemated, there is no castling, and ...
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Can you castle twice in Chess960?
Consider this Chess960 game. (Warning: moving backwards through this replayer will result in an incorrect board state. See Board playback and Chess 960 for details.)
[FEN "rnkqbbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/...
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On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?
Most of the winnable endgames require cornering the opposing king to checkmate, often using zugzwang. However, if you have an infinite board (infinite in every direction), you won't be able to corner ...
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Why isn't chess played white 1 move, black 2 moves, white 2 moves and so on?
In turn based games like chess, the player playing the first move has an advantage the whole game. One way to "remedy" this is to let the player starting the game make one move (and have the ...
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How many moves of head start does white need for a guaranteed win?
As we all know, it is not known whether white can always win in chess with optimal play. If, however, white got to make two moves before black made their first move would they be able to win with ...
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What rules are known for Chaturanga?
In the ancient Indian game Chaturanga, what rules are known, and how does it vary from modern chess? Also, is it a solved game?
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Controversy over the Xiangqi cannon piece?
When reviewing the nature of the pieces of various chess variants, namely the xiangqi cannon, I asked about its history. I was surprised that the dates of its mentions did not match 8th century ...
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Material value of the Berolina pawn
The Berolina pawn is a fairy piece that moves like a normal pawn, but can move two (and one in all other cases) steps diagonally and capture one forward. How much better (or worse) is this piece ...
user24344
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Is there a forced win in CastleChess?
Is there a forced win for White or Black in the chess variant CastleChess? The rules are explained in this post on an obscure blog named “Cinquante signes”, although it is originally from ...
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(Unbalanced) Double-Move chess - can white force a win?
I'm not talking about Marseillais chess (which is similar, but rules are added to reduce the advantage of the white), which is sometimes also called "balanced double-move chess".
In a Double-...
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How big is the advantage for white in the "back-rank-game"?
Consider a chess variant in which normal chess rules apply, with one exception. The player that is able to bring a piece or a pawn onto the opponent’s back rank, which would be the 8th rank for White ...
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If there was a perfect play from both sides, but each player was allowed to do 2 moves every time, would white win?
Imagine a game where players are allowed 2 moves instead of one. If there were perfect play from both sides, would White win?
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What is Indian Castling exactly?
Western castling doesn’t exist in historical Indian Chess (Chaturanga). Instead, in some versions, there is a cool move whereby each king can once in the game make a knight's move.
I read that it is ...
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New Chess Variant
If in chess, pieces have the option instead to not move, then how would the game change? I have looked through a few positions and I see that zugzwang doesn't work at all. What else would be changed?
user24344
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Can 5D chess be solved?
An interesting new variant of chess has emerged, showing that chess will always be fresh-5D chess.
I mostly play the 5x5 version, but the positions do not rocket out of control like in the standard ...
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A castling variant-how would it change the game?
In chess, castling can't be done if the king or relevant rook have moved. How would the basic strategy of the game change if the king and rook could castle after moving? Also, how would the game ...
user24344
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Chess variant-Is it strategically good?
In this chess variant, the number of moves made both chess players are 1 & 2 alternatively. Here is a showing of it.
White Black
1 2
2 1
1 ...
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Are there any inherent problems with point-symmetric random chess?
The regular setup of chess is mirror-symmetric: If you mirror the positions of all figures on the equator of the board (between the fourth and fifth rank) and swap the colours, nothing changes. It is ...
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Why don't chess sites offer best of X match formats? [closed]
I believe chess sites should offer best of 3/5/etc match formats, rather than a one-off game. Basically, if you enter such a game, you don't "win" by just winning 1 game, you have to be the ...
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How much material is needed to force the capture of a lone queen (for example in horde chess)?
In horde chess, the following starting position is used:
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/1PP2PP1/PPPPPPPP/PPPPPPPP/PPPPPPPP/PPPPPPPP w - - 0 1"]
The goal of White is to checkmate Black; the goal ...
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Which chess GUIs support the chess variants Atomic and King of the Hill?
I want to play against Stockfish offline because I'm going on a trip. I downloaded the compiled exe from GitHub since my laptop will have limited Internet connection. After loading it into the Arena ...
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What is the correct name for a part of a chessboard: 'square' or 'cell'?
I play shogi (Japanese chess) and there is a word "マス" to call a cell of a square lattice not only used in shogi and chess. As far as I have read the article about chess in Wikipedia, it seems that "...
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Would a piece that moved like a king – but could be captured (and could be moved en prise) – be considered a major or a minor piece?
I could be wrong, but it seems like the major determinant of whether a piece is a major piece or a minor piece is whether a king and one of that piece can force checkmate on a lone king. Would this be ...
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Why the extra rank on each side in 4 player chess?
Why do we have an extra rank (marked with the red lines) on each side in 4 player chess? What could be the possible logic?
(screenshot is taken from chess.com)
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What arrangement of 8 each of these 4 different compound leapers has the "strongest coverage properties" on a 16x16 board?
The 4 compound leapers I'd like to look at are:
(1,2), (0,3), (2,2); knight+threeleaper+alfil
(1,2), (0,2), (1,1); knight+kirin
(1,2), (1,3); knight+camel
(1,2), (2,3); knight+zebra
What arrangement ...
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Can one side force a loss in regular chess?
Chess is unsolved, so there is no known optimal strategy for one side to force a win or a draw.
However, is there an optimal strategy to lose? Consider a variant where checkmate results in a loss, ...
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Gyula Breyer joke composition cooked?
I recently bought the delightful book Outrageous Chess Problems by Burt Hochberg, which among other things contains some interesting joke compositions. I have a question about Problem 102 (diagrammed ...
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What would a playable chess variant with a complexity comparable to Go look like?
What would a playable chess variant with a complexity comparable to Go look like?
Simply increasing the board size is a very direct way to increase the complexity of the game, but this comes at the ...
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Fun variants in teaching chess to children
I'm teaching my 5 year old daughter basic chess. While she's kind of interested, I feel the material, such as how the pieces move, mate in 1 puzzles, basic KQ and KR checkmates, etc, is a bit boring ...
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How to Create Positional Theory
I've been playing Kraton Chess, which is basically standard chess except there are 96 different possible starting positions that are similar to the standard starting position. All the rules of ...
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