Category: Variants

Knight Fight, the brainchild of Andy Lewicki, stands as a truly innovative game, ingeniously blending elements from score counting and territory-based gameplay. With its captivating mix of ideas, this original creation promises an engaging and compelling gaming experience.

Patrol Chess is a captivating chess variant that introduces a unique twist to the standard rules. In this variant, captures and checks can only occur if the capturing or checking piece is protected (or “patrolled”) by a friendly unit. All other moves, such as non-capturing and non-checking moves, follow the regular rules of chess.

Behemoth Chess, an innovative chess variant devised by Donald Seagraves, introduces an exciting twist to the traditional chess rules. This variant incorporates a powerful game element called the Behemoth, which possesses the ability to annihilate any piece it encounters.

In this game, the standard rules of chess apply, but there is an additional rule allowing queens to move as knights as well. These specialized queens are referred to as “amazons,” hence the game’s name.

In Berolina chess, the initial arrangement mirrors that of traditional chess, except all pawns are treated as Berolina pawns. Let’s take a look at a sample game from our database.

Maharajah and the Sepoys, also known as Shatranj Diwana Shah or the Mad King’s Game, is a well-known chess variant originating in 19th century India. This variant features distinct armies for both White and Black players. Notably, the game has been solved, and it has been determined that Black possesses a guaranteed win.

Cylinder Chess is a variant of standard Chess played on a regular 8×8 chessboard. It follows the same rules and uses the same pieces as standard Chess, with the only exception being the A and H columns.

Recycle Chess is a chess variant of the loop category. It means that some pieces which have been removed from the board can be brought back to the game and reused. There is a similarity with Loop Chess, but the game strategy is entirely different.

Massacre Chess is a creation by Andy Lewicki, and since it features a random factor, along with standard chess rules of piece movement, it should be straightforward to play even for players who are not too strong in classic chess strategies.

Embassy Chess (by Kevin Hill) is a variation of Bird’s (or Capablanca’s) Chess. It is played on a 10×8 board and adds two new pieces, a cardinal and a marshall.