Chess variants
Other ways to play Chess, each one ready to play here. Read how a variant changes the rules, then start a game with it chosen in the table setup.
Chess960
The pieces on the back rank start in one of 960 shuffled positions, so opening theory runs out on move one.
Three-Check
Standard chess with one more way to win: the first player to give check three times wins the game.
King of the Hill
Standard chess with a second goal: walk your king safely onto one of the four centre squares and you win at once.
Antichess
Losing chess: captures are compulsory and the first player to lose all their pieces, or to have no move left, wins.
Atomic
Every capture is an explosion that wipes out the pieces around it, and blowing up the enemy king wins the game.
Horde
White's horde of 36 pawns and no king faces Black's normal army; Black must wipe out every pawn, White must checkmate.
Racing Kings
A race with no checks allowed: the first player to bring their king to the eighth rank wins.
Los Alamos Chess
The 6×6 chess without bishops that the MANIAC I computer played in 1956, one of the first chess programs.
Gardner Minichess
Chess on a 5×5 board with one of every piece and five pawns, introduced by Martin Gardner in 1969.
Material Odds
The stronger player starts without a pawn, a knight, a rook or the queen, so players of different strength get an even game.
Fog of War
Chess in the dark: you see only the squares your pieces can reach, there is no check, and the first to capture the enemy king wins.
Crazyhouse
Captured pieces change sides and go to your hand, and instead of moving you may drop one back on any empty square.
Bughouse
Two teams of two play on two boards at once, and every piece you capture goes to your partner, who can drop it on their board.
Capablanca Chess
Chess on a 10×8 board with two new pieces each: the archbishop, a bishop and knight in one, and the chancellor, a rook and knight in one.
Grand Chess
Chess on a 10×10 board with an archbishop and a chancellor, rooks alone in the corners, no castling and promotion only to lost pieces.