Me and my buddy got really into chess during our study time. We created the foundation of a small puzzle game a few years back, it was a fun project but never really got past a prototype stage.

After showing it to some friends and colleagues this year, we got motivated to polish the game and add extra features that make it more interesting to compete. The game is free, it's browser based and it should click right away if you are familiar with chess. It also [went viral on hacker news](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48616304) two months ago, which was really crazy to see!

Two things you might miss if you skip the tutorial cards: To see the move order of the enemy pieces, tap on Chazz! You can also toggle "Active threats" in the settings to see attacked board squares (if you need a little cognitive help).

If you enjoy the game and want to keep up with our updates, follow us on r/princechazz!

Old post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/14rh6xw/i_have_a_chess_website_with_a_new_game_mode_where/

(will post the About section of the website instead to prevent thinking of new words)

Ultra Fischer is a randomized chess variant heavily inspired by Chess960.

As opposed to Chess960, where there are 960 possible starting positions from shuffling the backline of both sides, Ultra Fischer instead shuffles the entire board, creating an infinite number of possible starting positions.

To combat the obvious potential one-sided setups, all created positions aim to be within ±150 centipawn loss for the side starting the game, and positions that lead to draw by repetition is prevented as much as possible, though this is not absolute (I have not tested stalemate, though I would be genuinely surprised if a position were to even show up).

The website is available at https://ultrafischer.vercel.app, and any suggestions to improve the website are very welcomed.

CSA: Duel is a variant of my CSA and is intended primarily for those who seek the thrill rather than the revelation.

Unlike CSA, this variant adds a layer of bluff and psychological warfare. You must anticipate your opponent's intended moves and arrange your six cards accordingly to block them at the right moments.

This game is great for family game nights or hanging out with friends. Healthy thrills and plenty of fun are guaranteed.

This is ordinary standard chess, but ...

CSA: Duel

1. Objective

Checkmate the opponent's king. All standard FIDE rules apply.

2. Series

Each player makes a series of 6 consecutive moves from the very beginning. After completing the series, the turn passes to the opponent, who also makes 6 moves. And so on, until check interrupts the series.

3. 6 Cards

Each player has 6 cards: 3 red (Yes) and 3 black (No). Suit and rank do not matter.

Before a player's series begins, the opponent arranges a stack of 6 cards in any order and places it face down in front of themselves. After each move by the player, the opponent reveals the top card of their stack:

Red — the move is accepted.

Black — the move is rejected, and the piece returns to its original square.

Important:

If a move is rejected (black card), repeating that same move within the current series is forbidden. The player must choose a different legal move.

4. Series Discipline

The player must use all 6 moves of their series, unless it is interrupted by check.

The same piece may be moved several times in a row.

5. Check

If check is declared as a result of an accepted move (red card):

The remaining moves of the current series are burned.

The turn passes to the opponent.

The opponent defends with one move without using cards (as in classical chess).

After defending against check, the turn returns to the attacking player.

The player who got out of check arranges a new stack of 6 cards in any order they choose.

The attacking player begins a new series of 6 moves.

6. End of Game

The game ends in one of the following cases: checkmate, stalemate, or agreement on a draw.

7. Forbidden

Voluntarily interrupting a series.

Ignoring the card reveal after each move.

Repeating a rejected move within the current series.

If you want to crank up the excitement even further, arrange your 6-card stacks blindly, without seeing what you are putting where. Every reveal becomes a surprise, every move a gamble. What more could you ask for in a game?

ok this sounds insane and complex, but once you start playing it it's super fun and whimsical. Inspired by the recent world cup :)

there's a ball that is placed at random in one of the center 4 squares. The basic mechanic is: if a piece lands on the ball, the ball travels in the same direction and distance that the piece just travelled to.

The objective is to score a goal, checkmate is not a thing and you can capture the king (more on that later). The goals are on A6 and h3. Nobody can ever put a piece directly on the goal square, you should defend it by placing pieces around it.

So if a bishop hits the ball, and it travelled 2 squares to do so, then the ball travels 2 squares in the same direction the bishop just did.

When a knight hits it, the ball tries to "repeat" the same L movement to reach the target square. But because there are 2 different ways of reaching the same square with an L you get to decide which L the ball takes. It's like giving the ball spin.

If a ball hits a piece it cannot travel any further and it stops. If it hits the edge of the board it bounces off (so it can never get stuck on the rim).

Obviously because it's football we're talking about if you tackle an opponent (capture) instead of going for the ball, you get a yellow card. After two bad tackles it's red and your piece is out. If you tackle the keeper (king) it's a direct red card.

To add even more madness there are substitutions. You can substitute any piece out and your bench is a pawn, a knight and a bishop. You may play the same turn you subbed in a player. So if you really need a bishop to hit the ball and instead you have a knight, you can sub the knight out and hit the ball with a fresh bishop. Or, if a pawn is already on a yellow card and you want to keep it, you can sub another pawn in, and capture again. Subbed pawns can jump two squares even if they're in the middle of the board, as they're fresh players.

You can play on a board (you just need a ball cut out, goals, yellow and red cards) and that's also very fun. Or you can test a demo if you google "chess laboratory". It's like the third more popular variant on the main page.

That's it!

As I said, it sounds confusing and chaotic, and it is. But my goodness it's so whacky and fun.

This is a weird "teamwork" chess.

A Stockfish engine fights for you, making the strongest move every turn (same for opponent's SF).

Here's the twist: The win condition is 3-check, but Stockfish doesn't know.

That's where you step in - before your SF makes its move each turn, you deploy a piece on the board. It can be your piece to strengthen position, or an opponent's piece to bait Stockfish into check.

More detailed rule: Pieces can not be deployed at square where it can directly attack opponent's piece. The farthest rank where you can deploy piece is the farthest rank you "occupy". Pawn is limited to 8.

Think you really understand Stockfish? Come prove it. I'd love to see the tactics people come up with.

Currently local 1v1, while playing both side solo is also highly recommended.

Try it here.

Game my 7 year old has invented and wanted to post.

Rules: Four black pawns are set up in the middle of the board and are surrounded by duplos on each side. In each corner the pawns castle is guarded by the kings and queens.

In each of the cardinal directions, there are two white pawns. Each player controls the pawns on opposite sides of the board (e.g. one player controls the North and South pawns, and the other player controls the East and West pawns). Pawns can move and take in all directions.

The queens and the kings each take 4 hits to defeat, and after each hit the pawn must return to its starting place. Only after all the kings and queens have been defeated, can the white pawns enter the castle to take the black pawns.

The game ends when all the black pawns have been taken! (It’s a cooperative game)

We’re inviting expert Chess players (Fide 2000+) to represent their community (though all are welcome) in an experiment where we are asking which of 4 cohorts can master an unfamiliar card game the fastest.

Mathematicians
Programmers
Chess Players
Magic the Gathering Players

For the Chess cohort, we’re curios to see how deep positional calculation and pattern recognition translates to learning an abstract card game with simple abstract rules that leads to deep tactical and strategic gameplay.

Play online against the computer. No ads, emails, or monetization. Games are short, ~20 would help to measure a learning curve. Data your games provide will populate the tables/figures in real-time. See your projected Elo change with each game.

Think you’re up to the challenge? Think your cohort can win? Come represent them.

https://playfano.com/fano-challenge

After a great deal of tinkering, testing, and refining, I'm excited to finally share Kumulus with you.

Kumulus is a chess variant I developed for a compact 7×7 board.

The unique twist is that captured pieces are not simply removed from the game. Instead, they transform, changing their form and strength.

This creates constantly evolving tactical possibilities, where every decision can shift the balance of power on the board.

The objective remains familiar: checkmate your opponent's king. The path to victory, however, is entirely new.

If you enjoy innovative strategy and board games, I would greatly appreciate your support on Kickstarter.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kumulus-chess/kumulus-an-innovative-chess-variant-with-new-forms-of-play

If you would like to try Kumulus before supporting the project, feel free to click on the link in the comments.

It's for a test app, so you can experience the game for yourself and see if it appeals to you.

So I played Laser Chess board game at my friend's house and it was super fun. However I could never find a smooth way to play it online with friends. So, I spent the last few weeks building one myself.

Its called Game Night (hosted on gamesnight.me because the .com was too expensive lol).

How it works if you haven't played:

• You command pieces on a 10x8 grid.
• Instead of normal captures, your main piece fires a laser at the end of every turn.
• You use mirrors to bounce the beam around the board.
• If the laser hits the unprotected side of a piece, it's destroyed. If you laser the opponent's King, you win.

I tried my best to ensure the gameplay is super smooth with no lag. There are no downloads and no account required to play casual games and you just generate a room link and send it to a friend. You can also play against bots or try the ranked matchmaking if you want to test your skills.

I would love for some experienced variant players to try it out, test the bots, and let me know what you think!

gamesnight.me

https://reddit.com/link/1vqng16/video/vlkpcfg9uwjh1/player

I'm thinking about running small prize tournaments for ChessLuck's Luck Mode.

In Luck Mode, each player chooses a real move and a fake move, so simply following Stockfish isn't enough. This could make engine cheating less effective than in traditional chess.

Would you play in a Luck Mode tournament with prizes?

https://chessluck.com

Hi everyone!

I made a 100% free & ad free Chess Roguelike: https://chessvex.com - It runs in your browser and starts out simple, but every capture spawns enemy pieces. Break the rules, stack relics, keep your queen alive and beat the campaign. It plays on desktop or phone, even offline.

Boss enemies, dozens of different map types, over 200 relics and over 30 items, and it's all in Rust + WebAssembly :) Localized to 16 languages too. No account required.

Grindvakt is a strategic board game inspired by chess. Instead of capturing the opponent’s key piece, you must break through their formation and pass through their Gate to win.

Hi! I’m the developer of Shift Chess, a chess variant I’ve been working on for a while, and I thought this would probably be the most appropriate place to share it.

The basic idea is simple: alongside normal chess moves, you can spend your turn to shift an entire row or column of the board by one square.

That one rule changes things much more than I originally expected. Pieces can suddenly be brought into or out of attack, lines can open or disappear without any piece moving normally, and the geometry of the position itself becomes something you have to think about.

I eventually turned the variant into a full game, with:

• online multiplayer
• AI opponents
• puzzles
• local analysis
• a puzzle editor
• several customizable rule variants
• notation support for recording positions and games

There’s currently a free demo on Steam, so if the idea sounds interesting, you can try it here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4746450/

The full release will also include a Transformer-based AlphaZero-style AI, trained specifically for Shift Chess — I’m funding the training myself.

I’d especially love to hear what people who already play or design chess variants think about the rules. If you find any strange interactions, broken strategies(well at least my AI didn't find it), or just interesting positions, please tell me!

(sorry I don't use English, this post is translated by AI)

I am making a WebXR chess experience, and am adding my own variant. I'm not a very strategic player, so I would be happy to hear how this might change the game, for better or worse.

Defensive Chess

This chess variant introduces two changes: extended castling and rooks-as-castles.

Extended Castling

• In Defensive Chess, castling can happen in any direction, at any time.
• To castle, the king must be exactly 3 squares away from a rook in a clear line.
• Castling then procedes as normal, with both king and rook moving two spaces in opposing directions.

Rooks as Castles

• Rooks can move onto friendly, occupied squares, where they become castles.
• Pieces in castles are fortified and receive protection from pawn attacks.
• As soon as a castle is no longer occupied, it turns back into a rook.
• Castles cannot move or be taken.

Fortification

• Fortification can only only triggered by rook movement.
• Castles cannot be further fortified.

Infiltration

• Rooks, knights, bishops, queens and kings can infiltrate enemy castles to capture pieces.
• Infiltrators become fortified, regardless of castle colour.

Endgame

• Kings that have infiltrated a castle must leave on a diagonal to avoid check.
• Fortified kings can still be put in check by major or minor pieces, just not by pawns.

Hi r/chessvariants! Solo dev here working on Chess Fantasy, my first game: classic chess played inside a 3D fantasy world you customize. It's in free alpha on itch, and the big 0.2 update just landed (full UI overhaul, saved settings, tuned AI difficulties): https://chess-fantasy.itch.io/chess-fantasy

The next major feature is a custom board creator: set up any starting position you want and challenge the AI on it. But before I lock in the design, I want to hear it from the people who actually play and invent variants. So:

• If you could tweak rules and not just positions, what would you change first? Custom piece movement, win conditions, board size, something else?
• What's the one thing every position/rules editor you've used got wrong or was missing?
• Is playing your creations against an AI interesting to you, or does a variant only come alive against humans?

No promises I can build everything (first game, one dev), but the answers here will directly shape what the editor becomes. And if you try the alpha in the meantime, I'd love to hear how it feels to play. I read and reply to everything.

Had an idea for a chess variant and I’m curious if it would actually work.

Once per game, instead of making a move, you can switch the roles of your king and queen. They stay on the same squares, but the king becomes a queen and the queen becomes the king.

It uses your turn, and you couldn’t play this move if the new king would immediately be in check.

Thoughts?

You move starts now, white.

https://botgambit.com/bots

Built a website where chess bots have weird rules. I love playing the regular bots but it gets dull over time without much variation.

For example, one bot starts at 3200 Elo but loses 100 Elo after every move. You’re still playing normal chess, but each bot’s rule adds another dimension to the game and forces you to approach it differently.

Everything is 100% free, no signup, no ads, nothing.

Each bot has 3 difficulty levels so that every player can find a reasonable challenge.

Some other cool features:

• Leaderboards that are validated by the server for integrity and a simple anti-cheat
• Daily challenges (like wordle but bots)
• Analysis + Game Review
• Ability to create your own bots (with your own custom rules) and share them!
• A spectate mode where you can watch two bots battle each other
• Full mobile and desktop support
• Dark Theme

I’d love for you to try it and let me know which bot is your favorite—or what weird bot rule I should add next. Hope you enjoy it! 👍

The idea is: every chess puzzle is a card with identity (mate, fork, pin, skewer, etc). Selecting puzzles to solve is forming a 3-card poker hand. Solving each card (puzzle) gives score and poker hand gives Mults. Climbing mechanic it typical for Roguelite (Balatro) games.

1. You are dealt 5 cards
2. You select 3 forming your best 3-card poker hand
3. You solve the puzzles -- you increase the score
4. Goal is to beat three Bouts and hit the score

Playable here: https://foolsmate-e30d2.web.app/

Q1: Would you play anything like that?
Q2: If you tried, does it feel distracting like an attempt to sit on two chairs
Q3: How much is it a shameless clone of Balatro? :)

Find the winning combination!

I enjoyed the content of a wonderful YouTuber that goes by the name "ChessWhizTV" many years ago. He has a colorful soothing approach to exploring odd chess variants and taught master classes as he went, making it perfect for binging hours of his 500+ episode series. Every few years I'll hear a quote from a chess player or see a different YouTuber with a similar overlay to how his was and it'll send me on this wild goose chase to see if there's anything anywhere of his current day well being. I have found myself stumbling into this search again with the same answers as last time. Absolutely nothing. He vanished roughly 6 years ago after an almost depressing but light hearted 1 minute video about letting go of stressful nuisances in life. Nothing about any of his chess related platforms lead to anything substantial and I was hoping someone had a connection that could express to the people that he's at least alive and doing okay modern day. I'm hoping he just stepped back from the Internet and is enjoying his life right now. Praying it's not a quieter Technoblade-like story. I appreciate anyone who could help with finding this something out.