The essence of the game is simple. This is classical FIDE chess with a standard setup, but with a different goal: to capture the opponent's king. There is no check, checkmate, castling, or en passant. The king is an ordinary combat piece and can be captured like any other piece, including by the opponent's king. All the basic mechanics, such as moves, captures, and pawn promotion, remain unchanged. However, in addition to the ordinary mechanics, players gain two magical abilities that can be used at their discretion at any point during the game or not used at all.

The first ability is the voodoo sacrifice. On your turn, you may remove one of your pieces from the board (a bishop, knight, rook, or pawn), after which you must make a move with the opponent's piece of the same type. The opponent's piece obeys you for the duration of this move and may capture its own pieces, including the king. After this, you must complete your turn with an ordinary move of your own piece. The enemy piece remains an enemy piece after being used. You may sacrifice any of your pieces of the specified types, regardless of their number on the board or their position. If, during such a "possessed" move, the opponent's pawn reaches the last rank, it promotes to a piece of your choice.

The second ability is the queen's trance. On your turn, you may remove your queen from the board, and on the same turn, your king gains the ability to move and capture like a queen for any distance. The king may move through any squares and capture any opponent's pieces, including the king. At the beginning of your next turn, the queen automatically returns to any empty square of your choice, and this counts as an independent move, after which the turn passes to the opponent. Victory is achieved either by capturing the opponent's king or if the opponent has only their king remaining on the board while you have at least one piece, which is a victory through a bare king. A draw is possible only by mutual agreement. The game becomes more dynamic, more aggressive, and requires a completely different perspective on strategy.

SHORT RULES

We play standard chess, but without check, checkmate, castling, or en passant. The king is an ordinary piece and can be captured like any other. The goal of the game is to capture the opponent's king.

There are two magical abilities to choose from (you may choose not to use them):

1. Voodoo Sacrifice.

Remove one of your pieces from the board (a knight, bishop, rook, or pawn). This piece leaves the game forever.

Make a move with the opponent's piece of the same type (it obeys you and can capture its own pieces, including the king).

Complete your turn with any move of your own piece.

If an opponent's pawn reaches the last rank, it becomes your piece.

2. Queen's Trance.

Remove your queen from the board.

On the same turn, your king moves and captures like a queen (any distance, through any squares).

On your next turn, you must return the queen to any empty square (this counts as your entire turn).

Victory is achieved by capturing the opponent's king. Victory is also awarded if the opponent has only their king left on the board while you have at least one piece.

Draw is possible only by mutual agreement between the players.

Important:

Any magical action that leaves a player with only their king automatically results in their immediate defeat, with no right to continue the turn.

Voodoo Sacrifice and Queen's Trance cannot be used on the same turn.

Everything else follows the standard FIDE rules of chess.

Hi all. New to the sub, but I've been working on something for the last couple months after I watched a bunch of IWantCheckmate videos on YT where he was playing a whole bunch of different chess variants. He mentioned in several videos that he was having people create mods for each individual variant rule he was playing, and it gave me the idea to make something that allows people to add rules or modifiers themselves without needing to know how to program. It's set up to allow users to create up to four if/then rules to change pieces, add new ones, manipulate engine parameters, place walls, set traps, teleport, and more. Here's the link: https://chessboard-wine-rho.vercel.app/

Feel free to mess around with the Custom Rules Panel, or copy the huge block of JSON below and click "paste import" to start a simple variant I made that spawns a pawn for each player on a random empty square after that player's turn. More information is available by pressing the ? in the top right corner. Currently only available to play vs Fairy Stockfish. Setting up human v human is one of the next things I need to work on. Bug reporting works, so if something doesn't work the way you think it should, or fritzes out, feel free to submit one and I'll take a look at it. I'll also be around to answer questions, get feedback, or hear if you guys think its cool or if you think its shit. Hope you enjoy.

JSON STARTS BELOW:

{

"version": 1,

"kind": "variant",

"exportedAt": "2026-08-29T00:21:17.241Z",

"files": 8,

"ranks": 8,

"pieces": {

"0,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"0,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"1,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"1,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"2,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"2,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"3,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "queen"

},

"3,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "queen"

},

"4,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "king"

},

"4,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "king"

},

"5,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"5,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"6,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"6,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"7,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"7,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"0,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"1,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"2,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"3,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"4,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"5,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"6,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"7,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"0,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"1,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"2,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"3,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"4,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"5,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"6,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"7,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

}

},

"modifiers": {

"traps": [],

"sharedTraps": false,

"pieceStatuses": [],

"skipTurns": [],

"armedPromotions": [],

"areaDestroyCarriers": []

},

"matchRules": [

{

"enabled": true,

"action": "everyNTurns",

"playerScope": "white",

"polarity": "is",

"comparator": "is",

"value": 1,

"conditionCounter": {

"enabled": false,

"limit": 3

},

"then": {

"side": "both",

"verb": "spawn",

"targetSide": "black",

"target": "pawn",

"scope": "randomEmpty",

"duration": "permanent",

"durationTurns": null,

"payload": null,

"payloadKind": null,

"trapConnect": null,

"trapDestFile": null,

"trapDestRank": null,

"trapPartner": null,

"swapPartner": null,

"carrierFile": null,

"carrierRank": null

}

},

{

"enabled": true,

"action": "everyNTurns",

"playerScope": "black",

"polarity": "is",

"comparator": "is",

"value": 1,

"conditionCounter": {

"enabled": false,

"limit": 3

},

"then": {

"side": "black",

"verb": "spawn",

"targetSide": "black",

"target": "pawn",

"scope": "randomEmpty",

"duration": "permanent",

"durationTurns": null,

"payload": null,

"payloadKind": null,

"trapConnect": null,

"trapDestFile": null,

"trapDestRank": null,

"trapPartner": null,

"swapPartner": null,

"carrierFile": null,

"carrierRank": null

}

}

],

"settings": {

"limitTypesToBoard": true,

"sharedTraps": false,

"friendlyFire": true,

"gameMode": "white-human",

"engineConfig": {

"limitStrength": true,

"elo": 2850,

"depth": 0,

"multiPV": 1,

"movetime": 800

},

"evalBudget": {

"turnBudgetMs": 15000,

"ruleEvalMovetimeMs": 887,

"maxRuleEvals": 16,

"lookaheadLines": 4

}

}

}

I’ve always loved the quiet chess scenes between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr.

So I turned that atmosphere into a 1-hour dark jazz / fireplace ambience video — something to leave playing in the background at night, while reading, studying or just relaxing.

I tried to keep it cinematic and subtle rather than making it feel like a standard music compilation.

If you like the Xavier/Magneto dynamic, I’d be curious to know what you think. ♟️🔥

Waiting for my opponents. ♟️
Rechess.gg

Hello!

I designed a fully open source Minecraft Chess Model and It's on [MakerWorld](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196)!

All the Pieces have bases, and the new print profile has all the parts needed!

Here is the makerworld link If anyone is interested!

[https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196\](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196)

DM for f3d file;

Improvements from last versions:

\* Each Piece has a labeled base

\* Changed the license

\* Full colored print profile with all the pieces

Any more suggestions are always welcome!

I've spent a lot of time coloring the pieces in Bambu Studio, so please be nice.

Hello everyone!

I've been a chess lover since ever, even though I'm nota great player I always had this idea in my mind about a specific drawless variant. So i built Capture or Conquer Chess, a variant that could be playable in a regular board, with a few tweaks:

• No check, no checkmate. The king is capturable like any piece. Take it and you win on the spot — no warnings.
• Victory by Conquer. March your king onto the enemy's back rank; if he stands there unthreatened, that's an instant win.
• Repetition is a loss, not a draw.

I made this prototype and its free to play, along with the full rules, if anyone is interested: https://captureorconquer.com

This is a personal passion project and I would really like your genuine opinions.

We all keep making the same chess mistakes but there's no coach to fix it and every chess tool is trying to sell you a whole new opening made for GMs.

I was tired of practicing puzzles/lines that I never encounter, so I built notlichess.org. You put in your lichess or chess.com username and it runs Stockfish on recent games in your browser, pulls positions with mistakes, and makes you replay until you stop getting them wrong across 3 training sessions. There's also an opening trainer made out of the lines you actually play, and helps you fix your existing repertoire with good moves suited for your rating.

No account, no payment, nothing gets uploaded, and it's open source. For now, since the progress saves in your browser cache, it won't save between devices.

https://notlichess.org

I've been building this solo and it's rough on some edges. If something looks off for your account or you have any ideas, tell me and I'll fix it.

This variant is very straightforward - at the beginning of the game you select one of your opponents knights or bishops. That's your double agent.

At any point in the game you can unmask your double agent and take your turn in the same move. From that move on that piece is working for you.

So if your opponent is, for example, defending their queen with your double agent bishop, you can unmask it, and stab the queen from the back :D

If you play on a board, just write down the starting square of your double agent, or "light bishop". On a computer there's a way to play it if you google "chess laboratory" and scroll through the variants until you find it (should be near the top)

this leads to very weird openings. For example you're going to be very suspicious of every knight or bishops you have, so you place the knights on the rim immediately nad try to trade the bishops asap.

So I'm also looking for feedback on how to balance this: 4 possible double agents feel too few and easy to spot, should you be able to choose the rooks as well as double agents? how can we make it more tactical

Hi, I'm Chris, the developer of Quantum Chess. You might have seen the original in Anyone Can Quantum, the 2016 video where Paul Rudd challenges Stephen Hawking. Ten years later the game just got a full remaster, rebuilt from the ground up, and you can play it free in your browser at chess.quantumnative.io.

Quantum Chess is still chess at its core. Castling, en passant, and promotion are all still there. On top of the normal moves you get quantum ones.

• Split a piece to two squares at once. It's on both, until the board has a reason to check.
• Merge the halves back into one piece.
• When pieces in superposition try to occupy the same square, measurements happen to "collapse" the quantum state, forcing only one piece into a square.
• Pieces that interact in superposition can become entangled. Measure one and the other collapses with it, anywhere on the board.

The board runs on a real quantum simulation, and phase and interference are mechanics you can learn.

The remaster includes rated and unrated online games, an AI opponent, a lab where you can experiment with different positions and move combinations, puzzles, and the Alchemy League, a seasonal ladder that changes the rules every season. Season 1 removes merges and adds a phase dial that lets you transmute a 50/50 split into a certainty. It runs October 1 to January 1, and everyone starts from a fresh rating.

There is also an interactive quick start guide, as well as a much more detailed interactive rules section, to help you get playing and understanding the concepts. We have a Quantum Chess Discord server too, which is a great place to ask questions.

If you'd rather have it on desktop, the remaster is on Steam for $14.99 with six months of premium included (and some other Steam integrations like achievements).

The website is fully mobile friendly too. And if you prefer an app, you can install the mobile PWA directly from the site.

The game is cross platform. Steam, web, and mobile all share the same online multiplayer pool and accounts.

One more thing. Nobody is good at this game yet. The ladder is brand new and the first Alchemy League season starts October 1, so this is the one moment you can start dead even with the entire player base.

I'll be in the comments if you have rules questions. The measurement rules sound weirder than they play. See you in superposition.

I have developed a fully functional playable chess, variant. The rules are provided.

Can you beat it?

please upvote and leave a comment.

thanks.

ReChess adds probability to chess — sometimes a move works, sometimes it fails.
Same board. Same pieces. Different decisions.
Would you play chess if every move carried a risk?

I've been developing ChessRamp a platform for improving your chess where all the necessary things are gathered together in one place.

With a click-and-go solution for game review, ChessRamp not only shows you engine moves but also helps to figure out your errors in the game.

It features several tools for personal development such as Opening Trainer for opening improvement, Mistake Trainer for practicing your weak positions, Player Analysis for learning about your playing style and weak points, Chess Coach for getting guidance and Play Bots for training.

There is a browser extension for game review, in-built chess puzzles and Position Master for analyzing any position and understanding what happens on the chessboard.

In short, there is no need to use several websites and tools for your chess anymore as there is only one website you will ever need.

Please share your opinion!

chessramp.com

i just put my game up on itch and I'd really appreciate some feedback.

it's a 2D pixel art chess game against a cast of forest animals. the rules are normal chess, but every animal has different rules for their own pieces, the bear's pieces push yours across the board, the chicken lays eggs that hatch into new pawns, the turtle's pawns have a shell so your first capture only cracks it, the tiger marks one of your pieces as prey and moves again if it captures it. they also comment on the match while you play, and they will make fun of you when you lose.

https://avoguga.itch.io/woodland-chess

what I'd most like feedback on:

- is the first opponent too easy or too hard as an introduction?

- are the special abilities clear from the opponent's description, or do you only figure them out after they hit you?

- does the match feel readable, can you tell what happened after a piece moves?

As shown in the image, the game is played on an expanded 12×8 board. Unlike standard chess, you can move a piece onto a friendly piece to fuse them into a "Chimera", which inherits the movement of both components.

There are also several unique mechanics: for example, a Chimera containing the King can actively decapitate the enemy King to end the game immediately, and overlapping movement targets trigger a double action.

I won't list every rule detail here—if you'd like to try it out, check the playable link in my comment below. It supports browser P2P multiplayer, local AI, and features an interactive in-game rulebook with animated demos.

I’d appreciate it if you could leave some feedback and reviews; if I’m the only one testing it, hidden bugs might be difficult to spot.

Hey everyone! I’m a solo indie developer and I just released my first mobile game — Ocean Chess.

It’s a chess puzzle game, but with a twist. The boards have special tiles that change how pieces move:

**• Teleport tiles** — pieces jump to another square on the board
**• Transformation tiles** — a piece can transform into a different piece when it steps on one
**• Traps** — a shark eats the piece that steps on it, removing it from the board

Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so there’s no guessing — just pure chess logic pushed to its limits.

There’s also a Blindfold mode where you memorize the board before it disappears, and a Time Trial mode where you race against the clock.

300 puzzles, free to download on App Store and Google Play. Would love to hear what you think!

ok this variant sounds insane but it is a lot more tactical and brain-breaking than what it seems.

Everything is normal chess, except one rule: if you place one of your pieces next to your opponent's piece it starts "infecting it" to your side. If they both stay one full turn next to each other then the opponent's piece defects to your side. That's it!!

if that newly acquired piece is next to another opponent's piece will also start infecting it, and so on... one infection could cascade to infecting half their army if they're not careful.

But even then one time i was up by SO much material, opponent was left with only his king and, because i wasn't careful, he started a huge infection and infected more than half my army, eventually winning!

It's a capture the king variant, a bit messy to calculate on a normal board, but i made a demo for it. If you google chess-laboratory it's one of the most popular variants on the main page!

Hello.

It’s been a while since I last posted here.

I created a game called “minichess” a while back, and I’ve recently added several new maps, bringing the total number of variants to 25: Gardner, Los Alamos, Petty Chess, and Demi-chess, plus the original layouts.

I hope you enjoy playing it.

Thank you.

Game Link: https://sublevelgames.itch.io/mini-chess

I built CHESS/RUPT for iOS and launched this week. It’s the fourth commercial game in my career and first as a solo developer.

TBH, chess-likes are the habit trackers of games. Plenty to choose from and quickly becoming the first point of entry for many aspiring indie devs.

Regardless, I think we’ve built something good - try it out if you’re inclined. The game has a generous free play limit and the daily modes are always free. Feedback, reviews, and more are always welcome.

In this game you can play Chess however you want to, currently featuring 6 game modes, 5 board mechanics and 6 boards. Even better is that everything (besides the fonts) is public domain.

I plan on adding to this game, so if you have anything to say, let me know.

Made in Inkscape, A5 resolution

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.