Chess

Chess is classic board game. Probably the most popular board game in the world, at least in Europe and in America.

Raffaello Sorbi - La partita a scacchi/Chess game

Rules

Standard chess is played on an 8x8 board. White moves first. Each side starts with a king, queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The aim is to checkmate the opponent’s king.

The usual piece movement is used:

• King: one square in any direction; castling is allowed when the normal castling conditions are met.
• Queen: any distance horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
• Rook: any distance horizontally or vertically.
• Bishop: any distance diagonally.
• Knight: an L-shaped jump: two squares in one direction and one square perpendicular.
• Pawn: one square forward, optionally two from its starting square, captures one square diagonally forward, can capture en passant, and promotes on the last rank.

A player who has no legal move while in check is checkmated and loses. A player who has no legal move while not in check is stalemated and the game is drawn.

External detailed references:

• wikipedia.org chess
• wikipedia.org chess rules
• FIDE - International Chess Federation
• chess.com animated and videos

Variant - Chess960

Chess960 is also known as Fischer random chess or Chess9LX. Chess960 uses the same board, pieces, and goal as standard chess. The starting position of the back-rank pieces is randomized. The bishops must start on opposite-colored squares, and the king must start somewhere between the two rooks. Pawns start on the usual second and seventh ranks.

Castling still exists, but the final castled positions are the same as in standard chess: after kingside castling the king is on the g-file and the rook on the f-file; after queenside castling the king is on the c-file and the rook on the d-file. The usual requirements still apply: neither king nor castling rook has moved, the king is not in check, and the king does not pass through or land on an attacked square.

More on wikipedia

Variant - Crazyhouse

Crazyhouse is a popular chess variant similar to bughouse, but you only need two players to play. The basic premise of crazyhouse is that pieces which you capture from your opponent can be dropped on empty squares on your turn.

Captured pieces change color and go into the capturer’s reserve. On a turn a player may either make a normal chess move or drop one reserve piece on an empty square.

Little Golem follows the usual Crazyhouse restrictions:

• Pawns may not be dropped on the first or eighth rank.
• Dropped pieces give check normally.
• A promoted pawn that is captured returns to reserve as a pawn, not as the piece it promoted to.
• Checkmate and draw conditions otherwise follow chess.

More on wikipedia

Variant - Grand Chess

Grand Chess is a large-board chess variant invented by Dutch games designer Christian Freeling in 1984. GM Larry Kaufman has written that Grand Chess “really is an excellent game and deserves a bigger following”.

Grand Chess is played on a 10x10 board. Each side has the normal chess pieces plus two extra pawns and two compound pieces:

• Marshall: moves as a rook or a knight.
• Cardinal: moves as a bishop or a knight.

There is no castling. Pawns may move one or two squares from their starting rank and may capture en passant. Promotion is restricted: a pawn may promote only to a piece of the same color that has already been captured. A pawn can choose to promote on the eighth or ninth rank, and must promote on the tenth rank if a captured piece is available.

It is best to read about Grand Chess directly on the author’s website: www.mindsports.nl

wikipedia

Variant - Seirawan Chess

Seirawan Chess was invented by GM Yasser Seirawan and Bruce Harper. In Seirawan Chess (S-chess) the rules are the same as in orthodox chess, except that two pieces, the Elephant and the Hawk, are placed in the reserve. The Elephant (Chancellor) combines the powers of a Rook and a Knight. It is comparable in strength to the Queen. The Hawk (Cardinal) combines the powers of a Bishop and a Knight. It is somewhat weaker than a Queen. These pieces are known from Capablanca’s Chess.

Whenever a non-pawn piece leaves its original back-rank square for the first time, the player may immediately place one reserve piece on the square just vacated. This is a single turn containing both the normal move and the gated piece placement. If the player declines to gate a reserve piece from that square, that square cannot be used for gating later.

When castling, a reserve piece may be gated on either square vacated by the king or rook. Pawns may also promote to Elephant or Hawk.

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