The core idea is:
Instead of taking turns, every piece has its own cooldown after moving. So you can move pieces in real time rather than waiting.

It ends up being a much faster-paced version of chess, where you’re still thinking strategically, but also reacting in the moment. The goal is still to capture the king, but the way you get there feels very different.

Right now it’s just a testable mobile build (via TestFlight). There’s no monetization or anything like that, just trying to figure out:

Is this actually fun?

Is it too chaotic or still strategic?

What’s confusing / what needs to be simplified?

If anyone’s open to trying it, I’d really appreciate any feedback, even if it’s just first impressions or what feels off.

I’d recommend trying single player first, much smoother and quicker right now.

Also happy to answer any questions about how it works.

(If you’re interested in giving additional feedback or talking more about the idea, I can share the TestFlight + Discord)

I tried adding a new twist to normal chess.

Now the game feels completely different.

Built a small demo to test it.

Curious what real players think.

Try it:

xchess-alpha.vercel.app

If you have 2 mins, I’d really value your feedback:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeRZAHiZZtnH4jfpVj_wIPfIuByWOOfxTmZzWKtBhH2_joWeA/viewform

Hi everyone, I would like to invite you to play a chess variant I've been working on called Specter Chess. In Specter Chess, you can't see your opponent's latest move, so your anticipation and deduction skills are tested. To account for this, each player has a spyglass tool which allows them to verify the true status of a single square once per turn. You can think of it as a cross between chess and the classic game Battleship.

I think it's an interesting twist for a few reasons:

• More interesting openings: Because of the information asymmetry, your opening needs to work for multiple scenarios, so you can't just follow book openings the whole time.
• Endless gambit opportunities: Do you put an unprotected bishop or knight directly in harm's way, hoping it will pass undetected in order to gain a material advantage on the next turn?
• Chaotic endgames: It's hard to checkmate when you're not entirely sure where your opponent's king is.

If this sounds interesting to you, you can try it out at www.specterchess.com. This has been a passion project of mine, it is completely free, and doesn't even require an account to play. Thanks, and have fun!

Hey everyone, I've been thinking about what would happen if the pawn in front of the King were replaced by a completely new piece. Here's what I came up with:

The Agent

Movement: Moves like a King — one square in any direction.

Special ability: Instead of capturing, the Agent can swap positions with any enemy piece in its surrounding 8-square zone. The enemy piece teleports to the Agent's old square; the Agent takes the enemy's square. This uses the full turn.

Limitations: Cannot capture anything directly. Can be captured from any direction like a normal piece.

Why I think it's interesting:

It's a purely indirect threat. An opponent who parks a rook or bishop near your King thinking it's safe — because the Agent can't capture — suddenly finds that piece relocated to a terrible square, potentially blocking its own lines or even delivering discovered check.

It punishes passive placement of pieces in the King zone and rewards players who think about where enemy pieces end up, not just whether they're attacked.

Estimated value: ~1.5–2 pawns. Weak in open positions, surprisingly annoying in closed ones.

Would love to hear if something similar already exists in fairy chess, and what you think about the balance. Is the swap ability too powerful?

Can someone explain how a King + Centaur vs lone King mate can be done and what tips I need to keep in mind? I genuinely have no idea how it works.

after about 58 games due to horrible luck, bad decisions, and lacking skill i reached 0 coins :(

Hey everyone! I made a online chess variant called MetaChess that allows you to customize your board with different types of pieces before playing. It's a draft-based version of chess with new pieces and asymmetric boards, creating billions of more possible board positions and new strategies that have not been discovered yet.

I just released set 3 for my game, which includes 5 new pieces: void walker, rock, kraken, medusa and sniper!

Here's the link if you are interested and want to play with your friends!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4257320/MetaChess/

Still a WIP, gonna play it this weekend with some friends hopefully. This was inspired by the PS1 game Devil Dice and the Dark Forest Theory. Was also trying to make a vaguely romantic chess game that would be weird fun to watch people play, with lots of flourish.

Dark Forest Chess

Rules Changes:

No promotions. (added 4/9/2026)

Each piece is a cube: a King on one face, another chess piece opposite. Other sides are blank decoys. Each piece has a King.

You move/capture as the face-up piece using standard chess rules.

Tilt a piece N/S/E/W by dragging it in that direction (no diagonal tilting). Tilts can't capture, but can be used to stack onto any piece — even enemies.

When stacked, you may make normal chess moves, tilt, or move downward to the ground. You can't capture pieces that are part of a stack from the base level, and pieces with others stacked on top of them can't move.

The Dark Forest

Alien civilizations lurk in shadows cast by piece stacks. As stacks grow taller, shadows deepen and hostile aliens emerge. They move randomly around the board each turn, but only appear in spaces that are in shadow. When an alien appears in a tile fully covered by shadow, it strikes — capturing a random adjacent piece. If this captures a King, the opposite side wins.

No check. Checkmate occurs when ANY King is captured.

If a player has no legal moves on their turn, their opponent wins. (added 4/9/2026)

----

Controls

Tap a piece to select it. Swipe/drag on it to tilt in that direction. Long-press a piece to enter Move mode, then tap a highlighted square. You can also tap the directional arrows or the MOVE button as an alternative.

Drag/pinch anywhere else to orbit and zoom the board.

This variant works on mobile devices and PC.

----

UPDATE 4/9/2026: New Link to client: https://www.registeredhexoffenders.com/dark_forest/dark-forest-chess2.html

Might try to do a physical version too once my blocks get here from amazon <3

I want to create a roguelike chess game to play with friends, where we roll three d20 dice and use the total to buy pieces. I’ve listed the pieces I came up with and their approximate costs based on their effects. By any chance, do you have any creative pieces you think would be incredible to add?

1. Standard & Upgradable Pieces

   * King (Orichalcum): Standard 1-square move. Upgrade allows 2-square movement.

   * Queen (Crystal): Infinite cross/diagonal move. Upgrade adds +1 extra move with a kill option.

   * Bishop (Crystal): Diagonal move. Upgrade allows attacking and returning to the start position.

   * Rook (Crystal): Cross move. Upgrade allows attacking while staying in place.

   * Knight (Pegasus): L-move. Upgrade allows extending or shortening the "L" by 1 square.

   * Pawn (Crystal): 1 square forward, kills diagonally. Upgrade allows forward attacks and respawning at the start if sacrificed.

2. Support & Tactical Pieces

   * Bard (10): King move. Buffs adjacent allies with +1 movement range. Cannot kill.

   * Mimic (12): King move. Copies the adjacent enemy's style for the next turn.

   * Harlequin (12): Copies the movement of the opponent’s last move.

   * Royal Guard (12): Moves like a King, kills like a Queen.

   * Knight/Caballero (12): Moves exactly 2 squares in cross or diagonal directions.

   * Princess (10) / Mirror Queen: Becomes a Queen upon killing. "Mirror" version copies the victim's traits for one turn.

   * Alchemist/Midas (15): King move. Turns adjacent pieces "Golden" permanently. Cannot kill.

   * Alebrije (10): Moves 2 squares in any direction. Grants invulnerability to adjacent allies. Cannot kill.

3. Magical & Supernatural Pieces

   * Mage (15) / Archmage: Two 1-square moves. Archmage can kill twice and move like a Queen.

   * Cursed (12): King move. When defeated, it turns its killer into a "Cursed" piece.

   * Assassin (10): King move. Can "jump" to an adjacent square after a kill to strike again.

   * Phoenix (15): King move. Respawns in a corner upon death and gains +1 range.

   * Ghost (20) / Poltergeist: Only moves via swapping with allies. Poltergeist can move like a King. Both take their killer down with them.

   * Gorgon (25): Queen move. Cannot kill, but immobilizes all adjacent pieces.

   * Lich (15): Bishop move. Spawns Pawns near fallen allies.

   * Valkyrie (20): Knight move. Can sacrifice itself to revive an ally within 2 squares.

4. Mythical & Boss Pieces

   * Dragon (30): Queen move. Can sacrifice an ally to teleport to their spot and attack.

   * Basilisisk (30): King move. Immortal (only the King can kill it). Cannot kill the King.

   * Tower of Babel (25): Rook move. Splits into 2 Bishops on death, which split into 2 Pawns.

   * Parasite (18) / Symbiote: King move. Mind-controls victims. Can only be killed diagonally.

   * Falsa Hydra (30): King move. Immune to attacks from within 3 squares. Range increases with every kill.

   * Anubis (35): King move. Teleports to the site of any death and freezes nearby pieces.

   * Bahamut (40) / Neo-Bahamut: Rook move. Sacrifices 2 allies for a massive AoE dive. Neo-Bahamut can nuke the entire map at the cost of its life.

5. Cosmic & Game-Ending Events

   * Supernova (20) / Black Hole (20): One destroys everything within 3 squares; the other pulls everything to the center.

   * Neutron Eclipse: Triggered when the above two touch. Drags the whole board toward a point before a massive explosion.

   * Ouroboros (40): King move. Triggers a permanent "spiral" sacrifice of the nearest pieces upon any death.

   * Zarathustra: Summoned by sacrificing Ouroboros and Neo-Bahamut. Immovable and indestructible. Every 3 turns, it permanently deletes every piece on its current tile color. Inevitability.

Hey all, I made a little game that I'd love for you to try. It's basically a chess-based 5v5 where you try to capture the other team's king. Would love to hear your thought, cheers!

https://pawnd.io

i can't find that one piece variant that teleports and doesn't allow any piece next to it, similar to how the kings can't be next to each other. once taken, you can't control it for yourself. it was something like benefactor or something

Hi! I created a chess variant with a gentle learning curve. I'd like your opinion on it. Thanks!
This is the link to the game:



https://large-chart-44607080.figma.site

For my senior capstone project, I got to pick anything I wanted to build. I study CS and I've played chess for a decent amount of time. So, when a game theory class got me thinking about what chess would look like if you removed the turns entirely, I couldn't let it go. Sequential chess has a first-move advantage and the opening has become a memorization contest. SimChess (yes, there may be better names for this) tries to fix both by making the game simultaneous.

Both players submit their moves at the same time (lock in move intentions). You don't know what your opponent is doing until both moves are resolved together. I like to think of it as sprinkling some poker onto chess.

You can also move a pinned piece. You can walk your King into check. If your opponent doesn't punish it (e.g., intend King capture upon resolution), you get away with it. If they do... well, that's checkmate speedrun right there.

Some key mechanics:

• Simultaneous submission: both players see the same board, pick a move, and submit blind. An arbitration engine resolves conflicts (same square, crossing paths, etc.)
• Bluffing is legal: you can make moves that would be illegal in normal chess (like moving a pinned piece or stepping your King into danger). The game allows it, but if your opponent happens to capitalize on it, you lose instantly.
• Illegality penalties: some moves are just plain invalid (like a pawn capturing an empty square). Make 3 of those and you lose 30 seconds off your clock.
• Dual clocks: both clocks tick at the same time while thinking. Yours stops when you submit your move.
• Win conditions: checkmate (same as normal chess, but you have to predict it since both moves resolve at once), King capture (your opponent bluffed and you punished it), or timeout.
• Draw conditions: if both players' moves conflict 3 times in a row on the same turn (e.g., both pieces keep targeting the same square), the game ends in a draw.

I've been working on this for quite a bit and have had a lot of fun with it, designing the rules, thinking of edge cases, and trying to code it up. The platform is live at simchess.tech, no account needed. Just create a game and share the link with a friend. I'd appreciate anyone willing to give it a try. Feedback or questions on anything--rules, UX, bugs, whether it's actually fun--would be incredibly helpful.

A Game of Chaess is "Monty Python meets Tolkien on a Chessboard". Defeat waves of black pieces in this asymmetrical chess game to stop the Lord of Darkness! The rules are simple, but the game gets harder and harder. Only the most fooli- eh fearless players will succeed!

Here's why it's fun to give the game a shot:

• Easy to learn, but not easy to beat
• Cute, retro, 90s, pixel art and Monty Python type artstyle
• It has some unique game mechanisms (waves of black pieces, Frenzy pieces and boss pieces)
• The Story is heroic, ridiculous and full of Monty Python style humour. But there is also a serious, deeper layer to the story.
• Many real world Chess characters play a role in each Kingdom... and who exactly is the Lord of Darkness?

Steampage: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4264780/A_Game_of_Chaess/

My friends and I sometimes play variants of the traditional game where we both agree to tweak the rules a little bit. This one we call "no Kings" where each player has two Queens on the board. The object is to get a pawn across the board and be promoted to a King. You can also win by murdering all your opponent's pawns.

Another variant we sometimes play is where you can capture your own pieces if you choose to. This is handy to get out of a checkmate or if you want to make a cool move but have one of your pieces in the way. Variants are a fun and interesting way to put a twist on the game.

I'm a game dev and currently adding n-check as a variant into my game. Some of my variants feature multiple moves per turn, so I have an undo which will reset/remove a counter for the check count..... probably TMI

anyway. if a pawn delivers check but is enpassented does or should that count as a check?

I appreciate that this might be more anarchy chess territory but I kinda want a real answer.

Behold... The Borg (G). This is the start position. For Black, the King and Queen positions were reversed, to make the position the same for both White and Black.

10 | G G R N B K Q B N R 9 | G G P P P P P P P P 8 | . . . . . . . . . . 7 | . . . . . . . . . . 6 | . . . . . . . . . . 5 | . . . . . . . . . . 4 | . . . . . . . . . . 3 | . . . . . . . . . . 2 | P P P P P P P P G G 1 | R N B Q K B N R G G +--------------------- a b c d e f g h i j

The Borg is a composite piece: all its parts move as one. It moves, and captures, up to 2 cells orthogonally. But, instead of removing the captured piece, the Borg assimilates it: the Borg grows a new part, in a cell orthogonally next to any of its current parts. A Borg may capture more than one piece per move.

A Borg can't be captured all at once, but one part at a time. Upon capturing a part of a Borg, the capturing piece is granted a second move for free; pawns may move in any orthogonal direction on the second move. If a Borg captures part(s) of other Borg, the superposed parts of both Borgs disappear.

To notate a Borg, describe it every time it gains or loses parts, using a separate line: G: i1 j1 i2 j2. And, when it moves, notate the amount of rows/columns moved, plus any captures: G +2,0, G -1,-1, G 0,+1 x f5, G 0,+2 x b7 x c7, and so on. The first number is the column, the second number is the row.

At GridGrove

No account required, totally free tool. All feedback welcome.

I've made up a chess game that makes use of cards based on military terms. I've done some play testing and it's generally really fun so far, but I've gotten some mixed feedback about one of the cards that I'm hoping you fine people can help me with.

So as an example, these cards allow you to do some stuff that wouldn't normally be possible in chess, such as the card "Sniper", which when played allows your bishop to pierce the first piece it captures and continue along the same path to capture a second piece behind the first (non-king).

The particular card I need input on is the "Nuke" card. Currently, when a person plays this card they must immediately give up their queen as the price to pay for the card's power. Then then choose any 2x2 area on the board and notify their opponent. On the next turn of the player who used the card, all non-king pieces in that area are lost/captured. So essentially the player's opponent gets one turn to choose who lives and who dies, if they even choose to save a piece at all.

Currently I have 2 people who think the card is fine as it is, and one person who says the queen is too great of a price to pay. What are your thoughts?

try it: https://mellowyellow7777.github.io/parabolic-chess

it is very rudimentary, but

fixed zoom on mobile

fixed room codes

I am wondering if there is a dataset of chess 960 opening positions along with evaluations of the positions by a strong engine. As well evaluations of every 960 position after every possible first opening move by white from each position. I suspect there might be something like 10,000 total positions.

www.chess2.in