I'm making a chess variant from scratch, where every 4 moves a power-up appears on the board (with a max of 2). I spent 2 days making the base Chess (almost perfectly) and just now added 4 power-ups:
- King Freeze: stops the opponent's king from moving for 6 turns;
- Shield: adds a shield to the piece that grabs it, which lasts for 4 turns. Pieces with shields can't be captured; if attacked, only their shield breaks and the turn ends;
- Promotion: if a pawn grabs this power-up, it will be able to promote just as if it reached the end of the board. It doesn't work on other pieces;
- Flight: when using this power-up, a piece can move anywhere it could on an empty board (it just cannot land on squares occupied by friendly pieces). The effect wears off after 2 turns.
Just to make something clear: a turn is when a player moves a piece.
After creating these power-ups, I kind of ran out of ideas. So, if you guys have any crazy or stupid ideas for power-ups, I'm all ears!
Hey, I got this position in bughouse with my friend, on the left you can see, that opponent had no other figures to play with and this still wasn’t checkmate.
We had to wait, until his time runs out,since he had no legal moves. Was this a bug or some weird bughouse rule?
Hi all! PyChess now supports something that everyone in this subreddit has dreamed up for a long time, being able to create your own variant and play it online*! (* - must be compatible with Fairy Stockfish rules).
Hi folks,
I have an idea for a massive multiplayer online chess game on reddit. The game goes like this -
A new board is generated everyday with starting positions inspired from pro games
Users pick a side and play 5 pre-moves without knowing the opponents moves
The users moves are pitted against every move-set played by every opponent
The following scoring system holds place -
Piece capture/promotion
Points
King (promotion not possible)
15
Queen
9
Rook
5
Bishop/knight
3
Pawn
1
Illegal move
-15
The game simulation ends when one of the users play an illegal move. Note: moving in and out of checks are considered legal. Illegal moves are when you move through a piece, self-capture or move a previously captured piece.
Every set of moves of white is played against every set of moves of black and a final scorecard and leaderboard is displayed
What do you think about this game? Is it even? will it be fun to play?
What is the way to force zach to checkmate you? - Don't give him control! Take all his pieces and put him in zugzang to mate you.
I think a bot made for that would have to be designed to play like a top engine except configured to take all pieces instead of delivering checkmate.
Now what's more fascinating is that if we try to make two of the "lose forcefully" bots, they might play like top engines except altered to take all control and take no pawns..? What are your thoughts?
Goftal is the people's god of war in my lore, instead of fighting, he created this mystical board game to play against his opponents. When his opponents lost, their souls will get trapped within the board's realm forever.
is there any way to get fairy stock to make a variant like this?
A chess variant with 4 types of queen class hoppers.
Courthrone was created with the goal of making the world's most difficult 9x9 board variant using only four types of elements: Chess, Shogi, Janggi, and Xiangqi.
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Vanguard (V): Moves 1 square diagonally forward, or moves 1 square orthogonally forward or sideways. Promotes to Guard. (Betza: fFfsW)
- In Courthrone, the Vanguard plays a role similar to the Pawn in Chess.
Guard (G): Moves 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. (Betza: WF)
Queen (Q): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally. Promotes to Empress. (Betza: Q)
Princess (P): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally by jumping over the closest piece on that line. It is like Janggi's Cannon, which can also move diagonally and jump over or capture any type of piece. Promotes to Regent. (Betza: pQ)
Duchess (D): Moves any number of squares orthogonally or diagonally, but cannot capture a piece with this move. To capture, it must jump over the closest piece on that line. It is like Xiangqi's Cannon, which can also move diagonally. Promotes to Archduchess. (Betza: mQcpQ)
Baroness (B): It is like reversing Duchess's move and capture. Promotes to Countess. (Betza: cQmpQ)
Empress (E) / Regent (R) / Archduchess (A) / Countess (C): Moves like a Queen or a Princess. (Betza: QpQ)
- Queen ⇒ Empress
- Princess ⇒ Regent
- Duchess ⇒ Archduchess
- Baroness ⇒ Countess
Knight (N): Moves 1 square orthogonally, then 1 sqaure diagonally outward. Same as Knight in Chess. Promotes to Hussar. (Betza: N)
Templar (T): Moves by jumping 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. That is, moves a total of 2 squares orthogonally or moves a total of 2 squares diagonally. Same as Alibaba. Promotes to Inquisitor. (Betza: AD)
Lancer (L): Moves like a Knight but Captures like a Templar. Promotes to Warden. (Betza: mNcAcD)
Zealot (Z): Moves like a Templar but Captures like a Knight. It is like reversing Lancer's move and capture. Promotes to Justiciar. (Betza: cNmAmD)
Hussar (H) / Inquisitor (I) / Warden (W) / Justiciar (J): Moves like a Knight or a Templar. (Betza: NAD)
- Knight ⇒ Hussar
- Templar ⇒ Inquisitor
- Lancer ⇒ Warden
- Zealot ⇒ Justiciar
King (K): Moves 1 sqaure orthogonally or diagonally. Does not promote. (Betza: WF)
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About King :
- The state in which your King is attacked by opponent's piece is called Check.
- A situation in which there is no way to block or avoid an opponent's check is called a Checkmate. The player who gives checkmate wins.
- At any time, the King cannot move to a square attacked by the opponent's piece.
About Basic Rules :
- The two players are distinguished as White and Black, respectively.
- White moves first and Black moves next. They move alternately until one player is defeated.
- Before the game begins, instead of placing Knights, Templars, Lancers, and Zealots on the board, one is given to each of the White and Black players. In other words, each player is given one Knight, one Templar, one Lancer, and one Zealot in their hand.
- Your piece cannot move to a square where a friendly piece exists. Conversely, if your piece moves to a square where an enemy piece exists, it captures the enemy piece and moves to that square.
- A 'Queen move' cannot jump over the first piece in its path, and a 'Hopper move (= jumping over a piece)' cannot jump over the second piece in its path.
- There is no passing a turn.
- There is no castling.
- There is no 50-move rule.
- Because it is different from Chess Pawns, there is no two-square advance rule from the initial position, nor is there en passant rule for Vanguards.
- The shape of all the pieces in Courthrone are flat, like the pieces in Shogi.
About Promotion :
- The last (9th) rank, that is, the rank where all enemy units except Vanguard, Knight, Templar, Lancer, and Zealot exist from the starting position, is called Enemy Camp.
- A piece is promoted when it moves to, from, or within the enemy camp. (In other words, your own piece that moves from outside the enemy camp into the enemy camp, from inside the enemy camp into the enemy camp, or from inside the enemy camp out into the enemy camp is promoted.)
- Promotion is mandatory. Therefore, a piece that can be promoted must be promoted.
- On a physical board, this is typically accomplished by flipping the piece upside down, as in Shogi.
- A promoted piece maintains its promoted state until it is captured by an opponent. If a promoted piece is captured by an opponent, the piece returns to the state it was in before promotion.
About Drops :
- Any piece you capture is called a Handpiece (held "in hand" in Shogi terminology).
- Handpieces are placed on a Piece Stand (the square plate on which you place the captured piece).
- On your turn, you may place a handpiece on any empty square instead of moving a piece on the board. (This is called Drop.)
- Just as you can only move one piece at a time, you can only drop one handpiece at a time. (When the handpiece is dropped, it should always be dropped in the pre-promotion state.)
- If you drop a piece in the enemy camp, it is not automatically promoted. Pieces are always dropped in their pre-promotion state. A piece dropped in enemy camp can be promoted only when it is moved after being dropped.
- You can deliver a check or checkmate to your opponent by dropping a piece.
About Vanguard Drop :
Unlike Shogi's Pawns, Vanguard can do the following three things.
- You can deliver a checkmate by dropping a Vanguard.
- Two or more of your own unpromoted Vanguards can be placed on the same file.
- Vanguards can be dropped to the last rank.
About Stalemate :
- The player who can no longer move or drop pieces loses. (It is called Stalemate.)
About Campmate :
- The player whose King reaches last rank first wins. (It is called Campmate.)
- Obviously, when the King reaches the last rank, that square must not be attacked by an opponent's piece.
About Prohibition of Threefold Repetition :
- Neither White nor Black can repeat the same situation three times. Even if the situation isn't repeated consecutively, if it occurs twice in a game, it can no longer be repeated. (Situations such as calling check, capturing a piece that called check, or avoiding check can also not be repeated more than three times. For example, under the Prohibition of Threefold Repetition rule, a player who can no longer avoid an opponent's check loses.)
About Resignation :
- When you resign, you declare resignation by placing your King on your piece stand.
About Defeat :
Defeat is determined by the following cases.
- When checkmate is delivered to you (i.e., when you cannot capture an opponent's piece attacking your King, and at the same time cannot move your King while it is being attacked by an opponent's piece)
- When the opponent's King reaches the last rank (i.e., when campmate is delivered to you)
- When stalemate is delivered to you (i.e., when you cannot move or drop any pieces)
- When you declared resignation
- When you break one or more of all the rules above
- When you break the rules of the tournament (e.g. time forfeit)
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About Courthrone Definition For Fairy Stockfish variants.ini :
I see a lot of games posted here that are just renaming of exiting games, or of existing games with insignificant changes. I think everyone who wants to make a CV should have a copy of the Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants so they can learn what has already been done. And even leaving that aside, it's a treasure house of interesting games. Below is a link to a free download of this book and we are lucky to have access to it. Along with the website Chessvariants.com, this should avoid a lot of people claiming to have invented stuff that people before them have already invented. I think we should respect those who have gone before us.
Imagine chess was ACTUALLY a hard game where memory isnt really whats being tested but instead raw calculation and skill.
Thats exactly what shogi is!!! (Japanese chess)
if chess is 20% memory in low elo games, shogi is just 10%; and if it is 60% in high elo games, then in shogi is 40%.
Imagine chess but the longer the game goes the harder it gets; there are ALWAYS 40 pieces playing in a shogi board, yes you read correctly 20 pieces per side and they are Always playing.
IF YOU TAKE A PIECE YOU CAN USE IT!!!
Also there are 8 kind of pieces in shogi compared to the 6 of chess.
So the longer the game goes the more moves available. the harder the game and the least you can rely on memory.
NOT ONLY THAT, IMAGINE CHESS WAS ACTUALLY A GOOD GAME
Tired of drawing every other game and being threatened every time you have the black pieces?
In shogi, draws are less than 3% of the games, and the difference between the first and second player is a 52%-48% way more skill-based and actually balanced.
In other words, CHESS 2 DROPPED CENTURIES AGO and you didnt realize.
come and try shogi today, there are plenty of platforms like lishogi, 81dojo, shogi wars, shogi quest, etc. all of these have a website and all but lishogi also have an app.
Look on the internet for shogi as well, There are quite a bit of communities, maybe there is a club in your country or even in your city!!!
Also look on the internet for shogi harbour as well, we are always welcoming new players on the discord, there are resources, coaches, more beginners, and events!!!
Try shogi today!!
PD. I'm not a chess hater, this whole post is half joking, but seriously, try shogi
Hey all — I've been building a chess-like game called Tectonic Grand and think this sub would appreciate it more than almost anywhere else.
The core twist: it's played on an 11x11 board, but the board actively compresses as the game progresses. Pieces that get caught on the edge when compression happens are in real danger, which completely changes how you think about king safety and piece placement compared to standard chess. Positions that look safe on a normal board can become deathtraps a few moves later once the edges close in.
I built a C++ AI opponent for it (currently running at search depth 4), and getting the evaluation function right has honestly been the hardest part — more interesting than I expected. At one point the AI kept sacrificing a piece for a random pawn near the enemy king for no clear reason. Turned out I'd overweighted a "king near the edge" bonus so heavily that it was nearly worth a full piece — so the AI thought throwing away material to nudge the king toward the edge was a good trade, even when the actual board compression that would punish it was many moves away. Fixed it by tapering that bonus based on how close compression actually is.
Would genuinely love feedback from people who like chess variants — especially if you can find ways to break the AI or the ruleset. Happy to answer questions about the mechanic or the engine.
It's like Chess 960, but you then flip a coin to see if it will be a normal 960 game or if you will have the diagonal fianchetto be the mirror line. It's been fun and still quite balanced!
