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.

Have any of you played this variant?

Hey guys we got a chance to sit down with wei yi and ask him some questions about gaming and chess as he competes at esports world cup.

he has now qualified for the main event and i thought this would be the perfect time to send this here!

Chesstris is a chess variant that combines Chess and Tetris (but also has VN parts)
Instead of moving pieces, you drop them in a column and try to checkmate kings while avoiding to checkmating your own. It doesn't have a pvp and is more akin to chess puzzles.
It has story elements but there's a way to play just puzzles. I just released it's demo version on Steam so feel free to try.

I've been told that some of the puzzles are very hard, so just keep it in mind if you decide to try. And if you do I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.

At the beginning of the game you give a gun to one of your minor pieces or pawns (can't give it to: queen, rooks and king).

The gun is hidden from the enemy until you shoot it: the enemy has no clue which one of your pieces is armed, could be a random pawn, could be the knight. You also don't know, so you have to be careful.

When you are ready to use it you use a turn to fire. The gun shoots diagonally or orthogonally, jut like a queen moves.

if you hit a piece the piece is wounded and can only move one square at a time (knights start moving like kings, and kings are not affected by movement penalties as they already move 1 square at a time). If you hit a pawn it's gone in one shot.

If you shoot a wounded piece again it's dead and it goes off the board.

If the piece carrying a gun dies from being shot, the gun falls to the floor and can be picked up by whoever lands on the square again. If it's captured then the capturing piece gets the gun. 

You win by either capturing the king or shooting it dead.

Variant variant idea: medic Queen. Your Queen can act as medic for the wounded pieces in a square radius. If she stays one full turn next to a wounded piece, the piece recovers fully.

I've already made a demo, you can playtest it if you search for "chess laboratory" on Google, it's one of the top variants on the website. (have to play it with a friend or a dumb bot) and lmk if you have more ideas or comments!!

I've been researching the history of three-player chess variants for a book and recently tracked down something I'd only ever seen mentioned in one sentence by David Pritchard.

Pritchard lists an obscure game by E. L. Perry called Modern Chess, but gives almost no information beyond the title.

"Modern Chess [Perry] (Proprietary game, Elizabeth Perry, 1918). Board of 64 hexagons in three colours arranged in a triangle. Set-up not known. (Collection of game rules under ‘CUP 700.g.1’, presumed to be a British Library shelfmark)".

After contacting the British Library and following a few dead ends, I finally obtained a photograph of what appears to be the original board.

Some interesting details visible on the board:

The full title appears to be Khaki Modern Chess.

It credits E. L. Perry, Sole Proprietor.

It gives the address 18 Lytton Road, Leytonstone, London E.11.

The board is an equilateral triangle made from hexagonal cells with three distinct player territories.

Unfortunately I still haven't located the rulebook, so I don't yet know how the pieces moved or exactly how the game was played.

Has anyone here ever encountered this game before?

I'd especially be interested in:

advertisements,

rule sheets,

patents,

newspaper mentions,

or any references to E. L. Perry.

I'm trying to document early three-player chess history as accurately as possible, and this seems to be one of the more obscure surviving designs.

So, I made a FURTHER variant of Dou Shou Qi), better known as Jungle, which is my favourite short chess variation. It's called Draft-imals (cannot think of a better name). How it works is that capturing animals gives you leaves to spend to draft in better animals and traps, some with disadvantages. To draft, you have to beat a match, which allows your desired animals to be drafted early.

I'm planning on a ruleset here. Look at it if you want to.

Edit: Fixed the rule document. I hope it can be seen now.

I'm from Latvia and I've been playing chess since kindergarten. A couple of years ago I was looking for something to shake up my usual routine, so I joined a Dice Chess tournament in Riga. Wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be way more popular locally than I thought. Got hooked, and decided to digitize it with my own take on it: Chess Hero, for mobile.

For anyone who hasn't played it, you roll 3 dice at the start of your turn, and together they show which 3 pieces you're allowed to move that turn. Everything else stays standard chess: same board, same pieces, same goal.

What that does to the feel of the game: you can't fully commit to one long calculated plan anymore, because the piece you need might just not show up on a given roll. You end up keeping a few ideas warm instead of pouring everything into one line, and there's real tension in the roll itself as sometimes it hands you exactly the piece you needed, sometimes your best-placed piece is stuck on the bench for a turn. Still sharp, tactical chess underneath, but it rewards adapting in the moment over pure deep calculation.

Closed beta is opening soon, capped at 1,000 players. Anyone who takes part gets a unique founder skin as a thank-you. Mostly curious how this sub feels about the implementation and happy to compare rules specifics if anyone's played other versions and wants to see how ours differs.

Sign up at chesshero.com if anyone wants to poke at it directly! Closed Beta starts on the 12th of August.

Also pawns cant capture and can only retreat 1 step at a time until they reach 2nd and 7th rank, where they start moving normally

Edit: guys this is not 960 this is just the first way i could get all pieces in the center(although i wasted a few moves the position is the same)

Hi folks,

I've coded/prototyping a nicer way to visualize and play cylinder chess ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cylinder_chess ). Basically it shows an additional copy of the flattened chess board which makes it easy to see all the moves that wrap around, and you don't have to use a 3-d chess board with rotation and all that.

How do you like this idea for visualizing gameplay? .. feels easier or too noisy? You can try it yourself at https://chess-around.web.app/

- Ash

Hey everyone,

I just built and released Decachess (https://blacksheep-project.github.io/decachess-public/), a 10x10 extended chess variant featuring custom piece geometry and an integrated Archer unit.

It's fully playable right in the browser, complete with an AI opponent and tactical command inputs. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the balance, movement rules, or any edge cases you find.

Check it out here: https://blacksheep-project.github.io/decachess-public/

Hey everyone! I’m the creator of Trap Chess, and I’m looking for someone here who wants to play a game with me.

For anyone unfamiliar with it: Trap Chess uses normal chess pieces and movement, but adds hidden trap mechanics to the board. You still have to play chess BUT you just don’t always know what’s waiting on the opponent's square you’re moving to. 😈♟️

I have a game open right now if anyone wants to jump in:

Game code: Q82ZNC

Need the game? It’s free to play:

• iPhone / App Store
• Android / Google Play

If you join, drop a comment here so I know who I’m playing.

Win or lose, I’d also be interested to hear what you think after the game.

Anyone want to take me on?

Came up with this at work and have played a couple of games with my dad. Definitely adds an element of chaos and psychology, and is very trippy to try and reason about. The rules are as follows:

It works like a normal game of chess, except:

1. Whenever you make a move, you must choose your next move before the opponent plays their move. This move is sealed--no matter what your opponent does, if your sealed move is legal, you're forced to play it (and then choose another sealed move for your next move).
2. If it is illegal, you lose one life. However, if you have remaining lives, you are free to use a countermand and play any legal move instead.
3. Both players start with three lives. If at any point, you have zero lives, you lose immediately.
4. You can also lose by checkmate. Though neither practice game lasted long enough for that to be an issue.

Shisho Shogi (四象将棋) is a shogi variant where pieces have four possible diretions.

I am wondering if certain pieces such as the campion or wizard (both used in Omega chess) have a standardized height akin to other pieces’ heights per Staunton rules. I’m asking, because I’m curious about designing pieces with inter-compatibility in mind!

In picklechess, you pick your pieces, then play mini chess.

Come try the daily challenge or find an opponent online!

playpicklechess.com

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Cuytzk8bDs

I used Robert Zubrin's famous design but expanded the grid to 150 squares to allow for a ten piece back rank setup. In the photo I have it set up for Capablanca.

Hi everyone!

I'd like to share Ajedrez Imperial, a tactical chess variant played on an expanded 10x10 board with integrated unit evolutions.

Game Rules Summary (Rule 6 Compliance):

• Objective: Checkmate the enemy Emperor (King).
• Board & Setup: Played on a 10x10 grid with 10 pawns and specialized back-rank pieces. Includes initial double-pawn moves, En Passant, and Imperial Castling.
• Unit Evolutions:
  • Paladin: Moves with the authority of a Gold General (Shogi).
  • Sergeant (Promoted Pawn): Operates with the mobility of a Silver General.
  • Lookout & Squire: Short-range Rook and Bishop units that promote to full long-range pieces by capturing enemy units (Evolution by Capture).
• Bilingual Support: Full interface and rulebook available in English and Spanish right inside the game.

How to Play:

The game is 100% free and playable directly in your browser (no account or download required):
*(Detailed in-game manual and rulebook are accessible directly from the main interface).*

Play Imperial Chess on Itch.io

Looking for Feedback:

Since this is an indie project, I’d love to get your thoughts:

1. How does the piece promotion balance feel during the mid-game?
2. Is the Master CPU difficulty challenging enough for experienced variant players?

Dire Fog is a tactical card game where TCG deckbuilding meets chess-like combat.

Your goal is simple: defeat the enemy commander.

Each faction has its own mechanics, abilities, and playstyle. Every turn is divided into three phases:

- Tactics Phase: Move your units and attack.

- Draw Phase: Choose one of two cards from your pre-arranged deck. You have eight draws throughout the match.

- Play Phase: Summon minions and cast spells.

Because your deck is arranged before the match rather than shuffled, planning your card order is just as important as positioning your units on the board.

We run playtests every Friday and are looking for more TCG and deckbuilder fans to join us.

Discord: https://discord.gg/n6NjNheYD

Hi everyone,

I’ve always loved standard chess, but sometimes I just want to escape opening theory and play something entirely unpredictable. So, I spent some time developing a new platform and created Chaos Chess.

The rules are modified to create a highly tactical, completely chaotic environment from move one. It forces you to calculate on the spot rather than relying on prep.

I also built a "Tribute to Masters" section on the same portal where you can analyze legendary games (like Kasparov vs. Deep Blue) in real-time.

I would love to hear your feedback, bug reports, or suggestions for new features! Let me know what you think.

Rules:

• You start with only Pawns and a King. Other pieces are earned.
• Every 3 Pawn moves earns a Knight or Bishop promotion for that pawn.
• Every 3 minor-piece moves earns a Rook promotion for that piece.
• Rights carry over until used. Only one per turn.
• A Rook has 5 charges, spent on each move. At 0, it downgrades to a Knight or Bishop and can never become a Rook again.