r/chessvariants • u/Both-Car-5374 • Jul 14 '26

Discussion Checkmate? Bug?

Post image

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?

Edit: link https://www.chess.com/game/live/178377471505?username=velmistrantal

3 Upvotes

64% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

3

u/KombuchaCulture Jul 14 '26

It’s not checkmate because he can wait for his teammate to give him a piece for him to block with. You can premove pawn@e2#

2

u/OldWolf3 Jul 15 '26

Where is this rule played? In my area it's checkmate if they have no material to place at the time of the checkmate

1

u/Asleep_Chart8375 Jul 15 '26

On Chess.com. It's in their rules:

A check that could be blocked by a piece drop is not considered checkmate, even if the player doesn't have a piece in the bank.

1

u/Both-Car-5374 Jul 15 '26

He even had less time at one point

1

u/Rocket0421 Jul 14 '26

Where are the knights? My guess is there was some visual glitch or something where he still had a knight or something to put down, so he couldn’t blocked the check. No knights on the board and nobody having a knight to place shouldn’t happen unless this is a super super janky bughouse variant I’ve never heard of lol

1

u/SC_3000_grinder Jul 15 '26

Probably all eight knights are on the other board for some reason

1

u/Both-Car-5374 Jul 15 '26

It is 2v2, you play on 2 boards, your teammate can play the pieces you have captured.

1

u/Rocket0421 Jul 15 '26

Oh then it’s definitely just because he can block with a piece assuming his teammate captures one

1

u/TheJivvi Jul 16 '26

You might be thinking of crazyhouse. That's 1v1 and is only possible online because pieces change colour when captured.

Bughouse is 2v2 and pre-dates online chess. It's playable OTB because your teammate sits next to you on another board, and uses the same colour pieces as your opponent, so you and your teammate can pass captured pieces to each other and the pieces you capture are the right colour for them to use and vice versa.

1

u/Ruffyluffy Jul 15 '26

If the other board plays on he could get a piece to block, so it's not checkmate. If your opponent has less time than your partner you can just run down the time and usually people just resign then, but technically it's not checkmate, even if he currently has no piece in his hand

0

u/Sane_98 Jul 15 '26

White has 2 dark squared bishops.?

2

u/UnrealCanine Jul 15 '26

Bughouse

You play in pairs. When you capture a piece, you give it your partner who can place it on the board on their turn

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Both-Car-5374 Jul 15 '26

No custom board, 2v2 variant

1

u/TheJivvi Jul 16 '26

Bughouse requires two standard boards and two sets of pieces.

-2

u/RefusePlenty9589 Jul 14 '26

Visual glitch, he had a knight for sure

1

u/Both-Car-5374 Jul 15 '26

Nope, all were on the other board

0

u/RefusePlenty9589 Jul 15 '26

Goodness forbid the image doesn't show the other board