Chess Variants

Chess and variants

Antichess

Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.

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What you can do here

  • Bots from Novice to Expert, or friends at the same device
  • A short course on the rules, task by task on the board
  • Over 1,000 puzzles that adapt to your level
  • The king is an ordinary piece: no check, and a pawn may promote to a king

How Antichess is played

Antichess turns chess around: whoever gets rid of all their pieces wins. The pieces move as you know them.

Capturing is compulsory

If you can capture, you must. When several captures are possible, you choose which one. A move that captures nothing is allowed only when no capture is.

The king

The king is an ordinary piece. There is no check and no checkmate: the king may step onto attacked squares and can be captured like any other piece. There is no castling, and a pawn may also become a king.

Winning

You win by losing all your pieces, or by having no legal move on your turn.

Draws

The same position three times, fifty moves each without a capture or a pawn move, and positions in which neither side can win any more (such as only bishops on squares of opposite colours) are draws.

More games

Chess and variants

  • Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
  • Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
  • Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
  • Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
  • Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
  • Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
  • Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

  • Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
  • Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
  • Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
  • Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
  • Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
  • Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
  • Janggi · Korean chess: no river, palace diagonals and a cannon that always jumps.
  • Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
  • Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

  • Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
  • Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
  • Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
  • Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.
  • Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.