Dunsany’s chess

How Dunsany’s chess is played

Lord Dunsany’s game of 1942 pits 32 white pawns against a complete black army.

The armies

White has 32 pawns on its first four ranks and no king. Black has the usual army and moves first.

The pawns

White’s pawns step one square at a time, never two. Black’s pawns may step two from their start, and en passant works as in chess. Pawns promote as in chess, and a promoted white pawn must be taken too.

Winning

Black wins by taking every white piece. White wins by checkmating Black’s king. A stalemate, also when White’s pawns are all blocked, is a draw.

The story

Fairy Chess Review · Lord Dunsany’s game of 1942

When and where

Lord Dunsany’s game was published in the August 1942 issue of the Fairy Chess Review, and the same year in Joseph Boyer’s Nouveaux Jeux d’Echecs Non-orthodoxes.

How it changed

Black has the usual army and moves first; White has 32 pawns on its first four ranks and no other piece. Only Black’s pawns may step two squares. Black wins by taking every pawn, White by checkmating Black’s king. It needs no new piece at all.

Today

In 2002 Filip Rachunek turned the colours round in his Horde chess, which lichess plays today with 36 pawns.

Did you know?

Lord Dunsany (1878–1957) was an Anglo-Irish writer and playwright, and a chess champion of Ireland. He drew with José Raúl Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibition and set chess problems for The Times.

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikipedia

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