Fog of War

How Fog of War works

Fog of War is played with the usual pieces and moves, but you see only part of the board.

The fog

You see your own pieces and every square one of them could move to, with whatever stands there. Everything else is in fog: the opponent’s pieces and moves there stay hidden. After every move the fog shifts with your pieces.

No check

There is no check and no checkmate. Nobody is warned when a king is attacked, and a king may step onto an attacked square. Whoever captures the opposing king wins. Your opponent always sees your king when one of their pieces can take it.

Pawns

A pawn sees the square ahead only while it is empty: a pawn blocked by a hidden piece simply cannot move. It sees a square diagonally ahead only when an opposing piece stands there. A pawn you can capture en passant becomes visible for that move.

Castling

Castling needs an unmoved king and rook and empty squares between them, as usual, but it is allowed out of, through and into an attacked square.

Draws and the end

The same position three times and fifty moves each without a capture or a pawn move are draws, even if neither player knew. Too little material is not a draw, and a player without any move loses.

Playing here

The move list shows the opponent’s moves as ?, or ?xe4 when they captured on e4. When the game ends, the fog lifts and you see every move. Two people at one device hand it over between moves; the board stays covered until the next player shows it.

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