Racing Kings

How Racing Kings is played

Racing Kings is a race: both kings run up the board to the 8th rank, and the pieces block and clear the way.

The start

There are no pawns. Both armies stand side by side on the first two ranks, White on the right, Black on the left. Both race to the same goal, the 8th rank, so both players see the board from White’s side.

No checks

Checks are forbidden altogether: no move may give check, and no move may leave your own king attacked. So you stop the other king only by blocking its way and guarding the squares in front of it.

The race and the end

The first king to reach the 8th rank wins. Since White moves first, when White’s king gets there and Black’s can reach it at once, Black may answer: then the race is drawn. Stalemate and the same position three times are draws too.

The story

England · V. R. Parton’s game, online today

When and where

Racing Kings is a game of V. R. Parton (1897–1974), an English inventor of chess variants who also made Alice chess. It began as his Dodo chess and was renamed.

How it changed

There are no pawns and no checks at all: neither side may give check or leave its own king attacked. The first king on the far rank wins. Since White moves first, a Black king that arrives right after White’s draws the race.

Today

Parton published his inventions in a series of small books from 1961 to 1974. Lichess plays Racing Kings today, from a start with both armies on the first two ranks.

Did you know?

Parton also suggested a “double course”: a king must reach the far rank and then come back to its own.

Sources: Wikipedia · Lichess

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.
• Three-check · Chess where the third check wins, so every check counts.
• King of the Hill · Chess where a king that reaches the centre wins at once.
• Horde · 36 white pawns storm a full black army.
• 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.
• Kriegspiel · Only your own pieces in sight; an umpire judges every move.
• 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.
• Medieval chess · Europe’s chess before 1475: the ferz and the king may leap on their first move.
• Courier chess · Medieval Germany’s chess on a 12 × 8 board, with the courier, the man and the schleich.
• 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.
• Kar Ouk · Ouk Chatrang where the first check wins: guard your king.
• 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.
• Verney’s four-handed chess · Verney’s game of 1881: two against two, mate both enemy kings.
• Bughouse · Two boards, two teams: what you capture goes to your partner's hand.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.