Rules for Karl's Chess Variants
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Angle Chess
White: K d1, Q e1, B c1 f1, N b1 g1, R h1, P c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2;
Black K a4, Q a5, B a3 a6, N a2 a7, R a8, P b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8.
Black pawns move to the right, all chess rules apply correspondingly.
Variant: A white Rook on b1 and a black Rook on a2 replace the Knights on these positions.
Bank Chess
At a cost of a turn, you may move any of your pieces - except the king - off the board (put it in your "bank account")..
At a cost of a turn, you may re-insert a piece from your bank account to an empty place on the board any time later.
Pawns can only be re-inserted from rank two to rank seven.
Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.
Bank Chess - Half-Standard
Every second move must be a standard chess move.
Depending with what you decide to start, there are two variants.
Bank Chess - Swap variant
Only one piece is allowed to be in your bank account at any time.
If you put another one out, you forfeit the piece in your account..
Bank Chess - Half-Standard Swap
As Swap Variant, but very second move must be a standard chess move.
Depending with what you decide to start, there are two variants.
Better Pawns
Variant 1: Allow that pawns move sideways. Capturing is still only diagonally forward.
Variant 2: Allow that pawns move sideways and backwards. Capturing is still only forward.
Variant 3: Additionally to promotion on the far rank, allow that (a-,b-,c-,d-) pawns promote at h-file,
pawns from the right half of the board promote at the left side (a-file).
This makes only sense if we allow sideways movement as well.
Variant 4: As in variant 3, but additionally backwards movement allowed.
Variant 5 thru 8: As variant 1 thru 4, but the pawns can only capture straight forward.
Variant 9 thru 12: As variant 1 thru 4, but the pawns can also capture NEE and NWW.
Variant 13: Standard chess plus: pawns can also capture NEE and NWW.
Black Hole Chess
The centre of the board (squares d4, d5, e4, e5) is replaced by a "Black Hole". Any piece that moves to square of the
Black hole ends outside the board (but is still your piece). Hence the squares d4, d5, e4, e5 never carry any chess pieces.
The king cannot enter the Black Hole.
At a cost of a turn, you may re-insert a piece from your bank account to an empty place on the board any time later.
Pawns can only be re-inserted from rank two to rank seven.
Black Hole Chess - Swap variant
Only one piece is allowed to be in your bank account at any time.
If you put another one out, you forfeit the piece in your account.
Burnt Chess - Swap variant
When you capture a piece, the starting square becomes unavailable for further play.
To mark the square, put a token (e.g., a cent piece) on this square.
Cannibal Chess
You may eat your own pieces. For such a sacrifice you are compensated:
In the standard version of Cannibal Chess, you may reinsert the piece at any time later
(and forfeit one move).
As a variant, you are compensated instead by another move with the same piece.
Checkers Chess
In addition to their standard moves, the King, Queen, Bishop and Rook may jump like in Checkers.
If the piece that is being jumped over is an enemy, then it is captured.
As a variant the Pawns may also jump.
Depending on the variant, the Pawn-jumps may be only diagonally or also forward.
Cloak Chess
You cloak some or all of the chess pieces by replacing them with monochrome tokens.
White and Black may or may not use the same type of tokens.
Companion Chess
You may only move a piece that has another friendly piece orthogonally placed next to it .
Only if you cannot move that way you are allowed to make any legal chess move.
Crazy Pawns Variants
Additional to their standard moves, Pawns also move (only to an empty square) like
a Queen (or a Rook or a Knight or a Bishop or a King, depending on the variant).
In some variants these additional moves are restricted to being sideways and forward.
Cross-eyed Chess
You move one way, but you capture as if you had moved into the opposite way.
E.g. Rook h4-h3 captures on h5.
En passant works the same way, if a8 is empty, Black's move c7-c5 may be answered by
b7-a8Qxc6. Note that the Queen stays on a8 after White's move!
Deadly Pawns Chess
Any enemy piece diagonally opposite a Pawn with be immediately eliminated.
In variant 2 any enemy piece adjacent to a Pawn is immediately eliminated.
Deflector Chess
The Pawns act as deflectors in the following sense:
A Rook, Bishop or Queen may move to a square that is occupied by a friendly Pawn.
The piece then has another partial move into a direction that is at right angles to the original direction of the move.
The partial move is forced.
After the partial move, the temporarily hidden Pawn reappears.
Double Chess
On a double size board (16x8), White has two sets of white pieces, Black has two sets of black pieces.
Castling is executed as if there would be two separate boards.
. You have to checkmate only one of the two kings of your opponent.
Double Move Chess
A piece is allowed to make two moves per turn.
Depending on the variant, the second partial move is only allowed
under certain conditions:
Variant 1: Second partial move always allowed.
Variant 2: Second partial move only when first move was a capture.
Variant 3: Second partial move only when first move was not a capture.
Variant 4: Second partial move only when second move is a capture.
Variant 5: Second partial move only when second move is not a capture.
Variant 6: Second partial move only when both moves are captures.
Variant 7: Second partial move only when neither move is a capture.
Variant 8: Second partial move only when into the same direction.
Variant 9: Second partial move only when not into the same direction.
There is no double move when castling or promoting.
In the first partial move the king may move into check
Fastpawn Chess
A pawn is allowed to make two (in another variant three) standard pawn moves at a time.
Fortress Chess
All chess pieces are used in the setup.
The rooks are on b1, g1, b8, g8. The a-file and h-file do not contain any pawns.
Castling moves king and rook to the same places as in standard chess.
Freeze Chess
If the piece that moved last attacks any enemy pieces, then these pieces are not allowed to move in the next turn.
A piece attacking the king can get frozen itself. In this case the king is allowed to stay in check.
By his freezing power, a king may move next to the opponent's queen or next to the other king, for example.
The latter case means that one king can checkmate the other king!
Deepfreeze Chess
Any piece on the board that is in an attacking line of any other piece on the board is immobilized.
A piece attacking the king can get frozen itself. In this case the king is allowed to stay in check.
By his freezing power, a king may move next to the opponent's queen or next to the other king, for example.
In the latter case both kings cannot move ever again!
You win if you either checkmate the opponent's king or if you immobilize your opponent without being fully
immobilized youtself.
Hades Chess
A captured piece may be reinserted as one of lesser value at any later point in the game:
A Queen comes back as Rook, the Rook as a Bishop, the Bishop as a Knight, the Knight as a Pawn
(reinserted on ranks 2 to 7 only), but a captured Pawn disappears.
Hungry Pawns
A pawn can capture many pieces in one turn.
It can keep capturing as long as there is an enemy in its reach.
Limpy Chess
A knight cannot jump, but only 'limp': it moves as normal, but the
square orthogonally adjacent to it must be empty before it can
go there and then move on one step diagonally..
Onwards Chess
Pieces are only allowed to move forward or sideways.
When they hit the eighth rank (for black the first rank), the rule is reversed:
they can only move backwrds or sideways.
The moving direction reverses again when they hit the opposite border.
One-two Chess
In ONE-TWO CHESS you move once with your opponent's pieces, then twice with your pieces.
You are allowed to move your king or your opponent's king into check at any time.
You are allowed to capture your opponent's king.
Pass Chess
Either player may accumulate additional moves per turn by passing a move at any time in the game.
To stop White from having an overwhelming attack in the opening, the free turns may be restricted
to certain piece types.
Penalty Chess
If a player captures a piece, his opponent may move twice.
In the standard version of Penalty Chess, the second move by the opponent is forced.
As a variant, the second move may be optional.
Promotion Chess
Whenever a piece hits the eighth rank (for Black the first rank), it may promote to any other piece
apart from a pawn.
River Chess
Variant 1: All you have to do is to get one of your pieces to the far rank
The king is non-royal and can be taken at any time.
Variant 2: Like variant 1, but in order to win the piece landing on the far rank has to be safe from
being taken in the next move.
Statue Chess
Captured pieces may be reinserted any time later (Pawns from the 2nd to 7th rank).
Reinserted pieces turn to "statues": they cannot move, but can capture any piece in their normal range.
If a statue is captured, it is deleted and not stored.
You might have to mark the statues appropriately.
Swap variant of Statue Chess:
Only one piece can be stored at any time.
When the second piece is captured, the first piece is lost.
Sticky Chess
A moving piece drags a friendly piece with it if:
- the friendly piece is positioned to the South of it.
- the target square for the dragged piece is empty.
En passant is only possible if the captured Pawn did not drag a piece with it.
Two-one Chess
In TWO-ONE CHESS you move twice with your pieces, then once with your opponent's pieces.
Transfer Chess (for two players)
Transfer Chess is played on two separete chess boards simultaneously.
Player Blue has White on the first board, Black on the second board.
Player Red has Black on the first board, White on the second board.
Captured pieces are stored and can be re-inserted on the other board
by the player who captured the piece.
A turn consists of one move only. The player choses which board he/she wants
to make his/her move on.
You have to checkmate only one of the two kings of your opponent..
Transfer Chess - Swap Variant
Like Transfer Chess, but only the piece captured last is allowed to stored and re-inserted.
Siince there are two boards, you may have one black piece and one white piece stored.
Transfer Chess - Parallel Variant
You make a move on either of the two boards.
No transfer of pieces allowed!
Transparent Chess
Depending on the variant, all or only the friendly pieces or only the enemy pieces are transparent.
Transparency means that a Rook, Bishop or Queen can move right through them and land on any empty
square behind.
A piece which moves through a transparent piece cannot capture in the same move.
Twin Chess
If possible, you make a second, "twin" move after your standard move.
A twin move is a move with a piece of the same piece type, going into the same direction and
covering the same length.
Eg. Pawn e2-e4 may be followed by Pawn h2-h4 in the same turn.
During the game, Rh1-g1 may be followed by Rf6-e6 in the same turn..
That way you may capture two pieces in one turn.
However, en passent can only capture one piece!
If no twin move is possible, it is the opponent's turn to move.
In standard Twin Chess, the twin move is forced.
As a variation, the twin move may be optional.
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Angle Chess
White: K d1, Q e1, B c1 f1, N b1 g1, R h1, P c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2;
Black K a4, Q a5, B a3 a6, N a2 a7, R a8, P b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8.
Black pawns move to the right, all chess rules apply correspondingly.
Variant: A white Rook on b1 and a black Rook on a2 replace the Knights on these positions.
Bank Chess
At a cost of a turn, you may move any of your pieces - except the king - off the board (put it in your "bank account")..
At a cost of a turn, you may re-insert a piece from your bank account to an empty place on the board any time later.
Pawns can only be re-inserted from rank two to rank seven.
Apart from this, the standard chess rules apply.
Bank Chess - Half-Standard
Every second move must be a standard chess move.
Depending with what you decide to start, there are two variants.
Bank Chess - Swap variant
Only one piece is allowed to be in your bank account at any time.
If you put another one out, you forfeit the piece in your account..
Bank Chess - Half-Standard Swap
As Swap Variant, but very second move must be a standard chess move.
Depending with what you decide to start, there are two variants.
Better Pawns
Variant 1: Allow that pawns move sideways. Capturing is still only diagonally forward.
Variant 2: Allow that pawns move sideways and backwards. Capturing is still only forward.
Variant 3: Additionally to promotion on the far rank, allow that (a-,b-,c-,d-) pawns promote at h-file,
pawns from the right half of the board promote at the left side (a-file).
This makes only sense if we allow sideways movement as well.
Variant 4: As in variant 3, but additionally backwards movement allowed.
Variant 5 thru 8: As variant 1 thru 4, but the pawns can only capture straight forward.
Variant 9 thru 12: As variant 1 thru 4, but the pawns can also capture NEE and NWW.
Variant 13: Standard chess plus: pawns can also capture NEE and NWW.
Black Hole Chess
The centre of the board (squares d4, d5, e4, e5) is replaced by a "Black Hole". Any piece that moves to square of the
Black hole ends outside the board (but is still your piece). Hence the squares d4, d5, e4, e5 never carry any chess pieces.
The king cannot enter the Black Hole.
At a cost of a turn, you may re-insert a piece from your bank account to an empty place on the board any time later.
Pawns can only be re-inserted from rank two to rank seven.
Black Hole Chess - Swap variant
Only one piece is allowed to be in your bank account at any time.
If you put another one out, you forfeit the piece in your account.
Burnt Chess - Swap variant
When you capture a piece, the starting square becomes unavailable for further play.
To mark the square, put a token (e.g., a cent piece) on this square.
Cannibal Chess
You may eat your own pieces. For such a sacrifice you are compensated:
In the standard version of Cannibal Chess, you may reinsert the piece at any time later
(and forfeit one move).
As a variant, you are compensated instead by another move with the same piece.
Checkers Chess
In addition to their standard moves, the King, Queen, Bishop and Rook may jump like in Checkers.
If the piece that is being jumped over is an enemy, then it is captured.
As a variant the Pawns may also jump.
Depending on the variant, the Pawn-jumps may be only diagonally or also forward.
Cloak Chess
You cloak some or all of the chess pieces by replacing them with monochrome tokens.
White and Black may or may not use the same type of tokens.
Companion Chess
You may only move a piece that has another friendly piece orthogonally placed next to it .
Only if you cannot move that way you are allowed to make any legal chess move.
Crazy Pawns Variants
Additional to their standard moves, Pawns also move (only to an empty square) like
a Queen (or a Rook or a Knight or a Bishop or a King, depending on the variant).
In some variants these additional moves are restricted to being sideways and forward.
Cross-eyed Chess
You move one way, but you capture as if you had moved into the opposite way.
E.g. Rook h4-h3 captures on h5.
En passant works the same way, if a8 is empty, Black's move c7-c5 may be answered by
b7-a8Qxc6. Note that the Queen stays on a8 after White's move!
Deadly Pawns Chess
Any enemy piece diagonally opposite a Pawn with be immediately eliminated.
In variant 2 any enemy piece adjacent to a Pawn is immediately eliminated.
Deflector Chess
The Pawns act as deflectors in the following sense:
A Rook, Bishop or Queen may move to a square that is occupied by a friendly Pawn.
The piece then has another partial move into a direction that is at right angles to the original direction of the move.
The partial move is forced.
After the partial move, the temporarily hidden Pawn reappears.
Double Chess
On a double size board (16x8), White has two sets of white pieces, Black has two sets of black pieces.
Castling is executed as if there would be two separate boards.
. You have to checkmate only one of the two kings of your opponent.
Double Move Chess
A piece is allowed to make two moves per turn.
Depending on the variant, the second partial move is only allowed
under certain conditions:
Variant 1: Second partial move always allowed.
Variant 2: Second partial move only when first move was a capture.
Variant 3: Second partial move only when first move was not a capture.
Variant 4: Second partial move only when second move is a capture.
Variant 5: Second partial move only when second move is not a capture.
Variant 6: Second partial move only when both moves are captures.
Variant 7: Second partial move only when neither move is a capture.
Variant 8: Second partial move only when into the same direction.
Variant 9: Second partial move only when not into the same direction.
There is no double move when castling or promoting.
In the first partial move the king may move into check
Fastpawn Chess
A pawn is allowed to make two (in another variant three) standard pawn moves at a time.
Fortress Chess
All chess pieces are used in the setup.
The rooks are on b1, g1, b8, g8. The a-file and h-file do not contain any pawns.
Castling moves king and rook to the same places as in standard chess.
Freeze Chess
If the piece that moved last attacks any enemy pieces, then these pieces are not allowed to move in the next turn.
A piece attacking the king can get frozen itself. In this case the king is allowed to stay in check.
By his freezing power, a king may move next to the opponent's queen or next to the other king, for example.
The latter case means that one king can checkmate the other king!
Deepfreeze Chess
Any piece on the board that is in an attacking line of any other piece on the board is immobilized.
A piece attacking the king can get frozen itself. In this case the king is allowed to stay in check.
By his freezing power, a king may move next to the opponent's queen or next to the other king, for example.
In the latter case both kings cannot move ever again!
You win if you either checkmate the opponent's king or if you immobilize your opponent without being fully
immobilized youtself.
Hades Chess
A captured piece may be reinserted as one of lesser value at any later point in the game:
A Queen comes back as Rook, the Rook as a Bishop, the Bishop as a Knight, the Knight as a Pawn
(reinserted on ranks 2 to 7 only), but a captured Pawn disappears.
Hungry Pawns
A pawn can capture many pieces in one turn.
It can keep capturing as long as there is an enemy in its reach.
Limpy Chess
A knight cannot jump, but only 'limp': it moves as normal, but the
square orthogonally adjacent to it must be empty before it can
go there and then move on one step diagonally..
Onwards Chess
Pieces are only allowed to move forward or sideways.
When they hit the eighth rank (for black the first rank), the rule is reversed:
they can only move backwrds or sideways.
The moving direction reverses again when they hit the opposite border.
One-two Chess
In ONE-TWO CHESS you move once with your opponent's pieces, then twice with your pieces.
You are allowed to move your king or your opponent's king into check at any time.
You are allowed to capture your opponent's king.
Pass Chess
Either player may accumulate additional moves per turn by passing a move at any time in the game.
To stop White from having an overwhelming attack in the opening, the free turns may be restricted
to certain piece types.
Penalty Chess
If a player captures a piece, his opponent may move twice.
In the standard version of Penalty Chess, the second move by the opponent is forced.
As a variant, the second move may be optional.
Promotion Chess
Whenever a piece hits the eighth rank (for Black the first rank), it may promote to any other piece
apart from a pawn.
River Chess
Variant 1: All you have to do is to get one of your pieces to the far rank
The king is non-royal and can be taken at any time.
Variant 2: Like variant 1, but in order to win the piece landing on the far rank has to be safe from
being taken in the next move.
Statue Chess
Captured pieces may be reinserted any time later (Pawns from the 2nd to 7th rank).
Reinserted pieces turn to "statues": they cannot move, but can capture any piece in their normal range.
If a statue is captured, it is deleted and not stored.
You might have to mark the statues appropriately.
Swap variant of Statue Chess:
Only one piece can be stored at any time.
When the second piece is captured, the first piece is lost.
Sticky Chess
A moving piece drags a friendly piece with it if:
- the friendly piece is positioned to the South of it.
- the target square for the dragged piece is empty.
En passant is only possible if the captured Pawn did not drag a piece with it.
Two-one Chess
In TWO-ONE CHESS you move twice with your pieces, then once with your opponent's pieces.
Transfer Chess (for two players)
Transfer Chess is played on two separete chess boards simultaneously.
Player Blue has White on the first board, Black on the second board.
Player Red has Black on the first board, White on the second board.
Captured pieces are stored and can be re-inserted on the other board
by the player who captured the piece.
A turn consists of one move only. The player choses which board he/she wants
to make his/her move on.
You have to checkmate only one of the two kings of your opponent..
Transfer Chess - Swap Variant
Like Transfer Chess, but only the piece captured last is allowed to stored and re-inserted.
Siince there are two boards, you may have one black piece and one white piece stored.
Transfer Chess - Parallel Variant
You make a move on either of the two boards.
No transfer of pieces allowed!
Transparent Chess
Depending on the variant, all or only the friendly pieces or only the enemy pieces are transparent.
Transparency means that a Rook, Bishop or Queen can move right through them and land on any empty
square behind.
A piece which moves through a transparent piece cannot capture in the same move.
Twin Chess
If possible, you make a second, "twin" move after your standard move.
A twin move is a move with a piece of the same piece type, going into the same direction and
covering the same length.
Eg. Pawn e2-e4 may be followed by Pawn h2-h4 in the same turn.
During the game, Rh1-g1 may be followed by Rf6-e6 in the same turn..
That way you may capture two pieces in one turn.
However, en passent can only capture one piece!
If no twin move is possible, it is the opponent's turn to move.
In standard Twin Chess, the twin move is forced.
As a variation, the twin move may be optional.
