Chess variants

Chess games that change the rules for players who outgrew classical chess.

Chess variants produce new games by altering the standard 8×8 board or the rules of the pieces. Below are the best-known variants and how they differ — ending with this site's own variant, ColumnChess (Sütun Satranç).

Chess960 (Fischer random)

The back rank is shuffled into one of 960 possible setups. It removes opening preparation; move rules are identical to classical chess.

Crazyhouse

Captured pieces switch sides and can be dropped back onto any empty square. Material never shrinks; the game is a permanent source of attack.

King of the Hill

Instead of checkmate, you can also win by bringing your king to one of the four central squares (d4, d5, e4, e5).

Three-check

Giving three checks wins the game; a second victory condition sits beside classical mate.

Atomic

A capture explodes: the capturer, the captured piece and every piece on the surrounding squares (except pawns) leave the board.

Horde

One side fields 36 pawns, the other the classical setup. The pawn swarm tries to hunt down the king while the classical side tries to melt it.

ColumnChess (Sütun Satranç)

The classical setup and classical pieces are preserved; what changes is the movement rule of the file a piece stands on: rook on a/h, knight on b/g, bishop on c/f, queen on d, its own type on e. King and pawn stay themselves everywhere. Details are on the rules page, tactics in the strategy guide.

Play ColumnChess Türkçe