The process of creating a chess variant

Chess is an ultra-competitive sport, and relies very heavily on the mind, which is the perfect recipe for burnout, as even the best players can testify.

That’s why chess variants exist, to refresh the mind. The new way of thinking they require, makes you remember why you fell in love with the game in the first place.

Chess feeds very smoothly into the nature of computers, that’s why chess bots are so powerful.

And I have no evidence for this, but I suspect chess players would also be good at programming, which is what I do!

Note: Need help, developed an addiction in the process, and can’t stop watching chess videos.

Step 1: Look at other variants

Like the 4 player chess, variants with new pieces, etc.

Actually, Magnus himself has a few interesting variants to his name, which I also checked out.

Step 2: Decide the main rules

The most important step, everything else builds on this one.

In my case, the player would be a single piece, and the rest would all be enemies.

I also got rid of turns, to see what happened.

I loved the result, and soon got crazy, making enemy pieces move, squares that disappear, fantasy pieces, etc.

Note: If you ever make a program, you’ll find that it can act in cool ways that not even you expected, which is why I love it so much.

I’m sure the developers of AlphaZero feel this way when they get whooped by their own bot.

Step 3: Closing

This step is the hardest part.

It involves making it look decent aesthetically (not an artist). Fixing bugs, security and making it accessible.

Conclusion:

I wanted to get the opinion of legit chess players, do you like it? What twist would you put in? Improvements?

You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5EloKX_Brc

It took me a very long time, but I learned a ton in the process (I’m 21, little programming experience), and I discovered the chess world.