EXPTIME CHESS
Imagine a game where the board is filled to the brim with pieces. They do not move. They are static protocols with a fatal trigger. Your move is not about where to go, but about which of your own pieces to erase first.
They disappear one by one. Each disappearance is not a loss, but a calculation. Strength becomes vulnerability. Victory is the art of planning your own annihilation one move ahead of your opponent.
Its complexity is not light, not medium, not advanced. It is paradoxical. The rules fit into a single sentence. Its depth lies in the exponential branches untouched by Go or classical chess.
This is not a new game. It is a new operating system for conflict. It uses the language of chess to tell a story that chess could never tell.
Introducing. EXPTIME CHESS. Chess played by deletion. The only way to move forward is to erase your pieces from the board. A system where your erasure is the tactic.
Why EXPTIME?
In computational complexity theory, EXPTIME is the class of problems for which no efficient (polynomial-time) algorithm exists. The time required for a complete analysis of such a problem grows exponentially with the increase in the size of the input data.
The mechanics of EXPTIME CHESS (mirror setup, mandatory capture-self-destruction) generate precisely this kind of complexity. Even for an 8x8 board, an exhaustive search of all possible variations lies beyond the capabilities of modern computers. The name is not a pretension, but an accurate description. You are playing a system that is, by its very nature, incomprehensible in its entirety.
EXPTIME CHESS
Designer: Vadrya Pokshtya
Year: 2026
Number of players: 2
Playing time: 30–90+ minutes (Highly variable and think-heavy)
Complexity: Paradoxical
Age: 14+
Genre: Abstract Strategy Game
Objective: Leave your opponent with no pieces at the start of their turn.
Board & Pieces: Standard 8×8 board. Each player has 32 pieces:
8 Recurser
8 Anglitch
8 Domerror
8 Kernelix
Setup (Mirror Placement)
The game starts with an empty board. Players alternately fill ranks, mirroring each other.
1. White places any 8 pieces on the 1st rank (a1–h1).
2. Black mirrors them on the 8th rank (a8–h8).
3. Black places any 8 pieces on the 7th rank (a7–h7).
4. White mirrors them on the 2nd rank (a2–h2).
5. White places any 8 pieces on the 3rd rank (a3–h3).
6. Black mirrors them on the 6th rank (a6–h6).
7. Black places their last 8 pieces on the 5th rank (a5–h5).
8. White mirrors them on the 4th rank (a4–h4).
The board is now full (64 pieces: 32 White, 32 Black).
Example of a game start after the mirror setup. White to move.
How Pieces Move
Recurser (NN):
Makes several consecutive knight leaps (2+1) in the same straight-line direction (Nightrider).
Anglitch (B+NN):
Moves as a Bishop or as a Recurser.
Domerror (R+NN):
Moves as a Rook or as a Recurser.
Kernelix (K+NN):
Moves as a King (one square in any direction) or as a Recurser.
How to Make a Move
Players take turns, starting with White.
A. If an Attack is Possible (Mandatory)
An Attack is defined as a piece's ability to move, according to its movement pattern, onto a square occupied by ANY other piece (friendly or opposing).
If at least one of your pieces can perform an Attack, you must choose one such Attack and execute it.
WARNING!
Consequence of an Attack: Your attacking piece is immediately removed from the board. The piece that was attacked remains on its square unchanged (it does not move, does not change color, and does not change ownership).
If multiple pieces can attack, you choose which one to eliminate.
B. If an Attack is Impossible
If none of your pieces can attack any other piece on the board (friendly or opposing), you may make a Standard Move: move any one of your pieces along its standard trajectory to an empty square (without attacking).
End of Game: The game ends when it is a player's turn to move and they have none of their own pieces left on the board. That player loses.
Core Principle: You do not capture — you sacrifice your own pieces to force your opponent to do the same. Victory goes to whoever better calculates the sequence of these forced sacrifices.
This isn't "just another chess mod." It's an attempt to create a new kind of conflict on an 8x8 grid, where the only resource is the right to be the one who removes your own piece last.
But Then Why Chess?
Because Chess is a Universal Language.
When you see an 8×8 board and familiar silhouettes, your brain already switches into strategy mode. You don't need to learn a new geography, a new set of icons, or a new physics of movement. You instantly understand: this is a battlefield, and these are my units.
I used this language not to create "yet another chess variant." I used it to shatter your expectations on familiar ground.
If the game were played on a hexagonal grid with unseen creatures, all its depth would be drowned in the attempt to grasp "what is this even?" Here, you immediately know the movement rules (rook, bishop, nightrider). And that is precisely why you can focus on the absolutely new, paradoxical logic of conflict hidden beneath the familiar shell.
The chess pieces here are not a king's army; they are visual anchors. They provide you with a foothold to immerse yourself in the absurd, where strength equals vulnerability, and victory is achieved through planned self-annihilation.
This is not chess. This is A GAME that uses the vocabulary of the classic game to tell you a completely new, ruthless story about conflict, sacrifice, and control. I am speaking to you in a language you understand in order to explain the incomprehensible.
