Pawns-only Antichess

When it comes to Antichess (losing chess, giveaway chess), we always have to refer to the fact that, in essence, the game is solved. And it is solved in favor of White.

If for any game there is even a weak evidence of one of the sides winning in the starting position, then we can safely say that this game is unbalanced, that is, parity is violated in it and, therefore, such a game cannot provide both opponents with equal chances to identify the strongest.

I know quite a few strong chess players who, because of this, not only quit playing Antichess, but also lost all interest in solving giveaway chess problems.

It may well be that as a game, Antichess is not exactly the best pastime for casual chess fans, but as a source and generator of ideas for chess compositions, losing chess are simply invaluable.

Antichess problems and puzzles can be very, very interesting. Yes, they have their own special structure of interconnections, different from the regular chess, yes, they have their own special logical conditioning, but the general expression of the beauty of the concept and the flight of fantasy of losing chess composers are no different from regular chess problems, and in some cases even surpass them.

There have been many attempts to revive Antichess. There is Antichess960, Antichess with pawn promotion only to queens (Pritchard's idea) and a number of others. A long time ago I proposed Screen Antichess similar to Screen Chess and Antichess 'Purgatory', which requires a considerable number of pawns...

Today, perhaps, I will make one more attempt. And this time it will be the last, because I am absolutely convinced that the version of losing chess proposed here is perfectly balanced and neither side has the slightest hint of an advantage.

I have no doubt that the game can be easily solved by engines, but it gives all Antichess fans a feeling of ease and simplicity, enjoying the game process itself, instantly immersing opponents in such a rich and varied endgame of the world of losing chess.

Pawns-only Antichess

This Antichess variant differs from the main losing chess rules only in the initial position. All other Antichess rules remain unchanged.

Each player has only eight pawns, which, as expected, stand in the second (for White) and seventh (for Black) rows. The first and eighth rows remain free of any pieces.

Surprisingly, but true - with such an almost endgame initial position, losing chess began to play with completely different, I would even say, stunningly saturated colors. The game became more elegant and beautiful, but at the same time requiring the utmost concentration and deep understanding of the position.

As examples, let's look at several positions from test games that can confidently claim top spots among the classics of the Antichess composition.

Black to move and mate in 8 

1. ...d1=B 2. Qf2 gxf2 3. g4 Bxg4 4. e5 Bh5 5. e6 f1=R 6. e7 Rf7 7. e8=Q Rf8 8. Qxh5 Re8 9. Qxe8#

A wonderful problem on pawn promotion.

White to move and mate in 11

Main line:

1. b4 cxb4 2. f5 e6 3. fxe6 dxe6 4. d4 e5 5. dxe5 f6 6. exf6 b3 7. f7 b2 8. f8=Q b1=K 9. Qd6 Ka1 10. Qc5 Kb1 11. Qc1 Kxc1# 

It is curious that 1. f5 and 1. b3 leads to a win for Black in four moves, 1. d4 gives a draw.

Black to move and mate in 7

1... b1=R 2. g7 Rxb6 3. g8=R e5 4. Rb8 Rxb8 5. h4 Rg8 6. h5 Rg6 7. hxg6# 

White to move and mate in 11

Main line:

1. a7 c1=K 2. a8=R Kc2 3. Ra3 Kc3 4. Rxc3 c4 5. Rxc4 d5 6. Rc5 d4 7. e4 dxe3 8. f8=R e2 9. Rf2 e1=Q 10. Rd2 Qxd2 11. Rc3 Qxc3# 

Interestingly, the engine advises White to play 1. e4, giving him an advantage of +2.3. However, it is the move 1. a7 that is the only one that leads White to victory.

Well, and finally, a real masterpiece that I managed to get while playing Pawns-only Antichess:

Black to move and win

It seems incredible, but Black wins here. And he wins in exactly 18 moves:

1... g1=K 2. a7 Kf2 3. a8=R Kg3 4. Qb5 Kxh4 5. Qb2 Kg5 6. e6 Kg6 7. e7 Kf7 8. Qa1 Kxe7 9. Ra4 Ke6 10. Qg1 Ke5 11. Rf4 Kxf4 12. Qg3 Kxg3 13. c4 Kf4 14. c5 Ke5 15. c6 Kd5 16. a3 Kxc6 17. a4 Kb5 18. axb5#

Just look at this:

Black wins.

The position is truly unique and so beautiful that it will not leave indifferent even those who are not familiar with losing chess at all.

As we can see, Pawns-only Antichess is not inferior in depth to ordinary chess, and the pleasure of the game can be simply unforgettable.

I still hope that this variant of losing chess will interest all Antichess fans and breathe new life into this type of chess game.