What is Duck Chess?

The new variant that is taking the chess community with haste, duck chess is a chess variant in which all rules are the same except the duck, which can be moved after each player’s turn onto any empty square; the square that the duck is on is equal to the square disappearing: pieces can’t move on or past the duck, but the knight can jump over the duck. The duck itself doesn’t move or do anything else, though. Placing the duck on a good square can be the key to succeeding.

One thing that players sometimes do with the duck in the opening is limit moves. For example, after White plays 1. e4, they can place the duck on c6 to prevent 1…c5 and 1…c6; however, Black can play 1…e5 and place the duck on f3 to prevent 2. Nf3 or 2. f4, and they can also play 1…e6 and place the duck on d3 to prevent 2. d4, which can turn out to be problematic for White. A duck on d3 can be a very tough obstacle for White in space-grabbing openings that don’t immediately control the center for Black. As you can see, moving the duck can be very helpful and strategic.

Blocking attacks can also be a use of the duck, but the blocker must be careful as the other player can move the duck back as well.

As shown above, in the endgame, the duck occupying a key square can be a very tough roadblock to overcome. In a KP vs K endgame, place a duck on the pawn’s promotion square, and it can never promote how hard the side with the pawn tries!

Now that you know what duck chess is and how to play duck chess, you can play it by visiting the Duck Chess Variants page here, and as always, keep playing chess!