Mickey Mouse Chess

Welcome to our first blog post!

We start fresh with a new chess variant that we chiefly propose for children wanting to learn chess.

It's called...Mickey Mouse Chess - after the well-known 'Mickey Mouse classes' for beginning skiers.

This is a fun variant that simplifies the game by using only four pawns, two knights, a king, and a queen. Otherwise, rules are the same.

Here is the starting setup:

[White to Move, Stockfish 0.00]

As you can see, this feels like immediately stepping to an endgame. Except that here, we still have the liberty to develop our pieces, our pawn structure, and our king safety formation. Also, the knights are on uncommon positions, so this game knows no standard opening theory.

This makes Mickey Mouse Chess attractive as a training tool for players of all levels.

Each player has a number of moves before the game leaves drawish territory, so many variations are possible! We have explored several lines and named each viable one after a Disney character. There are even a few gambits and opening traps. So watch out for Captain Hook Mate, Pinderella, Checkpetto, and Forky.

Mickey Opening
 1. d3 Nd5 2. Kd2 e6 3. Ne4 f5 4. Qg1 Nde7 5. Nf6+ Kf7 6. Nh7
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]



Minnie Variation
  1. d3 d5 2. Kd2 e5 3. Qa1 Qf6 4. Qc3
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Mortimer Variation
1. d3 e6 2. Qc3 Nd5 3. Qg7 Qf6 4. Qg8+ Ke7 5. Ne4 Nc3+ 6. Nxc3 Qxc3
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Pete's Gambit
1. Qh1 Qa8 2. Qh7 Qg2 3. Qg8+ Nf8 4. d3 Qxf2 5. Nh5
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

HDL Formation
1. d3 e6 2. f3 f5 3. e3
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Scrooge Opening
1. Nf1 e5 2. Nc1 d5
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Einmug Opening
1. e4 e5 2. d4 Qg5 3. Qc3
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Pluto Gambit
1. Ne4 Nc4 2. f4 Nxf4 3. Qh4 Ng6 4. Nf6+ exf6 5. Qxc4
[Black to move, Stockfish -0.65]

Donald Attack
1. e4 d6 2. Qe3 c5 3. f4
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Daisy Defense
1. e3 Qa8 2. Ke2 Qa6+ 3. d3 Qa2 4. Qc3 Nd5 5. Qc5 e6 6. e4 Ndf4+ 7. Kd2 c6 
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Goofy Opening
1. Nf5 e6 2. Ng7+ Kf8 3. Nh5 Qh4 4. Ng3
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Mim Opening
1. Qh1 e6 2. f4
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Marcus Opening
1. Qh1 Qa8 2. Qh7 Nf8 3. Qh8 Qd5 4. Nd4 Nc4 5. Nf3
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Ariel Opening
1. d3 e6 2. Qc3 Nd5 3. Qg7 Qh4
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Ursula System
(Octoknight galore)
1. e3 e5 2. Qe2 Qa8 3. d4 Qd5 4. Ke1 exd4 5. Nxd4 Ke7 6. Ngf5+ Kf6 
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Black Beauty Formation
1. Ne4 Nc4 2. d3 Nce5 3. Nd4 Qb8 4. Qa5 c6 5. Kc1 Nf4 6. e3 Nd5
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Angus Opening
1. Nf5 e6 2. Ng7+ Ke7 3. Qh1 Qf8 4. Qh6 
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Bullseye Opening
 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nxe5 3. Nd4 Qh4 4. Ngf5 
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Horace Gambit
1. Nd4 c5 2. Nb5 d5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qb4
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Centaur Opening
1. Ne4 Nd5 2. Nd4 Ne5 3. Qh1 Ng6 4. Nd6+ cxd6 5. Qd5
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Destiny Opening
1. Ne4 d5 2. Nec5 e5 3. Na5
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Khan Opening
1. d4 d5 2. Qa5 Nc4 3. Qb5+ Kf8 4. e3 e6 5. Nc5
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Maximus System
1. e4 e5 2. d4 Qf6 3. d5 Qf3+ 4. Qe2 Qxe2+ 5. Kxe2 Nf4+ 6. Kf3 Nc4 7. Nc5 f6 8.Nf5
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Pegasus Opening
1. Nc5 Nd5 2. Nf5 Ne5
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Philippe Opening
1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. e5 Nc4 4. Qc3 Qg5
[White to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Samson System
1. Ne4 Qa8 2. Nc3 c5 3. d3 c4 4. dxc4 Nxc4 5. Qg1
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]

Eeyore Opening
1. e3 Qa8 2. d3 Qf3+ 3. Kd2 d5 4. Nd4
[Black to move, Stockfish 0.00]