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In Atomic chess, when you capture a piece it explodes! Explosions destroy all pieces that are 'touching' the captured piece, including the capturing piece, except pawns. Pawns are immune to explosions! The game ends when the king is destroyed in an explosion OR if the king is checkmated. Kings can not capture! Since a capture would lead to the king exploding, this leads to a unique rule allowing opponent kings to be next to each other. Since kings can not capture each other this is allowed and is not considered a 'check.' In addition, this means that you can not capture your opponent's king to win the game, if it would also cause your king to be destroyed. Remember that checkmates are easier to achieve in this variant, since the king can not capture, OR be next to a piece that is captured! (Source: Chess.com)

In Torpedo chess, all pawns can always move one or two squares forward! Fire your pawns across the board at will! En passant rule applies! (Source: Chess.com)

Duck chess is just like chess, except... there's a duck! The duck is like a brick: pieces cannot move through the square occupied by the duck, and the duck cannot be captured. However, knights can jump over the duck. Each player’s turn has 2 steps: After moving a piece, the duck must be moved to a different and empty square. The duck does not move like a chess piece, you can move the duck to any open square on the board. There is no check or checkmate in Duck Chess! This means you can move into check, so be careful! Capture the opponent’s king to win. The stalemated player wins! In Duck Chess, stalemate is a win for stalemated player (the player with no legal moves). Since in duck chess moving into check is a legal move, stalemate can only happen if one player manages to trap their own king with their own pieces and the duck. If this defensive tactic is accomplished, the stalemated player gets the win. There are whole new strategies and openings to learn when a duck is involved! (Source: Chess.com)

Fog of War chess, sometimes called Dark chess, is different from standard chess in two major ways: Squares you cannot move a piece to are covered in fog. This is where the variant gets its name. Each player sees a different version of the board, each seeing only their own pieces, and the squares their pieces can move to. If you can't move any of your pieces to a square, you can't see what's there! In Fog of War chess you have to use your intuition and also your knowledge of chess in order to predict where your opponent will move his pieces, because most of the time they'll be hidden in the fog! The goal is not to checkmate the king, but to capture it. You can capture the king? Yes, that's right, the unattainable dream of many chess players can finally be done in this variant! In Fog of War chess players will not be notified when the king is in check, and so will not be forced to move out of check. This means that if your opponent does not realize they are in check and do not move out of check, you can capture their king and win the game! Additional rules to be aware of: Since the king can move into check without knowing it as a part of this game, this also means that the king can castle while in check, and can castle through, or into check! En passant capture is allowed. The threatened pawn and the square it moved through are both visible to the capturing player, but only until the end of the turn. (Source: Chess.com)

In Racing Kings the object is not to trap or capture your opponent's king, but instead it is a race to the 8th rank! Similar to King of the Hill, you must get your king to a certain location first to win. There are some major differences though! First being, the board setup: White and Black's pieces both start on the same side, and there are no pawns. The pieces all move and capture in the usual way, with one very important exception: Checks are not allowed! That's right, you are not allowed to make any move that would put your opponent's king in check. One final important rule is in place to make up for white's first move advantage: if White gets their king to the eighth rank, and then Black also gets their king to the eighth on the very next move, the game will be a draw. (Source: Chess.com)

Crazyhouse is a variant which follows most of the normal rules of chess, except that captured pieces can be reintroduced to the board on your turn. The pieces move the same way that they do in traditional chess. Rules Games can still end in the same way: checkmate, stalemate, and time-out. Captured pieces reverse their color and are added to the capturing player's "bank." On your turn, instead of making a move ,you may choose to "drop"a piece from your "bank" onto any open square on the board. You can drop a piece from your bank to block a check, even in a position that would otherwise have been checkmate (i.e. without the piece from your bank to drop). You may drop a piece to both check and checkmate the enemy king. Pawns may not be dropped on the 1st or 8th ranks. Pawns that have promoted and are then captured go into the bank as pawns, not as the piece they promoted to. (Source: Chess.com)

Bughouse is a variant of chess played by four players in teams (partnerships) of two on two separate chessboards. Each partner plays an opposing team member with the goal being to win the game by normal means (checkmate or timeout). One partner plays Black, the other White. Partners help each other by capturing enemy pieces which their partner may then place (drop) on an empty square on their turn. Rules When you capture one of your opponent's pieces, it is immediately passed to your teammate's "piece bank" for him or her to use at their discretion. On any turn, instead of making a move, a player can "drop" any piece from their "bank" to any open square on the board. Pawns may not be dropped on the 1st or 8th ranks. A pawn that is placed on the 2nd rank may move two squares on its first move, as in standard chess. Pawns that have promoted and are then captured go into the "bank" as pawns, not as the piece to which they promoted. Such promoted pieces are called "counterfeits." A bughouse game is over when a game on either board ends in checkmate, resignation, or timeout. (Source: Chess.com)

King of the Hill or "KOTH" is an exciting variant in which the goal is to get your king to the center of the board or "top of the hill". Games can still end in the traditional ways of checkmate, stalemate and time-out. The game can also end when a player moves their king to any of the four central squares. e4, d4, e5, and d5 are "top of the hill" squares, winning the game on the spot for either White or Black, regardless of the nature of the position. (Source: Chess.com)

3-Check is a simple variant with one clear task in mind: Check the king as many times as you can! Normal rules apply, but you can also win (or lose!) a game by checking (or getting checked) 3 times in total. Games can still end in the traditional ways of checkmate, stalemate and time-out. The game can also end if a player checks their opponent's king three times. A move that results in a double-check only counts as one check towards the "total check score." (Source: Chess.com)

Chess960, or Fischer Random, is a variant invented by the late World Champion Bobby Fischer. The rules of the game are the same as standard chess, but in an effort to reduce the impact of opening theory, the pieces have been randomly shuffled on each player's back rank. Games end in the traditional ways of checkmate, stalemate and time-out. Bishops must still be on opposite colors in the initial Chess960 position. The king must be between the rooks to maintain the ability to castle both ways. That means a king can only be placed between the squares b1 and g1 or b8 and g8 for Black. This means: No matter the location of the king and rook, standard rules of castling apply. It must be the first move for both king and rook, the king may not travel into or through check, and there may be no pieces on any square that either piece travels through. The king and rook end the process of castling where they would in a standard chess game. Example: Even if a white king is on b1 and a rook is on e1, castling kingside would involve dragging the white king to g1 (its final destination square), which will automatically move the white rook from e1 to f1, as White will always have the king on g1 and the rook on f1 in the final castled position. (Source: Chess.com)