Forum

Greetings all, Rather than seeing our forums fill with numerous threads about "dO YoU LiKe mY nEw pOsITiOn," and "wHO wAnTS tO hELp Me tEsT mY NEw pOsITioN?" We've decided to pin this thread instead. Here, you can post screenshots and ideas you have for new positions, and develop them collaboratively with the community. You can also follow this thread, and post requests within if you're looking to help creators play test games of their new positions, or if you are a creator looking for players to help you test. The conversation here will be less moderated than the official submission threads, or threads posted elsewhere on this forum. Note: this is exclusively for positions created in the custom editor, not for gamerule suggestions

Introduction Since variants.world currently doesn’t support notifications, this thread is meant as a way for the CGA team to update everyone on when a variant is accepted or declined in one place! (Note: This feed began on February 20, 2024, per post #2.) Follow the post to receive updates as soon as they are available!  CGAs and NCV Testers are the only people who may post comments on this thread! Please see below in the Q/A for more information. Q/A Q: What even is "variants.world" or "Variants World"?A: It's the platform we use to submit and review variants; it's developed by chess.com, and you login using your chess.com account. The URL is https://variants.world/, hence the name. Refer to the pinned threads for more info! Q: How does this thread work?A: You can press the follow button to get notified when we post here, so that you can keep up-to-date without having to check through every post on variants.world. Q: If only CGAs and NCV Testers should be posting here, why is the thread not locked?A: Because locking the thread means the follow button is disabled, I’m keeping it unlocked. This thread is meant to be organized, and any comment will be deleted. If you want to have a discussion, there are other places to do so such as by posting in notes, making another thread, or going to the variants.world comments sections.  Q: What do the different statuses mean?A: There are currently 4 color-coded statuses for a variant on variants.world, as well as 1 internal designation, which are all listed below: Under Review (UR): The variant is submitted and is currently on the CGAs' list. Pending Reply (PR): The variant has some minor issues that the CGA team has fixed. The creator can choose to accept the revisions or decline them. Declined: The variant was voted by a majority of the CGA team to be declined.  Accepted: The variant was voted by (usually) all members of the CGA team to be accepted. If recent, the variant will shortly be added to either the WoF rotation or the NCV public listing. Requirements Not Met (RNM): The variant has quickly resigned testing games, invalid time control, or any other disallowed feature that was not already detected by Variants World during submission. Q: Why aren't Under Review (UR) posts posted here? What about Pending Reply (PR)?A: variants.world already automatically puts the most recent posts on the top of the website's list; logging on to check regularly isn't that bad compared to potentially month-old posts being declined or accepted but forgotten about. PR'ed posts are put here, but a post having such a label is incredibly rare.

Post for the previous month's vote:https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-octobers-golden-variants-2025 Not sure on what some of the terms in this post mean? Have any other questions? See any typos? Feel free to ask and comment below! (Scroll down to the start of the bold text if you want to know how to vote without reading my entire post 😀) Welcome to the second-to-last month of the year, Custom Variants! There is nothing much to say currently as the December post should be coming out as well as soon as possible, so this post will be very lackluster in terms of content in this section. Information like some of the current NCV/WoF reviewing stats will be included in that post as well, so there's no point really in repeating it here.  However, some of you may be wondering why this post (again) took so long to come out, and it relates to the topic of Platinum Variant voting; since we have essentially run out of player-made variants in the Custom section to feature, we have mostly been running Golden Fortune arenas (which are not eligible for qualification to Platinum Variant voting) and FFA/Teams SP variants. Last month (linked above), we mentioned that next year, we will heavily consider making Golden Variant every 2 weeks instead of 1, which we will still very likely be going forward with, so we can focus more on the aforementioned FFA/Teams variants as well as the variants we listed as delete-candidates in the April update this year. At the moment, there are 4 remaining slots for Platinum Variant-eligible variants (excluding the week right before the date of the event) and there have been 2 variants in the quarter currently eligible, for a total of 6 by December 19. Since it would be pretty pointless to just cut out 1 variant, we'll simply be including all 6 as possible candidates in the vote. With that, here's the (very late) vote for this month! Current Format: As with other months, much of the important info regarding format has been consolidated into this pinned thread here: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2025-golden-variant-schedule Please read this in full! On top of general info, all previously selected variants, a link to last year's schedule, as well as links to previous votes are also included in this page.  What you're voting for: Golden Variant arenas starting on November 21 and 28 (Weeks 47 and 48 on the schedule, linked above) at 4 PM PST (midnight UTC the following day) Both arenas will be 72-hour arenas featuring a 4P FFA or Teams variant in Self-Partner setting (both players control two colors) The voting process: Two comments will be posted below with options for voting. Simply react to the comment with a variant's designated icon to vote for a variant. You may vote for more than one variant in each of the votes! For each vote, the winners with the most votes will be the variants that will be featured for this month. The voting for the Week 47 arena will end on November 21, 23 UTC The voting for the Week 48 arena will end on November 24, 0 UTC Example: Happy voting and may the best variants win!

Latest edit: Tournament has been rescheduled for a later date.  Hello there, members of the Custom Variants Club! Today, I'll be introducing to you a new tournament that is being directed by me (@VishTheFish771), supported by active members of our community (Including NCV testers and Custom Games Admins), and funded for by @imchesspro0930! What is The Gauntlet?  The Gauntlet is a community run teams tournament created with the idea of improving variant play and increasing activity to our less popular variants. This tournament is going to be run once every three months, or 4 times a year. Once a year, the winning team will also have a chance to receive free memberships! Anyone is free to join and try their luck at winning. It consists of 4 teams with 4 players each, so slots are extremely limited (16 in total). There are 3 different variants in total for the tournament: A Free For All variant, a two player variant from the 'Custom' page, and a Teams variant. Each team has a person dedicated to a certain variant: 1 person for FFA, 1 person for Custom, and 2 people for the teams variant. The roles are decided by the team members and must be communicated to me either by DMs or through this forum. If a team is unsure about how to assign roles, they can get their roles randomized by asking in this forum. Every team will also have a team leader that will act as the designated point of contact with the directors of this tournament, in case of queries or difficulties. Wow, this is interesting! How can I join?  If you'd like to join the tournament, simply write your name in the following format-@[username] would like to join the tournament (For example, if I would like to join, I would simply write @VishTheFish771 would like to join the tournament) Now, in each team, some slots have been reserved for members of the club TestLab and the club NextGen, to increase the skill level of members in both clubs and expose them to a larger portion of the Custom Variants Club. If a person is part of both NextGen and TestLab and would like to join the tournament, their name would be registered under the TestLab slot. Also, TestLab and NextGen members are not limited to only filling up the slots: there may be more than 1 TestLab/NextGen member per team. The final team format will look something like this:TestLab member reserved slotNextGen member reserved slotOpen slotOpen slot Ok, so now I've registered; what do I do now? Update: The information is out!All team members will have a group chat created by me. On this, you will have to decide on the roles for your teammates, between 2 player variant, teams, and FFA player. There will be 1 2p variant player, 2 teams players and 1 FFA player. The roles of each teammate should be communicated to me before August 4th by the team leader.The only difference in the team leader is that they communicate to me the status of the team. Being the team leader DOES NOT mean you are better/ have more powers/ have the right to order around your teammates. Being chosen as the leader is not a special status. Let's try to have a wholesome tourney! The variants being played in this tournament are:  -ACHERON (2 player variant) (Example Game) -BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (teams variant) (Example Game) -GRASSHOPPER ARENA (Free For All) (Example Game) How the tournament structure looks: After the team roles have been decided, the structure for the three kinds of variants will look like this:-The 2 player team member has the most flexible time frame: They merely have to be online at the same time as the opposing teams member. They will then be asked to go to the variants server, where they will play a game of the variant. After the game has been played, the link should be sent to the team leader, who will communicate it to me-The 2 team members need to be online at the same time as another pair of team members (something to keep in mind when deciding roles) Then, the same as the 2p variant players will follow.-Finally, the same goes for FFA, but this time 4 members from 4 different teams must be active at the same time. The FFA player should be someone who can be online on the server for long amounts of time, as FFA variants tend to take a lot of time. PAIRINGS:  2P AND TEAMS:TEAM FIRE vs. TEAM WATERTEAM AIR vs. TEAM EARTH FFA:self-explanatory: it's FFA, so all teams against each otherHello all! Please play your games as soon as possible. After you've played a game, send the link on this forum so I can confirm it! Make sure that all the participating players have mutually agreed that the game is a-ok for the tourney. You have until AUGUST 30 to play your games. The deadline may be extended only after express permission from me. Not playing your game within the timeframe without a valid reason leads to an instant loss. Scoring System: 2p and teams: Win: 2 pointsDraw: 1 point for both sidesLoss: 0 pointsFFA: 1st: 3 points2nd: 1 point3rd or 4th: 0 points.In case of a 2 way tie, each player gets 1 point. In case of a three way tie, each player gets 0.5 points. A 4 way tie results in 0 points for all the players.Additional: Forfeiting a match via inactiveness: 0 points, and the player who forfeited must step down from the tournament. You may appeal against this by contacting me through messages. SIGNUPS: Closed. TEAMS: FIRE: @Coopster8730, @Megul-Baskar, @roygabiv, @CzarnyResorak567 WATER: @Red_Kangaroos, @yx-aynerik897, @ChocoCaramelPawn, @3W_02-95_Z AIR: @MistMint, @asthebird, @noahfavelo, @ChessKnightBen EARTH: @Gardent490, @BlueYoshi21, @C4mil011, @LVnHAnh12 Timeline:  July 20th: Registrations open August 2nd, 12:00pm GMT: Registrations close and teams assigned. Roles to be assigned- Currently in this phase. August 20th=30th: Tournament games (Semi-Finals) ???: Tournament games (Finals) ???: Rank gifting So, are you ready for the Gauntlet?

Unfortunately if you live in a country where YouTube is blocked, this video won't work, but if requested I'll make a version that doesn't use YouTube as the embed provider

Having trouble... navigating the forum threads, finding the information you need, or getting questions answered? This is the Custom Variants Club Directory, where the most important forum threads are compiled and categorized! So whether you need information on how to submit a variant, a guide on how to make one, or something else, this can help out!  This thread will be periodically updated, so keep an eye out for changes! Use the bold titles on the sections to quickly find sections you want to read. Hopefully, with this, we'll have less clutter in the forum as there won't need to be as many pinned threads... (P.S., this is a good resource to link people to at any time if you want to recommend a guide or two. Remember to give constructive feedback to variants!) General Custom Variants Info https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/introduction-to-variants This post introduces some of the variant rules and pieces added in the major update in 2022, as well as explain the composition rating system, one of the categorization systems for variants, and some more! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/a-guide-to-the-new-analysis-board-and-editor This is probably one of the most important pages out there for variants on chess.com! If you are uncertain on how to use the custom position editor, this is the best starting point! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/who-is-the-cga-team "Who is [on] the CGA team" was a question asked in 2020; the main response will therefore be outdated, but it shows how you can tell who is on the Custom Games Admin team at any time by using chess.com clubs' Super Admin/Admin/Coordinator feature. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/gameplay-types In composition ratings, you may have seen things like "Materialistic", or "Positional". These are gameplay types, or classifications, which this post details. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/my-ncv-sortable-spreadsheet Want to know how many community member-made NCVs (New Custom Variants) there currently are on the server? What about who created them? One of our CGAs @BN1208 has made a Google Spreadsheet that shows the author of each NCV, as well as some other information on every variant as well! Creating a Variant Are you ready to become a variant creator? Anybody can become one, and everyone is welcome to try! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/good-custom-position-bad-custom-position-dos-and-donts-for-ncps-1 NCVs (as explained earlier) are a category of variant denoting community-made variants that are skill-based and are listed on chess.com/variants; this guide explains what the basic vision of a variant creator looking to make this type of variant should be! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/custom-position-stereotypes This is a pretty funny user-created post that shows some examples of flawed positions and why they would be declined if submitted! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/10-variant-creating-advices Another user-created post that has some pretty neat advice on how to create and (most importantly) how to make the most out of testing your variant! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-not-to-make-a-variant Similarly to the post above, this is a guide on some common trends amongst declined variants, and can give you some pointers on how to avoid making the same mistakes! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/autodecline-a-guide This is a guide on "autodecline", which is when a variant is quickly declined. The guide shows the guidelines that the Custom Games Admins (CGAs) use when considering an autodecline, and includes some very important testing tips! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/self-decline-a-guide  Similarly, this is a guide on “self-decline”, which is when the author of a variant wants to decline their own variant. This guide also explains why a creator might request one, as well as how to request one if it is ever needed! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-make-new-variants-accepted This is an announcement by our current head CGA @qilp, and details part of the review process and what the CGAs are looking for. The main focus of the post is concerning variants that are too similar to each other, and how variants with similar concepts should be innovative and unique. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/new-position-workshop-testing-thread Need some quick feedback? Want to find testers for your variant? This thread is perfect for that! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/variant-design-patterns Many variants have similar patterns in gameplay or in the goal of the game, such as "checking the opponent before a certain move". This thread explains many of the different patterns that occur in the many variants on the server! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/why-1653 "Why do CGAs need us to test games?" was a question posed by a player in 2020; if you're wondering the same thing, the responses here by former CGAs make some good points! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-can-you-make-different-numbers-of-checks-in-a-wof-or-ncp There are many variants that use check asymmetry (one side has more n-check lives than the other); this thread details how you can edit the FEN4 of an n-check variant to allow for this! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/some-fen4-tips-and-tricks The comments on this thread offer an extension to the FEN4 tricks shown above! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/everything-about-fairy-stockfish Want to analyze a position at a deeper level using engines? Learning Fairy Stockfish is a pretty technical process, but it's not impossible, and this thread can help simplify things. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/piece-dynamics-in-custom-variants There are many criteria to making a good variant, of course, but the most important one is using the right pieces! Understanding how pieces interact with each other and with different gamerules is crucial to designing a well-balanced, beginner-friendly, and fun-to-play variant. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/a-guide-on-how-to-use-promotedfrom-a-unintended-crazyhouse-feature  This forum explains a recent discovery involving the “promotedFrom” PGN4 tag, which allows you to do a few things that were previously considered impossible! This mechanic can be used for very interesting things like multiple royal pieces or artificially changing the point values of pieces. Submitting Variants Now that you've created a variant and are ready to submit, here are some resources that will help you during that process! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-submit-new-custom-positions This is the best place to start to get the gist of the basics. It helps more with defining the main variant categories of "NCV" (New Custom Variant) and "WoF" (Wheel of Fortune) and their respective arena schedule. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/4pc-wheel-of-fortune-information-1 More information on WoFs/WoF arenas here! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/requirements-for-submission This is the official submission requirement list. Please read this carefully before submitting a variant to Variants World! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-use-variants-world This is a video guide on how to use Variants World (https://variants.world), which was created by chess.com to host an archive of previously submitted positions and to also serve as a submission platform. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/variant-verdict-feed Once a variant has been reviewed, its verdict will be posted on the submission page, as well as on this thread linked above! There's a handy Q/A there as well, which will explain more on what the different results are. Golden Variants Golden Variants was started in 2021 as "Variant of the Week" and evolved into its current form in 2024. Want to know the most up-to-date information on how this weekly arena operates? These are some helpful threads! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-septembers-golden-variants-2025 This is the most recent Golden Variant announcement post, and shows the most recent voting format as well as information on how the arenas will operate. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2025-golden-variant-schedule This is a list of all variants that have been featured as a Golden Variant or Platinum Variant so far every week in 2025, along with arena dates and announcement posts from each month. Creator Challenges These started in 2025 with the creation of "Pocket Chess", a challenge where all variants participating had to fulfill certain variant design requirements. Want to see what influenced some of the variants submitted? Check out these challenges, made by the community! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2025-challenge-pocket-chess Pocket Chess basic rules: Must have 6x6 board and use the RY color theme. Historical Threads You might hear references to things like "cgabot" and the "merge", or an important event, and you might have no idea what that's all about! These threads are historically important and can help explain past conventions. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/cgabothttps://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/cgabot-2-0https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/cgabot-3-0 cgabot was a program that utilized chess.com's forum API to sort and automatically format forum threads, and was active during 2021-2023 before being replaced by Variants World. These 3 information posts detail the 3 different versions of cgabot. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/variants-world-update Variants World is the current submission platform used that only requires chess.com account authentication to access! It does a lot of stuff that cgabot used to do but faster and much more efficiently. These information posts detail changes made to the website. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/seeking-ncp-testers-apply-herehttps://www.chess.com/announcements/view/seeking-variant-testers-apply-herehttps://www.chess.com/announcements/view/become-a-variant-tester-apply-here NCV Testers are extensions of the CGA team and serve as helpers. Applications (like the ones listed above) are released every few months/years as members of the team fluctuate and as NCV Testers become CGAs.  https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/the-changes-to-the-variants-custom-games-after-the-merge The "merge" happened in 2022, and was the merging of 4 Player Chess with Variants. Many changes were made, which have been detailed above by a CGA. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/festive-fortune-2024 A replacement of the traditional Holiday Hootenanny arena, Festive Fortune 2024 was the first ever prized event hosted by the modern Custom Variants club, and featured the WoF "Treehouse Battle" in a weeklong arena where the top 3 players earned a membership award. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/all-variants-accepted-2024 This is a compilation of all of the variants (both WoFs and NCVs) accepted in 2024 by a CGA, along with some extra statistics and fun facts! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2024-golden-variant-schedule This is a list of all variants that were featured as a Golden Variant or Platinum Variant in 2024, along with the original arena dates as well as the announcement posts for each month. Historical Threads (4 Player Chess Club) Some important threads pertaining to custom variants were actually made prior to the creation of this club! These posts are a bit harder to track down, but here are the most notable ones! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/4pc-variant-custom-starting-position This was the original thread used for submitting NCVs (then called New Custom Positions or NCPs), in a format similar to the Workshop thread currently in this club. Many of these variants no longer exist on the current Variants server, but a select few have remained! https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/fools-day-tournaments This was the first ever prized event held related to WoFs by the CGA team. Sixty 24-minute WoF arenas were played on Fools' Day in 2024, with the player who won the most of these arenas winning a membership prize. Ironically, 3 CGAs came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and they offered the prize to the 4th place player. Transparency/Progress Reports The CGAs here at chess.com are all volunteers. Nonetheless, we wish to be as transparent as possible, show what our process is, and own up to our mistakes. These are some reports written by @ChessMasterGS (a CGA) which have been released periodically in 2023 and 2024. https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/update-on-ncv-wof-testing-situation July 13, 2023 https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/update-on-ncv-wof-testing-situation-2 August 11, 2023 https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/update-on-ncv-wof-testing-situation-3 November 26, 2023 https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/announcement-regarding-recent-submissions March 4, 2024 https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/custom-variants-club-update July 1, 2024

Make sure to scroll all the way to the end of this post, since every rule is important! The minimum requirements for submission: Title Your variants.world post must be titled with the name of your custom variant. Default names that are automatically generated by the system (e.g., Custom position giveaway) are not accepted. Afterwards, select either NCV or WoF on the submission screen, according to whichever category the variant belongs to. Consult a CGA if you are unsure which one your variant belongs in. Testing games Links to the testing games of your variant you played. Number of games A minimum of 9 testing games (previously 10). Time span Testing games must be played over a span of more than 24 hours (the last game must be played at least a full day after the first one). Different players Testing games must include a minimum of 9 different players (previously 8). Final version We encourage you to continue making alterations throughout your testing games. That's the point, after all. If you decide to make changes and want to count the previous versions as part of your tests, you may do so, as long as the previous versions are similar enough to the final one, but please include an explanation of these changes with the links to those games. At least 5 of your testing games must be of the final version. The last played testing game will be considered the final version.We will not accept submissions with illegal time controls (e.g., time controls obtained using an exploit, like 8 min), and this is because this way it's easier to gauge what a good default time control is and makes the testing games more productive and practical.In addition, WoF variants must be tested with a hyperbullet or bullet time control in order to better simulate real play of the variant; blitz won't be accepted. NCVs should work in all time controls, so testing in any (although preferably blitz or rapid) will be accepted. No bots Testing games cannot include any bot players or alternate accounts. No aborts Testing games are not valid if they were aborted or quickly-resigned (two to five moves into the game).  Forbidden gamerules Rules that only serve to alter the appearance of the board or the pieces, such as Blindfold, Checky Chess, or Ghostboard are not allowed by default. Exceptions may apply in extremely rare cases. Limit of publications We no longer strictly limit publications (it was previously 2 every 7 calendar days). However, still be aware that making multiple low-effort variants does not mean the chances of one getting accepted will be higher; the standards are still essentially the same. Notes (optional) Any additional text to be included in the game's description, or notes about the variant (e.g., common themes you discovered in your testing, special requests to the CGA team, etc.). In the case that you are submitting a revision of a previously declined variant or making a "sequel" to an existing variant, it is highly recommended that you include the changes that you made and why you made those changes. The complete process of new variant submission on variants.world is shown in the post below: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-use-variants-world

2024's Schedule: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2024-golden-variant-schedule Welcome to Golden Variant! Golden Variant is a weekly arena that aims to feature all community-made custom variants on the chess.com variants server! This resource page will be periodically updated throughout 2025 as Golden Variants for each month have been decided on through CGA nomination and/or voting by the community in forum votes. If you got here from the variants server through the game chat link, please consider joining us here in the official chess.com-run Custom Variants club using the link below to learn how you can submit your own variants for review and for updates in the world of all things chess variants: https://www.chess.com/club/custom-variants/join GENERAL INFO This page will be linked on Golden Variant announcement posts and in Golden Variant arena game chats. It will also be pinned on the Forums page in this club for easy viewing and is also included in the Club Directory. Relevant announcement posts for voting have also been included below. (Dates are based off the PST/PDT time-zones and are in Month/Day format. Arenas generally start at 5 PM PST on Fridays / 0 UTC on Saturdays and run for no more than a week.) 2025 SCHEDULE Week 1 (1/3): Sergeant's Checkers II Week 2 (1/10): The Lake Week 3 (1/17): Explosive Magic Week 4 (1/24): Cross Derby Week 5 (1/31): Acheron Week 6 (2/7): Rookmate Week 7 (2/14): Villagers Chess Week 8 (2/21): Euler's Game Week 9 (2/28): Phantom Rooks Week 10 (3/7): Red Sentinels (WoF)* Week 11 (3/14): Barricade (WoF)* Week 12 (3/21): Cloister (WoF)* Week 13 (3/28): Explosive Magic (Platinum Variant Q1) Week 14 (4/4): The Pestilence's Conquest Week 15 (4/11): Leapers Week 16 (4/18): Inferno Week 17 (4/25): Enchanted Woodland Week 18 (5/2): Simplicity (FFA) Week 19 (5/9): Villagers Chess II Week 20 (5/16): Infiltration Danger Week 21 (5/23): Ashtandrez Week 22 (5/30): Emperor's Tomb Week 23 (6/6): Final Bastion (WoF) Week 24 (6/13): Obsidian Pinnacle (WoF) Week 25 (6/20): Tinyhouse (WoF) Week 26 (6/27): Ashtandrez (Platinum Variant Q2) Week 27 (7/4): Cornered Week 28 (7/11): Qiang-Xiangqi Week 29 (7/18): Best Friends Forever Week 30 (7/25): Warui-shogi Week 31 (8/1): Lining the Field (WoF)* Week 32 (8/8): Hailstorm (WoF)* Week 33 (8/15): Minihouse (Throwback Platinum) Week 34 (8/22): Throne War Mini Week 35 (8/29): Sergeant's Checkers Week 36 (9/5): Serendipity Week 37 (9/12): Charybdis Week 38 (9/19): Beehive (WoF)* Week 39 (9/26): Cornered (Platinum Variant Q3) Week 40 (10/3): Atomic Armageddon (WoF)* Week 41 (10/10): Stagey Warehouse (WoF)* Week 42 (10/17): Battle of Ambassadors (WoF)* Week 43 (10/24): Thermopylae Week 44 (10/31): The Hive Week 45 (11/7): Red Light (WoF)* Week 46 (11/14): The Watcher (WoF)* Week 47 (11/21): Arena of Legends Week 48 (11/28): Every End Week 49 (12/5): TBD  Week 50 (12/12): TBD Week 51 (12/19): TBD Week 52 (12/26): TBD (Platinum Variant Q4) Italics indicates a variant not eligible for the Platinum Variant vote, e.g., Golden WoFs. Asterisks (*) denote a variant which was predetermined by the Custom Games Admin team. ARENA FORMAT Most Golden Variant arenas are voted on by the community in a monthly plurality or ranked-choice vote, although some may be pre-determined by the Custom Games Admins. Usually, these arenas will be 72 hours long, or 3 full days. Sometimes, there may be a "Golden Variant All Week" arena, featuring the newest accepted NCVs, or "Golden Fortune"/"Golden WoF" arenas; in those cases, arenas will be 168 hours long, or 7 days. Platinum Variant selections are decided every quarter year, voted upon out of the top 5 played (based on their arena performance in terms of games and players) Golden Variants of that quarter cycle in a winner-takes-all vote. These arenas are also 168 hours long, and also grant a membership prize (usually 1 month of diamond/platinum/gold) to the top 3 finishers. The standard time control for any arena is generally 5|2, although 3|2 and 1|2 may be used for variants which work better with a shorter time control (e.g., Minihouse, Amazon Jungle, etc.). On the contrary, Wheel of Fortune arenas (even "Golden Fortune") will always use the time control suggested by the creator during submission or similar. ANNOUNCEMENT POSTS January: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-januarys-golden-variants-2025 February: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-februarys-golden-variants-2025 March: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-marchs-golden-variants-2025 April: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-aprils-golden-variants-2025 May: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-mays-golden-variants-2025 June: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-junes-golden-variants-2025 July: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-julys-golden-variants-2025 August: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-augusts-golden-variants-2025 September: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-septembers-golden-variants-2025 October: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-octobers-golden-variants-2025 November: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-novembers-golden-variants-2025 December: TBD The currently active / upcoming soon voting thread has been bolded.

Hello custom game creators and players! As you may already know, the event we've been waiting for has finally happened! While some haters do their work because of feeling uncomfortable in a new environment, we, custom positions (hereafter, variants) fans, are happy to see the new version of four player chess. However, if some are still not excited of the changes, let me introduce you to the new world of variants and show what you should like it for. Remember to check our PINNED forums which detail how to submit positions, what we're looking for, guides, and more! New Features Let's start with the most sweet part of the update – new game rules. We've got such new cool things as Atomic, Fog of War, Capture Anything, Sideways, Torpedo, Racing Kings, Allow Passing, Fatal Capture, Bare Piece. The Allow Passing rule doesn't need any introduction as the name speaks for itself. Players can skip their turns. In case each player skips his turn 2 times in a row, the game ends in a draw (everyone gains 10 points if it's Game of Points). According to the Fatal Capture rule, all pieces except pawns die when they capture. However, its combination with Atomic makes pawns die too as all exploded pieces die, rather than disappear. With the Bare Piece rule, players with only one remaining piece automatically lose (resign). There are also some insignificant rules such as Opposite Castling, Self-Check and Pieces Face Center. The first rule prevents players from castling to the same side as the opponent, and the third rotates the pieces according to who these pieces belong to. In addition to the new rules, we also got 4 new pieces—the xiangqi horse, dragon bishop, transparent brick, and duck (acts like a brick). You have no longer ask us to make walls invisible as you can now customize them yourself, and even combine visible bricks with transparent ones (and ducks)! Isn't that cool? Moreover, now you can also set promotion to bricks, both visible and transparent! Another exciting innovation is the ability to expand the board to a size of 14x14. There will no longer be annoying fixed 3x3 corners that do not allow us create positions we need. Small positions can now be full screen as the board size is also customizable (from 2x2 to 14x14). Categories All variants are now divided into 8 categories: Most Popular – The most popular variants. Common – Variants with standard 2P position and some game rules applied. Extra – Custom 2P variants. FFA – Custom FFA variants. Teams – Custom Teams variants. Featured 2P – The best custom 2P variants. Featured 4P – The best custom 4P variants. Giveaway – Variants with Giveaway rule (Antichess). The best means the most balanced, beginner-friendly, unique, and/or well-made. To maintain the popularity of custom variants and prevent hours of waiting for a single queue to fill up, we were forced to drop half of the custom variants. Therefore, now the requirements for the new custom variant (NCV) acceptance have grown more than ever. In order not to clutter up the list and keep the balance between the number of custom variants and their popularity, we will no longer be able to accept NCVs just because they are cool. Now they must be made in the best way and be the best among possible alternatives. More information about the changes of listed custom variants can be found here. Ratings This is another amazing thing that makes Variants super cool. We used to have only one rating for all custom variants, and a separate Hyper rating for all games which were played with the hyperbullet time controls (6 and 15 seconds, no increment). Now we no longer need to be afraid to play different variants, as each variant has its own rating! There are two types of ratings: dedicated and composite. Dedicated ratings can be created by admins and assigned to multiple variants. Each dedicated rating is divided by time control type and game mode. Thus, one dedicated rating defines up to 8 sub-ratings (FFA rapid, Teams rapid, FFA blitz, Teams blitz, etc.) Only "elite" variants use this rating: variants from Common and Featured categories (however with some exceptions). Composite ratings are based on multiple sub-ratings, such as <custom position> rating, KotH rating, N-check rating, blitz rating, etc. Composite ratings have a custom effect on sub-ratings defined for each variant. In this way, if some variants have KotH that is more important in terms of gameplay than, let's say, N-check, then KotH rating will change more than N-check rating. How much each sub-rating changes in a particular variant can be seen in the player-popup when this particular variant is opened. Most dedicated ratings, also affect composite ratings, but less. This is done so that variants with certain rules can affect the sub-ratings of these rules. Another interesting thing about ratings is gameplay type rating. There are 5 gameplay types defined: Materialistic, Tactical, Dynamic, Positional, and Strategic. More information about what they mean can be found here. How the rating system works in general is explained in this article. What's next? We've got a lot of new things that will inspire many custom variants creators. However, let's first try to explore all new features and realize what we can actually do, before asking us to make something rated or add something to the WoF rotation. While creating new variants is very enjoyable and interesting pastime, let's do not forget to play already created variants too! Otherwise we'll need to cut the list twice more :]

Welcome to the Custom Variants discussion forum. This club is a resource for anyone who enjoys custom variants, and is the principle way in which variant custom positions to be submitted for listing within variants can be discussed. To better allow for a productive and healthy exchange of ideas, there are a few rules that we ask all club members and commenters to follow. Please note that while on Variants World, these rules should still be adhered to. 6 Simple rules: Comments shared on the forum must have purpose and be related to custom variants. Do not advertise on this forum. No spam. Be kind to one another. Do not use this forum as a means to accuse another player of rule-breaking. This forum is moderated at the discretion of the admins, and by the admins alone. Posts and comments which do not follow these rules may be removed, edited or locked. Frequent abusers of these rules may be temporarily or permanently muted within this forum, or banned from this club entirely with or without warning. All rules and community guidelines for chess.com must be followed on this forum, even if not explicitly listed here. 1. Comments shared on this forum must have purpose and be related to custom variants. New post content must be discussion-worthy. Most posts in this forum are related to New Custom Variants (NCVs) and Wheel of Fortunes (WoFs), however content on our forums is not limited to only these types of posts. If interested in submitting an NCV or WoF, please observe the requirements for doing so, found in this thread. If posting a thread which doesn't concern an NCV or WoF, make sure the content discussed is relevant to other members or admins. If not, consider posting elsewhere, like to your personal profile (blogs). Posts showcasing a new custom variant idea should be posted in the Workshop thread. If sharing a novel gamerule or fairy piece idea, then a new thread can be used to explain it, but should be written with detail. If you are suggesting two or more very similar ideas, please limit your posts to one thread instead of one for each of the idea. Check to see if there are existing similarly-themed threads before creating a new one. Use the search bar to lookup keywords related to your topic. In many cases, questions being asked through new threads have already been answered and discussed more fully than what you'll receive by starting a new post. With questions on how the game is played, the rules, or mechanics, your questions can be forwarded directly to any 4PC admin or Custom Games Admin (CGA). This forum is devoted to custom variant discussion. Posts about theory, tactics, and other gameplay mechanics of standard 4PC or variants (Atomic, Chess960, etc.) generally belong on the main 4PC forum and/or Variants forum, although they may occasionally be relevant here. Threads about bugs and lag should be posted in the Bug Reports thread in the Variants club. 2. Do not advertise on this forum. Forum threads or comments inviting members to other clubs are not allowed, even if Custom Variants related. Forum threads or comments sharing information about YouTube / Twitch / Discord channels or servers are not permitted. The above 2 points may be waived on a case-by-case basis, but only with permission from a CGA. Do not offer products, to work for hire, or ask others to do so. 3. No spam. Threads and comments must support a larger overall discussion related to 4PC variants. Meaningless comments are not welcome. One- or two-word responses are meaningless. Comments such as "+1," "agree," or "lol" must be supported with further commentary. State why you agree or disagree with ideas, or what points you specifically support. Quote other users only when needed either in response, or to support / refute their words. Edit quotations to only the most pertinent excerpts, so as not to flood pages with words that have already been said. There is hardly ever significant enough reason to quote a user's entire posting in full. If commenting, share your opinions within one post. Posting multiple replies within the same thread sequentially is considered spam. If you need to add to your previous statements, edit that comment instead of creating a new one. If absolutely necessary, you are permitted to bump your own post once, and only once. "Bumping" refers to leaving a new comment on a thread in order to bring it back to the top of the list of recent posts in an effort to renew interest in it. If bumping your thread, please make an effort to add some new context or discussion to the topic. As a general rule of thumb, posts older and inactive for more than a month should not be bumped unless the above standard is met. 4. Be kind to one another. If the purpose of your discussion points is to be spiteful, is targeting another player / a group of players, this is not the place to share those ideas. We recommend resolving disputes privately through direct contact, but you still must be kind in these private communications or you may face punishment from chess.com support staff. If the situation calls for more immediate action, you may contact any 4PC admin directly or chess.com support. Do not use vulgar / sexually-explicit / unfriendly language, or promote hateful ideas. This includes racial, homophobic, and xenophobic slurs. This includes references to any illegal activity. This includes links to websites or channels which frequently violate this rule. This rule, and all others, applies no matter the language in which it's posted. Private information should not be shared. Be respectful of the information other players have decided to share about themselves. Sharing personal details about yourself is not a good idea and is discouraged, but sharing personal details about someone else without their consent is strictly prohibited. Do not solicit this information from other players. 5. Do not use this forum as a means to accuse or report another player of rule-breaking. Rule-breakers within Variants can be reported directly to admins within the server. More information on how to do so can be found here. Rule-breakers within this forum can be reported by directly messaging an admin. CGAs do not have the ability to moderate the Variants server; only Variants admins can. 6. This forum is moderated at the discretion of the admins, and by the admins alone. If we choose to take action or not take action on a forum thread, comment, or user, that action cannot be appealed. Having said that, if you are unsure about why an action was taken against you or your content, you may privately message an admin with inquiries. However, realize that we may not respond, or we may not answer your question fully. Our decisions are final, and will hardly ever be reversed. The rules listed above are given as guidelines for forum content. They are not the only rules we enforce, nor are they all enforced at all times. We act in the best interest of the 4PC variant community at large, and will, in most cases, be discrete and restrained in our moderation efforts. Do not mini-mod. If someone is breaking these rules deliberately, you may report them to the admins. Please include a link to where a rule was broken. The admin team is active on these forums, and uses discretion when enforcing these rules. Unless you believe a user is knowingly and purposefully breaking rules, or is doing so in a manner causing significant damage to this community, you may assume that it will be dealt with in due time, and according to the judgement of the admins. If reporting incidents to the admins, you may not receive a response, although we appreciate your suggestions and vigilance. The rules above may be changed at any time.

Hello custom variant players and creators! Did you know that mostly all of the custom variants available for play on 4 player chess/variants were submitted by members of the community? We love seeing your creativity, and if you're up for the task, we invite you to make chess variants even more fun by helping us make New Custom Variants (NCVs)! We have a dedicated team who review and maintain the custom positions and arena tournaments, called Custom Games Admins (CGAs). On this forum you can submit your creations to the CGA team for consideration, and the possibility of becoming a rated playable variant position. We run daily tournaments (on weekdays) where the positions can be partially luck-based and designed to be a faster, less-contemplative game. We call these positions and the tournaments the Wheel of Fortune (WoF). You can create and submit these positions too! More information on WoF can be found here! On Saturday/Sunday/Monday (UTC) weekly, we also run weekend tournaments of New Custom Variants, called "Golden Variant". These games are entirely skill-based and offer both casual and competitive players alike to try out variants, both new and old, that they may have never played before! ⚠ IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE READ! ⚠ Having your created variant available for anyone to play is a big deal! It's right to be excited by the prospect. However, if you're going to have your name attached to something, wouldn't you rather it be the best it can be? The CGA team cannot strongly enough emphasize that the testing you do on your custom position be thorough, and extensive. We've created a guide all about what makes good positions good, and bad positions bad. Please read and make sure you understand this guide before starting your journey into variant creation. In order to submit your NCV or WoF for consideration, make a new variants.world post (see information here) following the requirements detailed in this thread.  The CGA team is strict with these requirements, so we are kindly reminding you that if your post does not meet all of the criteria listed above, the position will not be evaluated until you fix the errors. Additionally, bear in mind that the variant-scape is ever-changing, and so although we will make every effort to preserve listed variants, some of them may be removed in the future.

Some of these may be hard to understand, as it revolves around VW submissions, rather than variants itself. jack: hmmmm.... I see 9 points of material for white. Game: https://www.chess.com/variants/villagers-chess/game/72381096/62/1 yes I did mention specific individuals. sorry

Welcome to The Variants Gym 2! The Variants Gym 2 is a chess-variant challenge where you can try a range of different chess variants and earn points by completing achievements! Play games, score points, climb the leaderboard, and may the best variant player win! What is this? In every Variants Gym, there are five different variants (listed below), each with three challenges you can complete: The first challenge is simply to win a game of that variant. The other two challenges are optional, harder goals that give extra points. Points stack, so you can complete multiple challenges in the same game for extra points! Additionally, you can complete the same achievement multiple times, meaning you can score more extra points! Please note: Rapid and blitz time controls for Wheel of Fortune (WoF) variants do not count. Wheel of Fortune variants will be marked with (WoF) Hyperbullet time controls are excluded for all variants. Non-WoF variants must be played rated. If a game is resigned or timed out (excluding early checkmates and other exceptions) before or on Move 5, it does not count. Only games played after December 3, 2025 count towards this challenge. Huge thanks to @GymnastLazer829 for the inspiration! If it wasn't for them, then this challenge wouldn't have existed! See here for the original Variants Gym. Unlike the first challenge, you don't need to sign up, and you can start earning points right away! Also, the challenge has a fixed end date, which is January 1, 2026 at 12:00 AM UTC (11:00 AM AEDT). The player with the most points by the deadline earns a cookie 🍪, so good luck and have fun! How to Participate: You don’t need to sign up, simply just play the featured variants during December. To earn points: Play a game of one of the five variants. Complete one or more challenges for that variant. Comment with: Your game link The challenge name(s) (Example: “Runway: Victory — [game link]”) You can put multiple game links in one comment and all of them will count! As long as you’ve scored at least one point and posted a valid game link, you’ll automatically be added to the leaderboard! Variant 1 (WoF): Runway Variant 1: Runway by @qilphttps://www.chess.com/variants/game/28296356 Challenge Name: Challenge Description: Points upon completion: Runway: Victory Win a game of Runway against another player. 1 point Runway: Unrunway As Blue, win by using the queen to checkmate Red (by checking Red once). 6 points Runway: Horse Protection As Red, win without letting any of the xiangqi horses be captured. 11 points Variant 2 (WoF): Yolanda Yolanda by @chye3mchttps://www.chess.com/variants/game/82300936 Challenge Name: Challenge Description: Points upon completion: Yolanda: Victory Win a game of Yolanda against another player. 1 point Yolanda: Not Cornered Win a game of Yolanda without moving any of your two corner rooks and without moving onto any of the four corner squares 16 points Yolanda: W Chris Win a game of Yolanda against Chris (@chye3mc) 67 points Variant 3: Rubicon Rubicon by @josephruhfhttps://www.chess.com/variants/game/48903463 Challenge Name: Challenge Description: Points upon completion: Rubicon: Victory Win a game of Rubicon against another player. 7 points Rubicon: Skeleton Win a game of Rubicon without castling 11 points Rubicon: Unmythical Win a game of Rubicon without placing and moving dragon bishops 22 points Variant 4: Chaturdrez Chaturdrez by @martinaxohttps://www.chess.com/variants/chaturdrez/game/52807456/48/3 Challenge Name: Challenge Description: Points upon completion: Chaturdrez: Victory Get first place in a game of Chaturdrez against three other players. 28 points Chaturdrez: Nice to Each Other Get first place in a game of Chaturdrez without checking another player. 44 points Chaturdrez: Good Luck, Babe! Get first place in a game of Chaturdrez because any resigned player's king achieves KOTH, ending the game. 77 points Variant 5: (Modern) 4P Giveaway (Modern) 4P Giveawayhttps://www.chess.com/variants/4p-giveaway/game/69093700/123/4 Challenge Name: Challenge Description: Points upon completion: 4P Giveaway: Victory Get first place in a game of 4P Giveaway against three other players. 16 points 4P Giveaway: Betrayal Get first place in a game of 4P Giveaway, but your last move must be used to 'betray' another player, forcing them to lose rating. 26 points 4P Giveaway: Queenless Get first place in a game of 4P Giveaway without moving your queen. 36 points Current Leaderboard: Last updated: 4/12/2025 @Charles-Baird - 53 points @CzarnyResorak567 - 12 points @Oliver_Brimley - 7 points @variants3000 - 1 point 12 to 12

[Last updated- July 12th] Before we start, just a shoutout to the CGAs for adding this to the directory! ------------------------------------------------------------Just thought we'd have a moment of silence for all of those rip-off challenges (nah just kidding but there must be like 15 of those running around right now) (March 31st update- There are actually 13 rip off challenges including this, wow) Note added on June 2nd: We now have a seperate tournament category for Pocket Chess! Cool!------------------------------------------------------------So this is something that me and @imchesspro0930 have thought up of, which is... *Pocket Chess Challenge*So basically it's just chess but it's in your pocket. The rules for joining this challenge are simple- 1. The board must be 6x6 2. It must use the 4pc color scheme 3. Should be a WoF So Pocket chess challenge basically started from Beehive, a submission by @imchesspro0930. Since this got basically auto accepted (Opposite of auto declined) he thought it would be a cool idea to make Fatality (unfortunately declined) and Medusa's Pawns, which became number 2 and 3 as part of the pocket chess series. So how do you join the series? Well all you have to do is make a variant following the above rules (Which are pretty easy to follow, honestly) and just mention on Variants.World that it's part of the series! FAQs1.Yesterday i saw a random persons archive from three years ago and saw that they were playing a pre-merge 6x6 variant! Can I add this to pocket chess?A: Submissions before Beehive will only be listed at express request of the creators, and even then, I may choose not to add it taking into consideration the integrity of the challenge. Down here I'll be writing all of the submissions that are part of the series. 1. BEEHIVE-imchesspro0930 (The OG pocket chess) [Status- accepted]2.Fatality-imchesspro0930 (Mini Military) [Status- declined]3.Medusa's pawns-imchesspro0930 (2pc petrified diminishing returns) [Status- Declined]4.Cataclysm-imchesspro0930 (Catastrophe 2pc) [Status- Declined]5.Hilly Jungle III-Chye3mc (Why self decline D: )[Status-Declined]6.The Cellar-VishTheFish771 (Attempt at new naming trend) [Status-Declined D:]7.Delicate Giant- Nyutixbrother (Crystal but it's Nyutix) [Status-aaaCCCCCCCCEEEEEEPPPPTTTEEEDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!]8.The Wazir Snake- Czarny (Now Czarny was the real 4th person to join the challenge, huh)[Status-Declined ]9.Vanished Mystery and Brokers- KingSacrificingGotta or KSG (Which one is it?) [Status-Declined and Declined respictively]10.Unequal-icp0930 (Mini Unfair- I mean Contrasting strats) [Status-ACCEPTED WHAAAAT]11.Solarion-icp0930 (Is it chilly in here, or is that just me?) [Status-ACCEPTED!??!!]12.Battle By The River- Chye's Brother (I like building lego technic as well!) [Status-Declined]13.FORASKEN CITY- THE GOD(2bhsnt) (This will go down as one of the greatest acceptions of all time [Status- ACCEPTED!!!]14.Zodiac-KingSackGotta (Debatable name, but why not, I suppose) [Status-Declined]15.Pillager's Chess-Chye3mc (I like the name!) [Status-declined]16.Doubles-Czarny (Not tennis, so why not badminton) [Status-ACCEPTED!!!!]17.Inferior Atomic-CooolChicken (Uh... I like atomic) [Status-Declined)18.Pointy Garden-Haloeyi (Uno Reverse Hilly Jungle) [Status- Declined]19.Inequity-asthebird (All the good variant creators have joined) [Status-ACCEPTED?!?!!?!?!??!?!? (3rd Pocket chess acception!)]20.Cramped Fight-Yu (Nevermind... *Just kidding ) [Status-Declined]21.Broker-KSG (Why just why) [Status-ACCPTED!?!?!??!?!]22.Florida Everglades-Chye3mc (Why not HJ V? But anyways...) [Status-Declined]23.Camel of The Hill-Chye3mc (Queen of The Hill but it's a camel) [Status-Declined]24.Idaho Potato-Chye3mc (I choose English) [Status-declined]25.Tiny Atomicci-Chye3mc (Sounds like a type of explosive pasta) [Status-declined]26.Milla's Chess-KSG (...) [Status-Declined]27.Ducking-Chye3mc (His legacy continues forevermore...)[Status- Declined]28.You Suck-Chye3mc (Why did he make this...)[Status- Declined+warning (Basically muted)]29.Uncitieans-yx-anyeye (It took me 6 tries to spell this right)[Status- Declined]30.Pawn Battle-Joowon (Dragon bishops aren't weak lol)[Status-Declined]31.[This is a square] -Cooolchicken (Nice to see you joining pocket chess!)[Status-Declined]32.Soggy Swamp- VishTheFish771 (I told you it would be mine! )[Status-DECLINED COME ON MAN]33.Claustrophobe's Nightmare -CooolChicken (The Rise of The Chicken-Part 1)[Status-Declined]34.King Sacrifice- CooolChicken (Hmmm, KSG?)[Status-Declined]35.Obsidian Pinnacle- VishTheFish771 (One of my latest (and greatest) creations!)[Status-ACCEPTED AHHHH (it really was somehow good?)]36.Pocket Golden Rain- Czarny (One of the first time BG used instead of RY in PC)[Status-Declined…]37.Shrine of Clavense- imchesspro0930 (Who on Earth is Clavense?)[Status-Declined]38.Sergeant Dodo- Wolyn (I like dodos)[Status-UR] (This thing is taking up the entirety of TestLab schedule...)39.The Camoflage- KSG (Nothing about this is hiding lol)[Status-Declined]40.Qigrea Cnerity- yx-11ayneye (How do you pronounce Cnerity)[Status-Declined]41.Wildebeest Arena- CooolChicken (reminds me of Wolyns wildebeest thing...)[Status-Declined+Cooolchicken has another FWFY]42.Cramped Jungle-Joowon (Lol i named this)[Status-Declined]43.Phantom Jungle-CooolChicken (You've redeemed yourself)[Status-ACCEPPPTTTEEEDDDDDDDD!??!?!?!] 44. Barren Warfield - @yx-111aynye [Status- ACCCEPPEPEPEPPEEETTTTTTTTTTTTT] 45. Quickstrike - @QtSeSc (Man i gave the name)[Declined] 46. Hilly Golden Rain - @CzarnyResorak567 (WILL THIS BE THE ONE? (edit: apparently yes))[Accepted!!] 47. Wild - @CooolChicken (Cgas like it)[UR] 48. Switching Armies - @CzarnyResorak567 (Qtesc roasts everything)[ACCPTED!!!] 49. Riptide - @cooolchicken (Another name by me yay)[UR] 50. Mini raji - @yx-111aynye (aw man I helped to work on this)[Declined] 51. Xiangqi Paradise - @chessknightben ("UR only because the CGAs are asleep" ~Cooolchicken)[Declined] 52.Mini Chaturaji - @yx-111aynye as well as @vishthefish771 (co-op project yay)[Declined] 53.Kâsita - KSG (I told you to call it choralmere...)[Declined] 54."Sacrifice us!"- KSG (Maybe if you asked nicely, the pieces will sack themselves... lol)[Declined] 55.Unintentionally - KSG (Serendipity is a synonym of Unintentionally (I think))[Declined] 56.Bare Lion - Wolyn (The name is interesting to say the least)[UR, and will probably be for a loooooooooooong time] 57.Makashi Chess - Omisgoat (Kakashi with a 'm')[omisgoat's first... ACCEPTION!?!?!?!?] 58.Tiny Torpedoes - CzarnyResorak (Call it Yellow Submarine instead)[Declined] 59. The Immortal Knight -CooolChicken (This knight has reached... godhood)[UR] 60. The Wazir Snake- CzarnyResorak (Nice to see the 5th ever PC back in action!)[UR] 61. Vanished Mystery- KSG (Sounds like a robbery...)[UR] 62. New Orleans- KSG (This name is about as Chye as names go lol)[UR] 63. Full Control- Czarny (vroom vroom 4x4)[Declined] 64. Zodiac- KSG (Oh no another KSG revision... jk)[Declined] 65. Equilibrium- yx-111aynye (Yay a VishTheFish name)[UR] 66. Clothing- CzarnyResorak (English or sp- I mean shirts or pants?)[UR] 67. Panda Plateau- KSG (Congrats on the first decent 6x6 3pc!)[Declined] 68. Cursed Sculptures- CzarnyResorak (Like medusa's pawns but more cursed)[UR] 69. Fiery Forge- yx-111aynye (69th Pocket Chess be like: )[Declined] 70. Final Bastion- yx-111aynye (ACCEPTED BEFORE I EVEN ADDED IT HERE!?!?!?)[Accepted] 71. Battle of Directions- areyouchesse (Not bad for a first, ig)[UR] 72. Ace of Zealots- KSG & yx (s-d... sigh)[declined] 73. Frosted Fjord- yx-111aynye (Wow the MCD names are stacking up!)[UR] 74. Full Control- CzarnyResorak567 (MAXIMUM CONTROL) [UR] 75. The Broken Mirror- MistMint (Shattered...) [UR] 76. Jungle Heart- BFNfootsoldier (In the middle of the jungle) [Declined] 77. Solstice- imchesspro0930 (Now, winter or summer...) [UR] 78. Ilúsion- MistMint (Ooooh, mirage (quite a lot of those in my country)) [UR] 79. Fatty Queens- CzarnyResorak567 (Brrraaaaaaiiiiinnnnnrot) [ACCEPTED!!!] 80. Brutal- MistMint (Broker but broker) [Declined] 81. Tiny Torpedos- CzarnyResorak567 (...better known as yellow submarine (jk)) [UR] 82. Soldier's Checkers- CooolChicken (Sergeants dodo III!?!?!!?) [UR] 83. Tiny Sculptures- CzarnyResorak567 (This thing is actually a wacky variant lol) [UR] Over here, I'll be putting submissions that could probably qualify as Pocket Chess submissions, but don't because they are not 6x6: 1. Unmirroring- yx-111aynye  2. Tian Shian Blue- yx-111aynye 3. Stopwatch- TimeVeteran 4. ElectroMagnetism- 2bHNST Congrats to everyone on reaching a grand total of 58 pocket chess submissions!!! Who would have thought we'll reach this far? Big thanks to everyone who participated in the challenge!(Random update on 28/4/2025)Thought I'd list down everyone who's participated so far:@imchesspro0930@Nyutixbrother@VishTheFish771@Cooolchicken@yx-111aynye@chessknightben@Qtsesc@Joowon2015 or @Buzzyguy (idk all his new alts lol)@Chye3mc@2bhnst@KingsSacrificingGotta@JustCalmDownImHaloeyi@Wolyn@asthebird@Czarnyresorak567@Omisgoat Also technically Chye's brother participated in this but idk his username or anything, so here you go: @ChyesBrother771 (Because who wouldn't put 771 at the end of their username!) We're now nearing 100 pocket chess!?!?!?! Perhaps something new will arise... You guys can use this forum to ask questions about the series and discuss ideas for possible new variants.

So the rules are normal chess except you can "uncastle" your king after you castle your king.

This is my challenge. After signups (until Monday the 17th at 2:30), I will be posting variant challenges. Send in the link and I will review the games. Here is the prize - 🍪. There will be a challenge every day, at levels Easy, Medium, and Hard. Easy- 1 point, Medium, 2, and Hard, 3. Just enter @[username] ############################################################################### Participants: @Obanai_Hashira @2bHNST @CzarnyResorak567 @jakson02142014 @Oliver_Brimley @variants3000 @skatiskis @spock37 @Pradipta22 @King_Red_A @ChocoCaramelPawn @gussygambit123 @OMISGOAT @BlueYoshi21 @KCP-EricLangFeng @VishtheFish771 (maybe) @Z-708PQ @tarponate %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Signups are closed. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Leaderboard: @Pradipta22 18 points @OMISGOAT 12 points @2bHNST 8 points @BlueYoshi21 5 points @CzarnyResorak567 3 points @Oliver_Brimley 3 points %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Challenge # 1 Warui-Shogi Wauri-shogi. Unadvised (easy) | Win and don't use Ferzes. Chye's Challenge (medium) | Win and don't promote. Warui-Giveaway (hard) | Win and give away your Bishop and your Bishop-Side Dabbaba. ################################################################## Leapers Leapers Bad Gunpowder (easy) | Win without using Torpedo. Tank-Free Warfare (medium) | Give away both of your Alibabas in a losing exchange. Protect the Church (hard) | Win without moving your archbishops past the pawn wall. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Pestilience's Conquest High Rank | Win and only promote to Archbishop. Brave Royal | Win and only capture dead pieces with your Royal Soldiers Unite | Win and only promote your Soldiers. You must promote both of them. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Challenge #4 Full Control Sudden Death | Win without Crazyhouse. (Except for kings of course.) Picky | Only drop king in corner. Overly Picky | Win without capturing any of your opponent's pieces that are on the edge. Also you can only kingdrop in the center 4 squares. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Challenge #5 Charybdis (Win is compulsory in all challenges) Bugs | Only move the Grasshopper for the first 3 moves, and then never capture with it for the rest of the game. Sweetheart | Do not capture with your 1-point Queen, and it cannot be captured or exploded. Honorable Victor | Win only by checkmate, not by KotH or exploding the king. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Challenge #6. Linkity link link ^^^^ Leads to solarion. Solarion (Win is compulsory) Summer | No spells North America | No wildebeests. You cannot move it, nor can you let it be captured. Kings Rule | Give away 1 queen and wildebeest before moving any pieces <--- not pawns. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Last Challenge!! Acheron Persistent | Win by 8-check Heavy Artillery | You must always have your General and King guarding the opponent's hill square. Gross! | Capture no dead pieces and no horses. You have to play in Neo.

by variants world they says: enter variant code i cant see the variant code

So last time I thought the Caramel Crucible Challenge was quite fun and maybe engaged more people to play variants, so does anyone have the ideas of making a Caramel Crucible Challenge 2.0? Like with the different variants and maybe different gifts (virtual). That'd be quite fun so anyone have any ideas? @ChocoCaramelPawn

Don't take this too seriously! This is only for fun! This time, it will actually update when a new variant is released!!! Collision Course - Unhilly Lake III Fading Starlight - Starlight Halcyon - While it looks ununique, it is ACTUALLY A GOOD VARIANT Equilibrium - Nothingness Cursed Sculptures - A WoF with 5|5 time control, too long for a WoF. Lobotomy 8X - Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Lobotomy Solstice - Solarion V2. Frozen Lake - Why Doesn't It Ever Snow In Melbourne? Ilusion - 36 pawns, one fancy O letter in the name. Combination Attack - Route 66 Pulsate Arena - Fireball from ghast in minecraft aaaa Lifeline - Average noob variant Tiny Torpedoes - ALABAMA ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS!!!!!!! Constellation - Forsaken City but bigger and less unique The Atlantis - Atlanta Ambivalent - A big square variant with 12 rooks in the middle of da board Tiny Sculptures - SCP 173 Jumpscare Chilly Hilly Jungle - 2.2 When DucKing - Duck King (again) Pawn strategies - Average 8-pawn game ripoff Little Star - If the star was a rock instead, you will get Little Rock! Reunification - [6 7 4 1] MATRICES JUMPSCARE!!! Horse and Buggy - Horse and Grasshopper Dodo - 4P Sergeant Dodo Pond Hoppers - Average Lake ripoff Promethus's Fire - ATOMIC NCV YESSS Abysmal Depths - mid Ravagers Chess - It is a WoF lol Torpedoes in a lake - Underwater Torpedoes Golems Chess - YET ANOTHER PILLAGERS CHESS RIPOFFS WITH IRON GOLEMS Clear-out - An attempt to make an NCV with zombies Lake BieN - THE LAKE IS ALREADY ACCEPTED LOL SO THIS IS A RIPOFF Mini Grasshopper Arena v2 - a Basketball Chess - enn bhee aehyy Explosive Path - Too big Pawns On The Hill V - :AO Symphonies - 67 Limited Life - Stopwatch but bigger Xerophyte IV - Xylophone [Japanese name] - STOP USING NON-LETTERS IN VARIANT NAMES! Ilusion Cristmas - Merry Chrismas Magic Detonation - AAAA omg endermites suck Da Firewall - Flamewall Escaped Royal - AAAAAAA Demolish The Village - Get Hit By The Iron Golem Hoppy Jungle - Hilly Jungle 67 [another japanese name] - ... Stretch - Ssttrreettcchh Underhalls - Undertale Break-in - ROBLOX BREAK IN!!!!!!! J-Chess - A variant called J-Chess with no J shapes Capture/Lure/Deflect - CHOOSE A NAME LOL Boomhive - nice Spinner Clog - I'm Not A Robot Fuerzas Misteriosas - Fine, ig it uses english characters Juxtaposition - Jug tap position Silver City/Frosty Craft - Frosty silver craft city Mini Xerophyte - Mini Xylophone that doesn't look like a xylophone Imposter - Impostor because AMONG US ALMOST - not even close lol Dragonhouse - <<<DRAGON<<< >>>HOUSE>>> Nuclear Dragonfight - Average atomic ncv submission Counter Ring - $6767 ring Obsidian Pinnacle - I WAS ABOUT TO USE THAT CONCEPT!!! Yolanda - The name is too good lol that it doesn't need a rename.

In duck chess, when I make a move, instead of 'move a duck!', there is 'move a turkey!'