all I did was play 1 game of 4p
why does tag team appear on vw but not on the variants page on chess.com? was it deleted? it was a fun variant
in variants chess, there are some variants that add a decimal point. Like in spell chess, there used to be +8.1. This is weird, because i dont think they’;re used 
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AndrewC1125 26 days ago
It's chess, but every 4-6 turns the variant swaps randomly. The variants that are used are: Crazyhouse, 3-check, Atomic, Torpedo, Sideways Pawns, FoW, Blindfold, KotH, Spell Chess, Duck Chess, Chess with Checkers, and of course, Standard. If a gamerule repeats in a game, the moves from the previous time that the gamerule happened carry over to the next.  Example:  The game started on crazyhouse, and on the second turn of that gamerule, white took black's bishop with a pawn. White would now have a bishop in their bank, but would only be able to place it when the gamerule swaps back to crazyhouse. Tell me what you think!😊
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Oliver_Brimley 26 days ago
https://www.chess.com/variants/thermopylae/game/90980801 See this game. Yellow-which is checker-checks green royal general, not a red ferz. Yellow royal piece should be changed into brick(duck, transparent brick, etc). Is it a feature of this variant, or is it just a bug?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Timecontrol 3 min Promotion Bishop, Knight, Rook on the 10th rank
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anakondaaaaaaaa 27 days ago
ok so i'm too lazy to actually keep track, but what variants should have sequels, and how should they be different? this is a bad idea for submissions, but just a wondering. i've tried to make sequels to trapped queens (didn't go well) and best friends forever (it's hard to make a distinct variant) so far. even variants that are not submitted/declined are welcome here. variants that already have sequels should not be considered, although if you have a good idea for a third rendition (like villager's or sergeant's checkers), then suggest it. again, DO NOT TAKE SUBMITTING THEM SERIOUSLY.
Who would like to sign up for an elimination tournament? dates of games will be decided upon 64 joins, it is a king race tournament
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skatiskis 28 days ago
When Inviting players, its always get assigned randomly anyway., but when I dont click on autostart, people just come and leave and it takes much longer to get a proper game of 4 players started.
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Oliver_Brimley Nov 2, 2025
Given some submissions in the past year, I thought it'd be appropriate to make a guide (both as a joke and for serious reasons) on some trends in variants creation that aren't that great, to say the least... below every point I'll attach a (fictional) example, and a reason why the variant wouldn't be accepted. Obviously, this doesn't encompass everything, but it's a good starting point to avoid some rookie mistakes present-day. 1. "Upgraded" Chess Why: We don't like horses Okay, I'm joking. We get this submission maybe once every year or so from different people, and it's just not that original or fun to play either. P.S., this applies to variants in general that are slight variations on standard chess, gothic chess, etc. Although using them as inspiration is fine, we've seen a lot of variants that have somewhat interesting play but really nothing innovative. 2. The Overlord Bot Why: You might be thinking, "nobody's that stupid!", and you're right, this is just an exaggeration; but I've seen a lot of variants where the game is solely decided by the bot and is just a luck battle to see which side it'll attack. Learning how to implement bot manipulation is key to having a good WoF in most cases these days; respecting the process and utilizing test games and feedback to make revisions doubly so. 3. 1000 KINGS VS 1000 QUEENS (amongst other variations) Why: Long emotional message time! As a variant enthusiast, it's always sad when clickbait YouTubers just make positions like these and roll out videos of Futers playing the position out. Sure, it might be funny the first time, but it's a trend that has genuinely destroyed seriousness of variants on the platform. Same applies for custom variants; this is an auto-declinable position. 4a. "The Sandwich", "The Human Wall", "1v2", etc. Why: This basically applies to any FFA variant where the only strategy to attack a player that's smack in the middle of 2 or 3 other players. These variants are never balanced (and I say this fairly confidently); dead draws would be pointless for a different reason, and if one side is stronger than the other, then it's just unfair. 4b. Kingmaking Time! Why: Alright, I said I wouldn't use positions from real variants, but I feel that this is the best way to show this without the position being too complicated. In this scenario, we have somewhat of a prisoner's dilemma where double checking is mutually beneficial and keeps the game going, whilst triple checking or capturing kings creates distrust and is seen as a selfish move to avoid being last place. Of course, any player could just troll and outright capture kings, and whether any individual player wins isn't up to them. This type of stuff happens in standard 4 Player Chess as well, but at least don't make it this obvious... 5a. Where's the Bridge? Why: Your pieces don't grow wings. If you're going to make a variant with "islands", add more than just the base two, and make sure there's a bridge between them. Doing this incorrectly will just make a shuffling variant. 5b. The Two Battlefronts Why: This is a distinct but related concept to what I said previously; often I will see variants where there are "battlefronts" with the king on one side and a severely unequipped army on the other. Even if you set promotion to knights, the little to no interaction between the two battlefronts just makes a boring variant once again. 6. Unbalanced Asymmetry Why: Asymmetry is not always balanced; that being said, equal points is also not necessarily always balanced. I've heard a fair few people pointing out asymmetry in accepted NCVs and assuming that it's then fine to make any random combination. 7. "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight" Why: If you find yourself using a ton of small range movement pieces, chances are you won't be needing a big board. Shuffling is always a problem, in addition to inability to deliver checkmate. Using a combination of pieces with distinct purposes is always better than spending the first 30 moves of a game accomplishing nothing other than basic development. What is my #1 tip? Don't take testing games for granted. In the words of former 4PC Admin @GustavKlimtPaints: "Making up a position and posting 10 games with a computer opponent that reflects almost nothing of what the position will look like in play is really just a waste of everyone's time. Play dozens of games and get some people to be interested testers." Testing is where you pick out errors and get feedback, not a tedious process that has no meaning. Likewise, getting a variant declined should be used to make your future variants better; in some cases, revising a previously declined variant and taking the time to do so could make a huge difference in simply starting over and ignoring every comment. Here's some resources you can refer to if you need more help: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/good-custom-position-bad-custom-position-dos-and-donts-for-ncps-1 https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/new-position-workshop-testing-thread(PINNED THREAD) https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/variant-design-patterns https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-make-new-variants-accepted  https://variants.world/(Search "declined" in the search bar, or "accepted", and observe what works and what doesn't) (By the way, I'd love to hear from y'all in the comments! If you disagree with anything here, you can mention that as well)
Post for the previous month's vote:https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-septembers-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 back, Custom Variants club members! Apologies (again) for getting this post out late this month. As most of you have probably seen, we've been running Golden Fortune placeholder events for the majority of this month due to the absence of this post. There were some delays in writing (mostly due to personal reasons on my part), but we're back again! Starting off, I'd like to congratulate the winners of the Quarter 3 Platinum Variant again, each winning membership prizes for their impressive results in the week-long arena centered around the relatively recently accepted variant Cornered, by @BlueYoshi21: @wizardrunner @MosheDavidgoleh @BlueYoshi21 (Full details can be seen at the original comment detailing all of this info: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-septembers-golden-variants-2025?page=2#comment-120471408) Next up, we of course can't forget the one major thing that has happened recently: Variants World is back and running again! As a result, new variant submissions are now open again. We ask that creators please be patient with the release of verdicts at this time, since the CGA team will need to readjust to the increased submission of variants that we anticipate, but please do follow the Variant Verdict Feed as always for the fastest updates right to your notification box. Since we don't really have any stats on variant review recently, they'll be excluded from this month and next month's (coming up very soon) posts but will return no later than December. Lastly, there are a few proposed changes to the Golden Variant format that will be considered for implementation in next year (2026)'s cycle, including, but not limited to: The extension ALL Golden Variant and Platinum Variant arenas to 2 weeks The removal of the activity standard for considering candidates for Platinum Variant; all eligible variants will automatically be entered as a candidate, rather than the top 5 being narrowed down The reversion of the Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 system and a switch to a 2x or 3x a year format to allow for more prestige in the awarding of Platinum Variant and potentially higher prizes The moving of a currently featured Golden Variant to the top of the variant list it is listed on for the duration of its arena There may be a Google Form similar to that of last year asking for feedback again, which hopefully will be useful in gathering further feedback. There are many things that we have improved on, but also some areas where we have stagnated on or could still better in, so definitely tell us how we're doing at any time! With that, here's the Golden Variant vote for this month! (Just because of the timing of this month's post, expect November's to release within around 2 weeks as well) 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 October 24 and 31 (Weeks 43 and 44 on the schedule, linked above) at 5 PM (aka the following day at midnight in UTC) October 24's arena be another 72-hour arena featuring a 2P variant. October 31's arena will try something new, with a 72-hour arena featuring an FFA variant set to Self-Partner Teams, to be decided in the vote. The voting process: Two comments will be posted below with options for voting; each comment is its own vote for October 24 and October 31's arena respectively. 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 example: For each vote, the winner with the most votes will be the variant that will be featured for that week. The voting for the October 24 arena will end on October 23, 0 UTC The voting for the October 31 arena will end on October 29, 0 UTC Happy voting and may the best variants win!
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VishTheFish771 Nov 1, 2025
("It's not plagiarism if you link the source!") "Many of you know that the Custom Games Admins (CGAs) are appointed as representatives of this club, and are responsible for fairly basic yet vital tasks such as moderating the forums, creating arenas on the Variants server, and testing and reviewing variants." ~BN1208 However, what many of you might not know is that there are other representatives of this club called NCV Testers, which is short for New Custom Variants Testers. Now, the citizens out there may have a question: What exactly are NCV Testers? The short answer:"We're just less cool CGAs." The long answer:"Same as the short answer, really." Anyways, even though being a NCV Tester comes with considerably less power (and therefore less responsibility, thanks Spiderman), there are still a few side effects that come along with the honor. Let's kick off with: Effect #1: Being pestered (and pestering):The one problem with being a tester is that people are always asking you to test their variants. Which is fine, I guess. Until the 2763rd person comes and says, "hey when will you verdict my knghtchess" and proceeds to ask all of their other friends to do the same. Unfortunately, the fact is that NCV Testers are (extremely) lazy...However, that doesn't stop us from pestering out fellow teammates to test with us! At heart, we are a newbie club member, and we express that by spamming, "test test test" in each other's DMs. Effect #2: Sleep Schedule I'm actually surprised BN didn't mention this in his post, but okay here we go. You folks may not know this, but our sleep schedules have gone off the deep end. (Citation: me writing this at 2am in the morning) To sum it up:Sleep time before NCV tester: 9pmSleep time after NCV tester: 1am (if I'm lucky)Why? No one knows! Effect #3: (Not) Seriousness IncreaseOnce people see you as a NCV tester, they expect that you'll be pretty formal. However, this is not always the case. As a matter of fact, it's basically either the exact opposite or it's very noticeable. Let's take the example of this game's chat. There's probably more examples out there but I was too lazy to scroll more than 15 pixels, so that's that.Also, let's just not talk about brainrot on the CGA team. If anyone asks, it doesn't exist. Effect #4: Desire to troll It takes great strength of character not to troll on an online server as large as this. Truly, you need to have a strong sense of duty and pride in the things you represent to not do it.(ok self-glaze done)However, that hasn't stopped some certain NCV testers from inserting hidden messages on their favorite (and least favorite) variants. If you find a decline message on a random post with a smiley on it... well now you at least know what it means! I would add more but BN covered basically everything.Thanks TimeVeteran for helping me make this. *Disclaimer: This work does not represent the entire NCV tester team
I need one, because I asked ChatGPT, of course, it couldn't create anything worthy of looking. I got a formula from somewhere in the forums, but it's not so accurate: Formula to compute the value of a non-royal piece: f(Amount of squares it controls * g(amount of squares it can potentially visit)) g(x) = 0.0104167x + 0.333333 f(x) = 0.285322*log base 1.84 of x + 0.302605x For example, P = 0.93 N = 3.394 B = 3.634 R = 5.471 Q = 9.713 Adjusted so a pawn equals 1(multiplying by 1.0752688172), P = 1 N = 3.64946236558 B = 3.9075268817 R = 5.8827956989 Q = 10.4440860215 Finding a value of a old queen(ferz): f(4 * g(32)) = f(4* ⅔) = f(8/3) = 1.266 F = 1.266 Adjusted in pawns: F = 1.36129032258 For an alfili: f(4 * g(16)) = f(4*1/2) = f(2) = 0.93 A = 0.93 Adjusted in pawns: A = 1 For an Amazon(Z): f(35 * g(64)) = f(35) = 12.25 Z = 12.25 Adjusted in pawns, Z = 13.1720430107 Does anyone have a better formula? Because this formula does not contain these two factors: 1. The distance the piece can reach. 2. If the piece can jump over pieces or not.
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Oliver_Brimley Oct 31, 2025
Should i remake the meme? or make it high quality?
Many of you know that the Custom Games Admins (CGAs) are appointed as representatives of this club, and are responsible for fairly basic yet vital tasks such as moderating the forums, creating arenas on the Variants server, and testing and reviewing variants.  However, what many of you might not know is that becoming a CGA has many various side effects — some positive, others… not so much. These side effects seem to be virtually unexplainable according to great scientists like Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein (ignore that they’re both dead), so today I will show you what they are.  Effect #1: Profile Views Upon becoming a CGA, your profile views will be greatly multiplied. The multiplier can range anywhere from a measly 1.25x (like me) to an extraordinary 5x (like ChessMasterGS). This is because of two things: a) the fact that this club has over 10,000 members and that many of those members are definitely interested in random people’s profiles, and b) the shiny blue badge that CGAs get on the server, which leads unsuspecting Minihouse players to go “ooh whats that?”, resulting in your profile automatically getting clicked each time you play a game.  Effect #2: 4PC Temptation When granted with the shiny blue badge, you will feel extremely tempted to play 4PC whenever possible. Especially ones like War For Throne, Labyrinth 82, and Chaturaji. You will play more games of 4PC than you thought was previously possible, and you won’t even know it… Effect #3: Variants Gameplay Strength The moment you become a CGA, your previous variants strength will also be multiplied quite heavily. This multiplier seems to range anywhere from 1.5x to a shocking 3x (*cough* GS). You will beat opponents that you thought you could never beat. You will excel in variants that you never even dreamed of playing. You. Will. Conquer. Effect #4: Custom Variants Material Once you’re a CGA, you are doomed to check the club forums and variants.world at least 10 times a day. Why? So you can lock spam forums, delete weird comments, and actually look productive. Oh, and also so you can decline whatever gets submitted. Except whatever gets accepted.  Effect #5: Lifestyle Eventually, as a CGA, your life will instantly become twice as busy as it was before. Whether it’s writing a random 4000 word essay at midnight or attending a boring Zoom meeting that nobody cares about and really could’ve been an email, your life will not be the same. In fact, the NCV Testers might even pester you to test stuff, ignoring the fact that you just got your daily 15-minute break after a full 8-hour shift.  Effect #6: Custom Positions Finally, you WILL be tempted to rename your custom positions that you’ve saved. How? This is how. Do you see that symbol next to the “Custom Title”? That means that only those with CGA permissions on the server can do that. Which means you can’t do that! Haha. So nah-nah-nah-boo-boo on you. This has led to… very interesting game titles. I’ll leave those for you to find. So yeah, those are some of the effects of becoming a CGA. I swear, I’ve felt every single one of these effects since the moment I became a CGA. *Disclaimer: Don’t take this too seriously ;)
Post for the previous month's vote:https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-junes-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 😀) Hello Custom Variants Community! Yet another month has passed, and we're truly in the 2nd half of the year now; Golden Variant arenas as usual will still continue to make weekly appearances on the variants server for everyone to enjoy! I'd also like to congratulate the prize-winners of our Q2 Platinum Variant (see full standings here), who emerged victorious in a week-long arena of the variant Ashtandrez by @martinaxo: 1st Place (1 month ): @CooolChicken 2nd Place (1 month ): @gardent490 3rd Place (1 month ): @wizardrunner Barring any problem with an already existing membership or any other account issue, all membership prizes listed above have been gifted by Chess.com Staff already! Next on the list of new updates, we wrapped up our NCV Tester Application a little over a week ago! We have just a few more applications to go through (mainly just needing the approval of our head CGA @qilp), so there may still be a few more acceptances to the testing team rolling out soon. Currently, we have welcomed two new team members: @VishTheFish771 and @asthebird! As usual, to end things off in this section, here are some quick CGA stats as of late: There are currently 105 variants Under Review (aka UR, not including bugged variants). Of those 105 variants, 61 are NCVs and 44 are WoFs. In the last 7 days, 17 variants have been posted in total. In the last 7 days, 21 variants have been reviewed and given a verdict (i.e., Accepted or Declined). As always, you can track our progress here: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/variant-verdict-feed The voting is pretty short for this month, but regardless, let's get into it! See the full 2025 schedule as it is updated here: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2025-golden-variant-schedule This month's format: 2 week-long (168-hour) arenas, in July at 5 PM PST on the first two Fridays  / 0 UTC on the first two Saturdays of the month 2 72-hour arenas, in July at the same day of week and time for the last two weeks of the month What you're voting for: For Weeks 1-2 (July 4, 11) of the month, the variants for the 2 week-long arenas have already been pre-determined; Qiang-Xiangqi and Cornered are the most recently accepted NCVs which have not been featured in Golden Variant previously. For Weeks 3-4 (July 18, 25) of the month, those variants will be selected from a vote between candidates announced below! The voting process: A comment will be posted below with 5 voting options and corresponding icons. React to the comment with an icon to vote for a variant. You may vote for more than one variant! For example: The variants with the top 2 votes will be selected for the 72-hour Golden Variant arenas this month! The voting for the poll will end on July 15 at 0 UTC. Happy voting and may the best variants win!
Could this be a thing, if it doesn't already exist?
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Taltal1357 Oct 23, 2025
Rather than see our forums fill with things like, "dO yOu lIkE mY nEw pIeCe", let's have one forum for it!
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KCP_EricLangFeng Oct 22, 2025

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