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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)

rules: normal chess but with a spell named protector that protects a piece when its not protected. contents: 4 protectors and all pieces of standard chess,

its chess but there's a dragon attacking the chessboard, you can take your queen off the board to tame it, and then you can choose which 9 tiles it eats the pieces on, but if you make it eat your king, then its yours for the rest of the game, and it gets bigger, now instead of a 3x3 area, its a 5x5 area it can eat, but if you run out of pieces after it eats your king, you lose

New idea, spell 4 player   pawns promote to 1-point queens on the 8th rank.

Ai created a chess piece: This is the expanded, formal manual for Ascendant Chess, designed to feel like a professional tournament guide. Ascendant Chess: The Professional Codex "From the First Leap, a God Ascends." I. Preface & Vision Ascendant Chess is a high-mobility, high-stakes evolution of the classical game. It is designed for players who find traditional chess too slow and want a battlefield where every piece is a potential "game-ender." In this variant, the focus shifts from slow positional grinding to aggressive air superiority and long-range tactical strikes. II. The Battlefield (Setup) The game is contested on a standard 8x8 grid. The board must be oriented so that each player has a light square in their bottom-right corner. The Front Rank (Rank 2/7): Eight standard Pawns. The Royal Back Rank (Rank 1/8): Pieces are arranged in the following order from a-file to h-file: Rook (a1/a8): Heavy artillery and corner anchors. Amazon-Rider (b1/b8): The ultimate "Ascendant" General. Archbishop (c1/c8): The elite tactical hybrid. Queen (d1/d8): The traditional powerhouse. King (e1/e8): The soul of the army. Archbishop (f1/f8): The secondary elite hybrid. Amazon-Rider (g1/g8): The second Ascendant General. Rook (h1/h8): Heavy artillery. III. The Elite Arsenal (Piece Mechanics) The Amazon-Rider: This is the most powerful piece in the game. It possesses the combined movement of a Queen (sliding in any straight or diagonal line) and a Nightrider (performing unlimited Knight-leaps in a single direction in one turn). Its ability to "jump" over the pawn wall immediately makes it a constant threat. The Archbishop: A master of the "middle game," this piece combines the movements of a Bishop and a Knight. It is highly effective at delivering forks and attacking multiple pieces from safety. The Nightrider: A specialist piece primarily available through pawn promotion. It makes repeated leaps of (1,2) in a straight line. IV. Laws of Engagement Opening Mobility: Because the Amazon-Riders and Archbishops possess Knight-movement, they may leap over the pawn wall on the very first move. Individual Agency: Every major piece is dangerous from turn one. Unlike other variants, there is no "recharge" or "evolution" time in this version of the rules—all pieces are at Maximum Ascendancy from the start. Capturing: All pieces capture by displacement (landing on the square occupied by an enemy piece). V. The Rite of Promotion A Pawn that successfully navigates the dangers of the board and reaches the 8th rank must undergo promotion. To maintain the unique status of the starting Generals, the following rules apply: Eligible Promotions: Queen, Archbishop, Nightrider, Rook, Bishop, or Knight. The Forbidden Form: A Pawn cannot be promoted to an Amazon-Rider. The two starting Amazon-Riders are the only ones of their kind permitted on the board. VI. Victory & Resolution The ultimate objective is to Checkmate the enemy King. Due to the extreme power of the Amazon-Riders, kings are rarely safe. Stalemate and Draws follow standard FIDE regulations. Players are encouraged to use a 3-second blunder-check before every move, as a single slip against an Amazon-Rider usually results in immediate loss.

I made a new variant to see who is better, the knight or the bishop.

A few months ago I launched a website for a chess variant I made.  I called the variant Siege Chess, and host it at https://siegechess.net. The site has some basic features for creating, joining games, and challenging other users. It supports a maximum of up to 8 players, and allows the users to customize the size of the board and apply some custom settings. To briefly describe how the game works, it begins when the host of a gameroom clicks on Start Game:1) Players take turn placing their fortress. 2) Players take turns placing their king.3) Players are given some gold to purchase their starting army. Other players will not be visible during this step. They will click 'Ready' once they have selected their army and are ready to begin.4) When all players are ready, the game will officially begin. At the start of a players turn, they will get one gold. The player can choose to move, capture, or spawn pieces. There are two ways to put a user in check. Either attack the king like you would in ordinary chess, or attack the stationary fortress with three pieces. If either condition cannot be resolved, then it is checkmate.  If a player is in check, they cannot spawn pieces. If the fortress is attacked by any number of pieces ("siege"), the user does not earn gold.  I've had a lot of fun playing the variant with the people I have shown it too, and want to grow the playerbase a little bit. I hope you guys enjoy the variant!  These are some screenshots that I took to show off the game:

I made a new variant to see who is better, the knight or the bishop.

Let see everyone's favorite chess variants!

I´ve got a new variant idea, the starting position is the same as standard chess but pieces can transformate into a pieces wirh equal or lesser value (except king, and pieces can only transforn to pawn if they are in the first 4 home ranks, pawns, kings and queens cannot tranformate) after tranformating pieces cannot return to ther original body unless is equal value (material points) than the actual one, win by capturing or checkmating your opponent king.

Opening a new place to show me or others their idea of the variant they wanna make  all the best ba2016

     i have designed a variant but how do i make it 1  

Variant name: has-no-figuresChessLink to custom position: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/32CVSMMnMt/analysiswiner:Checkmate

a variant that gives you three seconds per move before you lose on time, plus the craziness of crazyhouse and atomic put together

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.

I have already come up with a variant.We have always been wondering what is better, the knight or bishop.Well, this will decide it.

hello my name is Edward Bozzino i am getting complaints that  there are not enough people properly getting taught chess and i am here to help if you want me to help send a message to EdBozz and i will teach you chess

makes all pieces capture system like a checker capture: only capture if the square next to the victim isnt occupieed and can do multiple capture heres the capture of some pieces (if the img loads) pawn knight and camel

https://www.chess.com/variants/custom/game/99289705/21/1  get your pawns to promote and reach the exit. pawns become knight riders when promote. setup + crazyhouse

 checky chess ule meaning the pieces are checkers. no en passant nor pawn homerank. the first three ranks of each team has all of their dark squares covered with stone generals. pawns promote to a ferz on the 8th rank.