Forum

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!

So White gets 36 pawns, and Black gains the usual board setup. You then play as normal

how do you submit variants?

pls say I will add freind

Saw somewhere that there's a testing server on chess.com where you can play variants against bots, I tried searching it but couldn't find it. If there is actually a testing server, can anyone provide a link to it? 

Hello all! In the last few years, Custom Variants has grown to an incredible size. From our humble beginnings in a single forum thread in the 4 Player Chess club, to our own dedicated club with 7.6k+ members (which by the way, is more than the general Variants club has), variant creation has never been more popular. However, in recent months, we feel that we have been declining too many variants. Have you ever seen the decline message "this is too similar to x variant because of y reasons"? I have. I wrote all of those messages at 3:30 AM while eating Oreos and watching My Little Pony.  Here's an image of Cookie Monster to keep your dopamine levels high while I yap: Anyway, back to the point. I'll rewrite the paragraph above in case your scroll up button doesn't work: 🅷🅾🆆🅴🆅🅴🆁, 🅸🅽 🆁🅴🅲🅴🅽🆃 🅼🅾🅽🆃🅷🆂, 🆆🅴 🅵🅴🅴🅻 🆃🅷🅰🆃 🆆🅴 🅷🅰🆅🅴 🅱🅴🅴🅽 🅳🅴🅲🅻🅸🅽🅸🅽🅶 🆃🅾🅾 🅼🅰🅽🆈 🆅🅰🆁🅸🅰🅽🆃🆂. 🅷🅰🆅🅴 🆈🅾🆄 🅴🆅🅴🆁 🆂🅴🅴🅽 🆃🅷🅴 🅳🅴🅲🅻🅸🅽🅴 🅼🅴🆂🆂🅰🅶🅴 "🆃🅷🅸🆂 🅸🆂 🆃🅾🅾 🆂🅸🅼🅸🅻🅰🆁 🆃🅾 🆇 🆅🅰🆁🅸🅰🅽🆃 🅱🅴🅲🅰🆄🆂🅴 🅾🅵 🆈 🆁🅴🅰🆂🅾🅽🆂"? 🅸 🅷🅰🆅🅴. 🅸 🆆🆁🅾🆃🅴 🅰🅻🅻 🅾🅵 🆃🅷🅾🆂🅴 🅼🅴🆂🆂🅰🅶🅴🆂 🅰🆃 3:30 🅰🅼 🆆🅷🅸🅻🅴 🅴🅰🆃🅸🅽🅶 🅾🆁🅴🅾🆂 🅰🅽🅳 🆆🅰🆃🅲🅷🅸🅽🅶 🅼🆈 🅻🅸🆃🆃🅻🅴 🅿🅾🅽🆈. Because of this unjust travesty, we at the CGA team have decided to make a decision that will impact Custom Variants for years to come. We made sure to interview non-CGAs to make sure our decision was completely unbiased. (By the way, if you hear rumors that @BN1208 and @JkCheeseChess were placed on temporary leave, that's a conspiracy theory.) The final decision that was made will be displayed after this haiku from Chad Peter Timothy, a highly esteemed 6900-rated Monopoly-themed chess player: In the world of chess, so bold and grand,  Where kings and queens take their stand,  A twist awaits, a novel way,  With custom variants, here to play.   The board transforms, the rules do bend,  New strategies rise, and old ones end.  A rook that leaps, a knight that slides,  Pawns that change, as time collides.   From Chess960, a shuffled start,  To crazyhouse, where pieces depart,  Each move is fresh, each thought is new,  A different path for me and you.   The pieces dance in wild embrace,  Creating chaos, finding grace,  With every game, a tale unfolds,  In the world where strategy holds.   So gather round, and take your place,  In this endless, boundless space,  Where custom chess, with all its might,  Offers a new game, each day and night. After a grand digital applause and emotional tears, the decision will now be revealed. We have decided to remove every single variant on the server. Yep, you read that right. I'm going to put it in larger text if you didn't get that. We have decided to remove every single variant on the server. With this change, we can now finally have a fresh start and allow for ideas to flow more freely. Instead of being constricted by the current requirements, we can start anew. Of course, more changes are to come, the first of which being that every variant submitted will be given Pending Reply (PR) status. No matter how bad a variant is, it should still be afforded the privilege of being on the server with proper revision. However, each post receiving a PR will require 1,000 likes in order to be accepted, which is a pretty low amount and should be easily achievable.  With that, let's end this post off with a music video about Custom Variants that I made. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WePNs-G7puA Now, go out there, and have some fun making your favorite Knightchess and Chaturaji clones, and we'll see you next time!

Introduction This is a guide on “self-decline”, which will cover almost everything there is to know about self-decline. Many people apparently do not know that this is even an option, so they might be confused about how this works should they ever need to request a self-decline.   What is Self-Decline? We use the term “self-decline” to refer to the case where the author of a variant requests that their variant be automatically declined. If you are a variant creator, you may request that a variant of yours be declined at any time. Why Would I Request One? As a variant creator, there are several reasons that a variant may be self-declined.  1. After submitting, you noticed an issue (or someone else pointed out an issue to you) that you didn’t find during testing.  2. You believe that the variant will be declined anyway, and want to start working on a revision.  3. You find an issue with the variant position and/or the testing games. Sometimes, these kind of issues can be fixed, so try to find a fix before requesting a self-decline. How to Request a Self-Decline To request a self-decline, please do not change the title of the variant. This is because we need the original name of the variant to give the variant a verdict. Instead: 1. Go to the post of the variant that you wish to self-decline.  2. Post a comment that says something similar to “I want to self-decline this”. (Essentially, just say that you want to self-decline the variant.) That’s it! Usually, we will see the comment within a day or two, but if we haven’t seen it by then, then it is recommended to post a note in the club. Examples Some various examples of variants that have been self-declined: https://variants.world/posts/1520 https://variants.world/posts/851  https://variants.world/posts/808 https://variants.world/posts/788 https://variants.world/posts/649  https://variants.world/posts/522  https://variants.world/posts/442  Conclusion Now you know that self-decline exists, what it is, why you might want to request one (if ever), and how to request one in the event that you want to. That’s all, I guess. If there are any questions about self-decline, feel free to ask them here. 

(This is not a commercial)Welcome to yet another idea from imchesspro0930 and me! This is known simply as:TESTLAB So we've noticed the sharp uptick in UR submissions recently. As of March 1st, there are 53 submissions. And we used to think 21 UR posts were a lot! So to counter this, we've come up with this idea — TestLab. Here's the basics: 1. Only people in the Experienced Variant Creators Club may join the "CGAs" of TestLab. (For reference, the forum in EVC is known as imchesspro0930 testing chamber) (Link to forum post talking about the Experienced Creators Club is here) 2. We will be testing UR variants in order to quality check them and provide our feedback. CGAs may use this input for their verdicts if they so wish to do so. 3. On this forum, you may request us to test positions. However, you are not allowed to suggest your own variant for testing, and we may choose not to test it. The variants tested must be over 3 weeks old, but over a month old is our priority. 4. This has been started mainly to reduce the amount of UR posts available and give the CGAs an easier time delivering verdicts. As the amount of people working on this project will likely be higher, we can can continuously be testing variants and easily reduce the number of UR posts. 5. Note to CGAs: This has been created solely with the intention of helping the CGAs see the gameplay of variants without needing to devote time to it. Our votes are just suggestions given to assist you guys. BIG UPDATE GUYS: TestLab is in full swing and we have delievered over 20 verdicts with the help of JKcheesechess. Time to add another thing to my variants CV This place will be used to list the people who are currently helping the project as testers (think of it as 'community CGAs')1. VishTheFish771 2.Imchesspro0930 3.TimeVeteran 4.yx-111aynye You guys can use this forum to ask for a variant to be tested or ask questions about the project

So you may know that the size of the board can only be at a 14x14 Max and a 6x6. But Oddly with this  R-0,0,0,1-1,1,1,1-1,1,1,1-0,0,0,0-0-{'pawnBaseRank':5,'wb':true,'dim':'4x16'}-x,x,x,x,x,rK,2,rQ,x,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,2,rE,rH,2,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,1,rP,rP,rP,rP,1,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,6,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,6,x,x,x,x/8,bP,5/3,x,4,bP,5/8,bP,1,x,3/8,bP,5/x,x,x,x,6,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,6,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,1,yP,yP,yP,yP,1,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,2,yH,yE,2,x,x,x,x/x,x,x,x,x,yQ,2,yK,x,x,x,x,x The ,'dim':'4x16'}-  which makes the game Unreasonable, Make the game still playable with a downside. but it makes a good time save. Just change ,'dim':'4x16'}- into 2, 4, or even pass 14 which causes the Bug to start. numbers odd numbers cause the game into a 14x14 board instead of the board that you put in. Note: some reason a 1x1 board Works but I don't think anyone will use it

The Anti-xiangqi horse moves one sqaure diagonally,then move 1 orthogonally at the direction it moved.[fF-W] White rooks show how it moves;The anti-xiangqi horse (white king)can capture the black rook but not the queen because the queen was blocked by white pawns.

I don’t understand how I’m supposed to submit a variant when chess.com won’t find the page to do that

I will give 4 variants, try to find one thing that they all belong on.  These aren't nessecerily accepted NCV's! These will get harder as they go, when someone gets one correct, I will put the next variant lists. First one: XXL Chess Sparks of Hope Behind The Mirror Unison Solver: BlueYoshi21 and jackityjackjack Set 2:  Rubicon Pit Racer Minihouse Crazy Cavalier Solver: BlueYoshi21 Set 3: Salvation Bastions Villagers Chess Ambush The Triune Wasp Solver: wolyn Set 4: Counterturn Unison Salvation Bastions Storming The Castle Solver: NoWellOkay Set 5: Enchanted Woodland Villagers Chess The X of Tricks Behind The Scenes Solver: NoWellOkay Set 6: Golden Ratio Tag Team Blind Box Rookmate Solver: NoWellOkay Set 7: Courier Chess Chaturanga Atomic Chess 960 Solver: NoWellOkay Set 8: Thermopylae Villagers Chess Inferno Warp Speed Unison The Four Horsemen THIS IS OPEN, YOU WILL GET A POINT FOR THE PATTERN. Solver: NoWellOkay Set 9: The Lake Every End Warui-Shogi Saturn's Rings Solver: NoWellOkay Set 10: Grasshopper Arena Color Blinds Throne War Mini Together Solver: VishTheFish771 Set 11: Euler's Game Racing Kings Caught In A Snag Phalanx Solver: wolyn Set 12: The X of Tricks The Four Horsemen Detour Inferno Solver: VishTheFish771 Set 13: Castle on a Hill Salvation Bastions Chaturdrez Behind The Scenes

                                          Rules: a piece that moves from a square to square in the square that  the  piece moves It is a shadow  and  all of your  pieces can't move there.             Lose: You can't move anywhere.        Draw: Both can't move anywhere after black moves.          Win: You can still move but your opponent don't                                                           Example:

A sort of WoF index WoFs on the server by date from 2022 to 2025 Note: https://variants.world/wofs lists all the current wofs in rotation before the acception of Obsidian Pinnacle, if you are trying to find a game of a variant, then please visit that page since it is much more accessible. If you want to find the original submission page, then this is useful. From 2024 to 2025 WoF | Broker by @KingsSacrificingGotta | https://variants.world/posts/1329 WoF | Switching Armies by @CzarnyResorak567 | https://variants.world/posts/1575 WoF | Obsidian Pinnacle by @VishTheFish771 | https://variants.world/posts/1519 WoF | Unequal by @imchesspro0930 | https://variants.world/posts/1133 WoF | Inequity by @asthebird | https://variants.world/posts/1311 WoF | Doubles by @CzarnyResorak567 | https://variants.world/posts/1280 WoF | Herd in Swarm by @wolyn| https://variants.world/posts/1323 WoF | Stereo Jungleness by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/917 WoF | Harvesting by @imchesspro0930 | https://variants.world/posts/1288 WoF | Solarion by @imchesspro0930 | https://variants.world/posts/1136 WoF | Forsaken City by @2bHNST | https://variants.world/posts/1155 WoF | Beehive by @imchesspro0930 | https://variants.world/posts/827 WoF | Barricade by @imchesspro0930 | https://variants.world/posts/826 WoF | Stereo Madness by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/802 WoF | Jungleland of Horror by @1FastestMan2Chess3 | https://variants.world/posts/112 WoF | Tunnel of Despair by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/753 WoF | The Watcher by @2bHNST | https://variants.world/posts/757 WoF | Uneasy Alliance by @2bHNST | https://variants.world/posts/635 WoF | Resources Chess by @Storming2Knight | https://variants.world/posts/242 WoF | Tidal Wave by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/355 WoF | Atomic Armageddon by @DocZomboss | https://variants.world/posts/343 WoF | 8888 by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/351 WoF | 1.21 by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/192 WoF | Rowchess by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/155 WoF | Treehouse Battle by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/55 WoF | Cloister by @wolyn | https://variants.world/posts/38 WoF | Circle Challenge by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/59 From here on, they will be listed by date made instead of accepted. WoF | Sail To Victory by @jack4268 | https://variants.world/posts/4, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-sail-to-victory WoF | Clobber by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10219, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-clobber WoF | Too Much to Chew by @zisal2029 | https://variants.world/posts/10201, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-too-much-to-chew WoF | ☉ by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10163, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-circle WoF | Dont Mate Green by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10149, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-dont-mate-green WoF | 1.20 by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10136, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-1-20 WoF | Ice on the Clock by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10111, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/ncv-ice-on-the-clock WoF | Tinyhouse by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10101, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-tinyhouse WoF | Grasshopper Soccer by @chye3mc | https://variants.world/posts/10091, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-grasshopper-soccer WoF | Schacchi Atomici by @chye3mc | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-scacchi-atomici-remake WoF | Patzer Channel by @Trento007 | https://variants.world/posts/10077, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-patzer-channel WoF | Feed The Dog by @bsrti | https://variants.world/posts/10073, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-feed-the-dog WoF |Among Us by @bsrti (delisted?) | https://variants.world/posts/10069, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-among-us WoF | Hide and Seek (previously Spy Party) by @bsrti | https://variants.world/posts/10064, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-spy-party WoF | Battlechess by @Trento007 | https://variants.world/posts/10053, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/ncv-battlechess WoF | Red Sentinels by @ChessMasterGS | https://variants.world/posts/10044, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-the-red-guards WoF | The Foggy Valley by @shell201211 | https://variants.world/posts/10031, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-the-foggy-valley WoF | Runway by @qilp | https://variants.world/posts/10014, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-runway-3 WoF | Lining the Field by @Trento007 | https://variants.world/posts/10007, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-lining-the-field WoF | Random Pawns by @MrXX2018 | https://variants.world/posts/10006, https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-random-pawns From here on, variants are no listed in variants.world. WoF | Hill Monsters by @Trento007 | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-hill-monsters The merge has happened now (March 30, 2022) WoF | Hype Hoppers by @sljcelal | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-hype-hoppers(PRed, but not accepted) WoF | Bunker Busters by @sljecelal | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-almighty-powerful-tails-versus-the-big-bad-bird WoF | Soldier's Avenue by @BeautifulGoose | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-soldierss-avenue WoF | The Green Goblin by @21h2 | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-9 WoF | The Western War by @chesswhizz9 | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-air-fx WoF | The Lottery by @chye3mc | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-the-lottery WoF | Frigid Lanes by @bsrti | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-frigid-lanes WoF | Complex Simplcity by @epicinfiniti3297 | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/complex-simplicity WoF | Battle of Ambassadors by @bsrti | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-micro-shogi WoF | Dead Man's Chest by @bsrti | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-dead-mans-chest WoF | Evacuation by @ChessMasterGS | https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/wof-evacuation For now, this is it.

Hello Custom Variants community! Previous Vote: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-junes-golden-variants-2025 To end things off again as usual for Golden Variant announcement posts, here's the current CGA stats for at the time of the writing of this post: There are currently 100 posts Under Review (UR)  56(56%) of those posts are NCVs, and 44(44%) of those posts are WoFs 9 of the currently UR posts were posted in the last 7 days This month's format: 3 week-long (168-hour) arenas, starting in July at 5 PM PST on Fridays / 2 UTC on Saturdays, including: 3 "Golden WoF" arenas, consisting of the winners of Votes #1, #2 and #3 The 3 comments below this post will be the voting platform; use designated reactions to vote for variants! You may vote for more than one variant! The winner of Vote #1 with the most votes will be selected, the 2 top variants out of the 5 options with the most votes in Vote #2, and the 2 top variants out of the 5 options with the most votes in Vote #3 will be selected for the Golden Variant arenas this month! The polling for Vote #1 ends on July 11, 8 UTC. The polling for Votes #2, #3 ends on July 18, 8 UTC. Happy voting and may the best variants win!

You've probably seen a message like this while browsing declined variants:    Just a short reason! Did the CGAs fall asleep before writing the decline reason??  Then you look at the time the variant was posted: an hour ago!  What are autodeclines?  The scenario you just saw was of an autodeclined variant, and you might be wondering a lot of things about how they work and why they exist! A variant is autodeclined for a variety of reasons, and we'll touch on 6 of the major reasons in this post, as well as give real examples of them:  Reason #1: Forced Win/Draw  Reason #2: Forced Opening  Reason #3: Lack of Strategy  Reason #4: Requirements Not Met (RNM)  Reason #5: Similarity to Previously Accepted/Declined Variants and Reusing Concepts  Reason #6: Plagiarism  An autodecline is when a variant is declined before testing or after a very short test, and is done only by a CGA, and not NCV Testers. CGAs will never autodecline a variant without being confident, as this is an individual decision that still requires mindfulness of the guidelines. We don't autodecline a variant because we dislike the creator, or because of any other personal bias. Autodeclines happen because CGAs identify key features of a variant that are flawed enough to warrant immediate feedback; after all, it would be a shame to wait potentially weeks for the entire official testing team to vote on a variant, only to find out that there was a big issue there the entire time...  (Note: In variants shown today that have Fog of War, the fog will be removed so that the screenshot can be clearer.)  Reason #1: Forced Win/Draw  (Variants used as example: https://variants.world/posts/288 and https://variants.world/posts/314)  Generally, saying that a variant has a forced win for one side or that it's a draw is hard to do because a human mind can't take into account all the possible lines. Of course, we have Fairy Stockfish on our side, but that's really only viable in some cases. The testing team of CGAs and NCV Testers still need to examine the variant for a variety of things, past just using an eval bar.  However, there are some cases where the CGAs can easily look at the variant and analyze it, with "WoF | Foggy Valley" and recently declined "WoF | A" being an example.  In Foggy Valley, we start with this position, and immediately we can see an issue: since this is Fog of War, there is no way for Black to know if White's amazon is checking the Black king. For example, when White plays Af5+:  Black is now faced with a dilemma of whether or not to move Kd3. Again, they have no idea whether or not White is checking them. For all they know, White could've moved Ae5 instead, in which case they would be moving their king into check, losing the game.  In this case, White would almost certainly have a forced win, as they play this psychological game on their opponent. The game is neither fun nor balanced.    In A, players must place down 2 pieces: an amazon and a king, on the two backmost squares. Because there aren't many options for moving, it's again pretty easy to tell with just a bit of analysis what will happen. With perfect play, this is the position reached on the 6th move:    And now, no side can make any progress, due to the blockade! Thus, we can confidently say that this is a forced draw.   Reason #2: Forced Opening  (Variant used as example: https://variants.world/posts/215)  Although this is one of the main features of a forced win or draw, it's definitely deserving of its own reason just because of the wide variety of scenarios it can occur in.   Forced opening autodeclines generally occur when there is a distinct line of opening moves at the start that make the starting position redundant. Confused? Just ask yourself when looking a variant: "Would this variant make sense if the position after the opening was made the starting position?"  Let's look at "NCV | The Chaotic Structure" as an example.  Here, you are given 120 points and a piece bank to setup pieces before the start of the game. Sergeants can be placed on the 5th and 6th rank. Now, because this has atomic and fog of war as gamerules, getting "cannon fodder" (basically, pieces you can just throw at your opponent) is really important. As a result, this is what the position is after the 16th move:  Going back the question I posed at the start and changing it up a bit, let's ask: "Is it really necessary to make players sit through these 16 moves just for the same position to be reached every time?"  If you answered no, then you'd be correct. Although this variant is not necessarily a forced draw and has some decent gameplay, the opening is basically redundant, which is why it was autodeclined.  Reason #3: Lack of Strategy  (Variant used as example: https://variants.world/posts/292)  Lack of strategy is applicable whenever a variant is simple enough that a player can make random or the most basic moves and still keep the balance going.  This is usually tied into Reason #1 as well, but there is another definition that is not as related: lack of strategy can also be apparent when it relies too heavily on bots deciding the outcome of the game (usually those that you can't manipulate, and especially those that are immune to being captured).     In "WoF | Race to Liberty", Yellow moves first in this battle for KOTH on the furthermost rank, and Blue and Red are immune Futers that move toward Yellow and Green. This is an important thing to remember for later on, since it can really affect the outcome of the game.  Generally, Yellow will win by default since they will reach the Hill first. In that case, this variant would be autodeclined mainly because of Reason #1, but see above for a possible position...  Here, Yellow did nothing wrong and kept moving their king up. However, the blue xiangqi horses blocked the path, letting Green finish first by pure luck.   When we are discussing WoFs (being short for Wheel of Fortune), they're fast-paced variants that may have a small element of luck, in a way that makes the variant fun to play. This does NOT mean that variants can be forced, or that a player's complete dominance of a game can be instantly reversed by no fault of their own by a bot's moves.   (See here for more information: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/4pc-wheel-of-fortune-information-1)  Reason #4: Requirements Not Met (RNM)  You might be asking me now: "GS, wasn't the RNM tag removed once we moved to Variants World (https://variants.world)?"  Well, yes, but also not quite.  Since we moved to Variants World, the system has been great at automatically detecting when requirements aren't being met. For example, if you tried to submit a variant where the gamerules were different in every game, you'd be barred from even submitting that variant.   However, autodeclines for RNM can still happen after a variant has been posted, for a few small reasons:  The variant's testing games were played with the intention of toeing the requirements (e.g., the requirements state games need to be at least 5 moves long and not have early resignations, and someone plays a game that is 6 moves long on purpose.)  The title of the variant is a default name (e.g., Custom position Giveaway Hill).  The title of the variant is irrelevant to the variant, inappropriate, political for no reason, controversial, and/or offensive (e.g., the 69th Battalion of the Federalist Party of Flat Earth Spider-Man)  The shape of the variant is clearly obscene and/or meant to offend others (e.g., a variant that uses walls to spell out "KKK").  There actually haven't been many variants declined for these reasons, and so there's not much need to give an example here, as it seems pretty straightforward already.  Generally, the CGAs will give 24 hours notice for the author to explain why the issues are present (e.g., was it an accident, can this issue be fixed, etc.) before declining the variant, but in some cases they won't do so.  Reason #5a: Similarity to Previously Accepted/Declined Variants  (Variants used as examples: https://variants.world/posts/24)  "NCV | Knightchess" is one of those classic examples that every variant creator should know! I mean, it's even on the NCV Tester Application, which hasn't closed yet, and yet here I am spoiling the answer to that question...  "Knight Chess", "Upgraded Chess", "Fairy Knight Chess", etc., are all names for variant of a similar concept where pieces in a standard position are replaced with their fairy counterparts.  For more scenarios where variants can be autodeclined, check out the guide I made back in February of this year:  (See: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-not-to-make-a-variant)  We can't really accept this variant because: a.) we already tested variations of this variant in the past and they weren't fun to play and were declined and b.) no effort was put into actually creating the variant.  Reason 5b: Reusing Concepts  (Variants used as examples: https://variants.world/posts/10163 / https://variants.world/posts/326, https://variants.world/posts/231 / https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/ncp-thermopylae-1)  This is a tricky one to explain, mainly because this is something that usually used as a reason for declining after the entire testing team has tested a variant, and not an autodecline. In addition, it's not something that we started autodeclining for until March of this year.   Regardless, @qilp (our head CGA)'s announcement/guide is extremely helpful. It even has a TL;DR, which explains it much better than I could've, and I strongly urge anyone reading this to read that as well.  (See: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/how-to-make-new-variants-accepted)  Here's one example:  In "WoF | ☉" (shown on the left), the premise of the game is to gain control of the board by utilizing sergeants. In the variant, you have to strategically plan captures in order to not blunder or allow KOTH, checkmate, or promotion. In "WoF | Lobotomy Force" (shown on the right), a similar thing is happening, where sergeants battle it out in the hopes of getting to the other end and promoting in order to checkmate the enemy royal.   Both of these are using the same concept of "board of sergeants battle to try to get to other side", and while ☉ was accepted, Lobotomy Force was not, since it didn't really feel like it added a lot to the concept. In other words, it's a discussion of "why should I play this variant when this really similar and better implemented variant already exists?"  In a similar fashion, we can also see this in "NCV | Thermopylae" and "WoF | Fun Chess". Try to see if you can see why Fun Chess (on the right) was declined by noting the similarities and differences in execution of the concept!  Reason #6: Plagiarism  We all know what plagiarism is in writing from our language arts classes in school, but how does that work in custom variants creation?  In variants, plagiarism, in essence, is taking someone else's work without crediting them and/or without putting your own twist on it. In some cases even if you credit someone, it's still plagiarism. See below for our definition on it:  If you...  submit a variant that someone else made before they got to submit it, it's PLAGIARISM (even if you got permission!).  submit a variant that you worked with somebody else on and didn't credit them, it's PLAGIARISM (by dictionary definition not necessarily, but it's still rule-breaking!)  submit a variant that has already been declined or accepted, it's PLAGIARISM.  submit a revised version of a variant that has been declined and the author didn't give you permission, it's PLAGIARISM, unless the post is extremely old. Contact a CGA if you have concerns.  submit a "sequel" to a variant that has already been accepted, it's NOT PLAGIARISM.  Again, this should be pretty clear, and it's a (potentially) bannable offense, so I'm not going to give any real examples on this either   What can I do to avoid getting my variant autodeclined?  To answer that question, don't be too stressed about it! These are things you should already be looking out for when testing variants in general. Getting autodeclined isn't common per say, so this post was just made to address the small rise in variants that fall under the category. The #1 thing I will ALWAYS recommend is to test effectively! Some tips that I always found useful while creating variants (3 of which have been accepted, although others have more than 10) before I became a CGA and some things I learned are:  While testing, experiment and test with multiple time controls. Slow time controls (like 10|15) are good for weeding out balance and opening issues, and fast time controls (like 1 min) are good for seeing if the variant is still fun to play in speed chess (and in the case of WoFs, just in general).    Test with people of varying skill levels. In many cases, inviting a CGA to your testing sessions is one of the best things that will ever happen to you, especially if you ask them to give honest feedback. A random player who accidentally stumbles into your variant might give you some insight on how a new player might play your variant if it were accepted, but they aren't going to give you any personal feedback.    When testing with a friend, for some of your testing games, delegate one person to be attacker and another defender. This is really helpful when testing to see if one color can win by force, shuffle and force a draw, if the strategy is too dry, etc. The defending player can also play for a draw, and see if draws can be forced, especially on small boards and simple variants like "WoF | A", which I talked about in earlier this post. CGAs love to use this when testing variant submissions, and you can do it too!    Go wild: Try the most ridiculous ideas, like moving your king immediately out into the open in KOTH variants. You never know if you're missing out on a forced line that could've been easily found, or a new strategy!  With that, thank you for reading through this entire guide! Please comment down below if you have any feedback or found this useful!  (P.S., I already know some of you are going to be mad that I made this post and instantly downvote. Autodecline has been around since the start of Custom Variants. If you have criticism, please give constructive feedback instead of just telling us "autodecline should not exist".)

A suggestion: Once a pawn promoted,it can keep moving and get the second promote on a specific rank. Or,  Once a piece reached the back rank,it can promote to another piece. Or, Once the pawn reached the back rank,it stays there,zugzwanged,then need to cost 1 turn to get promoted.

Rules: =KINGSSACRIFICINGGOTTA,Ox10000,Blindfold,Ghostboard,Checky chess,Atomic,1.145141919810|4.1 Notes: 1)this is good.rules:1.must be blindfold or fog of war2.no fairy pieces THATS ALL!!! 2)CaGs can test this in a 114514|1919810D tc. links game 1 game 2-game 10

so the pieces and the board are the same color squares also if you move your opponents piece(because they are the same color because if you try to move a piece and it doesn't move then you know its not yours)They can accuse it end and the game, if they falsely accuse you they lose if they are right they win!This is fun!