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Basically, before the game starts, you can pick one kind of your pieces (except the king) or your pawns, and upgrade all of that kind of piece. You do not know what your opponent upgraded until the game starts, and you are not able to change your choice as soon as it starts. Here's a list of what pieces become: Pawn -> Sergeant Knight -> Wildebeest Bishop -> Archbishop Rook -> Chancellor Queen -> Amazon Is this a good variant? What changes should I make? Is it balanced? I don't really have much more to say, I'm just throwing this idea out into the void.

I'm unable to play with opponent, although i can analyze. 

What is your favorite chess.com variant and why?

I am a fan of XXL chess and I play it frequently. But today I opened an XXL challenge from the lobby and got these different piece designs:Is this an intentional update or some glitch? 

I was thinking that just as how atomic chess is based how war can involve atomic bombs there should be a variant that is based on how wars can involve biological weapons.  I’m thinking that it could be set up so that a piece can have a contagious disease that will automatically spread to any piece next to it on the next move.  Symptoms of the disease could range from causing it to malfunction, such as being unable to move in all the ways it should be able to, such as a diseased queen only being able to move a certain number of squares that’s less than the board size, or diseased piece only being able to move once every certain number of moves, to a diseased piece dying after a certain number of moves. I was thinking that there could be an option to have some pieces that won’t experience symptoms of a certain disease but which act as carriers that can infect other pieces.  I was thinking some carriers could automatically transfer a disease to another piece upon contact based on how someone might carry a disease in their body, while others could be set up so that a player manually clicks a button for “transfer disease,” in order to infect others pieces based on how a person could also carry biological weapons in a sealed container. If a healthy piece captures an infected piece then it would become infected with the disease unless it was immune to the disease.  Also dead pieces could carry diseases.  I was thinking there could also be an option for unoccupied squares to contain diseases that a piece could catch if it lands on the square containing the disease.  Also there could be some diseases that get onto the squares that a piece lands on or moves to even after the piece moves off the square.  If a diseased queen was to move through multiple with such a disease for instance then all the squares she would pass through, not just the one she lands on, would contain the disease.  Not all diseases would have this property though. If a diseased piece was to die then the player who brought the army the disease that infected the piece would get the points for the death of the piece. I’m thinking this could be called Biological Chess after biological warfare.

feel free to post your own atomic opening traps here . in this one my opponent did not have to gobble up my pieces the way that they did but i think black may actually be lost after 3...d5 even with better play. what do you think about 3...d5?

Castling string for 10x8 Gothic Chess. It seems very confusing to the uninitiated.

This move blocks the xiangqi horse, which should be legal. This is likely a bug, and I don't know how to report bugs as I am banned from the other club.

Chess++(ChessPlusPlus) is an Elegant extension of standard chess, If given proper attention, Love and support can take over the world. It introduces a new piece called the Gulti keeping all the other rules of standard chess same. Gulti acts as a teleportation tool in the board. Why This World Needs Chess++ :Despite its brilliance, standard chess has grown increasingly rigid at high levels — with memorized openings, repeated draws, and overly defensive positions becoming common. Many games are decided by engine-prepped lines rather than over-the-board creativity. Chess++ addresses these issues head-on by introducing the Gulti, a teleportation piece that breathes life into stale positions, breaks through passive defenses, and rewards creative, adaptable playstyles over rote memorization. It offers a fresh layer of strategy without abandoning the elegance of classical chess, making the game more dynamic, unpredictable, and fun — both for players and spectators.Full rule sets attached here .. (Note That : Chess++ has 3-4 main elementary rule . Reason why it might seem a lot of cause I have also mentioned all the derived rule here and discussed all the possible scenario that one can come across during gameplay so that reader do not have any room for doubt ) For more detailed understanding you can read my Full paper on Chess++ by clicking here 👉(Full Paper)

In this variant, both players have to move their kings closer to each other every 5th move, until they are as close as they can legally be. At no point are they allowed to move their kings further away than the closest they have been at any point during the game. Distance is calculated as king moves, so castling is still acceptable, as diagonal moves still allow a king to reach the other king in the same number of moves as orthogonal moves, however, if a player's king is not able to meet the requirement of moving one square closer to the other king (measured in king moves) when a mandatory king move comes around (up until the kings cannot legally move any closer to each other), that player automatically loses. Once the kings are as close as they can legally be, the game continues normally until checkmate, except that the kings are locked at the same distance from each other, unable to move further away.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/vote-for-may-chesscom-community-championships-variant?utm_source=chesscom&utm_medium=homepagebanner&utm_campaign=vote2025 VOTE KING OF THE HILL FOR US ALL

I had this inspiration for a chess variant and I feel like it might be pretty well balanced. I suppose it might need some testing or refinement, but for now I'll just share it.Player one (the Monarchy player) has a normal set of chess piecesPlayer two (the Oligarchy player) has sixteen kings, placed in a centralized position of 4 rows of 4 kings. Player two must lose all kings to lose the game, but moves two kings per turn. They must move two different kings, not the same king twice. The idea behind it is that the Oligarchy player just needs to get one piece for free, and exchange pieces 1 for 1 besides. That will leave them with two kings - enough to corner the other king and take the king while both are protecting each other. The game becomes a sort of defense game, trying to keep all your kings protected by the same number of pieces as the opponents attack with. There are certainly ways to trick the Oligarchy player into moving a king away from the other kings it was protecting, thus winning one or more for free, but there are equally many ways to trick a Monarchy player when the Oligarchy player can move two kings. Plus, as all kings protect all adjacent squares, they are actually pretty defensive, if close-ranged. What do you think? Any ideas, refinements or suggestions?

One idea I have for a variant is one, in which if pieces from multiple players is participating in a checkmate, then all the players with pieces that are either checking the mated king or cutting off escape squares get points, however each player would get fewer points than if only their pieces were participating in the checkmate as the points would get split between the checkmating players. For instance in this position, in this variant, if a normal checkmate was 20 points and yellow wasn’t also checking the red king nor cutting off reds escape squares then green and blue would each get 10 points for checkmating red because 20/2=10. As another example in this position in the variant I’m proposing if a normal checkmate was worth 20 points then red, yellow, and green would each get 7 points for checkmating blue, because 7 is the closest whole number to 20/3 I’m thinking this variant could be called something like “Divvy Up,” or “Spoils of War,.” I’m thinking this could be set up so that a player would still get points for checkmating another player for cutting off escape squares even if their piece wasn’t needed for the checkmate For instance here even though green would still be in chekmate without the yellow rook, yellow would still get 7 points if a normal checkmate was worth 20 points because the rook would be cutting off the escape squares for green even though those escape squares would already be cut off. I’m thinking this could also involve dividing up who gets what pieces if takeover is on, with each player involved in the checkmate getting some pieces from the checkmated side.

My idea for this mode came about when I discovered raumschaht ( space chess ) - apparantly it is quite an old one ( Kazinsky had ideas about 3d variants ) but the game is played on a 8 x 8 x 2 board matrix. Where you have two sides stacked on top of each other ( depending on how you view it ) there are two teams , both teams have their partner above or below them. First side to get checkmated loses. The pieces can all move between the boards , peons promote at the enemies end of the board ( it doesn't matter which level ) , they also can en-passent vertically as well as take vertically in addition to normal attack patterns. 

I understand this would add some luck to a skill-based game, but it is just a bit of fun.

I was thinking that there could be a new fairy piece that combines the movement of the Ferz and the Wazir known as the Ferzir.  I was thinking that if there’s just one Ferzir then by default it wouldn’t be allowed to move onto a square that’s attacked by enemy pieces, and if it was to get trapped then your army would die, but one could choose another piece as the one that can’t move to attacked squares.  I’m thinking that additional Ferzirs could move to attacked squares and be captured like any other piece, and they would be worth 3 points when captured.  I’m thinking the Ferzir could have a cross on the top and be shaped a bit like a crown to denote its importance.

How should I do it, if possible? And if not, why not?

Schrödinger's Cat Chess Official RulesAll standard chess rules apply, except for the following modifications: Core ConceptSchrödinger's Cat Chess is classical chess where checkmate remains the goal, but capturing pieces requires a coin/dice roll. Schrödinger's CaptureA probabilistic capture mechanic: Declaring a Capture Before attempting a capture, the player must clearly announce the move in full algebraic notation:Format: "Capture — [Piece] [current square]-[target square]"Examples:"Capture — Knight f3-e5" (Knight from f3 attempts to capture on e5)."Capture — Bishop " (Bishop c4 captures on f7; colon notation allowed)."Capture — Pawn e5-d6" (en passant capture). Invalid notation (., "Knight f3-e6" for an illegal move) cancels the attack, and the turn is forfeited. Capture ResolutionAfter declaration, the attacker rolls a coin (heads/tails) or dice (even/odd): Success (50%): The target piece is removed, and the attacking piece moves to its square.Failure (50%):The attacking piece teleports to any vacant square (the attacker’s choice).A teleporting piece can declare check or checkmate.Pawns cannot teleport to the 1st or 8th rank.Teleportation is blocked if it would expose the attacker’s king to check on the next move. In this case, the piece stays put, and the turn passes. Check & Checkmate Check If the king is under attack:The threat becomes absolute—no coin flip/dice roll is needed.Standard check rules apply:Move the king out of danger.Block with another piece.Capture the attacker (without a coin flip/roll). Checkmate: If the king cannot escape check, the game ends (attacker wins). https://www.chess.com/blog/Pokshtya/schrodingers-cat-chess

Im looking to make a new variant called capture the flag the idea is the king is replaced with a flag the other side has to take it and get to their side of the baord with it

Sorry, I don't know where to report bugs but my atomic rating is behaving strangely. The below screenshot is from my game archive, showing that I was at rating 1530 and won, gaining rating, but my next game starting only 3 minutes later is at rating 1506. For some reason I lost 24 rating even though I didn't play another game in between the two. Another even more annoying incident occurred when I had just played several games and was at rating and then dropped to 1506 again after playing casual Chaturaji teams a few times.