new variant idea

standard chess, but if you lose every piece but your king you win. essentially giveaway chess but with checkmate and no compulsory capture. 

that would be good except for the fact that it just doesn't make sense that someone can win with just a king left

right. that's the point. you can play to checkmate your opponent, or to lose all your pieces.

there's also the problem with losing all your pieces to have just a king left but getting checkmated because you still have pieces but not enough to win so it would be a big risk and I doubt people would actually take it

right, sacrifices would only make sense in the endgame.