Paranormal Chess

For your entertainment and leisure variety.

Paranormal Chess
A chess variant where reality is fragile, and every move invokes a supernatural anomaly.

Before each move, a player rolls a six-sided die (d6). The result triggers a unique, game-warping anomaly that alters the board state. After resolving the anomaly, the player must then make a standard chess move. Victory is achieved not by checkmate, but by the literal capture of the opponent's king.

Differences from Classic Chess
No Check & No Checkmate: The king is a piece like any other. You must capture it to win.
No Castling
No En Passant
Pawn Promotion: Pawns can only promote to a Queen.
Kings can capture kings.

The Anomalies (Die Faces)
1 - Pawn's Curse
The opponent's pawns retreat 1 square backward (cannot retreat below their starting rank). Your pawns advance 1 square forward. Pawns do not move if their path is blocked.

2 - Call of Darkness (Knight)
Swap the positions of your Knights and Bishops. If one type is missing, the missing piece is summoned onto the square your opponent last moved from. If both are missing, a Knight is summoned.

3 - Call of Darkness (Bishop)
Swap the positions of your Bishops and Rooks. If one type is missing, the missing piece is summoned onto the square your opponent last moved from. If both are missing, a Bishop is summoned.

4 - Call of Darkness (Rook)
Swap the positions of your Rooks and Knights. If one type is missing, the missing piece is summoned onto the square your opponent last moved from. If both are missing, a Rook is summoned.

5 - Phantom
One of your long-range pieces (Bishop, Rook, or Queen) may pass through any pieces (friend or foe) this move but cannot capture. It must end its move on an empty square. This effect is optional.

6 - King's Shadow
Your king casts a deadly shadow in the exact compass direction (., North, Northeast) of your opponent's last move. The shadow is an infinite ray originating from your king's square. You choose one enemy piece (including their king) on that ray to be instantly captured and removed from the game. If the opponent's last move was a knight's move, the shadow is not cast.

Sequence of Play
1 - Roll the Die: The player whose turn it is rolls the d6.
2 - Resolve the Anomaly: Apply the effect of the rolled face immediately.
3 - Make a Move: The player must make one legal chess move with any piece of their choice, adhering to all standard rules (except those modified above).
4 - End Turn: The turn passes to the opponent, who repeats this sequence.

Clarifications & Philosophy
Anomalies affect the board only for the current turn.
The summoned pieces from "Call of Darkness" cannot exceed the standard number of pieces (., you cannot have a third rook).
This is not a game of memorized openings. It is a game of adaptation, tactical improvisation, and controlling chaos. The die doesn't limit your choices - it creates new, dynamic puzzles to solve each turn.
Paranormal Chess replaces the static battlefield of classic chess with a living, unpredictable realm where supernatural forces constantly reshape the conflict. It challenges not just your calculation, but your creativity and ability to turn chaos into victory.

Example & Discussion on the BGG chess forum (boardgamegeek).

In relentless pursuit of new ideas,
Vadrya Pokshtya

Nice variant I will play

I saw "roll a dice"

Lemme just tell you that's enough luck for the admins to reject this.

Lemme just tell you that this chess variant is not for admins and especially not for chess.com

All my chess variants are designed to be played and enjoyed.

Funny how you say 'my' in spite of this literally being ai generated

AI was used only for translation. English is not my first language.

If you think that an AI is capable of generating a chess variant like this, then I encourage you to task it with creating a ruleset of similar depth and originality. The results will be telling.