Golden Variant - Week #10 Vote
STATUS: CLOSED (CLOSED ON APRIL 18 @ 0 UTC):
React with 
to vote for Villagers Chess (https://www.chess.com/variants/villagers-chess)
React with 
to vote for Acheron (https://www.chess.com/variants/acheron)
React with 
to vote for The Lake (https://www.chess.com/variants/the-lake)
React with 
to vote for Phantom Rooks (https://www.chess.com/variants/phantom-rooks)
React with 
to vote for Enchanted Woodland (https://www.chess.com/variants/enchanted-woodland)
First, also this vote is stacked, please vote Acheron guys
First, also this vote is stacked, please vote Acheron guys
okay
Guys, let's all vote for Villagers Chess. It's fast-paced, sharp and fun. Don't believe me, you'll get addicted to it after six or seven games. Try it!
Guys, let's all vote for Villagers Chess. It's fast-paced, sharp and fun. Don't believe me, you'll get addicted to it after six or seven games. Try it!
Chye I am banning you if you say 67 one more time that meme is so 2025
Guys, let's all vote for Villagers Chess. It's fast-paced, sharp and fun. Don't believe me, you'll get addicted to it after six or seven games. Try it!
chye why you block me
if Enchanted Woodland wins I will literally send a post-acception decline request
Guys, let's all vote for Villagers Chess. It's fast-paced, sharp and fun. Don't believe me, you'll get addicted to it after six or seven games. Try it!
no, enchanted woodland was called enchanted woodland for a reason
who is voting EW lol
guys lets vote enchanted woodland
(i need some first games of it real fast)
who is voting EW lol
guys lets vote enchanted woodland
(i need some first games of it real fast)
So wow you are voting a variant you have never played before, what did I even expect
@imv Acheron better
if Enchanted Woodland wins I will literally send a post-acception decline request
You can’t do that as you don’t have a legitimate reason to
Guys please vote VC, EW literally sucks as a variant and even @2bhnst knows about it
Guys please vote VC, EW literally sucks as a variant and even @2bhnst knows about it
I see we have optimism towards our accepted variants list :p
Guys please vote VC, EW literally sucks as a variant and even @2bhnst knows about it
I see we have optimism towards our accepted variants list :p
We must create propaganda for VC
Guys please vote VC, EW literally sucks as a variant and even @2bhnst knows about it
I see we have optimism towards our accepted variants list :p
We must create propaganda for VC
I said "Vote Rookmate Because Yolanda Didn't Win" and it won lol
Post for the previous month’s vote:
https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/vote-for-marchs-golden-variants-2026
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 headers if you want to know how to vote without reading my entire post 😀)
Hello again, Custom Variants Community!
This post will be brief since the May vote will also be coming out shortly after this post is made, so keep your eyes peeled! The start here will mostly just go over the results of the Platinum Variant arena from last month, as well as the start of the new cycle in Q2 (Quarter 2 of 4 in 2026).
If you didn’t know yet, we have a Platinum Variant Hall of Fame thread here where you can see the winners of both the votes and the arena; of course, every Platinum Variant in the entire history of its existence is listed here, from Minihouse to the recently concluded arena for Rookmate! The top 3 finishers for 2026 Q1 are copied below:
@IITianMumbai
@wizardrunner
NM @chessmaster0108
Congrats to the winners, who will be receiving their premium Chess.com memberships soon (excluding @chessmaster0108, who already holds a lifetime membership, and including the 4th place winner @racerbilchess as replacement).
Now that the Q1 cycle is over, we’re onto Q2! 5 more variants (consisting of the Emerald Variants and Golden Variants featured between April and June) will arise as the new candidates for the next Platinum Variant vote. The CGA team was pleased recently as they accepted a new variant (Torpedoes in a Lake, aka TiaL, by variant creator @CzarnyResorak567), which per the guidelines of Emerald Variant, was automatically featured in this month’s first 2 weeks and became the 1st of the 5 variants eligible in the June Platinum Variant vote.
Speaking of accepting variants, to close off this post, here are the recent CGA stats on variant reviewing:
Wheel of Fortunes (WoFs) Under Review (UR): 30
New Custom Variants (NCVs) UR: 31
Total Variants UR Currently: 61
Variants Reviewed in Last 2 Weeks: 38
Variants Submitted in Last 2 Weeks: 30
Oldest Variant UR (Overall): https://variants.world/posts/1956
Oldest Variant UR (Excluding CGA/NCV Tester-Made Variants): https://variants.world/posts/1961
With that, let’s get to the voting!
Format of this month’s GV cycle:
Week 9 (April 3-17) : Emerald Variant
Week 10 (April 17-May 1): Golden Variant
The Week 9 selection has already been pre-determined; as stated above, new variants are automatically scheduled into Emerald Variant arenas in order to feature them after release
The community will vote on the Week 10 Golden Variant!
See https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/2026-golden-variant-schedule for more info.
The voting process:
A comment will be added below this main post with 5 variants listed. You may use the hyperlinks on the variant names in order to see what the variant is if you are unfamiliar with any of them!
Simply react to the comment with the emoticon corresponding to the variant you want to be featured to vote for it! You may vote for more than one variant, or even all 5 (that is, if you don’t want your vote to matter…)
The variant with the most votes by the end of the polling duration will be the honored variant represented in the upcoming April 17-May 1 Golden Variant arena.
The tallying for the Golden Variant arena vote will close at approximately 0 UTC on April 18; the arena may be delayed by a few hours (no more than 10 hours) to allow for time between the end of the vote and the scheduling of the arena.
See an example of a previous vote below:
Happy voting and may the best variants of 2026 win!