What is the best chess variant ?

100-move rule for draws is too much for 80 squares.

So castling does not reset the 50 move rule in regular chess? But technically it should though, right?

There's an endgame with only 4 pieces that takes over 70 moves to win. It should not be declared a draw if there's a definite way to win. The longest queen + pawn vs queen ending takes 98 moves to push the pawn for the first time. So the counter must be 100 moves to win that endgame. 100 moves is perfectly acceptable and logically motivated for Trice's Chess.

Chess is a variant of Shatranj. Shogi is a variant of Shatranj. Shatranj is a variant of Chaturanga. So all chess variants are essentially Chaturanga variants. Well, let's count Shogi as a variant but not a chess variant.

I like their blue and white boards better

No it’s just about perfect.

What do you mean perfect?

Mate in 269?

2v2 is really fun when you have friends to play with. Try it here: https://www.relaychess.com/

I'm not sure

The forced checkmate in 268 moves has already been published. The mate in 269 is one move away from that position, and the losing side cannot avoid it due to the check. Therefore the mate in 269 can play into the perfectly computed 5-piece tablebase position.

Gotta say Gothic still the best

I'm happy for you.

In fact, everything is very, very relative... The very formulation of the question “What is the best chess variant?” pretty stupid.

I know a guy who has played only Ladder Chess all his life and still thinks this chess variant is still the best...

What is the special significance with ladder chess

Bobby Fischer played Gothic Chess.

Susan Polgar too.

Newspapers talked about Fischer wanting to play Karpov back in 2006. The match was underway but Fischer died.

https://nypost.com/2006/10/29/bobby-tolya-maybe-game-for-gothic/

If three world champions are interested (Fischer, Karpov, Polgar) I think that says a lot.

I hope you understand the difference between 'showing interest' and 'playing all the time'.

Once upon a time, I showed interest in ice cream and now I eat it regularly.
 
See, I tried it - I liked it - I use it.

I don’t think Karpov and Polgar still remember Gothic Chess and play it regularly.

I have nothing against Gothic Chess. Each chess variant has its own beauty and charm.

It’s funny how people who know nothing about the game are so “certain” who does and does not play it. Your speculation is without merit. Meanwhile here is an interesting feature of the game.

When I was in St. Louis, Magnus signed my Gothic Chess Chancellor. So there’s a 4th World Champion who has had direct interaction with the game. Magnus thought the game was cool, he told me personally.

Jetan is best.

Jetan, also known as Martian chess, is a chess variant first published in 1922. It was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a game played on Barsoom, his fictional version of Mars. The game was introduced in The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth book in the Barsoom series. Its rules are described in Chapter 2 and in the Appendix of the book, with an actual game partly described in Chapter 17.

This might be the best variant game ever played.