Here is a diagram for close chess!
I played it against myself but this is more fun when you see two level 10 computers play it out
I like Close chess and you can't miss this comment
Dde that is the worst thing ever seen
Dde that is the worst thing ever seen
I saw your explanation like this:
"The second, fourth and sixth ranks are filled with White's pawns, while the third, fifth and seventh ranks are filled with Black's pawns."
(edited out; I misunderstood who was saying what to who.)
Honestly, we can simply treat both as valid variants of each other; since both look like a good death match game.
I like both.
Let's create a second contest.
I'll be the judge this time.
OK, here my submission for the second contest:
Team-Mate Chess
This variant was designed to provide interesting end-games similar to the Bishop + Knight checkmate in orthodox Chess. To this end no piece participates that can force mate on a bare King single-handedly (supported by its own King); you will need at least a pair of pieces (i.e. a team) to force such a checkmate. In addition, all pieces in the initial setup (except Pawns) are different, to provide the maximum number of such end-games.
Setup
Pieces
King and Pawns move as in FIDE Chess. The Kings can castle with the corner pieces as if these were Rooks, under the usual restrictions of clear path and not being in or passing through check.
On d1/d8 there is an Aanca, which is a 'slider with a bent trajectory: it starts making one step as a Rook, but then continues its path diagonally outward. An Aanca on d1 could thus (f.e.) move along d2-e3-f4-g5-h6, but could not reach any square along this path beyond the first obstacle. The Aanca only attacks squares of the shade opposite of what it stands on, and thus has no mating potential. Nevertheless, it is worth nearly 8 Pawns.
On h1/h8 there are Cobras. Their moves start with a Knight jump,and could end there. If that square is empty, however, they can continue to move one step orthogonally outward. So the Cobra on h1 can, in the initial position, move to g3 or g4 (but not to f3!). When g3 is blocked it cannot move to g4, however. This prevents the Cobra from making all kinds of smothered attacks on the opponent's back-rank pieces early in the opening. The Cobra has no mating potential, because its King happens to block the only square from which it could check after forcing a bare King to step into the corner. It is worth about 6 Pawns.
On a1/a8 start Unicorns. These are augmented Knights, which can make one step as a Rook or jump as a Knight. Their move pattern is thus a subset of that of the Aanca, but unlike the latter, they can jump to the Knight squares. A Unicorn is worth slightly less than a Rook, about 4.75.
On b1/b8 start Phoenixes. These can jump two squares diagonally, or step one square orthogonally (i.e.like a Rook). Although they cover squares of both colors, they do not cover orthogonally adjacent squares, and thus have no mating potential. Covering (upto) 8 squares with unblockable moves the Phoenix is a typical minor, worth about the same as a Knight.
On c1/c8 start Elephants. These jump two squares diagonally, or step 1 square diagonally. This makes them like truncated Bishops, but value-wise the ability to jump directly to the second square compensates for the lack of distant moves. The Elephants are color bound, but despite that still worth about a Knight.
On g1/g8 starts an orthodox Knight.
On f1/f8 starts a Mortar. This jumps two or three squares diagonally. That makes it also color bound, and thus without mating potential. In the center of the board the Mortar would still have 8 moves, but the distant moves would fall off board in most other locations. Lacking step moves the manoeuvrability is low, making it a clumsy piece, with a value of about 2.5 Pawns.
Promotion
Pawns promote on reaching last rank to any of the pieces initially on the back-rank, except King or Aanca. But there also is the possibility to promote to a piece not initially present, the Adjutant.
An Adjutant moves as a Bishop, or as a Rook in steps of two. I.e. an Adjutant on d8 can move along the path d6-d4-d2, but cannot jump over anything on these squares. (So if d4 is occupied,it cannot reach d2.) It ignores what is on the squares it cannot land on, though. So even if d7, d5 and d3 are all occupied, it could still move from d8 to d2 if d6 and d4 are empty. The Adjutant is color bound, and thus has no mating potential. It is worth about 7 Pawns. This makes it the strongest promotion choice, as promotion to Aanca is not allowed. But when the promotion square is of the wrong shade, so you would end up with two color-bound pieces on the same shade, you could be forced to under-promote.
Forcing Checkmates
With 8 different (non-royal, non-Pawn) piece types there are 8x7/2 = 28 different combinations of two different pieces. Only one of these cannot force checkmate on a bare King (namely Mortar + Knight), like KNN-K in orthodox Chess. When both pieces are color bound they have to be on opposite square shade for this, of course. When some of the pieces are color bound, the corners are not equivalent, and mate might only be possible in corners of a specific shade (like with KBN-K in orthodox Chess). This happens with Elephant + Knight, and Mortar + Elephant, Phoenix, Unicorn or Adjutant.
The 50-move rule is replaced by a 64-move rule, as some of the checkmates are slow. Otherwise FIDE rules apply (i.e. it is illegal to expose Kings to capture, stalemate is a draw, you can claim a draw after 3-fold repetition, etc.).
Surprisingly, this game is not more drawish than orthodox Chess, although KP-K obviously would always be draw. Most 2-versus-1 end-games (not counting Kings) are forced wins is the defending piece is not in a stronger class than the attackers. You cannot win by trading the defender, but often you can gain it, like in KBB-KN.
Here's a variant that I never finished until now; something that I pulled and dusted from the rubble.
Chaos’s Chess
Welcoming the 3rd
‘Corrupting’ Player
Getting started: General Rules –
1) Set up: Regular FIDE Chess (may also be integrated into other chess variants; scroll down for “Chess Variants” section.)
2) After every 5* ‘real’ player turns (black, white, black, white, black; white, black, white, black, white), a ghost-like 3rd player, “Brown” (or “Nature”), may choose to take an “in-between turn” to either -
a. introduce a Brown/Nature’s” piece onto a random square on the board
b. move an existing Brown/Nature’s piece currently on the board
*(Clarification: Brown is not required to take an in-between turn after every 5 regular turns; it is merely available to him/her then. If an inbetween turn is not taken during that turn, an in-between turn is available any other in-between’s following that. Once an in-between turn is taken, Brown must wait another 5 ‘real’ turns to have another in-between turn available to him/her.)
3) “Nature” is given a total of 2 of every Brown major and minor piece: Nature’s Queen, Rook, Knight and Bishop; none of these 8 pieces are on the board at game start. Captured Nature’s pieces may not be re-used: once all Nature’s pieces are captured, Brown is done for the remainder of the game. 
(Please read “Advanced Rules” for optional rules on Nature’s King and pawn.)
4) Nature’s pieces can capture as well as be captured, just like a regular chess piece.
5) Nature’s piece may not be introduced onto a square that threatens a ‘regular player’s’ piece other than a 'regular' pawn. Though, they are free to be introduced onto a square threatened by a ‘regular’ player’s piece.
6) No more than 2 Nature’s pieces may exist on the board at a time.
7) No more than 1 major nature’s piece may be used at a time. (Two of Nature’s Rooks or Nature’s Queens may not be on the board at the same time; neither can 1 Nature’s Queen and 1 Nature’s Rook.)
Determining victory – Since Nature’s King is neither required to be on the board at all times nor does it succumbs to checkmate (Brown’s not a ‘real’ player!), he/she cannot lose. Neither can he/she win: when one or both ‘real’ players are checkmated by Brown, the game ends in a stalemate. Since both armies failed to checkmate the other, neither of them can claim victory; even if Brown checkmates only one of them.
Check, Checkmate and Castling – Thoughit’s possible to deliver check/checkmate with a Brown piece, it may be a little more complex when considering that Brown doesn’t have a chance to move until ever 5 ‘real’ turns have passed. If Brown makes a move that would threaten either or both Kings, the King in question is technically not in check until 3 or 4 moves have passed since the threatening in-between move has been made. This is because by the 4th or 5th move counting from the most previous in-between turn, the next in-between turn could possibly happen before the ‘real’ player is able to move again, thus illegally putting the King up for capture.
Likewise, check restrictions that prevent castling due to a threatening Brown piece apply only during specified 4th or 5th ‘real’ move: during the 1st, 2nd or 3rd ‘real’ move, a player may perform Castling, despite any Brown piece that might threaten his/her King or otherwise threaten the square where the King must move through check.
(All other rules of Castling apply, regardless of how many moves occurred after an inbetween turn: neither King nor castling Rook to have been previously moved, no piece must obstruct the path between King and castling Rook, etc.)
Rules on Chaos’s Chess courtesy – To assist making Chao’s Chess run more smoothly, the following are required, as similar to announcing “check”.
1) Signaling– To make clear that an in-between turn will take place, a visual/audio/other sensual signal by Brown must be made to interrupt the current “real” player’s turn and declare “in-between”. If a “real” player already touches his or her piece, Brown loses out on an in-between turn that turn and must wait until the next player’s moment of pre-move. (Some ideas for signaling: placing the hand above the chessboard, clapping hands, tapping table, or perhaps stomping a foot.)
Likewise, if a 'real' player touches a piece, he/she must move that piece; as a rule commonly consented upon by many amateur players, this rule will ensure an upper head in fairness.
(Because of the nature of signaling, Blitz may not be the best choice for Chaos’s Chess; “Real” players in this mode of chess might move pieces too fast to securely signal for an in-between turn; even if the time doesn’t run during.)
2) Timed game – The game is to be paused after signaling; time resumes after an in-between turn is over. If game type is time per move, the full time per move is granted after an in-between turn is over. E. g. If “real” players have 2 minutes to make a move, those 2 full minutes are granted the “real” player after the interrupting “in-between turn” is over; even if the interruption occurred 1:43 into the “real” player’s turn.
(It may be nice if, after an in-between turn, Brown increments the interrupted players time to compensate for the abrupt interrupt.)
(I don’t know if chess clocks have a feature to pause the time or to increment it for the interrupted player, since I’ve never in my life played with one. If it doesn’t, I suppose one can always build one. If no clocking device can assist in this, then perhaps a timed game of Chaos’s Chess is not a reality at this time. )
3) Limited time for in-between turns – If Brown chooses to take an in-between turn, he/she is allowed only a number of seconds to decide on a move before the in-between turn is nulled. Typically, 5-8 seconds is ideal, though time limit would be consented upon by all players before game-start. In this way, the ‘corruption’ isn’t given too much power.
Basically, your role as the Black or White player is the same as in regular FIDE chess: to capture enemy pieces and checkmate the enemy King. In Chaos’s Chess, you must also overcome any obstacles posed by the infamous “Brown” player, who may assist or hurt you at random; whichever he/she chooses is completely at his/her disposal!
You should now know the basic rules to get a game started. The rest of the instructions in this article are also important, but you have the game’s bare foundation.
(If you don’t already understand the special rules of Nature’s King and Nature’s pawn, do not use them in a game until you do!)
Optional Advanced Rules (after general rules are understood) –
1) Aside from the major and minor pieces, games may also include the use of 1 Nature’s King and 8 nature’s pawns. The reason these pieces deserve a special section in the advanced rules is the nature of regular FIDE pawns and King would conflict with that of Chaos’s chess. For one, which direction is considered “forward” for pawns? If Brown is not a ‘real’ player, how would it make sense for his/her Nature’s King to be checkmated? So on and so forth. It’s simply more complicated than what new players learning the game might want to learn at first.
Special rules regarding them are as follows:
a. Nature’s King:
- “Nature” is given a total of one Nature’s King
- Cannot be checked/checkmated, but can be captured
- Can be used to check/checkmate White’s or Black’s King; (Though, per Brown’s restriction, it may not be introduced onto an adjacent square to the King.)
- Moves like a regular FIDE King: 1 square orthogonally or diagonally
b. Nature’s pawn: (There’s a whole lot to remember here! It might simply be better to leave Nature’s pawn out of the game, for you may not want to spend the time to learn the whole lot of it. Or, if you do, well here you go.)
- Moves 1 square sideways and captures 1 square diagonally sideways. (The sideways maneuver is considered Nature’s pawn’s “forward” direction.)
- Nature’s pawn is allowed to be introduced onto the a and h file.
- Whether the forward (“wayward”) direction towards Nature’s promotion is left or right is dependent upon which end-file takes longer for Nature’s pawn to reach and promote on:
o Introducing Nature’s pawn onto the a thru d files activates the h-file as the wayward direction towards promotion (moving towards the a-file direction is considered illegally moving “backwards”)
o Introducing it onto the e thru h files activates the a-file as the wayward direction towards promotion (moving towards the h-file direction is considered illegally moving “backwards”)
- First move - If Nature’s pawn is introduced on the b/g-file, it has the option during its first ever move to move two squares wayward towards its promotional file; on every other file, it simply moves wayward 1 square. If it is introduced onto the a/h-file, it has the option to move wayward 2 or 3 squares on its first move.
- Promotion - Upon reaching the promotional end-file (a/h-file), Nature’s pawn promotes to any one of Nature’s other pieces, including Nature’s King, that’s neither been or is currently used. If Nature’s King or all other Major or Minor Nature’s pieces have been captured before Nature’s pawn’s promotion, it will remain un-promoted and un-moveable on that a/h-file square till gameover; or until capture.
- Reminder on restriction - If currently on the board is a companion Nature’s Queen, Nature’s pawn may not promote to Nature’s Rook; and vice versa.
- Nature’s En Passant – If during an “in-between turn” Nature’s pawn is on the 5th file (e/d-file) from his/her starting side (g/b-file), it is legal to capture any regular pawn that most previously landed on an adjacent orthogonal square to it. This is done by moving Nature’s pawn diagonally “forwards” towards the side where the Black/White pawn is to be captured. If the target pawn in question is “behind” Nature’s pawn, Nature’s pawn has the option of moving in either “forward” diagonal direction. If Nature’s En Passant is not performed that “in-between turn”, the maneuver is lost to that Brown pawn for the remainder of the game.
2) Castling with obstructing Brown piece: Kings may castle to capture Brown pieces; this, however, can only occur if the Brown piece is not currently putting the Castling King in check. Castling may not occur to capture 'real' pieces.
Chess Notation -
Standard: One writes an infinity sign before the n-move of the brown player followed by five periods.
∞1…..
∞2…..
∞3…..
Etc.
Nth move follows its own place of when Brown makes that move, regardless of what number of moves the “real” players have made. (E. g. Even if Brown’s 3rd move is made after Black and White’s 13ttth move, Brown will still notate his/her move as ∞3….. while White and Black respectively notated 13. And 13… .)
To indicate a Nature’s piece being introduced onto the board, one indicates the square and then the letter representing the piece, joined by an equal sign.
∞3…..a4=Q
∞8…..d6=p
∞2…..f7=B
Etc.
A move made by a Nature’s piece would simply follow regular notation:
∞6…..Bb4
∞1…..Nf8
∞8…..Rc5
∞3…..b5-a5=K (Nature’s pawn from the e-thru-h side promotes to King on a-file.)****
****(In order to avoid confusion as to whether a notation means a pawn is promoted to King or means that a King is introduced onto the board on that square, pawn promoting to King is always required to include its previous square joined to its destined square by a hyphen; such as shown in the 4th example above: ∞3…..b5-a5=K)
Chess variants – There are some chess games outside of FIDE Chess that Chaos’s Chess can be incorporated into. Some chess variants contain rules that are quite abstract to regular FIDE chess and may cause even further confusion if Chaos’s is also introduced into it. Players should understand the nature (poor pun intended) of the chess variant being played in order to decide how to play Chaos’s in that variant. Here are some rules that I have loosely established for one such variant I have known for a while:
Chao’s Chess in Anti-King Chess –
(To understand Anti-King Chess: http://www.chessvariants.com/diffobjective.dir/anti-king-chess.html)
Unlike FIDE Chaos’s Chess, Nature’s Anti-King starts the game on the board rather than being introduced onto it during an in-between turn. As such, it is the one piece that doesn’t count towards the two-piece restriction; two other Nature’s pieces may exist alongside it. As an Anti-King is only safe if it is in on a square that is checked by an enemy piece (which is supposed to be the opposite of a King!!), Nature’s Anti-King needs to start on a square that is being attacked, contrary to original Chaos’s Chess rules applied to any other piece. Also, an Anti-King may capture one’s own allied pieces but not enemy pieces. As such, Nature’s Anti-King may capture a companion Nature’s piece on the board but not a Black or White piece(!). “Anti-check” upon an Anti-King occurs when no pieces are threatening it.
If anti-check against Nature’s Anti-King cannot be resolved during an in-between turn, Brown is eliminated from the game through anti-checkmate. At that point, all Nature’s pieces will remain stationary and immobile on the board for the remainder of the game, open to capture by both armies; as well as serving involuntarily as roadblocks that may hurt or benefit either “real” player.
Very nice.
So far, I think Chaos's Chess is the best.
It's also creative about Team-Mate Chess.
Who wants to submit the third?
sorry I havent been online. i like chaos chess, i think its the best so far
Four Chess is unsure for me, let me play-test.
Okay, the last comment was 20% true.
I sometimes play "Defend the castle" with my friend.
Someone attacks with white, and the other defend with black.
We basically take away one of the defenders pieces, or more, and he has to beat me within a certain number of moves, and then we switch, it requires some optimization, depending on the players level of course; it's not always easy to win as attacker within a certain number of moves.
Alrighty, Four Chess is tied up with Defend The Castle.
lol Has anyone tried Chaos's? xD (It's okay if not; I think I made too many rules anyways. lol)
That aside, I'd be willing to play Werewolf with anyone who wants to.
As far as Four Chess "being dead": personally, I don't think so. It simply means that the Knight is less likely to be the first to move: if they don't move to the a- or h-file on their first move, that just means the c- and f- pawn needs to moves first. That shouldn't impede on pleasurable game-play.
