Chess Variants

I've been looking at various chess variants and I like the idea of chess 960, which removes the idea of extensive opening study and reverts topure chess skill.

Are there any variants that you really enjoy or have perhaps invented?  Here are two of my own (probably already invented):

1/ Battle Chess

This is one me and my friend invented inspired by Battleships, very simple and fun.  Basically you set up your side of the board however you want, with pieces on the 1-4 ranks if you are white and on the 5-8 ranks if you are black; with defensive and offensive ideas in mind, and play normally from there (pawns on the back row perfectly allowed but if the black king is in check then black goes first)  Very exciting!!

2/ Barrier Chess

This one is even simpler: you pick a square on the board (usually d/e 4/5) and no pieces are allowed to land or pass through it.  This often leads to interesting tactical positions, but sometimes very closed.

  Try these out, they're very fun.

I was also wondering do chess.com have any plans to develop chess variants on the site; a huge programming step I know but a chess960 option could be a huge attraction.

Over and out,

broze