14 Variants to Play on a Chess Board

So you love chess, but you want to switch things up and try something new. Or you're feeling uninspired by normal chess games and want to find new ideas. That's what chess variants like Chess 960 and Bughouse are for!

The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants lists over 2000 chess variants, but new variants come out every day. So if you want to add some variety to your chess games, try one of these 14 favored chess variants!

Why You Should Try a Chess Variant

Chess variants can keep the game feeling new by creating more novelty and variety. However, they can also enhance your chess skills. Chess coaches may strategically use certain variants to teach specific skills, such as tactics and mate combinations.

Many variants will involve a non-standard chessboard, but you can play the most popular variants online at Chess.com or LiChess for free.

Chess 960: The Most Common Chess Variant

Fischer Random, also known as Chess 960, is the most common variant. 

Bobby Fischer believed that opening theory was holding chess back. Chess players were suddenly replacing creativity with memorization. So his solution was to randomize the starting position of pieces in the back rank. This forces players to be more visual with their chess openings.

The rules of the alternative setup are as follows:

• You must place the king between two rooks. 
• The two bishops must be on opposite colored squares.
• Black's position mirrors white's setup. 

Castling rules function the same as traditional chess, and a castled rook and king will be in the same place as a traditional long and short castle. 

Below is an example of a starting board for Chess 960:

This variant got its name because the board can be set up in 960 starting positions. Because it utilizes a standard set, you can also play this variant on any chessboard, such as your favorite pocket-sized magnetic board.

Bughouse and Crazyhouse: Reintroducing Captured Pieces

Here are two variations where you can reintroduce captured pieces!

Crazyhouse Chess: In Crazyhouse, when you capture an opponent's piece, you get the piece in your inventory. On your turn, you can either traditionally move a piece or take a piece from your inventory and place it on the board. 

To play this game over the board, you'll need two sets of pieces to generate your inventory in real life. Playing this game online is much easier to keep track of!

Bughouse Chess: In Bughouse, four players break off into pairs. One team member plays as black on one board, while one plays as white on another.  When you capture an opponent's piece, you add it to your partner's inventory.

Variants to Play Online

Some variants are very common to play online on your favorite chess websites. Here are some examples:

Horde Chess: In this variant, black has a regular army, while white has nothing but 36 pawns. White's goal is to checkmate black's king, while black's goal is to capture all of white's material.

Three-Check Chess: In this variant, the first player to deliver three checks wins. Some believe this variant originated from the Soviet Union, and Karpov was a dominant force in this special variation during his youth.

Atomic Chess: In Atomic Chess, capturing a piece leads to an "explosion" that affects every adjacent piece that is not a pawn.

Variants That Use Alternative Chess Boards and Materials

Circular Chess: You play Circular Chess on a ring-shaped chessboard. Imagine cutting a normal chess board vertically between the d and e files and gluing it along the back ranks.

Aside from the fact that you are not allowed to castle, you can play this variant using the same rules as traditional chess. The key difference is that pieces cannot ever cross between the d and e files, since they are no longer connected. 

Here is an example of a Circular Chess board design.

Cylinder Chess: You play this version by "gluing" the board to connect the a and h files, forming a cylinder.

Here is an example of a Cylinder Chess-style chess board:

There are three ways to adapt castling to this variant:

• Players can establish castling rules over the a and h files.
• You can castle according to standard chess.
• Castling is prohibited, as all files are equally dangerous, since there is no center.

Aside from this rule, this variant plays similar to standard chess.

Capablanca Chess

Just like Bobby Fischer, José Raúl Capablanca created the Capablanca Chess Variant because of a gripe he had with traditional chess. He believed that chess would be played out in a few decades and that every game between grandmasters would always end in a draw.

This variant takes place on a 10x8 chessboard and adds two new pieces: the archbishop and the chancellor.

• The archbishop combines the powers of a bishop and a knight. It can move to all the squares that either a knight or a bishop could move to.
• The chancellor combines the powers of a rook and a knight. It can move to all the squares that a knight or a rook can move to.

The board's setup is as follows:

• The king and the queen are swapped, so the king starts on the same color square. 
• The archbishop is placed between the queenside bishop and knight, while the chancellor goes between the kingside bishop and knight.
• 10 pawns fill out the second and seventh rank.

You can even buy Capablanca Chess Variant in a real-life version, featured here:

Yasser Seirawan based his variant, Seirawan Chess, on Capablanca's variant. In Seirawan's version, the king and queen remain in their original positions, but he designates the archbishop as the hawk and redesignates the chancellor as the elephant.

Other Chess Variants

Here are some chess variants that we couldn't easily group elsewhere in this blog post.

Progressive Chess: In this variant, players make an increasing number of turns with each move. 

Omega Chess: This variation is a licensed game available for purchase. It is played on a 10x10 board with four additional squares in each corner of the board. In addition to these extra dimensions, you'll add two new pieces to the mix:

• Champion: Can jump two squares in any vertical, horizontal, or diagonal direction.
• Wizard: Can jump one square diagonally or three squares in a straight line and one square to the side, like a knight that moves in a 3,1 or 1,3 L shape.

Alice Chess: In this variant, when you make a move, your piece is transferred to the same square on a second board. You only capture a piece if it is on the square to which your piece will be transferred. En passant is not valid in this game.

Knightmare Chess: Turning Chess into a Card Game

While other variants usually take place on something like a chess board, one variant changes the setting for the battle by getting off the board altogether.

Knightmare Chess is a fantasy chess variant that you can play with cards instead of a traditional chess board. Its dark card designs, juxtaposed with strategic elements, make it an immersive experience. Magic: The Gathering and RPG players would love this twist on a traditional chess game.

Final Thoughts: Chess Variants

We've only scratched the surface of what chess variants are out there. And that's not even counting the fact that you can try and make up your own at home! So stay curious, try a few variants, and scour the internet for even more.

FAQ: Chess Variants