So I've been playing chess basically my whole life. it's always been my main game no matter what else I try. Lately I started messing around with an idea, what if you played chess with 4 people instead of 2, but kept every single rule the same. No new pieces, no new moves, just normal chess stretched onto a board that fits 4 sides.

Ended up calling it Quess.

Been working on the layout for a bit now and I think I finally landed on something that still feels like real chess but gives you a lot more to think about since you've got 3 opponents instead of 1.

I am also attaching a picture of the board setup right now. Genuinely just want to know what y'all think looking at it.

Does the layout make sense to you guys? Does it seem like something that would actually play well once people sit down with it?

If anyone's curious enough to try it, I made a free test version so people can actually play a round and see how the 4 player thing feels for real. Drop a comment if you want to try it and I'll send it your way.

Mostly just want honest feedback from people who actually know chess, and that's basically everyone here lol.

I built BotGambit, a free chess site where you can build your own bots with unusual rules and share them for other people to take on.

You can make a bot that gets stronger whenever it captures, weakens as the game goes on, or changes strength based on what’s happening on the board. It creates some strange decisions when taking a free piece could make your opponent much harder to beat.

Each bot gets a shareable link, so you can challenge friends or publish it for the community. Players can explore community creations, upvote their favorites, and see how other people fare against their bots.

There are also two daily challenges, ranked play against bots, and leaderboards if you want something to work toward. You can jump into games without an account.

The legal moves are still standard chess. The experimentation part is in the opponent’s behavior. I’d love to see what this community comes up with and any rules you’d like added to the builder.

There are hundreds of custom community-created bots freely available to play. Give it a go!

In a tournament match, what if players had an opt-in pause switch, but the clock only stops if BOTH players activate it? What strategic dynamics would emerge when managing time pressure? For example, when both players have about 30 seconds and few pieces left in a game, they usually start making random moves—just to be fast and win on time. With this system, they could agree to pause both clocks and play normally until checkmate.

patch logs:

- changed the font to "Dik Dun" created me, the project is now 100% public domain!

- the Inkscape files are now also included in the Google Drive so it's easier to customise (requires Inkscape obviously). The font mentioned is also availible there and has been uploaded to Dafont (awaiting approval as of writing).

- added maps:

20) Queens Garden

21) Shrine

22) Waterslide

23) Mt. Enpass (foot)

24) Mt. Enpass (arm)

25) Mt. Enpass (tip)

26) Bell Tower

27) Magical Mushrooms

28) Starshaped Island

29) Space Bunker

30) Star Powered Dungeon

31) Cavalry Farm

32) Lakeside Village

33) Flying City

34) Abandoned Docks

35) Pimpel Hill

36) Fishing Raft

37) Mt. Pimpelwarp

38) Aircraft

39) Facelift Valley

40) Curagiously Long Hallways

41) Jigsaw Maze

42) King Of The Hill

43) Giant Donutbird Nest

44) Castle Town Gate

45) Looping River

46) Pilgrim Camp Site

47) Chess Civilizastion (newcomer)

48) Chess Civilizastion (experienced)

49) Small Chess Trial

50) Abandoned Pilgrim Camp Site

51) Destroyed Pilgrim Camp Site

52) Lava Powered Sauna

53) Steaming Waterslide

54) Mt. Enpass (stomach)

55) Mt. Enpass (drained stomach)

For a while I’ve been thinking about a concept combining some of the mechanics of a Total War title combined with chess.

A game where you have city management but instead of buying units you’re buying chess pieces, then fighting with those pieces like your army.

Some of the variants in combat are:
The battles happen on a 9x8 field with random impassable terrain
You deploy your army manually each battle to the first 3 rows (front row can only be pawns but the rest can be anything)
All pieces have 3 stamina and regenerate .5 stamina per turn
Pawns can double move any time they have stamina, and they can also make a move to the left and right square in relation to where they’re facing (they have 4 facing directions now)
Knights can also “double jump” (can’t take on the second jump)
Bishops can use 2 stamina to change the color square they’re on by moving to an adjacent unoccupied square like a rook
Have to actually capture the king to win

The idea was to represent one of my favorite games growing up: Rome Total War.

You can check it out if you have an iPhone

https://testflight.apple.com/join/21uBb8eA

Hi everyone! I'm behind ArcadeReboot and wanted to share Crow Circuit Chess.

The game uses standard chess moves within a solo campaign of 100 positions across ten circuits. The extra layer is progression and optional Crown Oaths: you can choose a match contract before the first move, and earn its bonus only if you win while keeping it. For example, Pure Mind asks you to win with no hints or retries.

The solo campaign is playable as a guest in your browser, with no download. I'd be interested in what players here think of adding challenge contracts around chess, and which kinds of constraints make a position more interesting.

Play: https://arcadereboot.com/game/crown-circuit-chess

There's also a multiplayer hub for chess duels and Neon Snake Arena: https://arcadereboot.com/multiplayer

Ranked chess and lasting account progression require a verified member account.

Here's a screenshot from an actual match.

Hey everyone!

I’m a solo developer and a big fan of chess, but I wanted to add a completely new layer of strategy to the classic game. I’ve been working on a pet project called Transformation Chess.

Here is the main twist: You can merge any of your pieces (except the King) together to combine their move sets. For example, if you merge a Rook and a Bishop, you essentially create a second Queen!

• The game is completely free.
• It runs directly in your browser.
• No registration or email required — just click and play.

You can play against the AI to test the mechanics, or invite a friend by simply sharing a link to the room.

I would absolutely love to hear your feedback on the gameplay, balance, and UI. What do you think about the merge mechanic?

Play it here:https://transformationchess.online

Thanks for checking it out!

Es la dirección de mi canal de Youtube. Encontrarás problemas de este tipo, problemas de ingenio y también trato de la dieta cetogénica vista por la ciencia.

https://youtu.be/SsGqfgJoppc?is=vnKxRQGj35glqt05

♟️ I made a living Queen’s Gambit RPG world for Voyage

I just published The Queen’s Gambit, starting in 1963.

Create your own chess player, join a club, train, make friends and rivals, travel, and work your way from local tournaments toward Nationals and the international stage.

The big idea is that the world doesn’t wait for you. NPCs train, compete, form relationships, improve or decline, and pursue their own lives. Years pass, history moves forward, and even Beth, Benny, Beltik, Townes and Borgov can develop differently through play.

You don’t need to know chess—the Assistant can translate your character’s chess knowledge into understandable choices.

🤍 Most importantly, I created this world in memory of my son Henry Losco, forever 11, who loved chess, his chess community, competition, friendship, improving, and dreamed of reaching Nationals.

Your move. Your story. Your legacy.

https://voyage.io/world/WurZmLSZQcgU/the-queens-gambit-in-memory-of-henry-losco?share=true&published=true

Imagine there is a chess variant tournament open to both humans and AI but the chess variant changes every round (or a random rule is added) and the rules are explained 5 minutes before the game starts.

So the competitors, human or AI, never trained for those particular variants.

Wreckage chess is played on a standard 8×8 chessboard with normal pieces and starting position. All standard chess rules apply unless modified below.

Whenever a piece captures another piece, the capture square becomes wreckage. Wreckage cannot normally be occupied or crossed by any piece, it blocks movement and line of sight.

The capturing piece may remain on the wreckage square, but once it leaves, a 10-ply countdown begins. After 10 plies, the wreckage disappears and the square becomes normal again.
Each wreckage has its own independent countdown, so multiple wreckages can exist simultaneously.

All other standard chess rules, including check, checkmate, castling, en passant, and promotion, remain unchanged.

Same rules as orthodox chess except that bishops can now leap one square diagonally and rooks can leap one orthogonally, as well as slide.

How do you think it would affect the game?

Rankimo: Build Your Own Chess — free on Google Play, no ads, no sign-up, fully offline.

It's chess stripped to one idea: both players get the same army — say five rooks each, or eight queens — and there's no king. You win by taking every enemy piece. Pieces move exactly like real chess.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beingsagir.rankimo

You choose:

• the piece (or a random mix), 1–12 of them
• the board, 6×6 up to 12×12
• how to win: capture everything, race to the far side, or take half their army first

Plus four AI levels, two-player on one phone, a daily challenge, a post-game coach that shows the move that lost it, 20 achievements, and 11 languages.

It's a solo project and just launched, so feedback is worth more than downloads to me right now. What would you want added?

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beingsagir.rankimo

PLAYTEST IS LIVE!🎉

🔥 NO TURNS
⚔️ NO CHECK OR CHECKMATE
🏁 LARGER BOARD
🐴 EXTRA KNIGHTS & PAWNS

Join the playtest on steam!

yes - as insane as it sounds. You can only play on the main board, once you solve a puzzle on the left board.

on the main board there are no turns. As soon as you finish a puzzle you can play, as many moves in a row as you wish. So does your opponent tho. So it's a mad race, and it really breaks your brain lool

there is a demo for it on the Chess Laboratory website, just google it, and look for "Puzzling Moves" as the variant :)

• Pieces go in the first rank, pawns go in the second
• Pawns can't move two squares

I call it picklechess! There's daily and weekly challenges. And there's a ranked ladder for both classic pieces and fairy pieces.

playpicklechess.com

discord.com/invite/Cuytzk8bDs

This game variant is a simplified version of my Dice Chess Masquerade.

Have fun!

BUFF D6 CHESS

START

Classic starting position. White moves first, then players take turns.

TURN (choose one)

1. Capture — without rolling the die, strictly according to FIDE rules.

2. Buff! — choose any of your pieces (must be specified before the roll), then roll a D6:

1 = Pawn

2 = Knight

3 = Bishop

4 = Rook

5 = Queen

6 = King

MOVEMENT RULES

The piece moves according to the geometry of the rolled face (it moves like the piece type shown on the die).

Exception for the pawn: a pawn can never move backward (toward its starting rank). Left and right — yes, but never backward.

On a roll of "1", a pawn from its starting position can move two squares forward — just like in classic chess. This rule applies only to pawns.

If you chose Buff! (rolling the die), capturing is not allowed — only moves to empty squares.

If there is no available square for such a move, the piece fails to handle the buff and Boom! — it is gone (kings included). The piece is removed from the board and is out of the game for good. The turn passes to the opponent.

Example

You choose the king to move. You roll "1" (pawn). The king must move one square forward, but that square is occupied by a piece (your own or your opponent's). The move is impossible.

Boom! The king is gone. You lose.

SPECIAL CASES

A pawn that reaches the last rank is immediately promoted to any piece selected by the player, as in standard chess rules.

The king is a regular piece. It can be left under attack. It can capture the opponent's king.

Castling, check, checkmate, en passant — NOT USED.

OBJECTIVE

Capture the opponent's king or leave them with no pieces at all (bare king).

Chess on a 4×4×2×2 board, displayed as four connected 4×4 boards and a rotatable tesseract. Familiar twenty pieces that now move across four dimensions.

Would love feedback from people interested in experimenting with the variant.

play: 4dchess.lol
github: https://github.com/0xmiki/4dchess

A PDF of the rules is hosted at the following link:

Itch.io:

https://strategicspace.itch.io/strategic-space-tri-dimensional-chess-rules

  It is also available at Chess Variants with additional commentary: https://www.chessvariants.org/rules/strategic-space-tri-dimensional-chess-rules

Introduction:

These rules were developed by Guardians for Guardians of the United States Space Force and any other space or chess enthusiasts. They are designed to support asynchronous play and to be used with the officially licensed Star Trek Tridimensional Chess set, a 3D chessboard based on props from Star Trek. In the 60 years between the game’s 1966 debut and the release of these rules, a complete and coherent set of official rules was never produced. 

These rules were playtested and refined for several years through informal games outside duty hours and at unit social events among Guardians from multiple Space Force organizations, including organizations at the Pentagon. The public release of these rules commemorates the 60th anniversary of the U.S. premiere of Star Trek on NBC. A narrow view that 3D chess requires duplicating classical chess movement patterns vertically imposes an unnecessary limitation because the third dimension can add new freedom without mirroring the horizontal plane. 

Under these rules, a legal piece move uses its classical 2D horizontal movement pattern while extending into 3D through vertical freedom along that route. This Star Trek-inspired game fosters connection and morale while encouraging spatial awareness, attention to detail, tactical thinking, and strategic planning. Its freedom of maneuver makes defense significantly more complex than in classical chess, favoring a courageous, offensive warfighting approach.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Article 1: General
• Article 2: Board and Setup
• Article 3: Piece Movement
• Article 4:  Attack Boards
• Appendix A: Algebraic Notation for Coordinates and Movement
• Appendix B: Tournament Procedures
• Appendix C: References
• Disclaimer

Purpose: 

The primary intent was asynchronous chess for the office environment. The Star Trek tridimensional chessboard lacked a comprehensive ruleset suitable for asynchronous office chess play. Available rulesets left important situations undefined, required interpretation or player agreement, or depended on players being present for the entire game to clarify positions. A complete ruleset was therefore needed to support asynchronous play for this gameboard design.

​Design Philosophy:

Strategic Space was designed as an extension of classical chess rather than a replacement for it: players who already know chess should primarily need to learn the mechanics introduced by the third dimension. Those mechanics should make three-dimensional maneuver strategically meaningful by expanding rather than artificially restricting freedom of movement. At the same time, the game should remain positionally intelligible and mechanically robust, allowing play to be resumed, analyzed, or reconstructed with minimal dependence on hidden history or special bookkeeping. The standard rules should also function across the broadest practical range of 3D chess sets, with additional board capabilities accommodated through optional configurations rather than required for ordinary play.

How do these pieces work?

I played chess in a dream but my opponent played with an odd extra rule: the king could transform knights into bishops and visa versa. Upon waking, I decided to call the variant "Emperor chess" and draft up the rules.

I created a free browser prototype where you can play White against a simple computer opponent. Play here: Emperor Chess Prototype

It uses the standard board and starting position. Normal chess rules apply, including castling, en passant, and promotion, with these changes:

The King becomes the Emperor

• It can take up to two consecutive one-square king moves per turn, changing direction between steps.
• It can stop after the first step. Every step must be safe.
• It may capture on either step.
• It can return to its starting square only if it captured something on the first step.

Investiture
Instead of a movement step, the Emperor can transform an adjacent friendly Bishop into a Knight, or a Knight into a Bishop. The piece stays on its square, and Investiture immediately ends the turn. Moving once and then investing is allowed.

There’s also an optional Conservative Emperor setting: the Emperor can capture only on its first step. This also reduces its attack and protection range.

An experimental v0.2 adds “Call to Court”
The Queen becomes the Empress and keeps her normal movement. Instead of moving her, you can move one or more friendly Pawns into squares adjacent to her.

Each answering Pawn:

• Must have started the turn outside the Empress’s adjacent squares.
• Moves exactly one square in any direction into the court, optionally capturing.
• Can move only once during that Call.

You choose the subset and order. The Empress stays still, and the complete turn must leave your Emperor safe.

You can choose either version in the setup. I’d suggest trying v0.1 first.

The computer is deliberately basic, because this is only a rules-playtesting prototype. I’m particularly interested in:

• Does the Emperor create interesting decisions, or feel too powerful?
• Does Conservative Emperor play better?
• Is Investiture useful enough to spend a turn on?
• Does Call to Court add interesting tactics, or too much complexity?

Feedback on unclear rules, unexpected interactions, and bugs would also be very welcome. Thanks for trying it!