Forum

Please, report any bugs you may find on the Variants server in this thread.Do not report bugs in the club notes, where they may not be noticed and will get lost and be forgotten about.When reporting bugs, please: Describe exactly what you were doing and how to reproduce the bug (if you can). Include links to games or screenshots where applicable. It may be useful to include which browser you were using (particularly for UI bugs, as different browsers may sometimes render elements differently). Check the browser console for any errors when the bug occurs and include a copy or screenshot. (Ignore ad-tracker messages.) Old 4PC bug thread

Hello! I'm one of the people working on Variants and I'm posting on behalf of the team. Variants has had a lot of changes over the last few years and in the spirit of transparency we wanted to do a sort of official Q&A. The current team will do its best to answer any questions that you have about the Variants project. We are going to collect questions here over the next week and work to get them answered by Friday, December 1st. Post your own questions and upvote questions you want answered! I know it's been a bumpy ride, but the passion of the community is a huge reason I enjoy working on this project and I hope that we can use this to get aligned and get back to enjoying the awesomeness of Variants.

Hi everyone! I was curious to see which variants players find most interesting/diverse/fun I'm expecting to see similar trends to player count per variant, but I might be surprised. : D Looking forward to seeing your responses! Edited a year later to include my own response haha Chaturaji/Hyper-fiesta Crazyhouse Bughouse Four-player-chess (FFA/teams) Atomic Spell chess Cross Derby

Variants gives players the opportunity to design new variants themselves, play them (unrated), and submit for review by team CGA (custom game admins), for a chance to have one’s game listed. How to create custom games: Hit 'A' on your keyboard (or open any game), click the Edit Position icon at the bottom right. Create a starting positionChoose board dimensions (anything from 2x2 to 14x14), and set up pieces (including 23 fairy pieces) for up to 4 players. Bricks and transparent bricks are also available, as well as dead pieces (serve as removable obstacles), or bounty pieces (live pieces that belong to a dead player, the difference to dead pieces being that they give points when captured). Additionally up to 2 players can be set to be zombies, eg a computer will move them, according to the zombie type. Zombies can be made immune, meaning their pieces cannot be captured (these are extremely powerful “moving walls”). (The blue knight will make random moves and cannot be captured.)The royal piece must not be a king, it can be set to any one piece for each player.Add rules:There are some two dozen rules available which can be combined. Of course there are limits, if a variant requires additional rules (say something like ‘backwards pawns’), those would need to be coded by us first. New rules are coded in a way that they can be used as building blocks. For example, Racing Kings can be ‘added’ to any game, so you could create 3player atomic racing kings or whatever.Any player can create such a game and play it casual. Admins can add games to the list of variants, and listed games may be played rated. For listed games, admins can set up a variety of further properties, such as name, url, icon, teaser text, how-to-play descriptions, sorting, categories, which rating to use, etc.Team CGA has become increasingly strict and only accepts very well thought out and fun games. They also remove games again that don’t get much attention. Join the Custom Variants Club to share your New Custom Variants (NCV) ideas: Please read the requirements carefully before submitting your variant.

Well, it's been a few days since the big 'ol merge between chess.com/variants and chess.com/4-player-chess. It seems like the coders/devs are busy running around patching bugs, updating things (a million thanks!), and just putting out fires in general, so I don't expect any of this to be listened to that carefully any time soon, but I thought I'd start a conversation, and place for general suggestions to be posted. I have a few of my own, which I'll plop down in the comments, but others are welcome to contribute as well, so long as A) You're actually making an earnest suggestion of something you think would be to the benefit of the playerbase at large, and B) You're not suggesting a reversal of any changes which were made with the update. We get it, you don't like change. Go home and cry to someone else. I'm hereby giving (and requesting) for the forum admins to remove comments which don't adhere to those two criteria. That being said, I'll try to keep this list updated, based on what's been suggested. I'll also mark the list with the following icons: =Suggested and meets my two criteria listed above =Admin/staff response =Approved in theory, implementation may take some time (if ever). =Implemented =Rejected So here's the list (will be updated with my own, and others' suggestions from the comments): Links to leaderboards from profile boxes Rating history archive "Hide deal offers" toggle switch En Passant = 1 pt. Eggshell Chess Variant Fewer listed variants "Hide arrows from spectators" option Disable chat by default Recent rating change indicators Anonymous spectators in anonymous games Games played restriction on queues Include "4PC" prefix for 4PC FFA and Teams games with icon Point leaders auto-accept deal offers Filters for watch list Attribution to custom positions' creators New "Landmine" variant Dynamic page links to appropriate forums Tournament (combined) leaderboard Multiple promotion ranks, with different promotion options Walls which only apply to certain colours Movable "Hill" squares in KotH Autojoin next arena game Reports revamp Custom ruleset filters on play tab Daily games Sharable analysis boards Customisable play order within gamerules All one-point promotions gamerule "Bouncing Chess" rule

Welcome to the Chess Variants discussion forum. This club is a resource for anyone looking to dive deeper into the ideas, theory, and community of the Chess.com Variants server, and for its players to meet, share thoughts, and discuss specifics of the variants. To better allow for a productive and healthy exchange of ideas, there are a few rules that we ask all club members and commenters to follow. 6 Simple rules: Comments shared on the forum must have purpose and be related to the Chess.com Variants server. Do not advertise on this forum. No spam. Be kind to one another. Do not use this forum as a means to accuse another player of rule-breaking. This forum is moderated at the discretion of the admins, and by the admins alone. Posts and comments which do not follow these rules may be removed, edited or locked. Frequent abusers of these rules may be temporarily or permanently muted within this forum, or banned from this club entirely with or without warning. All rules and community guidelines for chess.com must be followed on this forum, even if not explicitly listed here. 1. Comments shared on this forum must have purpose and be related to the Chess.com Variants server. New post content must be discussion-worthy. Don't simply post a game link. There are many variant games played daily, so there isn't room for everyone to share his game. If you're showcasing a particular game, be sure to add your commentary! We want to hear what about this game makes it special, unusual, tactically-advanced, etc. Consider whether or not other members of this club will have useful contributions to your chosen topic. If your purpose is simply to "show and tell," perhaps your topic would be better suited as a post on your personal profile, or as a blog post. Check to see if there are existing similarly-themed threads before creating a new one. Use the searchbar to lookup keywords related to your topic. In many cases, questions being asked through new threads have already been answered and discussed more fully than what you'll receive by starting a new post. This is most-often applicable for threads addressing specific questions related to gameplay mechanics, gamerules, tactics, opening principles, and the like. However, this can also be the case for game showcases, puzzles, or other topics. With questions on how the game is played, the rules, or mechanics, your questions can be forwarded directly to any club admin. Don't create new threads about lag or bugs. This is the singular most-posted about topic, and those complaints have been addressed thoroughly many times over. You may add comments to any of the hundreds of already-existing threads on these topics, including our pinned bug thread. This forum is devoted to Chess.com Variants discussions. There must be some tie between your forum post or comment relating to the variant gamemodes available on Chess.com or the Chess.com Variant community. 2. Do not advertise on this forum. Forum threads or comments inviting members to other clubs are not allowed. Forum threads or comments sharing information about YouTube / Twitch / Discord channels or servers are permitted if those channels frequently share Chess.com Variant content. If sharing content from these channels, be sure that it's relevant, and supported by commentary. Do not simply post a link without context. Please add a disclaimer if the content from these channels may not be suitable for younger audiences. You are not allowed to explicitly ask for subscriptions / follows / memberships or anything else requiring payment. Do not offer products, to work for hire, or ask others to do so. If interested in private or group coaching, you may ask the club admins if we know of any opportunities. 3. No spam. Threads and comments must support a larger overall discussion related to Chess.com Variants. Meaningless comments are not welcome. One- or two-word responses are meaningless. Comments such as "+1," "agree," or "lol" must be supported with further commentary. State why you agree or disagree with ideas, or what points you specifically support. Quote other users only when needed either in response, or to support / refute his words. Edit quotations to only the most pertinent excerpts, so as not to flood pages with words that have already been said. There is hardly ever significant enough reason to quote a user's entire posting in full. If commenting, share your opinions within one post. Posting multiple replies within the same thread sequentially is considered spam. If you need to add to your previous statements, edit that comment instead of creating a new one. If absolutely necessary, you are permitted to bump your own post once, and only once. "Bumping" refers to leaving a new comment on a thread in order to bring it back to the top of the list of recent posts in an effort to renew interest in it. If bumping your thread, please make an effort to add some new context or discussion to the topic. 4. Be kind to one another. If the purpose of your discussion points is to be spiteful, is targeting another player / a group of players, this is not the place to share those ideas. We recommend resolving disputes privately through direct contact, but you still must be kind in these private communications or you may face punishment from chess.com support staff. If the situation calls for more immediate action, you may contact any club admin, or chess.com support. Do not use vulgar / sexually-explicit / unfriendly language, or promote hateful ideas. This includes the racial, homophobic, and xenophobic slurs. This includes references to any illegal activity. This includes links to websites or channels which frequently violate this rule. This rule, and all others, applies no matter the language in which it's posted. Private information should not be shared. Be respectful of the information other players have decided to share about themselves. Sharing personal details about yourself is not a good idea and is discouraged, but sharing personal details about someone else without his/her consent is strictly prohibited. Do not solicit this information from other players. 5. Do not use this forum as a means to accuse or report another player of rule-breaking. Rule-breakers within Chess.com Variants can be reported directly to admins. More information on how to do so can be found here (Note: this thread is for the Four-Player Chess reporting process, but variant reporting is very similar). Rule-breakers within this forum can be reported by directly messaging an admin. 6. This forum is moderated at the discretion of the admins, and by the admins alone. If we choose to take action or not take action on a forum thread, comment, or user, that action cannot be appealed. Having said that, if you are unsure about why an action was taken against you or your content, you may privately message an admin with inquiries. However, realise that we may not respond, or we may not answer your question fully. Our decisions are final, and will hardly ever be reversed. The rules listed above are given as guidelines for forum content. They are not the only rules we enforce, nor are they all enforced at all times. We act in the best interest of the community at large, and will, in most cases, be discrete and restrained in our moderation efforts. Do not mini-mod. If someone is breaking these rules deliberately, you may report them to the admins. Please include a link to where a rule was broken. The admin team is active on these forums, and uses discretion when enforcing these rules. Unless you believe a user is knowingly and purposefully breaking rules, or is doing so in a manner causing significant damage to this community, you may assume that it will be dealt with in due time, and according to the judgement of the admins. If reporting incidents to the admins, you may not receive a response, although we appreciate your suggestions an vigilance. The rules above may be changed at any time.

I was thinking that just as how atomic chess is based how war can involve atomic bombs there should be a variant that is based on how wars can involve biological weapons.  I’m thinking that it could be set up so that a piece can have a contagious disease that will automatically spread to any piece next to it on the next move.  Symptoms of the disease could range from causing it to malfunction, such as being unable to move in all the ways it should be able to, such as a diseased queen only being able to move a certain number of squares that’s less than the board size, or diseased piece only being able to move once every certain number of moves, to a diseased piece dying after a certain number of moves. I was thinking that there could be an option to have some pieces that won’t experience symptoms of a certain disease but which act as carriers that can infect other pieces.  I was thinking some carriers could automatically transfer a disease to another piece upon contact based on how someone might carry a disease in their body, while others could be set up so that a player manually clicks a button for “transfer disease,” in order to infect others pieces based on how a person could also carry biological weapons in a sealed container. If a healthy piece captures an infected piece then it would become infected with the disease unless it was immune to the disease.  Also dead pieces could carry diseases.  I was thinking there could also be an option for unoccupied squares to contain diseases that a piece could catch if it lands on the square containing the disease.  Also there could be some diseases that get onto the squares that a piece lands on or moves to even after the piece moves off the square.  If a diseased queen was to move through multiple with such a disease for instance then all the squares she would pass through, not just the one she lands on, would contain the disease.  Not all diseases would have this property though. If a diseased piece was to die then the player who brought the army the disease that infected the piece would get the points for the death of the piece. I’m thinking this could be called Biological Chess after biological warfare.

I am a fan of XXL chess and I play it frequently. But today I opened an XXL challenge from the lobby and got these different piece designs:Is this an intentional update or some glitch? 

feel free to post your own atomic opening traps here . in this one my opponent did not have to gobble up my pieces the way that they did but i think black may actually be lost after 3...d5 even with better play. what do you think about 3...d5?

Castling string for 10x8 Gothic Chess. It seems very confusing to the uninitiated.

This move blocks the xiangqi horse, which should be legal. This is likely a bug, and I don't know how to report bugs as I am banned from the other club.

Chess++(ChessPlusPlus) is an Elegant extension of standard chess, If given proper attention, Love and support can take over the world. It introduces a new piece called the Gulti keeping all the other rules of standard chess same. Gulti acts as a teleportation tool in the board. Why This World Needs Chess++ :Despite its brilliance, standard chess has grown increasingly rigid at high levels — with memorized openings, repeated draws, and overly defensive positions becoming common. Many games are decided by engine-prepped lines rather than over-the-board creativity. Chess++ addresses these issues head-on by introducing the Gulti, a teleportation piece that breathes life into stale positions, breaks through passive defenses, and rewards creative, adaptable playstyles over rote memorization. It offers a fresh layer of strategy without abandoning the elegance of classical chess, making the game more dynamic, unpredictable, and fun — both for players and spectators.Full rule sets attached here .. (Note That : Chess++ has 3-4 main elementary rule . Reason why it might seem a lot of cause I have also mentioned all the derived rule here and discussed all the possible scenario that one can come across during gameplay so that reader do not have any room for doubt ) For more detailed understanding you can read my Full paper on Chess++ by clicking here 👉(Full Paper)

I'm unable to play with opponent, although i can analyze. 

In this variant, both players have to move their kings closer to each other every 5th move, until they are as close as they can legally be. At no point are they allowed to move their kings further away than the closest they have been at any point during the game. Distance is calculated as king moves, so castling is still acceptable, as diagonal moves still allow a king to reach the other king in the same number of moves as orthogonal moves, however, if a player's king is not able to meet the requirement of moving one square closer to the other king (measured in king moves) when a mandatory king move comes around (up until the kings cannot legally move any closer to each other), that player automatically loses. Once the kings are as close as they can legally be, the game continues normally until checkmate, except that the kings are locked at the same distance from each other, unable to move further away.

https://www.chess.com/news/view/vote-for-may-chesscom-community-championships-variant?utm_source=chesscom&utm_medium=homepagebanner&utm_campaign=vote2025 VOTE KING OF THE HILL FOR US ALL

I had this inspiration for a chess variant and I feel like it might be pretty well balanced. I suppose it might need some testing or refinement, but for now I'll just share it.Player one (the Monarchy player) has a normal set of chess piecesPlayer two (the Oligarchy player) has sixteen kings, placed in a centralized position of 4 rows of 4 kings. Player two must lose all kings to lose the game, but moves two kings per turn. They must move two different kings, not the same king twice. The idea behind it is that the Oligarchy player just needs to get one piece for free, and exchange pieces 1 for 1 besides. That will leave them with two kings - enough to corner the other king and take the king while both are protecting each other. The game becomes a sort of defense game, trying to keep all your kings protected by the same number of pieces as the opponents attack with. There are certainly ways to trick the Oligarchy player into moving a king away from the other kings it was protecting, thus winning one or more for free, but there are equally many ways to trick a Monarchy player when the Oligarchy player can move two kings. Plus, as all kings protect all adjacent squares, they are actually pretty defensive, if close-ranged. What do you think? Any ideas, refinements or suggestions?

One idea I have for a variant is one, in which if pieces from multiple players is participating in a checkmate, then all the players with pieces that are either checking the mated king or cutting off escape squares get points, however each player would get fewer points than if only their pieces were participating in the checkmate as the points would get split between the checkmating players. For instance in this position, in this variant, if a normal checkmate was 20 points and yellow wasn’t also checking the red king nor cutting off reds escape squares then green and blue would each get 10 points for checkmating red because 20/2=10. As another example in this position in the variant I’m proposing if a normal checkmate was worth 20 points then red, yellow, and green would each get 7 points for checkmating blue, because 7 is the closest whole number to 20/3 I’m thinking this variant could be called something like “Divvy Up,” or “Spoils of War,.” I’m thinking this could be set up so that a player would still get points for checkmating another player for cutting off escape squares even if their piece wasn’t needed for the checkmate For instance here even though green would still be in chekmate without the yellow rook, yellow would still get 7 points if a normal checkmate was worth 20 points because the rook would be cutting off the escape squares for green even though those escape squares would already be cut off. I’m thinking this could also involve dividing up who gets what pieces if takeover is on, with each player involved in the checkmate getting some pieces from the checkmated side.

What is your favorite chess.com variant and why?

My idea for this mode came about when I discovered raumschaht ( space chess ) - apparantly it is quite an old one ( Kazinsky had ideas about 3d variants ) but the game is played on a 8 x 8 x 2 board matrix. Where you have two sides stacked on top of each other ( depending on how you view it ) there are two teams , both teams have their partner above or below them. First side to get checkmated loses. The pieces can all move between the boards , peons promote at the enemies end of the board ( it doesn't matter which level ) , they also can en-passent vertically as well as take vertically in addition to normal attack patterns. 

I understand this would add some luck to a skill-based game, but it is just a bit of fun.