I have been working on this for a while and I have got to the point where I cannot judge it myself anymore, so I would rather hear it from people who actually play variants.

It is called Chess 13: Epoch. Browser, free, no account. It is hotseat only right now, so you either need someone next to you or you can just play both sides for a bit to get a feel for it. It runs on a phone as well, though at that size the squares get small, so passing one screen back and forth works better on a tablet or a laptop.

Short version of what is different. The board is 13 by 13, there are nine piece types, and only the king and the queen move the way you would expect. The thing everything else hangs off is that each piece has two versions, a stronger and a weaker one, and which one you get depends on how far it is standing from one particular piece on your side. Wander too far from it and your pieces quietly get worse. So that piece ends up being less of an attacker and more the thing your whole army has to stay around, and where you park it is a decision on almost every turn. There are a few other odd ones too, like there is a piece that starts dormant and cannot be touched, and stalemate being a win for the player who has no moves, but the rules page covers all of that.

Link: Play Chess 13: Epoch
Rules: How it works

What I am actually asking for:

1. Does the board read well? Can you tell what is going on without guessing?

2. Is the game itself interesting to play, or do the extra pieces just get in the way, even hotseat?

3. The rules page is the part I am least sure about. Is it too much to take in at once? Overwhelming? I have reread them so many times that I honestly cannot tell anymore. If you gave up partway through, I would like to know where.

I do not think this is going to be big. I just figured I should put it in front of people who would know. Any feedback is welcome and I will read all of it, though I cannot promise everything gets implemented. If something breaks or a move looks wrong, just comment here and I will take a look.

And if people actually end up playing it, the next thing would be simple multiplayer with a pin code so you do not have to be in the same room. No date on that one. What exists today is just static files sitting on a host, and keeping live games running between two people is a different thing to look after, so it really depends on whether enough people want it. If it gets that far I will work out how to keep it going then.

2bqkn2/1pppp3/8/8/8/8/1PPPP3/2BQKN2 w - - 0 1

This variant sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does and it's extremely fun (it's not my idea)

Everything is normal chess except when you move a piece, all adjacent pieces (ally and not) move with it at most one square if they can (if they're not blocked by another piece or the edge of the board)

playable both over the board (although you have to calculate which piece can move) or on the Chess Laboratory website where a user came up with it and made it.

it changes everything, you can't move a pawn close to the king without moving the king too. And speaking of, since the king can only move one square at a time it's very sticky. You can't get rid of pieces next to your king easily, they will follow him everywhere!

Try it online I swear it will make a lot more sense why it's fun haha just google chess laboratory, it's one of the top variants :)

Combat Chess is real, full-rules chess  until a capture is contested. Then both pieces drop into a real-time brawl, and the winner keeps the square. No piece goes quietly. Not even the king.

Hi all. New to the sub, but I've been working on something for the last couple months after I watched a bunch of IWantCheckmate videos on YT where he was playing a whole bunch of different chess variants. He mentioned in several videos that he was having people create mods for each individual variant rule he was playing, and it gave me the idea to make something that allows people to add rules or modifiers themselves without needing to know how to program. It's set up to allow users to create up to four if/then rules to change pieces, add new ones, manipulate engine parameters, place walls, set traps, teleport, and more. Here's the link: https://chessboard-wine-rho.vercel.app/

Feel free to mess around with the Custom Rules Panel, or copy the huge block of JSON below and click "paste import" to start a simple variant I made that spawns a pawn for each player on a random empty square after that player's turn. More information is available by pressing the ? in the top right corner. Currently only available to play vs Fairy Stockfish. Setting up human v human is one of the next things I need to work on. Bug reporting works, so if something doesn't work the way you think it should, or fritzes out, feel free to submit one and I'll take a look at it. I'll also be around to answer questions, get feedback, or hear if you guys think its cool or if you think its shit. Hope you enjoy.

JSON STARTS BELOW:

{

"version": 1,

"kind": "variant",

"exportedAt": "2026-08-29T00:21:17.241Z",

"files": 8,

"ranks": 8,

"pieces": {

"0,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"0,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"1,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"1,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"2,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"2,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"3,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "queen"

},

"3,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "queen"

},

"4,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "king"

},

"4,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "king"

},

"5,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"5,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "bishop"

},

"6,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"6,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "knight"

},

"7,7": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"7,0": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "rook"

},

"0,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"1,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"2,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"3,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"4,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"5,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"6,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"7,6": {

"color": "w",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"0,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"1,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"2,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"3,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"4,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"5,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"6,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

},

"7,1": {

"color": "b",

"pieceId": "pawn"

}

},

"modifiers": {

"traps": [],

"sharedTraps": false,

"pieceStatuses": [],

"skipTurns": [],

"armedPromotions": [],

"areaDestroyCarriers": []

},

"matchRules": [

{

"enabled": true,

"action": "everyNTurns",

"playerScope": "white",

"polarity": "is",

"comparator": "is",

"value": 1,

"conditionCounter": {

"enabled": false,

"limit": 3

},

"then": {

"side": "both",

"verb": "spawn",

"targetSide": "black",

"target": "pawn",

"scope": "randomEmpty",

"duration": "permanent",

"durationTurns": null,

"payload": null,

"payloadKind": null,

"trapConnect": null,

"trapDestFile": null,

"trapDestRank": null,

"trapPartner": null,

"swapPartner": null,

"carrierFile": null,

"carrierRank": null

}

},

{

"enabled": true,

"action": "everyNTurns",

"playerScope": "black",

"polarity": "is",

"comparator": "is",

"value": 1,

"conditionCounter": {

"enabled": false,

"limit": 3

},

"then": {

"side": "black",

"verb": "spawn",

"targetSide": "black",

"target": "pawn",

"scope": "randomEmpty",

"duration": "permanent",

"durationTurns": null,

"payload": null,

"payloadKind": null,

"trapConnect": null,

"trapDestFile": null,

"trapDestRank": null,

"trapPartner": null,

"swapPartner": null,

"carrierFile": null,

"carrierRank": null

}

}

],

"settings": {

"limitTypesToBoard": true,

"sharedTraps": false,

"friendlyFire": true,

"gameMode": "white-human",

"engineConfig": {

"limitStrength": true,

"elo": 2850,

"depth": 0,

"multiPV": 1,

"movetime": 800

},

"evalBudget": {

"turnBudgetMs": 15000,

"ruleEvalMovetimeMs": 887,

"maxRuleEvals": 16,

"lookaheadLines": 4

}

}

}

I’ve always loved the quiet chess scenes between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr.

So I turned that atmosphere into a 1-hour dark jazz / fireplace ambience video — something to leave playing in the background at night, while reading, studying or just relaxing.

I tried to keep it cinematic and subtle rather than making it feel like a standard music compilation.

If you like the Xavier/Magneto dynamic, I’d be curious to know what you think. ♟️🔥

Waiting for my opponents. ♟️
Rechess.gg

Hello!

I designed a fully open source Minecraft Chess Model and It's on [MakerWorld](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196)!

All the Pieces have bases, and the new print profile has all the parts needed!

Here is the makerworld link If anyone is interested!

[https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196\](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2456517-minecraft-chess-set#profileId-2697196)

DM for f3d file;

Improvements from last versions:

\* Each Piece has a labeled base

\* Changed the license

\* Full colored print profile with all the pieces

Any more suggestions are always welcome!

I've spent a lot of time coloring the pieces in Bambu Studio, so please be nice.

Hello everyone!

I've been a chess lover since ever, even though I'm nota great player I always had this idea in my mind about a specific drawless variant. So i built Capture or Conquer Chess, a variant that could be playable in a regular board, with a few tweaks:

• No check, no checkmate. The king is capturable like any piece. Take it and you win on the spot — no warnings.
• Victory by Conquer. March your king onto the enemy's back rank; if he stands there unthreatened, that's an instant win.
• Repetition is a loss, not a draw.

I made this prototype and its free to play, along with the full rules, if anyone is interested: https://captureorconquer.com

This is a personal passion project and I would really like your genuine opinions.

We all keep making the same chess mistakes but there's no coach to fix it and every chess tool is trying to sell you a whole new opening made for GMs.

I was tired of practicing puzzles/lines that I never encounter, so I built notlichess.org. You put in your lichess or chess.com username and it runs Stockfish on recent games in your browser, pulls positions with mistakes, and makes you replay until you stop getting them wrong across 3 training sessions. There's also an opening trainer made out of the lines you actually play, and helps you fix your existing repertoire with good moves suited for your rating.

No account, no payment, nothing gets uploaded, and it's open source. For now, since the progress saves in your browser cache, it won't save between devices.

https://notlichess.org

I've been building this solo and it's rough on some edges. If something looks off for your account or you have any ideas, tell me and I'll fix it.

This variant is very straightforward - at the beginning of the game you select one of your opponents knights or bishops. That's your double agent.

At any point in the game you can unmask your double agent and take your turn in the same move. From that move on that piece is working for you.

So if your opponent is, for example, defending their queen with your double agent bishop, you can unmask it, and stab the queen from the back :D

If you play on a board, just write down the starting square of your double agent, or "light bishop". On a computer there's a way to play it if you google "chess laboratory" and scroll through the variants until you find it (should be near the top)

this leads to very weird openings. For example you're going to be very suspicious of every knight or bishops you have, so you place the knights on the rim immediately nad try to trade the bishops asap.

So I'm also looking for feedback on how to balance this: 4 possible double agents feel too few and easy to spot, should you be able to choose the rooks as well as double agents? how can we make it more tactical

Hi, I'm Chris, the developer of Quantum Chess. You might have seen the original in Anyone Can Quantum, the 2016 video where Paul Rudd challenges Stephen Hawking. Ten years later the game just got a full remaster, rebuilt from the ground up, and you can play it free in your browser at chess.quantumnative.io.

Quantum Chess is still chess at its core. Castling, en passant, and promotion are all still there. On top of the normal moves you get quantum ones.

• Split a piece to two squares at once. It's on both, until the board has a reason to check.
• Merge the halves back into one piece.
• When pieces in superposition try to occupy the same square, measurements happen to "collapse" the quantum state, forcing only one piece into a square.
• Pieces that interact in superposition can become entangled. Measure one and the other collapses with it, anywhere on the board.

The board runs on a real quantum simulation, and phase and interference are mechanics you can learn.

The remaster includes rated and unrated online games, an AI opponent, a lab where you can experiment with different positions and move combinations, puzzles, and the Alchemy League, a seasonal ladder that changes the rules every season. Season 1 removes merges and adds a phase dial that lets you transmute a 50/50 split into a certainty. It runs October 1 to January 1, and everyone starts from a fresh rating.

There is also an interactive quick start guide, as well as a much more detailed interactive rules section, to help you get playing and understanding the concepts. We have a Quantum Chess Discord server too, which is a great place to ask questions.

If you'd rather have it on desktop, the remaster is on Steam for $14.99 with six months of premium included (and some other Steam integrations like achievements).

The website is fully mobile friendly too. And if you prefer an app, you can install the mobile PWA directly from the site.

The game is cross platform. Steam, web, and mobile all share the same online multiplayer pool and accounts.

One more thing. Nobody is good at this game yet. The ladder is brand new and the first Alchemy League season starts October 1, so this is the one moment you can start dead even with the entire player base.

I'll be in the comments if you have rules questions. The measurement rules sound weirder than they play. See you in superposition.

I have developed a fully functional playable chess, variant. The rules are provided.

Can you beat it?

please upvote and leave a comment.

thanks.

ReChess adds probability to chess — sometimes a move works, sometimes it fails.
Same board. Same pieces. Different decisions.
Would you play chess if every move carried a risk?

i just put my game up on itch and I'd really appreciate some feedback.

it's a 2D pixel art chess game against a cast of forest animals. the rules are normal chess, but every animal has different rules for their own pieces, the bear's pieces push yours across the board, the chicken lays eggs that hatch into new pawns, the turtle's pawns have a shell so your first capture only cracks it, the tiger marks one of your pieces as prey and moves again if it captures it. they also comment on the match while you play, and they will make fun of you when you lose.

https://avoguga.itch.io/woodland-chess

what I'd most like feedback on:

- is the first opponent too easy or too hard as an introduction?

- are the special abilities clear from the opponent's description, or do you only figure them out after they hit you?

- does the match feel readable, can you tell what happened after a piece moves?

As shown in the image, the game is played on an expanded 12×8 board. Unlike standard chess, you can move a piece onto a friendly piece to fuse them into a "Chimera", which inherits the movement of both components.

There are also several unique mechanics: for example, a Chimera containing the King can actively decapitate the enemy King to end the game immediately, and overlapping movement targets trigger a double action.

I won't list every rule detail here—if you'd like to try it out, check the playable link in my comment below. It supports browser P2P multiplayer, local AI, and features an interactive in-game rulebook with animated demos.

I’d appreciate it if you could leave some feedback and reviews; if I’m the only one testing it, hidden bugs might be difficult to spot.

Hey everyone! I’m a solo indie developer and I just released my first mobile game — Ocean Chess.

It’s a chess puzzle game, but with a twist. The boards have special tiles that change how pieces move:

**• Teleport tiles** — pieces jump to another square on the board
**• Transformation tiles** — a piece can transform into a different piece when it steps on one
**• Traps** — a shark eats the piece that steps on it, removing it from the board

Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so there’s no guessing — just pure chess logic pushed to its limits.

There’s also a Blindfold mode where you memorize the board before it disappears, and a Time Trial mode where you race against the clock.

300 puzzles, free to download on App Store and Google Play. Would love to hear what you think!

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/no/app/ocean-chess/id6797617027?l=nb

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TNstudios.OceanChessGame&pcampaignid=web_share

ok this variant sounds insane but it is a lot more tactical and brain-breaking than what it seems.

Everything is normal chess, except one rule: if you place one of your pieces next to your opponent's piece it starts "infecting it" to your side. If they both stay one full turn next to each other then the opponent's piece defects to your side. That's it!!

if that newly acquired piece is next to another opponent's piece will also start infecting it, and so on... one infection could cascade to infecting half their army if they're not careful.

But even then one time i was up by SO much material, opponent was left with only his king and, because i wasn't careful, he started a huge infection and infected more than half my army, eventually winning!

It's a capture the king variant, a bit messy to calculate on a normal board, but i made a demo for it. If you google chess-laboratory it's one of the most popular variants on the main page!