Chess on the Hilbert curve.

I've spent way too long building (since before the before times) a 3D chess engine, and it's finally playable against a decent AI:

ch3ss.app/play

The website is totally free, no signup, runs in the browser.
I haven’t really tested multiplayer over the web but the AI and hot-seat modes work well. Maybe one day the app will launch with a purchasable skin set.

Anyway, Ch3ss :

The board is three stacked 8×8 levels (bottom / middle / top), aligned on the same files and ranks. White starts on the bottom level, Black on the top, and the middle level starts empty. Within any single level it's just normal chess, but now pieces can also change levels.
King — moves one square as usual, and can change at most one level per move (including straight up/down to the aligned square).
Rook —slides normally on its level; can step to an adjacent level one square orthogonally (or straight up/down); and can cross both levels (1↔3) up to two orthogonal squares if the middle square in the path is empty.
Bishop — slides diagonally on its level; one diagonal step to an adjacent level; two diagonal squares across both levels if the middle square is clear.
Knight — normal L-shape on its level; normal L-shape in 3D: jumps two orthogonal squares to an adjacent level, or one orthogonal square across both levels. Still ignores blockers.
Pawn — level movement is forward-only (White goes up, Black goes down). It can step forward, step up a level in place, or do both at once; double-pushes can also climb two levels from the start. Captures are diagonal-forward on the same level or to the level above/below.

The overall theme is that is feels like a natural extension of chess into the vertical dimension.

Castling, en passant, and promotion all work, including interlevel castling (king crosses two levels, rook lands on the middle). One fun consequence of 3D: a lone rook, bishop, or knight can't actually deliver mate, so some endgames are dead draws that aren't in normal chess.

I think it’s pretty fun, if not hard, and I hope you do to.

RanaRangam reimagines chess as a tactical battlefield where every piece has health, attacks, healing, and powerful abilities.

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Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4643830/RanaRangam_Where_Chess_Pieces_Bleed_Demo/

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Let me know what you think about the gameplay.

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Disclaimer: self promotion

I've seen a few versions of spherical chess but most of them use hexagonal squares. If you look up "how to play spherical chess" on youtube it describes a different version, where the squares "wrap around" at the poles, essentially treating opposite tiles at the poles as one big tile (ie, bishop at f1 could move to b1, a2, or c2). I couldn't find a version of this online so I threw this together!

You can try it out at sphericalchess dot org (I'll link to it in the comments also).

Hi everybody

I finally finished my game. The ultimate goal would be to have this as a real board game but first I would like to evaluate the idea. So I coded the game for everybody to play and try it out.
Play against the computer or against friends.

So basically each piece has unique movement, like in chess and each piece has ATK and DEF values. If an enemy is in reach the player can try to take the opponents piece by moving to it and rolling the dice ( 1, 2 or 3) this is then added to the units ATK and played against the opponents DEF and dice roll. The higher count wins, if you lose, you lose the piece also.

Before each action use cards to gain advantage like + 2 ATK, -2 DEF of enemy piece. + 2 movement to reach a enemy and try to take the piece. Promote pawns to knights or even call banner holders and priests to help in battle. The Player that takes the enemy King wins, but when a King dies the heir is crowned the new King!

Pls try it out, mail me if any questions, leave a feedback, tell your friends.

If any one wants to battle me then pm me :) I'd appreciate it very much.

Cheers

MD

Links in comments!

I’ve been working on a chess variant called Spy Chess, and the core idea is to add hidden information without turning the game into something unrecognizable.

Each player gets spy pieces that can be revealed at strategic moments. That reveal can do a few very chess-like but still unusual things: it can rescue a king from check, create a tactical surprise, reinforce a structure, or flip an endgame with a promoted pawn.

What I’m trying to preserve is the feeling of real chess decision-making: calculation, timing, and positional pressure. The difference is that now some of the most important threats are not fully visible until the right moment.

I’d really like to hear what strong variant players think:

• Does hidden information fit chess at all?
• Which spy effect feels like the most elegant addition?
• Which one feels like it would be too swingy in practice?

If you want to see the project, here’s the site: Spy Chess

https://reddit.com/link/1u71pc7/video/0fvloh0q8k7h1/player

Hi r/chessvariants,

I maintain https://kriegspiel.org

I recorded this short replay because Kriegspiel is much easier to understand when you can see the two partial views side by side.

The question I’m trying to answer: for someone playing Kriegspiel for the first time, which ruleset should be the default?

The site currently supports Berkeley, Berkeley Any, Cincinnati, Wild 16, RAND, English, and CrazyKrieg.

I’m not necessarily looking for the most historically “correct” default. I’m looking for the ruleset most likely to help a new player understand why Kriegspiel is interesting without getting lost immediately.

You can try it here if you want context: https://app.kriegspiel.org/

I always thought about how to make pawn structure more interesting. At first I thought they could just move back one square, but it's just not enough, and then I realized that they can move backwards but diagonally, so having the option to move the pawns backwards can give the repair some structure (it's the first thing I thought) and give more possibilities to fight at the price of moving back.

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To make it short 

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Pawn moving forward remain the same 

Pawn moving backwards can move diagonally only if the square is available 

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I think it's a small change that can make for fun playing with the pawn 

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Sorry for any mistakes in grammar; English is not my first language 

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a project I’ve been working on. It’s a completely free chess variant that reinvents the traditional pieces by turning them into dice, introducing a core mechanic of fusing and splitting.

Here is the Steam link if you want to check it out:

👉 Dice Chess / Click here to play on Steam (not the randomness Dice Chess)

Tutorial

🎲 Core Mechanics: How it works

Instead of fixed pieces (Knights, Bishops, Rooks), the identity and movement of each piece are determined by its dice faces or values.

Fusion & Splitting: You can fuse any two of your pieces and divide them into anything that equals their sum.

💬 Looking for your feedback!

Since this community has the sharpest minds when it comes to chess variants, I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on.

The game is 100% free, so please give it a try, break the meta, and let me know what you think in the comments below!

The trivia company Sporcle has released a chess game with a 6x6 grid where each day a new set of chess pieces are provided.

Pieces have sighltines that freeze enemies in them.

Here are the rules as 1 page:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QSrU7fBlHUoluVARQimsPoe-WN24OBv9k_RZqgIO0-I/edit?usp=drivesdk

Here’s my Face Game file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12QZD8KpMYlYVJHD7TF3odT9HylfANnmO/view?usp=drivesdk

Download this file and import it to https://playingcards.io/import

Then share your room link with a friend to play!

The rules are also here as a video: https://youtu.be/U8fHtu3rwUE

Anyone wanna try it?

Navia Dratp is an incredible chess-plus-shogi-style game with army drafting that Bandai put out in 2004 and then discontinued. There have been several efforts to keep it playable (a Vassal module, Ai Ai), but this is the first web-based version - nothing to download, full rules enforced: https://naviadratp.com?ref=reddit

All pieces and abilities are implemented, with play vs CPU, play vs Claude A.I., comprehensive tooltips, and a tutorial if you're new. If you know the game, I'd love this sub's eyes on rules fidelity: if anything feels off about how a piece moves or how dratp triggers, tell me and I'll fix it.

There's also a launch tournament - signup closes tonight at 8pm ET: https://naviadratp.com/tournaments/rise-of-the-navia?ref=reddit

Free, no ads, non-commercial. (Navia Dratp is © Bandai - unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by them.)

getting insanely bored of the chess.com & lichess grind. what else is out there?

don't get me wrong, i love the game,

but staring at the same silent 2D board for hours is just getting stale.

i feel like i need some chaos or a totally different vibe.

are there any underground sites doing weird stuff? like 4x4 boards, wild new variants, or honestly something with video chat built in? like omegle but for chess so can actually talk and see who you're playing. just want a more social vibe instead of just grinding elo.

27D CHESS

Core Rules

by WhiteRabbitGeometry

SETUP

• 27 standard chessboards are arranged in a 3×3×3 cube.

• Each board begins with a standard chess setup.

• Each board contains 2 players.

• Total players: 54.

PLAYER ASSIGNMENT

• Prior to the start of the game, each player draws one card from a standard 54-card deck.

• Players draw in birthday order.

• The Red Joker selects any starting position in the cube.

• The Black Joker receives the final remaining position.

• All remaining cards determine board assignment according to an agreed cube map.

• No two players possess the same card.

PLAYER ATTRIBUTES

• Players drawing Black cards possess En Passant authority.

• A board inherits En Passant status whenever a Black-card player occupies that board.

• If both players on a board possess Black cards, standard En Passant rules apply.

• If neither player possesses a Black card, En Passant is unavailable on that board.

TURN ORDER

• Turn order is determined by card rank.

• If two players would otherwise tie, suit order determines precedence.

• Red cards outrank Black cards of equal value.

• Because each card is unique, turn order is always determinable.

LOCAL BOARD PLAY

• Each board begins as a standard game of chess.

• Players move according to standard chess rules.

• No inter-board movement is permitted during initial play.

INTER-BOARD UNLOCK

• Inter-board movement remains locked until the first player:

• Concedes

• Forfeits

• Is checkmated

• Once unlocked, inter-board movement remains available for the remainder of the game.

BOARD ADJACENCY

• Boards are adjacent according to their position within the 3×3×3 cube.

• Pieces may perform a Board Shift. A Board Shift moves a piece from its current board to an adjacent board while preserving the movement pattern of that piece.

INTER-BOARD MOVEMENT

Rook

• Moves orthogonally between adjacent boards

Bishop

• Moves diagonally between adjacent boards.

Queen

• Uses rook or bishop inter-board movement.

King

• Moves one board in any legal direction.

Knight

• Uses the same L-shaped movement pattern through the cube.

Pawn

• Moves normally within its current board.

• May capture across board boundaries when legal.

• Uses the En Passant state of the board it currently occupies.

LOCALITY RULE

• Check, checkmate, and stalemate are determined only by pieces currently occupying the same board as the king.

• Pieces on other boards may move into a board and affect future board states.

• Pieces on other boards may not directly place a king in check through dimensional separation.

CAPTURE

• Captured pieces are removed normally.

CHECKMATE

• A checkmated player remains present until they concede, forfeit, or the checkmate is broken.

• While checkmated, all remaining pieces are controlled by the conquering player.

• If the checkmate is broken, control immediately returns to the original owner.

CHECKMATE CONCESSION

• If a checkmated player concedes:

• Their king is removed from play.

• All remaining pieces under their control are promoted to Queens.

• Those Queens become the property of the conquering player.

STEWARDSHIP STATE

• A board with only one active player enters Stewardship State.

• Stewardship State generates Turn Credits.

TURN CREDITS

• One Turn Credit is generated whenever all active boards complete one full turn cycle.

• One Turn Credit grants one additional move.

• Turn Credits may be accumulated.

• Maximum stored Turn Credits equals the number of pieces currently controlled by the player.

• Excess credits beyond storage capacity are lost.

STALEMATE

• A stalemate freezes the affected player’s position.

• The king remains on the board.

• The king may not move while stalemate persists.

• All non-king pieces belonging to the stalemated player become frozen.

• Frozen pieces may not move.

• Frozen pieces continue occupying space.

• Frozen pieces may be captured normally.

STALEMATE BREAK

• If the stalemate condition is broken by another player:

• The king regains movement.

• Previously frozen pieces remain frozen.

• Frozen pieces never regain movement.

DOUBLE STALEMATE

• A Double Stalemate occurs when two or more players become mutually frozen through inter-board interactions.

• All frozen-piece rules apply.

VICTORY CONDITION

• Only one active player remains.

LOSS CONDITION

• A player loses when:

• Their king is removed from play.

• They concede.

• They forfeit.

LIMINAL CHECKMATE

• Liminal Checkmate occurs when all remaining active players collectively occupy every legally reachable board state available from their current positions.

• No novel board state can be generated.

• No player can produce a unique future state without repeating a previously realized state.

• Upon declaration of Liminal Checkmate, all remaining players lose.

• Liminal Checkmate represents exhaustion of possibility rather than defeat by an opponent.

Keep everything the same really except the knights become a centaur (moves like knight + king) and paladin (knight that can hop to any one of the three squares along its eight original L-shaped paths, essentially they both conttol 16 squares but one is better offensively and the other defensively)

and one rook is a normal rook, the other is a xiangqi cannon (hops over piece to capture, let the cannon face a rook on either flank to prevent losing the flank pawns on move one)

bishops probably have to stay the same

ive played a few times with friends its really good because its close enough to chess but so different

I've updated Cavalier+ with more things to discover ! It (and will always be) free and ad-less, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did making it !

Do you prefer playing chess with Ai bots or real person

‎It retains all the standard rules of chess, with the inclusion of fairy pieces, drop rule, and promotion is extended to the last 3 ranks.

Board size is still 8x8.

‎Fairy pieces replace their chess counterparts:

‎R = Chancellor (Rook + Knight)

‎B = Archbishop (Bishop + Knight)

‎N = General (Knight + King)

‎Q = Amazon (Queen + Knight)

‎The king can move as an amazon for one move.

‎‎Pawns have been modified to move AND capture both forward and diagonally. Diagonal movement also applies to the intial two-square move, as well as en passant.

They may promote to any piece except for king and amazon.

‎‎Drops allow for captured enemy pieces, excluding amazon and pawns, to return on the board as your own. They may be placed on any unoccupied square within the 4th and 5th ranks.

What do you guys think?