Least-Attention Chess: 16-Player Crazy Variant by QWOP creater Bennett Foddy

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hi everyone,

This one's like really over the top (or is it?): QWOP creater Bennett Foddy has unveiled a 16-player chess variant at NYU's No Quarter exhibition: Every player begins as a pawn, races to the other side, then becomes a Queen. If a player is taken out by an opponent they become a random uninhabited piece left on their side. "I respect people who play chess, but I hate playing chess because I can't think ahead in the way that you have to," said Foddy in a video interview. "What I want with Speed Chess is a game where I can force everyone else to pay as little attention as I'm paying when I'm playing it."

"You move intuitively," he added. "You see an opening and you take it. There's no planning ahead in this."




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Bizarre Three-Way Chess Game

This "chess" game is for three players

and is called "3 Man Chess"

Hello everybody!

Justin from www.wonderhowto.com wrote to me about this new variant of chess called 3 Man Chess. I had never heard of it before.

I suppose the "3 Man Chess" does not mean that women can't play, maybe the "inventor" found out that there are already many such variants with similar names, for example "threewaychess" and most likely some more, so he had to settle with that name.

But wait a minute, chess for 3 people? That's strange, for me chess is a very fair game, you play against your opponent, and have the same army at your disposal. But if you're 3, what if two players team up against you, how could you defend? No. That game is not for me.

See the whole original article here.

Posted by Chess Queen™ Alexandra Kosteniuk

12th Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessqueen.com

Chess trivia: What's chess without a check?

Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess News & Trivia (c) 2010

Hello Everyone,

Not only is chess so dynamic in itself but it has also inspired a range of variants. One very interesting variant is 'checkless chess'!

Have you heard about it? It is also called 'prohibition chess'. It is an unorthodox chess game dating from the middle of the 19th century. In this game neither player may give check unless it is to checkmate!

The consequence of this rule is that the King may be used as an attacking piece - perhaps advancing it far into the enemy territory. The King may then be played so that it would be in check if a piece were captured and can thus protect a piece at a distance. Sounds very interesting right? We found this interesting entry in Hooper, David; Whyld, Ken (1984). Oxford Companion to Chess.

Of course at all times you have to be careful that the King does not get cornered in enemy territory. Try playing it with a friend. We didn't have a game but here is a position for checkless chess.

For example, look at the following position:

In the following position if it is White to move then - in a checkless chess game - White cannot go 1.ed because that would give check which is not a checkmate!

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's

www.chessblog.com

Also see her personal blog at

www.chessqueen.com