Variants supported by XBoard

Chess variants supported by XBoard

Next to orthodox Chess (aka FIDE or Mad Queen), XBoard supports many other Chess variants. This includes the World's major forms of Chess: Chinese, FIDE, Japanese, and Thai Chess. But also many popular western variants (Suicide Chess, Crazyhouse, Chess960, Gothic/Capablanca Chess, Seirawan Chess).

Full support by XBoard means that the latter is fully aware of how all pieces move, and what the winning condition is. This means the variant can be played with the option Test Legality switched on, and that it can accurately check any result claims that engines make. Non-supported variants can often be played with legality checking switched off. Then any of the 22 piece types known by XBoard can be used in ways XBoard does not expect. The only real drawback of this is that the game notation looks a bit crummy, with many spurious or missing disambiguators, check and checkmate symbols. XBoard will always be able to read suh games back, however (as on reading it suffers from the same misconceptions on piece movement). This can be kept baerable by choosing XBoard supported pieces to represent the unsupported ones that move as similar as possible.

Some variants are only partially supported. This means they have to be played with legality checking off, although XBoard knows they exist, and even implements some of their rules that no other variant would allow. For instance, in Berolina Chess Pawns move diagonally, and in any other variant this would lead to disappearence of other Pawns during the game, as normally XBoard interprets a diagonal Pawn move to an empty square as e.p. capture.

The following list tries to group all variants by properties. Some duplicates occur when a variant fits in more than one group.

List of supported variants

= recommended
FIDE ChessThe modern international game, second in popularity only to Xiangqi
Shuffle games with normal pieces
Wild CastleShuffles the initial FIDE setup, leaving King and Rooks in place
No CastleMore aggressive shuffling of the initial FIDE setup, without castling
Chess960A Shuffle variant where even Kings and Rooks in non-standard location can castle
Variants with piece drops
CrazyhousePieces you capture are added to your army, by dropping them back onto the board
Bughousefour-player game that XBoard can only play with the aid of an Internet Chess Server
ShogiJapanese Chess, where pieces you captured can be dropped to strengthen your own army
mini-ShogiHighly simplified and very tactical mini version of Shogi (on 5x5 board)
Unusual winning conditions
Suicide ChessWin by getting rid of all your material by mandatory capture
Give-Away ChessWin by getting rid of all your material by mandatory capture
Losers ChessWin by being left with a bare King
3-checksLose by being checked 3 times
Variants with various intrusive rules
Atomic ChessPieces that capture explode, destroying anything in the vicinity
Cylinder ChessThe a-file and h-file connect to make the board a cylinder
TwoKingsPlay with two Kings, changing which one is royal during the game
Variants where just a few pieces move in unorthodox ways
ShatranjAncient Arabic/Persian Chess, with primitive Queen and Bishops
Berolina ChessPawns capture straight ahead, and move diagonally
ASEANSouth-East Asian Chess, a modernized version of Makruk
KnightmateTry to checkmate a single Royal Knight with (amongst others) two non-royal Kings
Falcon ChessTwo (Rook-class) Falcon pieces augment FIDE on a 10-wide board
Mighty-Lion ChessAll-powerful Lions can capture other pieces en-passant, or two pieces at once
Variants with extra Rook-Knight and Bishop-Knight compound pieces
Seirawan ChessTwo extra super-pieces can be 'gated' onto the board during the opening
Capablanca ChessTwo super-pieces are added to FIDE on a 10-wide board
Gothic ChessTwo super-pieces are added to FIDE on a 10-wide board, with stream-lined initial setup
Janus ChessTwo Janus super-pieces (B-N compounds) are added to FIDE on a 10-wide board
Capablanca Random ChessCapablanca Chess with shuffled initial setup, with generalized castling rules
Grand ChessChess on a 10x10 board with two extra super-pieces
Oriental forms of Chess
XiangqiChinese Chess, where the King is confined to a Palace
ShogiJapanese Chess, where pieces you captured can be dropped to strengthen your own army
Sho ShogiAncient precurser of the modern Japanese 9x9 Shogi game (without drops)
Chu ShogiAncient Japanese Chess with many pieces on a 12x12 board, and a Lion super-piece
MakrukThai Chess, with an interesting Elephant piece
ASEANSouth-East Asian Chess, a modernized version of Makruk
Variants with mostly un-orthodox pieces
Courier ChessMediaval precursor of Chess, combining Shatranj with modern pieces on a wide board
SuperchessRandomly picked unorthodox pieces of many kinds replace some of your FIDE pieces
Great ShatranjVersion of Capablanca Chess that replaces all sliding moves by 2-square jumps
Spartan ChessTwo different armies (Persians and Spartans, the latter lead by two Kings) battle each other
Chess with Different ArmiesPick one of a set of (mostly) unsual armies to battle a completely different army
Chu ShogiAncient Japanese Chess with many pieces on a 12x12 board, and a Lion super-piece
Chu ChessIntermediate between Chess and Chu shogi, on a 10x10 board
Cambodian Chess
Ai-Wok Makruk