A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:
- different board (larger or smaller, non-square board shape overall or different intra-board cell shapes such as triangles or hexagons);
- addition, substitution or removal of pieces in standard chess (non-standard pieces are known as fairy pieces);
- different rules for capture, move order, game objective, etc.
Regional chess games, some of which are older than Western chess, such as chaturanga, shatranj, xiangqi and shogi, are typically called chess variants in the Western world. They have some similarities to chess and share a common game ancestor.
The number of possible chess variants is virtually unlimited. Confining the number to published variants, D. B. Pritchard, author of The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, estimates there are well over 2000.
In the context of chess problems, chess variants are called fantasy chess, heterodox chess or fairy chess. Some chess variants are used only in problem composition and not in actual play.
Read more about Chess Variant: Chess-related Historic and Regional Games, Chess Variants Software
Famous quotes containing the words chess and/or variant:
“Work, as we usually think of it, is energy expended for a further end in view; play is energy expended for its own sake, as with children’s play, or as manifestation of the end or goal of work, as in “playing” chess or the piano. Play in this sense, then, is the fulfillment of work, the exhibition of what the work has been done for.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)
““I am willing to die for my country” is a variant of “I am willing to kill for my country.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)