Chess variant

A chess variant is any board game related to, derived from, or inspired by orthodox chess. Chess variants can differ from standard chess in many different ways, including variant board sizes, non-standard fairy pieces, alternative starting positions, and additional rules. There are thousands of known chess variants. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants catalogues around two thousand, with the preface noting that—since creating a chess variant is relatively easy—many were considered insufficiently notable for inclusion. While most chess variants are not widely played, some have reached modest levels of popularity, with the most successful being Chess960. Several well known modern chess masters like Capablanca, Fischer, and Yasser Seirewan developed their own chess variants.
"Classical", "orthodox" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be considered part of the same board game family. Modern chess itself developed from the Indian chaturanga via the Middle-eastern shatranj. During the Middle Ages, there were numerous popular chess variants, like Great chess and Courier chess. Modern chess variants are mostly all variations on standard Western chess. Though not technically variants of modern chess, there are also many regional games which are part of the same family, such as shogi, sittuyin, makruk, hiashatar, and xiangqi. These games have their own history of variants.
Many modern chess variants are designed to be played with the standard chess board and chessmen, but others require special equipment such as unique boards and chessmen to represent the fairy pieces. Most variants have a similar public-domain status as their parent game, but some have been made into commercial proprietary games. Just as in traditional chess, chess variants can be played over the board, by correspondence, or by computer. Some internet chess servers facilitate the play of some variants in addition to orthodox chess.
In the context of chess problems, chess variants are also called heterodox chess or fairy chess. Fairy chess variants tend to be created for problem composition rather than actual play.

Overview

A Chess variant or a heterodox chess game is any game which closely resembles classic chess with one or more differences. These differences can include alternative pieces, boards, rules or even number of players. The term variety of Chess was in use by the late 19th century. British chess historian H. J. R. Murray discusses different variants in his A History of Chess, indicating that he considers the term "chess" to refer to a family of games that includes not just modern classical chess but all the games which I traced back to the Indian chaturanga, and all the freak modifications that have been attempted from time to time.
There are thousands of chess variants. According to Cazaux & Knowlton in their A World of Chess that "the world of chess variants is endless. Pritchard offers more than 1600 samples in his Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, and the Chess Variants Pages on the Internet have several thousand entries."
While some regional variants have historical origins comparable to or even older than modern orthodox chess, the majority of chess variants are modern attempts by individuals or small groups to create new variations on orthodox chess. Variants can themselves be developed into further sub-variants, for example Capablanca chess led to numerous adaptions and Horde chess is a variation upon Dunsany's Chess.
Some chess variants were created to address a perceived issue with the traditional game of chess. For example, chess960, which randomizes the starting positions of the pieces on the first and eighth ranks, was introduced by grandmaster Bobby Fischer to combat what he perceived to be the detrimental dominance of opening preparation in chess.
A similar motivation was behind the development of Capablanca chess by Cuban chess world champion José Raúl Capablanca. This variant uses two new pieces: marshal and cardinal. These pieces were also used by Pietro Carrera in his earlier 17th century Chess variant.
Some modern chess variants are designed and sold as commercial board games. Examples include Icehouse: The Martian Chess Set '', Omega Chess and Chessplus.
In the field of chess composition, some chess variations may be created for the purpose of composing interesting puzzles, rather than being intended for full games. This field of chess composition is known as fairy chess. These fairy chess problems may not be necessarily invented to play real games.
Fairy chess gave rise to the term "fairy chess piece" which is used more broadly across writings about chess variants to describe chess pieces with movement rules other than those of the standard chess pieces. Forms of standardised notation have been devised to systematically describe the movement of these. A distinguishing feature of several chess variants is the presence of one or more fairy pieces. Physical models of common fairy pieces are sold by major chess set suppliers.
The term fairy chess was introduced by Henry Tate in 1914. Thomas R. Dawson, the "father of fairy chess", invented many fairy pieces and new conditions. He was also problem editor of Fairy Chess Review. Another publication on the topic from the 20th century was Anthony Dickins' A Guide to Fairy Chess''.

History

The origins of the chess family of board games can be traced to the game of chaturanga during the time of the Gupta Empire in India. Over time, as the game spread geographically, modified versions of the rules became popular in different regions. In Sassanid Persia, a slightly modified form became known as shatranj, and it is this game which was first introduced into Europe through contacts with the Arab world, especially in Spain.
The Indian chaturanga continued to be played in India with various rule changes and starting arrays being introduced throughout its history. Several variants evolved from it, such as the four-player chaturaji and the asymmetrical sarvatobhadra.
Various Indian large board variants with unique chess pieces were also introduced in later times such as the variant discussed in the Harihara chaturaga of Prataparudra of Odisha played on a 14x14 board, Hyderbarad decimal chess and Hyderbarad shatranj kabir.

Islamic variants

There were several historical variants of shatranj, such as "complete shatranj" which used a board of 10x10 squares and introduced the dabbaba piece. Chess variants of the Muslim world continued to develop alongside classic shatranj for centuries, and most Islamic chess treatises contained explanations of different chess variants. In his famous epic, the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi includes a discussion of an alternative version of 10x10 shatranj which uses a different piece, the camel. Several other 10x10 chess variants were developed in the Muslim world, including citadel chess. This variant includes four extra squares on each corner of the board which gives the king an extra place to retreat to.
Yet another ancient version of shatranj played in the Islamic world was Byzantine chess, an early form of circular chess. One variant of this circular chess also had four citadels in the center.
An even larger shatranj variant played with numerous extra pieces was Tamerlane chess. Developed during the reign of Emperor Timur, this game was the emperor's favorite and had several unique pieces. The game is discussed in numerous surviving manuscripts and there are several versions of it with differing piece types. "Great chess" variants continued to be developed after Timur's time. Turkish great chess was one popular descendant of the Timur chess. This variant used an even bigger 13x13 board and introduced even a new unique piece called the rhino which moved like a knight and a bishop.

Pre-modern Europe

Further modifications made to shatranj resulted in the modern game when the modern queen was first introduced in Spain during the 15th century, as seen in the Catalan poem Scachs d'amor. Before the introduction of the queen, European chess instead had a piece called the ferz or vizier which could only move one square diagonally. This piece first experienced a name change to queen or lady before later acquiring its modern movement power in the 15th century. The early European chess bishop was also initially only able to jump to a second square diagonally before acquiring its modern diagonal rider movement.
When it was first introduced, orthodox chess was just another competing chess variant, known as "queen's chess" or "mad queen's chess", but it quickly grew in popularity, becoming the dominant form of the game in Europe.
Other European variations of chess existed however and were popular for hundreds of years before the rise of orthodox chess. During the 12th century, the variant known as "short assize" was popular in England and France. In the variant the armies started closer together, which was supposed to improve the slowness of the opening phase. Indeed, several regions of Europe had their own "assizes" or unique local rule sets.
Another historical European chess variant is the large board grant acedrex, which is discussed in the Spanish Libro de los Juegos. This variant was played on a 12×12 board and had multiple unique pieces such as the "unicorn", "lion" and "giraffe." The Libro de los Juegos also discusses a four-player chess variant known as four seasons chess.
Courier chess was another popular variant in medieval Europe which had a significant impact on the development of orthodox Western chess and remained popular for over six centuries. It was initially developed in 13th century Germany and was played on a 12x8 board with several extra pieces like two couriers, two archers, a mann and fool. Courier chess remained popular among some modern chess aficionados who have developed modern updated variants of it.