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Last Game Courier move entered 58 minutes ago.
Last Game Courier invitation submitted 8 hours ago.
Last Game Courier game finished 2 hours ago.
Last kibbitz comment entered 2 hours ago.
Last Chess Variant problem added 294 DAYS ago.
Last comment or rating entered 5 hours ago.
Last game review entered 9 DAYS ago.
Week ending Dec 31, 2016
Makruk (Thai chess). 
Hnefatafl and Makruk's Draw Counting Rules. (8x8, Cells: 64) By Jose Carrillo.
Week ending Dec 24, 2016
Petteia XXI. A 21st century variant of an ancient Draughts-like game of the Greek empire! (8x8, Cells: 64) By Jose Carrillo.
- 4 Kings Quasi-Shatranj. Each side has 4 Kings, all pieces are short range. (10x10, Cells: 100) By Kevin Pacey.
Week ending Dec 17, 2016
How to Display Legal Moves in Game Courier - A Tutorial. Revised to use the most up-to-date code for enforcing the rules of Chess. (8x8, Cells: 64) Author: Fergus Duniho.
- Chess. Updated presets to use latest code for enforcing Chess rules. (8x8, Cells: 64) Author: Fergus Duniho.
Week ending Dec 10, 2016
- Butterfly Chess. Game with Butterflies (not Ns), Advancers (not Qs) & Flying Dragons added. (10x10, Cells: 100) By Kevin Pacey.
- 4D Quasi-Alice Chess. Four dimensional 8x8x2x2 game that's rather like Alice Chess. (8x8x4, Cells: 256) By Kevin Pacey.
- Latrunculi XXI. A 21st century version of an ancient Chess-like wargame played in the Roman empire! (10x8, Cells: 80) By Jose Carrillo.
- The Diamond Set. A Set of Games with linking stories. By Glenn Nicholls.
- Butterfly Chess. Large board chess with butterflies (not Ns), advancers (not Qs) & flying dragons added. (10x10, Cells: 100) By Kevin Pacey.
Week ending Dec 03, 2016
- Carrousel Chess. Circular chess using reflecting bishops & sqirrels, not Bs & Ns. (8x8, Cells: 64) By Kevin Pacey.
- Chess 1010. Game with 40 pieces. (10x10, Cells: 100) By Kevin Pacey.
- Full house hexagonal chess. Hexagonal game with 50 pieces. (11x11, Cells: 91) By Kevin Pacey.
Total items listed: 13
About Chess Variants
Chess variants comprise a family of strategy board games that are related to, inspired by, or similar enough to the game we today call Chess. The game we commonly know today was based on earlier games, most immediately the Arabian game of Shatranj, itself descended from the Indian game of Chaturanga
.
Besides its direct ancestors, Chess has many cousins, the most popular being Shogi (in Japan), Xiangqi (in China), and Janggi (in Korea).
Modern Chess has inspired countless variants. Some have been created by Chess champions seeking new challenges, some by entrepreneurs who have provided commercial sets, and some for fairy Chess problems without any intent of actually playing them. And most have been designed by creative people who like to try out new pieces, new rules, or new ideas.
This site seeks to catalog the vast number of Chess variants created throughout history, as well as to nurture the creation of new variants. Thanks to computers and the internet, it is now easier to play new Chess variants than ever before. We have benefited from Zillions-of-Games, which has allowed us to program and play numerous Chess variants against the computer. And we offer Game Courier, which enables you to play numerous Chess variants against others online, including new games of your own invention. This time in history is a renaissance for Chess variants, and this site is here to share this renaissance with the world.
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