Alternative Chess

Chess in the browser. No account needed, nothing to install.

The disguised queen

Before the first move, each player secretly picks one of their own pawns and turns it into a queen. It still looks like a pawn to everybody, including its owner's opponent, and it moves like a pawn until the moment its owner reveals it. Neither player is ever told which pawn the other chose — the server never sends it.

Six more ways to play

• Standard — ordinary chess.
• Chess960 — the back row is shuffled.
• King of the Hill — walk your king to the middle.
• Three-check — check the other king three times.
• Horde — one side is 36 pawns with no king.
• Atomic — a capture blows up the neighbouring squares.

Who you play

Somebody sitting beside you, passing one phone back and forth; somebody on another device, through a six-character code you send them; or the computer, at five strengths.

The rules of each way to play are written out on the website.

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Plays through Fairy-Stockfish, which is free software under the GPL-3.0. Its complete source is published at /engine-source/.