Chess Variations

Typically, when most people think of a chess game, they think of long, methodical, and draining games. People sit there for hours staring at a board finding the best move. And while that may be a form of chess usually played in several tournaments, there are many other types of chess people can get themselves into. Each of these other variants requires a different mindset and often different skills to succeed at. At times, players may not have enough time to think of a plan far into the game, or the object of their game may not be to checkmate the King. I’d like to present some exciting variations of chess games that might intrigue you. I hope you might even get the opportunity to find which type of chess would be most exciting to you.

Time Changes

Untimed and World Chess Championship

Of course, chess games can be extremely long. As players start to get into more serious tournaments, they may have to start playing longer games. Sometimes games might go untimed, or have the time set to hours for them to finish the game. Usually, we see a lot of strategy employed in these games with players thinking many moves ahead. Because there is a lot of time, strong players in long games make few mistakes.

In the World Chess Championship, the games are quite interesting. The two players competing at that level play a total of 14 games. They get 1 point for a win, 1 half point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The first player to get to 7.5 points wins. In the games, players are given 120 minutes to finish their first 40 moves. After that, they get 60 minutes for their next 20 moves, and 15 minutes for their last moves with a time increment of 30 seconds per move. These games are extremely long.

 

Blitz and Bullet Chess

On the other hand, chess games can be very quick. Think about all the topics we have learned so far. All the tactics that can be used, and the strategies that need to be planned out. Now condense that into 15 minutes, or 10 minutes, or even 1 minute. Blitz Chess is a game that is played anywhere in between 4 and 15 minutes. Though these games are very quick, players still do have time to carefully consider their moves and plan ahead as they go. It takes a lot of practice and skill to think quickly and recognize certain patterns. However, the more this type of chess is played, the better someone will get. Personally, I believe playing games at about 10 or 15 minutes when starting in chess is a fantastic route to take. Not only will players learn how to use the strategies we talked about previously, but will also learn how to find them quickly.

Then, there’s Bullet chess which by the name you can tell is extremely fast. These games range from 1 to 3 minutes, giving players little time to think as they go. This type of chess often lends itself to very skilled players. There is a lot of pre planned strategy that goes into playing bullet chess.

Chess games might also include a time increments in which after each move, a players time increases by some number. If I played a 15 minute game with a time increment of 30 seconds, I would gain 30 seconds back after every move I make. This type of game can be great to start out with as well, as players may have more time to think.

Strange Chess Games

There are also many other weirder types of chess games.

Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess)

As suggested in the name, this type of chess has some element of randomness. The pawns are placed where they usually should be; however, other pieces are randomly placed on the board. This type of chess requires players to think deeply about how they may still keep good chess fundamentals, while understanding the randomness of the board.

Bughouse Chess

Think of this as a sort of “tag-team” chess. 4 players play in teams of 2 using 2 boards. The boards are set up and played normally. Although, when a person captures a piece, they pass it on to their partner and their partner has the option to place that piece on any open square on their board.

King of the Hill

This is also a fun way to play chess. This type of game is played with normal rules. However, players can win by either checkmating their opponent or by getting their own King to the center 4 squares of the board.

There are so many different ways to play chess. Hopefully you might find one you like and start playing!