Dunsany's chess

Game rules

Black's setup is the same in regular chess; White's army consists of 32 pawns, filling one through four, as shown in the diagram. Rules are the same as in regular chess, with the following exceptions:

• Black moves first.
• Only Black's pawns have the two-step option on their first move.
• Black wins by capturing all 32 white pawns; White wins by checkmating Black.

As in regular chess, pawns promote on the , and stalemate occurs if White's pawns run out of moves.

Horde chess

|tright | |pd|pd|pd| | |pd|pd|pd |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd | | | |pd|pd| | | | | | | | | | | |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl |rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl |Horde chess starting setup Horde chess, introduced by Filip Rachunek in 2002, is similar to Dunsany's chess but with the following differences:

• White's pieces are the normal chess pieces, and Black's pieces are 32 pawns, occupying ranks five through eight, but with pawns on d4 and e4 instead of d8 and e8.
• White moves first.
• Black's pawns on rank seven have the two-step option of regular chess.

Horde chess is one of the few chess variants to have a full theory book written about it.

Horde variant

|tright | |rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd |pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd | | | | | | | | | |pl|pl| | |pl|pl| |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl |pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl|pl |Horde variant starting setup A Horde variant uses the opening setup shown in the diagram. In this variant, White's pawns on the first and second ranks may advance one or two steps, provided that the path on the file is free. Unlike in regular chess, this does not have to be the pawn's first move.

References

References

1. Pritchard, D. B.. (1994). "The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants". Games & Puzzles Publications.
2. (June 1991). "A Panorama of Chess Variants". Michael Keller.
3. Pritchard, D. B.. (2007). "The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants". John Beasley.
4. "BrainKing – Game rules (Horde Chess)". brainking.com.
5. (April 2025). "The Definitive Guide to Horde Chess: Openings, strategies and tactics for White and Black". Enigma Chess.
6. (2 July 2015). "Horde on Lichess".
7. (13 April 2015). "Lichess Blog - New features: kid mode, simuls, and more".