Introduction: Making a Chess Variant on Chess.com
Chess is one of the oldest games. There are variations too. In this instructable you will learn how making a chess variant works on chess.com.
Supplies
A chess.com account and a computer.
Step 1: Open Variants on Chess.com
- Log into chess.com.
- Click the hand holding a pawn.
- Click on "4 Player & Variants".
Step 2: Open the Editor
- Find "Custom" in the menu.
- Scroll down, then click "Edit Position".
Step 3: Editor Controls
- Drag a piece to the board to add it to the variant.
- Click the erase tool to remove a piece.
- Click the "Set Royals" button to set royals for each opponent. Check and checkmate rules are applied to royals.
- If there is no royal for a player, the other player will have to capture all the opposing pieces.
- There are also some sets of toggles.
- For the first set of toggles, tap a toggle to prevent an army from moving.
- For the second set of toggles, tap a toggle to have an army be controlled by a computer.
- After toggling a toggle in this set, you may select a zombie type.
- For the third and fourth sets of toggles, click a toggle to allow castling.
Note: These are not all the controls, and are some examples.
Step 4: Bricks
Bricks are tiles that pieces cannot move through, except for knights or any piece that is intended to jump.
Step 5: Duck
Ducks act like bricks until duck chess is activated; see step 7 for info about activating rules.
If duck chess is activated and there is a duck, then the duck has to move every turn. If there is more than one duck and duck chess is activated, then either duck can be moved.
Step 6: Fairy Pieces
You may notice some unfamiliar pieces. They are called fairy pieces. Hover your cursor over the piece to learn about it.
Step 7: Rules
- While in the editor, click the X button.
- Scroll down and click "Edit Rules".
- You should see a list of rules. You can also change how pieces look.
Rule Examples:
- Stonewall: After capturing, that piece becomes a brick.
- Atomic: Pieces create a small explosion after capturing. The explosion would capture all adjacent pieces.
- Pawns survive explosions.
- If the explosion captures the king, the player who caused the explosion wins.
- King of the hill: Reach the KOTH squares with your royal piece to win.
- By default, the KOTH squares are the middle four, but you can change them with the editor.
- Fog of war: Fog is present on tiles that your pieces do not occupy and tiles your pieces can't move on
- Crazyhouse: Pieces you capture can be dragged onto the board.
- Giveaway: Sacrifice all your pieces to win.
- Capturing is required unless not possible.
Step 8: 1-Point Queen
This is a special queen. It is equal to a regular queen until game of points is activated. This type of queen is different because it is worth one point in point games.





