Checkless chess, also known as prohibition chess, is a
chess variant where neither player may give
check
Check or cheque, may refer to:
Places
* Check, Virginia
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film
* ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld''
Games and sports
* Check (chess), a thr ...
unless it is
checkmate. All other rules are as in regular
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
. The origin of the game is unknown, dating from the mid-19th century. The variant is a popular
problem theme,
[Pritchard (1994), p. 50.] usually requiring a
fairy mate.
Observations
The single rule change has a profound impact on gameplay. Since the king is immune to most attacks as long as it avoids being checkmated, checks cannot be used to gain time or chase the king to an unsafe position. Also, mating patterns are generally significantly more difficult to execute.
Another effect of this rule is that the king, immune from attack, is now a powerful force. The king can defend pieces by placing itself such that their capture would place the king in check. The king can advance into the enemy position, creating havoc in the enemy camp as enemy pieces need to avoid moving to squares from which they would give check.
Variations
Some rules variations exist:
*If on their turn a player is not in check and no move is possible without delivering check without being checkmate, the player might be considered either to be
stalemated or to lose.
*A checking move might be considered either to be legal only if it would be a checkmate in orthodox chess or to deliver checkmate if any response would be a
cross-check
In chess, a cross-check is a tactic in which a check is played in response to a check, especially when the original check is blocked by a piece that itself either delivers check or reveals a discovered check from another piece. Sometimes the term ...
. The latter is an example of a fairy mate.
[Hooper & Whyld (1996), p. 131. ''fairy mate''.]
*Absolute Checkless Chess is a variant by Dr. Roger Powell in 1975, whereby pieces may not cross any square from which they would give check.
*Some authorities have suggested a variation where checks are permitted if they are part of a series of checks resulting in .
Problem
References
Bibliography
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*
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External links
Checkless chessby
Hans Bodlaender
Hans Leo Bodlaender (born April 21, 1960) is a Dutch computer scientist, a professor of computer science at Utrecht University. Bodlaender is known for his work on graph algorithms and parameterized complexity and in particular for algorithms rela ...
, ''
The Chess Variant Pages
''The Chess Variant Pages'' is a non-commercial website devoted to chess variants. It was created by Hans Bodlaender in 1995. The site is "run by hobbyists for hobbyists" and is "the most wide-ranging and authoritative web site on chess variants" ...
''
{{Chess variants, state=collapsed
Chess variants