Dark chess is a
chess variant with incomplete information, similar to
Kriegspiel. It was invented by Jens Bæk Nielsen and Torben Osted in 1989. A player does not see the entire board – only their own pieces and the squares that they can legally move to.
Rules
The goal of this chess variant is not to checkmate the king, but to capture it. A player is not told if their king is in check. Failing to move out of check, or moving into check, are both legal, and can obviously result in a capture and loss of the game.
Each player views a different version of the board, on which they can only see their own pieces, and the squares where these pieces can legally move, as well as any opponent pieces on those squares (which must therefore be capturable). It is indicated to the player which squares are hidden, so a hidden square can never be confused with a visible empty square. As an example, it is always clear when an enemy piece is directly in front of a pawn, because that square will be hidden (as capturing it is not a legal move for the pawn to make).
''
En passant
''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...
'' capture is allowed; the threatened pawn and the square it moved through are both visible to the capturing player, but only until the end of the turn. Unlike standard chess,
castling is allowed out of check, into check, and through the positions attacked by enemy pieces.
This chess variant is best played on one of the online
chess server
An Internet chess server (ICS) is an external server that provides the facility to play, discuss, and view the board game of chess over the Internet. The term specifically refers to facilities for connecting players through a variety of graphical ...
s. For playing over-the-board, three chess sets and a referee are needed, just as in
Kriegspiel.
There are some minor differences in the rules on different servers:
BrainKing pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent.
ItsYourTurn the opponent is notified when a pawn is promoted, but does not know where. The square immediately in front of a pawn is always visible to the player; when a pawn is on the second rank, if the square immediately in front is empty then the square two squares in front is also made visible.
SchemingMind the player does not see what is in front of their pawns, but knows if the position is occupied or not.
AjaxPlay.Com ''
En passant
''En passant'' (, "in passing") is a method of capturing in chess that occurs when a pawn captures a horizontally adjacent enemy pawn that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy paw ...
'' capture is not allowed; pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent.
GoldToken pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent.
Chess.com Named "Fog of War"; the player does not see what is in front of their pawns, but knows if the position is occupied or not; pawn promotions remain unknown for the opponent. Before November 5, 2021 when a pawn could be taken en passant, the pawn was not visible, but the en passant square was lit up.
Dark Chess on Steam every piece has a field of view of 1 square around thus seeing everything that is happening on the adjusted squares around the piece.
Variations
Generally, because basic Dark chess rules are universal with respect to its "parent" classical variant, any 2-player chess variant may be played "in dark". SchemingMind provides some of the variations.
* Dark chess (checkmate) – standard rules of check apply (a player is notified when its king is in check, and the king cannot move into check). The goal in this variation is the same as in standard chess — to checkmate the king.
* Dark chess (check) – a player is notified when the king is in check, but the king can remain in check after a move. The goal in this variation is the same as in standard dark chess – to capture the king.
* Dark crazyhouse – combination of
crazyhouse
Crazyhouse (also known as drop chess, mad chess, reinforcement chess, turnabout chess and schizo-chess) is a chess variant in which captured enemy pieces can be reintroduced, or ''dropped'', into the game as one's own. The drop rule resembles th ...
and dark chess.
* Dark suicide – combination of
suicide and dark chess.
* Sun Tzu chess – combination of Double Fischer Random Chess (like
Chess960
Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960 (often read in this context as 'chess nine-sixty' instead of 'chess nine hundred sixty'), is a variation of the game of chess invented by the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer annou ...
, but with different positions for White and Black),
crazyhouse
Crazyhouse (also known as drop chess, mad chess, reinforcement chess, turnabout chess and schizo-chess) is a chess variant in which captured enemy pieces can be reintroduced, or ''dropped'', into the game as one's own. The drop rule resembles th ...
and dark chess. Pieces can be dropped onto any possible square on the board (like crazyhouse). This chess variant was invented in 2005 by John Kipling Lewis.
* Lao Tzu chess – like Sun Tzu, but pieces can only be dropped on seen squares. Also invented in 2005 by John Kipling Lewis.
* Dark Omega chess – combination of
Omega Chess and dark chess.
Dark Omega Chess at GamesByEmail.com
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* Dark Seirawan chess – combination of Seirawan chess and dark chess.
Gameplay
Dark chess has a strong strategic flavor. Planning and strategy, as well as some psychological reasoning, are very important; tactics and move searching are not as important as in standard chess.
In this variant, a king should be carefully protected from very dangerous checks by invisible pieces; castling is essential, as the pawns and rook protect the king from invisible pieces. For a queen the most dangerous pieces are knights, which can attack it without becoming visible.
See also
* Fog of war
The fog of war (german: links=no, Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, ...
* List of chess variants
This is a list of chess variants. Many thousands of variants exist. The 2007 catalogue ''The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants'' estimates that there are well over 2,000, and many more were considered too trivial for inclusion in the catalogue.
...
References
External links
Dark Chess Strategy guide
by Jens Bæk Nielsen
Dark chess
by Tall Troll Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Chess
Chess variants
1989 in chess
Board games introduced in 1989