Chad is a

chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...

for two players created by Christian Freeling in 1979. It is played on an uncheckered 12×12

gameboard A game board (or gameboard; sometimes, playing board or game map) is the surface on which one plays a board game. The oldest known game boards may date to Neolithic times; however, some scholars argue these may not have been game boards at all. ...

with one

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and eight rooks per side, where rooks are able to promote to

queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. The inventor's aim was "to create a game of tactical and strategical depth that was both simple and elegant to express the concept of ''mate''—the 'pure' chess game". The game was played for many years at the Fanaat games club in the Netherlands and was featured in the periodical ''The Gamer'' in May–June 1982.

Game rules

Each player owns a ''castle'' consisting of 3×3 squares surrounded by a ''wall'' of 12 squares. A king may not leave its 3×3 castle, but the other pieces are free to move unimpeded by castles or walls. * The king can move and capture like a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

king or a chess

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. It can only capture pieces inside the 3×3 castle and cannot capture pieces on the wall. * A rook moves like a rook in chess, and is unimpeded by castles or walls. If its move ends on a square in the enemy castle, it automatically promotes to a queen. * A queen moves like a queen in chess and is unimpeded by castles or walls. * Captures are limited: a capture can happen between a rook or queen and an enemy rook or queen only when one of the pieces is on the opponent's wall and the other piece is in its castle. ** In other situations, rooks and queens cannot capture and simply block one another's movement. Only a king can capture an enemy piece inside its castle. * A king is in check whenever it is in the path of an enemy rook or queen. Castle walls do not block checks. As regular in chess,

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

moves first, a capturing piece replaces the piece captured, and

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

wins the game.

References

Bibliography * *

External links

Official website
MindSports.nl

by Hans L. Bodlaender, ''

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". ...

''
Fanaat
games club (the Netherlands)

a simple program by Ed Friedlander (

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

) {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants 1979 in chess Board games introduced in 1979