Atomic chess

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Atomic chess is a chess variant. While the other chess rules apply fully, all captures result in an atomic explosion. This means that the surrounding pieces—not including pawns—will be taken off the board as well.

1 The rules
2 In game tactics
3 Variants and other games called atomic chess
4 See also

[edit] The rules

The rules of atomic chess are the same as standard chess with the following differences:

[edit] Capturing

In standard chess the captured piece is removed from the board and the capturing piece takes its place. In atomic chess, both pieces are removed from the board (i.e. "killed"). Furthermore, this atomic explosion extends to all eight surrounding squares. Any pieces caught in the surrounding squares are also captured with the exception of pawns. Pawns are captured only when they are involved in the actual capture event in the central square. In en passant, ground-zero of the explosion is the square on the sixth rank upon which the capturing pawn lands. The game frequently ends with one king being caught in the explosion of a surrounding piece. Moves that result in the explosion of your own king are illegal. There is also a variant without check, in which checkmate will only mean a capture of the king in the next move, and not a win by itself.

[edit] Check

As in normal chess check still fully applies. However if a player's king is in check he has nevertheless the ability to win by exploding his opponents king. Also as the king cannot take another piece, it is possible to move the kings next to each other. In this case check does not apply. In a further variant of atomic chess, check is not enforced at all. This means that any move, even one leaving the king to be captured in the next move, is possible and can be forced by zugzwang.

[edit] Stalemate

If the check rule is enforced then a stalemate is possible in similar way to that of standard chess. If the check rule is not enforced, and for example if a player's only legal move is to move into check then he or she must do so. Without check, a stalemate can only occur in extremely rare situations.

[edit] In game tactics

The first-move-of-the-game advantage enjoyed by White is much greater in this game than in standard chess. Hence, this game is imbalanced against Black. Some players consider atomic chess to be a forced win for white, but so far all attempts to refute the game have been unsuccessful and high rated players tend to not agree. The transition from opening to mid-game and from mid-game to end-game is as ambiguous and subject to opinion as in standard chess. However below are ideas and theory about the game that most players will agree with or change emphasis.

[edit] Opening

Because White has the initiative, Black is often preoccupied initially to fending off attempts to kill its king via atomic explosions directed at the pawns adjacent at d7, e7 and f7. These attacks usually involve the knights, which are fastest to develop, but also the queen and bishops are not less dangerous. A strong White opening will dictate Black's moves for the start of the game and Black has a small number of choices at each move compared with standard chess. Ignoring an attack set and making benign moves will cause a loss of the game far earlier than in standard chess, if the opponent is familiar with the opening. A weak white opening can result in black taking the initiative and forcing white's moves.

In atomic chess a sacrifice of knights, bishops and sometimes even queens are acceptable. It is extremely common to make sacrifices of material, which would seem to a chess player to be nonsensical in order to gain a positional advantage in the opening. By far the most common sacrifice in atomic chess openings is to advance either knight from the third rank to the fifth, knowing it can be taken by a pawn.

[edit] Mid-game

Generally speaking once a player's knowledge of opening theory is expended in the direction a game has gone, or when neither player has an opportunity to attack their opponent for several moves the game can be said to have moved into the mid-game. This can occur with both player's having all their material, or when all but a few pawns are left. The moves a player makes in his mid-game will be dictated by the position he is left with after the opening. For example if he is "a piece up" (i.e. has a material advantage) a strategy is to play purely defensive moves and try to make all subsequent exchange of material equal or better, and then use that advantage at the end. Depending on the style of play of a player in his mid-games he may wish to risk material or losing by attacking or may play defensively, digging in until the end game comes where he may feel more confident. Or he may try to continue making move sets to gain material advantage or threaten the oppontent's king.

The survival of the queens in non-defensive positions tend to lead to shorter games, making the queen more powerful than almost all defensive alignments of the other pieces. Though there are some openings where one side can successfully exchange the queen (for example, by taking the pawn on b7, getting a rook, knight, bishop and a pawn for it). Losing the queen without having a trap or very accurate play is a huge disadvantage.

An endgame position in Atomic chess.

Black has connected kings and became immune to check. However, white can win by forcing the black king to be adjacent to the black pawn, then capturing the pawn. 1.Kc4 Kd4 2.Kb5+ Kc5 3.Ka6+ Kb5 4.Ka7+ Ka6 5.Qxa5 Note that black is forced to retain the connection, or the queen will chase the king and mate him.

[edit] End game

endgame theory is now as detailed as opening theory and it is possible to say whether a forced win or draw is possible. A notable and amusing feature of atomic chess which can first attract chess players to the game is that kings can be in adjacent squares. This is not a rare occurrence and a player can in some positions force a draw with it, though there are many ways to disconnect or win by blowing up a piece next to the opponents king. For example a win is always possible if one side is up a queen or rook and a second piece, or just a queen and there are still blocked pawns on the board. Creative use of Zugzwang is a common tactic to force a win.

[edit] New theory and game culture

New opening theory is still being developed and played by different players on different servers, trying to catch each other out. Obviously as more games are played and as more players play across different servers using what they believe is a new opening line or an unusual defensive line which an opponent has not seen. Strong attacking ideas come for white and then are refuted again, so that there is no known line that will result in a win for white. A player who knows many variations will often be able to gain significant advantage when playing with white.

[edit] Variants and other games called atomic chess

Another variant of this game is that the pawns will be killed by an explosion, but will not set off one, which drastically decreases the potency of pawn killers.

Yet another variant has surfaced, particularly in online play, such as through ItsYourTurn.com [1]. In this variant, each side secretly identifies one of their pieces as the "bomb". Capture of any piece, including the bomb, will not set off a detonation. The bomb can only be detonated willfully by the player when his turn comes, and setting off the bomb counts as a turn. The explosion kills the bomb and all pieces surrounding it. Killing the opponent's bomb in this fashion does not initiate a chain reaction. Since it is impossible to determine for sure whether or not your opponent's bomb is still active (unless he has detonated it), bluff is part of a good strategy in this variant. Blowing up the opponent's king in this fashion results in a win, killing your own king in a loss and killing both kings in a draw. Setting off the bomb is a valid move when in check only if the explosion removes the check status and does not cause your king to be in check again by the removal of the destroyed pieces. All other standard chess rules apply.