chess variants

[Mallos]

Chess.com has updated their variants server recently and with the many new options I have made a few custom variants so far. Here I will be hosting a tournament run to test out these variants and maybe gather some players together. The prize is 20$ of steam credit on a gift card and the tournament will be detailed below. The tournament is officially active now however there are specific requirements to participate and the tournament will end when a sufficient number of participants have entered and completed the rounds. The sufficient number of players is 4 however if other sets of players are attempting the tournament after 4 players have completed it, they will be given up to 14 days to finish the rounds before the tournament rounds are called in and no other players may finish before tiebreakers are completed and a champion crowned.

There will be 4 rounds hosted by me and each round is a separate 2 player cooperative game vs bots, challenges to be described publicly. You may choose your partner for each round, challenges may be done in any order you wish, a victory in a round is counted as one point for that player and the player with the most points will win the prize or in the event of ties, tiebreaker rounds randomly drawn by me will be played in a 5th round 1 on 1 game more similar to regular chess.

In order to play you and your partner for that round will need to sign up on https://www.chess.com/variants/custom and be able to join a lobby that I will host, or alternatively, set up a proper challenge template provided to you and host a game within the appropriate measures of the tournament, as with your partners selected and detailed in this topic or sent to me privately (which I will publish here) usernames and specification of when the game will be played previous to the actual game occurring, alongside it having been played at that time/date (as can be referenced in your archive) in order to ensure the proper attempt is documented. Discretion will be given but an attempt must be specified only once for each template and must occur within a reasonable timeframe after the attempt was stated to have taken place.

In order to try the templates yourself, enter the variants server and under the play section you can click to "edit position" and "edit rules" to make your own templates. When you edit the position you can find a box to paste the strings of text into and "load" in order to use the custom templates. Once you have done so you must edit rules to input the correct ruleset for each position under the "mix & match" tab and then use the "save current rules as template" button under the "my templates" tab.

A short description for each round followed by positions to copy/paste and then the ruleset for the templates to be used are provided here in this spoiler tag:
 

Spoiler

All main rounds are on the team format,  NOT free for all. Be careful as this completely changes the way the games work and the tiebreaker round is not a team format.

ALL ROUNDS MUST BE PLAYED ON 10 MINUTE +15 TIME CONTROL. That is to say 10 minutes for each player, with a 15 second increment for each move, or the 🕕 10 | 15 button you can find when choosing the time constraints. This is to give participants enough time to think through the challenges although I advise you to practice with your teammate beforehand so you are familiar. 

__________

A custom template similar to a "Storming the Castle" scenario, enter the area, control the sides, and deliver a checkmating attack on your opponents. Be sure to cover eachother as the fog will make it difficult to anticipate every move.

Y-0,0,0,0-0,0,1,0-0,0,1,0-0,0,0,0-0-{'royal':('','','g14','h14'),'lives':(9,9,9,9),'resigned':(null,null,true,true),'zombieType':('','','comfuter','muncher_comfuter'),'noCorners':true}-
3,yR,gN,gB,yK,gQ,gB,gN,yR,x,2/
1,x,x,yP,x,yP,yP,yP,yP,x,yP,3/
x,x,2,x,6,x,1,x/
4,x,x,x,x,x,x,1,x,2/
x,x,9,x,x,x/
1,x,2,x,4,x,2,x,1/
1,x,2,x,4,x,2,x,1/
3,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,3/
3,x,1,x,2,x,1,x,3/
1,x,10,x,1/
5,x,2,x,5/
2,x,x,x,x,2,x,x,x,x,2/
bW,bF,x,8,x,rF,rW/
rW,rF,x,bR,bN,bB,bQ,rQ,rB,rN,rR,x,bF,bW

Casual
Casual game
2
2-player game
2
2 Zombies. Yellow: A (beatable) 4 Player Chess Computer. Green: A Futer with
capture preference.
Custom position
9+
9-Check
Red & Blue vs. Yellow & Green
Fog of War
Sideways
Torpedo
Allow passing your turn
The stalemated player loses
Spectator Chat
=

Pawns promote to a brick on the 11th rank

__________

A custom template that is much like a lock and key mechanism. Careful to bypass the knights with your kings and not be checkmated, you must choose to spend your tempo wisely, as the 50 move rule will turn your game into a draw without proper planning.

R-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0-{'royal':('h7','g7','n12',''),'resigned':(null,null,true,true),'zombieType':('','ranter','muncher',''),'zombieImmune':(false,true,true,false),'noCorners':true}-
1,gN,3,gN,2,gN,3,gN,1/
6,x,x,x,5/
x,x,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,yW/
1,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,1,x,x,1,x,x/
1,x,1,x,x,1,x,1,x,1,x,x,2/
2,x,x,1,x,x,x,x,x,1,x,x,1/
1,x,x,1,x,x,yF,yF,x,x,x,1,x,1/
x,1,x,x,1,x,bK,rK,x,1,x,x,1,x/
1,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,1/
1,x,x,1,x,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,1/
x,x,1,x,1,x,1,x,x,1,x,1,x,x/
1,x,x,x,x,1,x,x,1,x,x,x,x,1/
4,x,x,x,7/
1,rN,3,rN,2,bN,3,bN,1

Casual
Casual game
2
2-player game
2
2 Zombies. Yellow: Random moves with capture preference. Green: Random moves.
Custom position
Red & Blue vs. Yellow & Green
Fatal capture
Off
Stonewall
The stalemated player loses
Spectator Chat
=
Off
No promotion

__________

A "Racing Kings" template where you must reach the top area with your rooks before red does, but yellow will actively slow you down. Impede red and fight through the center using your rooks immunity to checks/captures to your advantage.

R-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0-{'royal':('g1','d1','','m1'),'resigned':(true,null,true,null),'zombieType':('','muncher_comfuter','comfuter','comfuter'),'zombieImmune':(true,false,false,false),'noCorners':true}-
x,x,x,yR,yB,x,1,rP,x,yB,yR,x,x,x/
5,x,yQ,x,x,5/
1,x,1,x,x,1,x,2,x,x,1,x,1/
5,x,1,x,x,5/
6,x,1,x,5/
x,1,x,x,x,2,x,2,x,x,1,x/
3,x,1,x,3,x,1,x,x,1/
2,x,x,x,3,x,1,x,3/
x,x,1,x,2,x,2,x,x,1,x,x/
5,x,1,x,6/
5,x,x,x,x,5/
7,x,6/
5,x,2,x,5/
bN,bB,bB,bR,bN,1,rγ,2,gN,gB,gB,gR,gN

Casual
Casual game
2
2-player game
2
2 Zombies. Red: Random moves. Yellow: A (beatable) 4 Player Chess Computer.
Custom position
Sideways
Racing kings
The stalemated player loses
Spectator Chat
=
Off
No promotion

__________

A "King of the Hill" template where the objective is to reach the center of the map with your royal king although you will face much opposition on the way there. Fog of war complicates your progress, work together with your teammate to develop your pieces and create a strategy to win, be it defeating green or escorting your kings to the victory.

R-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0,0,0,0-0-{'royal':('f1','d2','k14',''),'lives':(9,9,9,9),'resigned':(null,null,true,true),'zombieType':('','','muncher_comfuter','checker_comfuter'),'zombieImmune':(false,false,true,false)}-
x,x,x,gR,gO,gQ,gR,gO,x,1,yK,x,x,x/
x,x,x,gδ,x,x,gQ,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,3,x,gN,dP,dP,x,x,x,x/
dO,2,yW,x,2,gB,gB,gN,2,x,yF/
dP,1,x,dP,x,1,dP,x,x,x,4/
2,x,x,dB,dO,x,x,1,x,2,x,1/
1,dP,2,dB,1,x,gF,x,bK,dP,1,dP,1/
1,x,1,x,dO,dP,x,x,x,1,rK,x,x,1/
1,x,dP,4,dP,x,x,x,x,1,dB/
1,x,1,x,bB,bN,4,x,1,x,1/
2,bP,x,bB,bR,rB,rN,3,x,2/
x,x,x,rP,x,x,rB,rR,3,x,x,x/
x,x,x,bK,bQ,bO,x,x,3,x,x,x/
x,x,x,2,rK,rQ,rO,3,x,x,x

Casual
Casual game
2
2-player game
2
2 Zombies. Yellow: A Futer with capture preference. Green: A Futer with checking
preference.
Custom position
9+
9-Check
Red & Blue vs. Yellow & Green
Fog of War
King of the Hill
Sideways
Torpedo
Allow passing your turn
The stalemated player loses
Spectator Chat
8th
=

Pawns promote to a bishop on the 8th rank

__________

Tiebreaker game, not part of main rounds:

Much like regular chess, this template removes draws as a likely scenario due to rules such as 9 check and bare piece, while maintaining a semblance of balance between aggressive mating play or more defensive styles.

R-0,1,0,1-1,1,1,1-1,1,1,1-0,0,0,0-0-{'lives':(9,9,9,9),'pawnBaseRank':5,'wb':true,'dim':'8x8'}-
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,yR,yN,yB,yQ,yK,yB,yN,yR,x,x,x/
x,x,x,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,yP,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,8,x,x,x/
x,x,x,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,rP,x,x,x/
x,x,x,rR,rN,rB,rQ,rK,rB,rN,rR,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x/
x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x

Casual
Casual game
9+
9-Check
Any Capture
Capture the King
Allow passing your turn
The stalemated player loses
Bare piece rule
Opposite-side castling
Spectator Chat
=

Pawns promote to a knight-rider on the 8th rank

If you have trouble following the instructions or setting up the templates, or general queries about the contest, questions can be posed here or to me on discord. Good luck and you MD participants will get some extra participation rewards.

Edited May 10 by Mallos