The Fourth Monthly Variants tournament

'Standard' (30 days + 1 day/move)
This game is being played under Extinction Chess rules. Click the 'info' tab for more information.
1. e4
Clock started on 7/28/2006
1... e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. O-O Nf6 5. Re1 O-O 6. d3 a6 7. a4 Re8 8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Bg4 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nc3 g5 12. Bg3 c6 13. Bh2 Qc7 14. g4 Bg6 15. Nb1 Nbd7 16. b4 Rac8 17. Bb3 b5 18. axb5 axb5 19. c4 bxc4 20. Bxc4 Qb6 21. Qd2 Nh7 22. Ra6 Qb7 23. Ra2 Kg7 24. Rb2 f6 25. b5 cxb5 26. Rxb5 Qa8 27. Ra5 Qb7 28. Bd5 Qb6 29. Bc4 Nc5 30. Rb5 Qd8 31. Nc3 Qd7 32. Nd5 Bd8 33. Nb6 Bxb6 34. Rxb6 Re7 35. Bb5 Qa7 36. Rxd6 Qb8 37. Rc6 Rxc6 38. Bxc6 h5 39. Kg2 Qc7 40. Bd5 Qd7 41. gxh5 Bxh5 42. Ng1 g4 43. h4 Nf8 44. Rc1 Nce6 45. Bxe6 Rxe6 46. Rf1=
Draw

Invented by R. Wayne Schmittberger and added here with his permission. You win by eliminating any one type of your opponent's pieces. Both bishops, for example.

Game rules

The game starts from the standard chess setup, and all the pieces move as in standard chess.

The game ends once one of the players eliminates any type of the opponent's pieces. Thus, a player who loses either his King, his Queen, his two Rooks, his two Bishops, his two Knights, or his eight Pawns, loses the game (barring a promotion).

Check and checkmate do not apply. Pawns may promote to any other type of piece, including Kings. When a Pawn promotes to some type of piece, this piece is also counted among the pieces of the type; e.g., when a Pawn promotes to a Queen, and the other Queen is captured, then the Queens are not considered to be extinct, i.e. the game continues. If a player promotes his last Pawn, he loses (as his Pawns are now extinct), unless he wins by extinction on that very move.

Since there is no check, castling under or through check is allowed.

Hints, tips and tricks

  • If you take your opponent's last piece of one kind, you immediately win, even if your piece could be recaptured on the very next move. So, what would be a usual queen exchange in standard chess, is a win here.
  • It is worth repeating: there is no check. If you attack the opponent's king, but he can capture your queen (or your last knight, or...), he will do that and win the game.
  • Especially in closed positions, it can be a good idea to sacrifice a rook for a minor piece if the opportunity arises. The opponent's remaining minor piece can then be hunted, while your second rook is not too likely to be troubled.
  • As there is no check, many tactical patterns from standard chess do not apply here. Beware! For example, in this game White expected to win the queen, but lost his own instead. Also, there is no absolute pin here.

Example games

  • Example game where both players have several pawns, but only ONE piece of each type (King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, and Knight). A different strategy must be used, since capture of any piece (except for pawns) ends the game.
  • Dense tactical struggle - notice many non-chess-like moves (like lack of recapture or piece being given up) related to different threats both players make
  • Straight for the bishop - after black gives up one of his bishops, white goes straight for the other one (note: if 10... Bxb7 then 11.Ba6)
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Game Page Help

The Action Bar

The Action Bar is the most important part of the game screen, this is where you interact with the game by entering moves, conditional moves, comments, draw offers, resignations, and much more (if you are not viewing one of your own games, the Action Bar is not shown).  The Action Bar is in four parts, from left to right:

  1. The Move Input Box: where your move or conditional move is shown; it is possible to type into this box, but not recommended, you can enter your move by dragging and dropping the pieces on the board.
  2. The Action Selection Dropdown: this is where you select the action you want to do, for example, move, enter a comment, accept a draw offer, claim a draw, etc.  Only the actions which are relevant to the current game are shown.
  3. The Continue Button: this button sends your action back to our server; sometimes you might see a pop-up text box before the action is sent, this is so that you can write a message to your opponent.  You can set your preferences so that this box is always shown to confirm you move (under the "Chess Board" tab "Confirm moves before committing), some people find this helpful as a "blunder check".
  4. The Next Game button: clicking the button will take you to the next game for which it is your move.

The Game Information Panel

Under the Action Bar, you should find the Game Information Panel.  This gives you more information about the game; because there is too much information to see on one screen here, it is arranged into "tab"; you can move between the various screens by clicking the buttons, from left to right:

  1. Game Overview: this tab shows the full history of the game, including comments (you cannot read the comments from another player's game, unless the game is marked as "public"), leave taken, etc.  You can click the moves to see the position on the chess board.
  2. Hide Comments: this tab shows the moves of the game only, without the distraction of the comments shown on the game overview tab.
  3. Material Balance: this tab shows the captured pieces in the game.  If you are playing CrazyHouse chess, or a similar game, you can drag pieces from here to the board to make a "drop".
  4. Tags: You can "tag" games, this makes it easier to come back to games, you can find the games you have tagged from the game database screen.
  5. Variant Information: this tab is available for some chess variants, it will show you a description of the variant.
  6. Opening Book: In standard chess games, this tab will show you information about the chess opening you have been playing, taken from the Game Explorer.
  7. Analysis Board: Opening this tab will overlay an "analysis board" on the main chess board; you can move the pieces around freely on this board to try out various ideas in the game.
  8. Engine Analysis: This tab allows you to analyse the game using a chess engine; because the use of engines is not allowed on SchemingMind, this tab is not available for ongoing games.
  9. Share: The share tab will allow you to share your game on social media (if someone becomes a member by following one of your links, you will be rewarded with a complimentary extension to your full membership); you can also download the game as either an animated GIF or in PGN format, and you can copy the current position to your clipboard in FEN format.
  10. Help: If you are reading this, you have already figured out what the help button does!

The Chess Board

The chess board shows the current position in your game; if it is your move, or if you can enter a conditional move, you can drag and drop the pieces on the chess board.

If you wish to castle, simply drag your king over the rook on the side you wish to castle on.  When you promote a pawn, you will see a pop-up prompting you to select the promoted piece.

We have a number of different designs for chess boards and pieces, you can select the one you prefer from your personal preferences.

Under the chess board is a navigation toolbar (this toolbar looks slightly different if you are looking at the analysis board).

From left to right:

  • Settings: This button will bring up your chess board and pieces display settings.
  • Move to Start: This button will show the start position of the game.
  • Previous Move: This button will move position shown on the board back one move.
  • Next Move: This button will show the next position on the board.
  • Last Move: This button will show the current position on the board.
  • Flip: This button will show the board from the other player's perspective (by default you see games from White's perspective unless you are Black; you can select an option to always show the board from White's perspective in your personal preferences).
  • Animate: If you are not looking at the last move in the game, this button will animate the game from the shown position to the last move.
  • Stop Animation: This button will stop the animation.

View this article in the Knowledge Base.

Chess Board

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