(Under Construction)
Inspired by the great war philosopher SunTzu, this variant combines three previous variants into one game that simulates the fog of war.
Note: this is TisztaBolondokhaza with fog of war (just like Lao Tzu Chess, but different fog of war concept is in place, more squares are visible)
1. Game Rules
The pieces are initially set up according to DoubleFischerRandom rules (random setup, black and white have different starting positions).
The pieces you capture become yours, and can be dropped on the board (as in CrazyHouse). You can drop them on any empty square, including checking the King. Pawns cannot be dropped on the 1st or 8th rank, and if a promoted pawn is captured, it reverts back to a pawn, so be sure you know which Queen you are hunting!
The board is partially hidden. The following visibility rules are in place:
- all your pieces are visible,
- squares available to your pieces (squares where your pieces can move, or capture) - including attacked enemy pieces, if any - are visible,
- if you have any piece at hand, all (empty) squares you can drop it on are visible,
- you can see which pieces you have taken (and have at hand),
- you can see which pieces your opponent has taken (and can drop).
Opponent moves are displayed as question marks (however, they are appended with '+' and '#' for check and mate).
The game is ended with mate, except fog of war, all CrazyHouse rules apply.
2. SunTzu fog of war examples
To make visibility rules more clear, here are a few examples.
 | The board on the beginning of the game (white player view) |
 | Another board after a few initial moves, no capture yet (note how white pieces make some squares visible) |
 | Still another board deep in the game, there were a lot of captures and both players have pieces at hand (note that all empty squares are visible, but only those pieces, which are attacked) |
 | White's bishop captured a pawn on a7, and was in turn captured by a black piece. White has only a pawn at hand (therefore neither g1, nor empty squares on the last rank, are visible) |
3. Hints
If you never played CrazyHouse, play a few games of it (or, preferably, of TisztaBolondokhaza), to familiarize with piece drop concept. You must know this concept to succeed at Sun Tzu! Also, familiarize with Chess960 castling rules, they are in use here too.
After you capture your first piece, you'll be able to see all the free squares available to place a piece. This is a large tactical advantage because it gives you the terrain. However you still have very little idea which of the dark squares represent which enemy pieces! Nevertheless, it make sense to always have some piece at hand.
If you have only pawn at hand, then empty squares at the first and the last rank are not visible.
Pay attention not only to the board state before your move, but also after it. Something interesting could be visible only then. Simple example: you move your bishop to e4, after the move empty d5, c6 and b7 are visible, and the enemy bishop on a8. But opponent captures your bishop with his own, and those areas are again hidden, so unless you took a look at the position before opponent move, you need not know, what happened. Or maybe there is no capture, but opponent moves c7-c6. So before your next move you can only see empty d5 and pawn on c6. Note that you can navigate through the game and observe how the situation has been evolving. Also, remember that on the Material tab you can see opponent pieces at hand, so in particular you know, which piece was dropped (if any).
With some care (and if the game last long enough), you should be able to guess most (or all) enemy piece positions. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that this is the main purpose of the game! Even if you know everything about opponent pieces, there is still difficult game to be played (TisztaBolondokhaza is by far not a trivial game).
More welcome
4. Example games
A few example games:
Knight mate - crazyhouse-style finish, note four black knights on the board in the final position
Knight Riders - three white knights on the seventh rank in the final position
Drag the king to mate - white drags the opponent king across the board, and checkmates him in own camp.
Master Miniature - seeing little... taking few... yet with astonishing economy, white goes on to play perfectly! as if the "fog of war" was never there! singularly a must see game!!!
One fatal blow. - a game with only one check! and it delivers instant mate!
Please, add some interesting games