Dunsany's chess

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|Dunsany's chess starting setup

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Dunsany's chess, also known as Dunsany's game,{{cite book |last=Pritchard |first=D. B. |authorlink=David Pritchard (chess player) |title=The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants |publisher=Games & Puzzles Publications |year=1994 |entry=Dunsany's Game |page=97 |isbn=0-9524142-0-1 }} is an asymmetric chess variant in which Black has the standard chess army and White has 32 pawns. This game was invented by Lord Dunsany in 1942. It was published the same year in Fairy Chess Review (August issue) and in Joseph Boyer's Nouveaux Jeux d'Echecs Non-orthodoxes.{{cite magazine |editor-last=Keller |editor-first=Michael |title=A Panorama of Chess Variants |publisher=Michael Keller |magazine=World Game Review |date=June 1991 |issue=10 |issn=1041-0546 }}

A similar game is Horde chess.

Game rules

Black's setup is the same in regular chess; White's army consists of 32 pawns, filling {{chessgloss|ranks}} one through four, as shown in the diagram. Rules are the same as in regular chess, with the following exceptions:

Black moves first.
Only Black's pawns have the two-step option on their first move.
Black wins by capturing all 32 white pawns; White wins by checkmating Black.

As in regular chess, pawns promote on the {{chessgloss|eighth rank|final rank}}, and stalemate occurs if White's pawns run out of moves.

Horde chess

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|Horde chess starting setup

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Horde chess, by Filip Rachunek in 2002, is similar to Dunsany's chess but with the following differences:{{cite book |last=Pritchard |first=D. B. |authorlink=David Pritchard (chess player) |editor-last=Beasley |editor-first=John |title=The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants |publisher=John Beasley |year=2007 |entry=Horde Chess |page=90 |isbn=978-0-9555168-0-1 }}{{Cite web |url=http://brainking.com/en/GameRules?tp=4 |title=BrainKing – Game rules (Horde Chess) |publisher=brainking.com |access-date=27 June 2015}}

White's pieces are the normal chess pieces, and Black's pieces are 32 pawns, occupying ranks five through eight, but with pawns on d4 and e4 instead of d8 and e8.
White moves first.
Black's pawns on rank seven have the two-step option of regular chess.

Horde chess is one of the few chess variants to have a full theory book written about it.{{Cite book |title=The Definitive Guide to Horde Chess: Openings, strategies and tactics for White and Black |publisher=Enigma Chess |year=2021 |isbn=979-8737259457}}{{self-published?|date=April 2025}}

=Horde variant=

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|Horde variant starting setup

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A Horde variant uses the opening setup shown in the diagram.{{Cite web |url=https://lichess.org/I0OzWemR |title=Horde on Lichess |date=2 July 2015 |access-date=2 July 2015}} In this variant, White's pawns on the first and second ranks may advance one or two steps, provided that the path on the file is free. Unlike in regular chess, this does not have to be the pawn's first move.{{Cite web |url=https://lichess.org/blog/VStlbikAAK0yJ2UC/new-features-kid-mode-simuls-and-more |title=Lichess Blog - New features: kid mode, simuls, and more |date=13 April 2015 |access-date=9 July 2015}}

Both Lichess and Chess.com have support for this variant.

References

External links

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092XPNNVS The Definitive Guide to Horde Chess: Openings, strategies and tactics for White and Black], a theory book on Horde Chess
[http://www.chessvariants.com/unequal.dir/dunsany.html Dusany's Chess] by Hans Bodlaender, The Chess Variant Pages
[http://www.pathguy.com/chess/Dunsany.htm Lord Dunsany's Chess] a simple program by Ed Friedlander (Java)
[http://zoldsakk.hu/en/rules.php?v=4gdunsan Dunsany's Chess] playable online at Green Chess
[https://hordechessblog.com Horde Chess Blog], a blog about the Horde variant

Category:Chess variants

Category:Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany

Category:1942 in chess

Category:Board games introduced in 1942