Anti-Check Chess

Anti-check chess is essentially just chess with the rules of check and checkmate inverted. It gets played in Birmingham school chess teams but doesn’t appear to have any information about it on the net.

Setup

Board set up as normal but the white king, instead of starting on e1, starts on d6 and the black king, instead of starting on e8, starts on d3.

Rules

The aim of the game is still to checkmate the opponents king and, if in check, one must move out of check.

However, the definition of "check" is that the king isn’t being attacked and the definition of "checkmate" is that the king isn’t being attacked and cannot move into being attacked.

Kings also cannot take pieces.

Notes

The more pieces your opponent has on the board, the more hope of your king being attacked, thus, taking pieces is generally bad.

If the opponent’s king stays in front of the pawns, forcing it away from being attacked can be difficult. Thus, a good tactic is to push your pawns far out beyond the king – moving twice instead of once on the first pawn move is almost always preferred.

Leave a gap in your pawn blockade. A row of pawns in front of your opponents king can be very strong – he cannot take them and move into being attacked. However, the strength of this is negated if all of your pieces are hard to manipulate into not attacking your opponents king. For this reason, a gap on the A or H files can be useful to let your pieces slip in front of the pawns.

Trapping your opponent’s rook with your king. If you manage this early, it can be a long time before you’re checked again, allowing you to focus on your own tactics.

Example game:

2) e2-e4, e7-e5.

3) g2-g4, g7-g5.

4) Bf1-h3+, Kd3-c3.

5) d2-d4, Bf8-h6+.

6) Kd6-e7, Qd8-a5.

7) b2-b4, Ng8-f6+.

8) Ke7-f8, Rh8-g8.

9) Bc1-f4, Rg8-g7+.

10) Kf8-g8, Rg7-g6.

11) Nb1-a3+, Kc3-c2.

12) Na3-b5, Nf6-d5.

13) a2-a4, Rg6-a6+.

14) Kg8-g7, g5xf4.

15) Qd1-f3+, Kc2-c3.

16) Qf3-g3, Bh6-g5.

17) Qg3-h4, Bg5-d8+.

18) Kg7-f6, Bd8-b6.

19) Nb5-c7#