High Chess

High Chess is a drawless variant that gives Black compensation for White’s first move.

Games that would be drawn are instead won by the player whose King is closer to the centre of the board, or by Black if both Kings are equidistant from the centre. Players may pass rather than move, so there is no stalemate, but all other rules are the same as Orthodox Chess.

Rules

The player whose King is closest to the centre of the board is called High, and their opponent is called Low. The distance is the number of steps, ranging from zero to three, that the King would need to move to one of the central four squares on the board (if it were empty). Black is deemed to have a height advantage, so if both Kings are equidistant from the centre, Black is High and White is Low.

A player loses by exhaustion at the end of their turn if they are Low, they have not checkmated their opponent, and they have not moved a pawn or captured in their last fifty moves. In practice, the Low player resigns when the game is continuing indefinitely, so as in Orthodox Chess, there is no need to count the number of moves since their last pawn move or capture: in the rare event that such a count is required, it can be determined by examining the game’s history.

Notes

Effects on gameplay

Highness removes all draws. Games that would be drawn due to the fifty-move rule or three-fold repetition in Orthodox Chess are won by exhaustion in High Chess. Stalemate is removed as movement is optional, but a player that would be stalemated in Orthodox Chess will be forced to pass in High Chess, and will usually lose either by checkmate or exhaustion. Games that would be drawn due to insufficient material in Orthodox Chess are usually won by whoever gets their King to the centre of the board. There are no draws by mutual agreement (outside of casual play).

Highness significantly changes the endgame. When there are few men left on the board, Kings will gravitate towards the centre. While checkmate is still a common outcome, endgames such as King + Bishop + Knight vs King are easier to win by exhaustion. Highness also eliminates a situation that is common in Orthodox Chess, in which a player with no chance of victory continues to play in the hope of reaching a stalemate. In High Chess, these players quickly resign.

Highness puts the onus on the Low player to do something. If they only make non-vital moves they will lose by exhaustion, so they are compelled to make vital moves, become High, or checkmate their opponent. While they may pass rather than move, the Low player will be exhausted if both players repeatedly do so. Therefore, passing is only useful to the High player, and only the Low player can find themselves in zugzwang (the situation in which all of one’s available moves are detrimental).

Highness allows Black to pass more often than White, and Black is more likely to win in situations that would end in three-fold repetition in Orthodox Chess, as these often occur when both Kings are equidistant from the centre, such as when both are on their back ranks.

Rationale

High Chess addresses two issues in Orthodox Chess: the prevalence of draws and White’s first-move advantage. Neither of these are major problems for most players, but at elite levels most games are drawn, and more than 60% of decisive games are won by White.

Many players prefer the possibility of draws, but there are few options available for those wanting a drawless alternative. In King of the Hill, which inspired High Chess, players win by moving their King into one of the central four squares. This eliminates most draws, but fundamentally changes the opening and middlegame. In contrast, the major differences between High Chess and Orthodox Chess are in the endgame, particularly in games which would have been drawn in Orthodox Chess. Armageddon is a variant in which draws count as wins for Black, and White is given extra time as compensation. This approach requires that chess be played quickly, as does Rustan Kasimdzhanov’s proposal that drawn games be replayed with colours switched and shorter time controls. High Chess, however, can be played with classic time controls, or even without a clock.

Black’s height advantage, which makes Black High when both Kings are equidistant from the centre, has been designed to balance White’s first-move advantage. My hope is that the win ratio between White and Black will be more equal than it is in decisive games of Orthodox Chess, although in both games the ratio will depend on whether the players are novices, grandmasters, or computers. When it is played by two perfect players only one of them will have a winning strategy, but determining which is not computationally feasible.

High Chess was originally published here on Reddit. It has been simplified over time, which is why some comments refer to defunct terminology, such as momentum.

Last revised by Grant Sinclair.