Scramble

Chess masters often complain that chess openings are very boring and predictable. This chess variant aims to solve that problem.  

Setup

Each player has 18 pieces.

The initial setup is an empty board. After placing all pieces on the board the setup should look like this, with Pawns in the centre and the other pieces all around the border.

1) Version 1; All pieces of the same colour stay in their own half of the board. 

2) Version 2; The mixt version

Pieces

Each player has 18 pieces (1 King, 4 Pawns, 4 Knights, 4 Bishops, 3 Rooks, and 2 Queens). 

Rules

Before starting the game players have to decide which version they want to play. 

The game has two stages.

1) Stage 1; Filling the board

Pieces are placed on the board in the following order.

Pawns are the first to be placed on the board.

Next come the Kings.

Since Pawns and Kings have fixed positions they can also be placed on the board all at once. 

At this point players take turns placing their pieces on the board one at the time according to the version choosen. Pieces are placed in the following order: Knight, Bishop, Rook and Queen, and starting over again. 

2) Stage 2; Playing the game

In stage 2 players take turns trying to checkmate the enemy King.

Additional rules;

• All chess rules apply except there is no castling.
• If Version 2 is choosen pieces moving orthogonally (Queens and Rooks) are not allowed to be placed next to the enemy King.
• When all pieces are on the board none of the Kings should be in check.   
• Pawns only move one square on the first move. 

Notes

I have decided to keep both versions for this game because both of them look great. 

You can play Scramble against Stockfish on Chess.com. 

Here is how to do it:

• Go to Chess,com
• Go to Learn / Analysis /Set Up Position / Clear Board
• Place pieces on the board according to the rules of Scramble
• Practice vs Computer
• Change Bot
• Play!

Last revised by Florin Lupusoru.