Dice chess

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Dice chess is a chess variant in which the moves available to each player are determined by rolling a pair of ordinary six-sided dice. Several different versions of dice chess are known, one of which is described here.

[edit] Rules

The players alternate rolling the dice and, if possible, moving. On each of the dice, the one represents a pawn, two a knight, three a bishop, four a rook, five a queen, and six a king. The player may move either of the pieces indicated on the two dice. For example, a player rolling a one and a two may move either a pawn or a knight. A player who rolls doubles (the same number on both dice) may play any legal move. Otherwise, standard chess rules apply, with these exceptions:

• a player who has no legal move with either of the pieces indicated by the dice loses that turn;
• if castling is otherwise legal, a player may castle upon rolling a four, six, or doubles;
• an en passant capture of a pawn is possible only if the player rolls a one, or doubles, immediately once the opportunity for the en passant capture arises;
• a player who is in check can only play a legal response to that check (capturing the checking piece, moving the king, or interposing a piece);
• a player who is in check but does not make a roll allowing a legal response to the check loses that turn, but does not automatically lose the game;
• except in the unlikely event that the game ends in a draw pursuant to standard chess rules, the game ends when one player either checkmates the opponent or captures the opponent's king.

[edit] Sample game

Here is a sample game of dice chess. White rolls doubles, allowing her to play any move, and selects 1.e4. Black rolls a two and a three; no bishop move being possible, he plays 1...Nc6. White rolls a three and a four, and plays 2.Bc4. Black rolls a four and a five; since no queen move is possible, he must play the only legal rook move, 2...Rb8. White rolls a three and a six, and plays 3.Bxf7+. Black rolls a two and a four; since no knight or rook move is a legal response to the check, he must pass. (Only a six, or doubles, would have allowed him to move.) White rolls a two and a four, and chooses 4.Nh3. (A three or five would have enabled an immediate win with 4.Bxe8, 4.Qf3# or 4.Qh5#). Black rolls a one and a three; again, this does not allow a legal response to the check, so he must pass. White rolls a two and a four, and plays 5.Ng5#. (See final position at right.)

[edit] Variants on these Rules

There is no standard set of rules for Dice Chess, and so games called 'Dice Chess' may have different rules to the ones given here.

For example, the 'dice chess' given on the BrainKing site [1]

• has players roll only 1 die.
• allows pawns to move to the last rank on any roll, but promote only to the piece shown on the die (a 1 allows a pawn to promote to any piece).
• does not have check or checkmate. Rather, the goal is to actually take the king.