Atomic

From Wildchess Wiki

Rules

Atomic chess is like normal chess with the following modifications:

1 Pieces explode, leaving squares empty. After a capture is completed, the capturing man explodes. The square that the capture occurs on is 'ground zero'. All pieces (not pawns) that are on squares adjacent to ground zero (horizontally, vertically and diagonally) are destroyed in the explosion.

Example

The pawn on h7 ia captured and the bisshop explodes. The knight on g8 and the rook on h8 are caught in the blast, 
the pawn on g7 is not affected.

2 There are two types of king attacks: direct and indirect

A direct attack is just like check in chess:

An indirect attack is attacking a man that will explode the opponent's king when captured (such as the e7 pawn below):

3 The aim of the game is to explode the opponent's king or to bring about a position where the king is directly attacked and cannot defend (see 4) or explode the opponent's king safely (see 5).

4 You are not allowed to make a move that causes your king to explode in the process. This effectively means kings cannot capture other pieces and it is therefore legal for two kings to touch. When both kings are touching it is not possible to capture one king without destroying the other. Thus at this point attacks on the king don't exist and the king is effectively invincible.

Direct attacks have to be responded to either by capturing/exploding, blocking or moving the king, or by exploding the opponent's king safely (see 5). Indirect attacks can be ignored (though this is of course unwise!).

It is possible to mate with the queen unaided. Black cannot capture the queen.

5 Exploding the opponent's king takes priority over direct attacks. This means that in a position which would be checkmate (see below), or when directly attacked, but you can explode the opponent's king, this move wins the game, even if a direct attack is left on after the move (unlike chess where it is not possible to finish a move in check even if it mates the opponent). This is because the explosion of the king ends the game.

Here black wins with Nxd2 or Nxf2.

Tips

Beware! There are a lot of patzer traps in atomic. The most common is the opening move 1. Nf3:

The only replies this move are f6 (and f5 has also been discovered). Any other move would allow Ne5 or Ng5. 1. ... d6 at first glance appears to save the game too, but after 2. Ng5 f6 (or f5 it's forced otherwise Nxf7 (Kd7 loses to Ne6)) 3. Nf7 wins the queen, since 3. ... Qd7 4. Nxd6. and 3. ... KxN is illegal.

Keep an eye on exchanges and avoid overcrowding areas with pieces that can be attacked easily. What in chess would be a simple piece for piece exchange can leave you material down. Even what would be an exchange sacrifice in chess can net much more in atomic.

Pawns can provide effective shelter, use them carefully.

Watch the pieces and pawns around the king for indirect attacks. Also beware kamikazee missions with the rook and especially the queen.