Wild

From Wildchess Wiki

Wildchess is played as usual chess, but the set-up at the start is in any way unusual. This distinguishes wildchess from the real chess variants, which all have goals and/or rules that differ from standard chess.

Below are some major variations of wild. The style numbers refer to the numbers used on the FICS chess server:

• Style 0: White has the typical set-up at the start. Black's pieces are the same, except that the King and Queen are reversed, so they are not on the same files as White's King and Queen. Castling is done similarly to normal chess: o-o-o indicates long castling and o-o short castling.

• Style 1: In this variant both sides have the same set of pieces as in normal chess. The white king starts on d1 or e1 and the black king starts on d8 or e8, and the rooks are in their usual positions. Bishops are always on opposite colors. Subject to these constraints the position of the pieces on their first ranks is random. Castling is done similarly to normal chess: o-o-o indicates long castling and o-o short castling.

• Style 2: In this variant the usual set of pieces is arranged randomly on the first and eighth ranks, with the constraint that Black's arrangement is always a mirror image of White's. Castling is not allowed.

• Style 3: In this variant the set of pieces is randomly chosen (subject to the constraint that there is one king of each color). It is quite possible to get more than the normal number of a given piece, such as three rooks or two queens. The pieces are placed on the first rank behind the pawns, the position of Black's pieces mirrors White's placement, and castling is not allowed.

• Style 4: In this variant a random set of pieces is generated. These pieces are placed randomly for White and Black behind the rank of pawns, subject to the constraint that the bishops must be balanced.

• Style 5: In this variant, each player has the usual set of pieces. However, they are placed in a very unusal position. Pawns start on their 7th rank rather than their 2nd rank! They are, therefore, one move away from becoming queens. The pieces are placed on their 8th rank rather than the 1st rank. When the game starts, it will look like the board is upside down, with White's pieces starting on Black's side of the board, and vice versa. But don't let this fool you.

• Style 8: In this variant, the major pieces are in the normal positions but the pawns are on their fourth rank rather than their second rank.

• Style 8a: In this variant, the major pieces are in their normal positions but the pawns are on their fifth rank rather than their second rank.

• Fischer Random -- This variant is similar to wild 2, but castling is permitted and startup positions follow certain guidelines.