Antichess rules
How to play Antichess
Antichess, also called losing chess or giveaway chess, keeps the familiar chessboard but reverses the objective. Your goal is to lose all your pieces or leave yourself with no legal moves.
The goal
You win Antichess by getting rid of every piece you have, or by reaching a position where you have no legal move. This rewards giving pieces away and turns normal chess instincts inside out.
Mandatory captures
Captures are compulsory. If you can capture the other player's piece, you must make a capture.
- If you have more than one possible capture, you may choose which capture to make.
- If a capture creates another capture for the other player, that is often exactly what you want.
- Quiet moves are only allowed when none of your pieces can capture.
Kings are ordinary pieces
In Antichess, kings do not have royal safety rules. There is no check, no checkmate, and kings can be captured like other pieces.
Because kings are ordinary pieces, you do not need to keep your king safe. You only need to follow the movement rules and the mandatory capture rule.
Other Antichess rules
- No castling: Castling is not available in Antichess.
- Pawn movement: Pawns move and capture as in standard chess.
- Promotion: Pawns promote on the last rank. In Antichess, a pawn may also promote to a king.
- Starting position: Antichess starts from the normal chess setup.
New to standard chess?
If you want the classic goal first, start with the basic chess rules: how pieces move, how check works, and how checkmate wins the game.
Chessboard
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