Losing Chess

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Introduction

In Losing Chess, the ‘loser’ is actually the winner.      Losing Chess is also known as:

Rules

The rules below are those commonly used for Losing Chess.

• The opening set up is as in normal chess. All pieces move as in normal chess (but see below for the King).
• Capturing is compulsory. When a player can capture, but has different choices to capture a piece, he may choose which piece to capture.
• The aim is to be in a situation where you can’t move any more, i.e. to have no pieces or to be stalemated
• There is no check or checkmate. The King plays no special role in the game, and can be taken like any other piece.
• Pawns promote as usual, but a pawn can promote to a King as well as a Queen or any other piece.
• Castling is not allowed.
• The game is a draw in the case of mutual agreement, threefold repetition and the 50-move situation, and also when a win is impossible.

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Famous 'Losing Chess' Players

• Roberto Magari (Firenze, 1934 - Siena, 1994): seven times AISE (Italian Association of Chess) champion!
• Aldo Kustrin (Italy): three times AISE champion.
• Peter Wood (England): Olympic champion
• Tim Remmel (Netherlands): 1st Unofficial World Champion (2001 Utrecht)
• Fabrice Liardet (Switzerland): 1998 Geneva Tournament winner, 2001 runner-up in Utrecht

Book on Losing Chess:   Popular Chess Variants (Batsford Chess Books) by David Pritchard. (£8.99 from Amazon Books)
Downloadable Losing Chess Engine:  Giveaway Wizard  aka  Losing Chess Wizard  from http://tim-mann.org/engines.html