--- title: "Antichess" url: "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/antichess.md" canonical_url: "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/antichess" last_updated: "2026-11-07" type: "reference" summary: "Antichess is a variant that turns the aim upside down. Antichess uses the normal board and moves, but captures become compulsory." related: ["https://georgelichess.com/glossary/chess-variant.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/crazyhouse.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/atomic-chess.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/king-of-the-hill.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/capture.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/stalemate.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary/category/time-controls.md", "https://georgelichess.com/glossary.md"] --- # Antichess > **For AI agents:** the complete index of GeorgeLiChess pages is [llms.txt](https://georgelichess.com/llms.txt). Every page is also served as markdown at its URL plus .md. Antichess is a variant that turns the aim upside down. Antichess uses the normal board and moves, but captures become compulsory. Antichess is a variant that turns the aim upside down: you must capture whenever you can, and you win by giving away every piece you own or by being left with no legal move. Antichess uses the normal board and moves, but [captures](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/capture.md) become compulsory. If any capture is available you must make one, though you choose which when several exist. The king loses its special status: it can be captured like any other piece, so there is no check, no [checkmate](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/checkmate.md) and no [castling](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/castling.md), and a pawn may promote to a king as well as to the usual pieces. You win by losing all of your pieces, or by having no legal move, which counts as a win for the player who is stalemated. That makes the game feel upside down. You want to give pieces away, and you try to force your opponent into capturing so that your pieces disappear and theirs stay on the board. Antichess goes by other names too, including losing chess and suicide chess, and the details differ a little between versions. Online servers offer it as a casual variant, and it trains forcing play, because compulsory captures make many sequences easy to calculate. Players learn quickly that [opening](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/opening.md) ideas from [standard chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/classical-chess.md) no longer apply. Confirm the exact rules before a game, since some versions treat [stalemate](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/stalemate.md) or check differently. Also called: losing chess. Also worth reading is [Atomic chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/atomic-chess.md). Atomic chess is a variant in which every capture causes an explosion that removes the capturing piece and all non-pawn pieces on the squares around the captured piece. A neighboring idea is [Crazyhouse](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/crazyhouse.md). Crazyhouse is a chess variant in which a captured piece changes sides and joins your reserve, and on any later turn you may drop it onto an empty square instead of moving. A neighboring idea is [King of the Hill](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/king-of-the-hill.md). King of the Hill is a chess variant in which a player wins immediately by moving their king onto one of the four central squares, d4, d5, e4 or e5. If "Antichess" is the format you play most, the [improvement plans by rating band](https://georgelichess.com/improve.md) give a weekly routine for your rating range. ## Related terms - [Chess variant](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/chess-variant.md) - [Crazyhouse](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/crazyhouse.md) - [Atomic chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/atomic-chess.md) - [King of the Hill](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/king-of-the-hill.md) - [Capture](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/capture.md) - [Stalemate](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/stalemate.md) ## Guides that go further - [Chess time control calculator](https://georgelichess.com/tools/time-control-calculator.md): See whether a base time and increment counts as bullet, blitz, rapid or classical. - [Average chess rating and a good chess rating](https://georgelichess.com/chess-rating-percentiles.md): What share of active Lichess players are rated above 800, 1200, 1500, 1800 or 2000, by time control. - [Chess ratings explained](https://georgelichess.com/chess-ratings-explained.md): What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ. [Book your first lesson](https://georgelichess.com/book.md) and George Li reviews your games and builds a study plan around them. Questions about lessons: write to hello@georgelichess.com. ## Related - [Chess variant](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/chess-variant.md) - [Crazyhouse in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/crazyhouse.md) - [Atomic chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/atomic-chess.md) - [King of the Hill in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/king-of-the-hill.md) - [Capture in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/capture.md) - [Stalemate in chess](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/stalemate.md) - [Chess terms: Time controls and formats](https://georgelichess.com/glossary/category/time-controls.md) - [Chess terms glossary: plain definitions](https://georgelichess.com/glossary.md)