Atomic chess
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.
Atomic chess starts from the usual position and uses the usual moves, but captures are explosive. When a piece captures, both the capturing piece and the captured piece are removed. Every other piece on the eight squares next to the captured piece is removed too, except for pawns, which survive the blast. Pawns themselves can still be captured, and they explode like any other capturing piece.
Winning is done by exploding the enemy king, so you can win without ever giving checkmate. Kings may not capture, since that would blow up their own side, and two kings may stand next to each other, because any capture beside one of them would blow up the other as well. A capture that would blow up your own king is illegal.
This variant creates sharp tactics, such as a single capture that destroys a queen, a rook and a knight together. Opening play is very different from standard chess. Atomic is popular online as a variant. It trains careful calculation of captures, but it does not help with the opening theory of normal tournament games.
Also worth reading is Antichess. 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.
A neighboring idea is Horde chess. Horde chess is a variant in which White has a large mass of pawns instead of the usual army, while Black plays with the normal set of pieces, and Black tries to capture them all.
Compare it with King of the Hill. 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 "Atomic chess" is the format you play most, the improvement plans by rating band give a weekly routine for your rating range.
Related terms
A chess variant is a game played on a chessboard with pieces that move as in chess but with at least one changed rule, setup or goal, such as Chess960, Crazyhouse or Three-check.
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.
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.
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.
Horde chess is a variant in which White has a large mass of pawns instead of the usual army, while Black plays with the normal set of pieces, and Black tries to capture them all.
A capture happens when a piece moves onto a square held by an enemy piece, which is removed from the board as part of the same move; the king can be attacked but is never captured.
Guides that go further
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