Chess
Crazyhouse
Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board, so nothing ever really leaves the game.
What is different here
Take an enemy piece and it joins your army. It goes into your hand, and on any later turn you may put it down on an empty square instead of moving something. The idea is borrowed from shogi, the Japanese member of the same family.
Because material never leaves the board, positions stay crowded and attacks almost never run out of pieces. A single hole near a king is usually fatal, since the attacker can simply drop a piece into it.
Everything else is ordinary chess. The games are short, sharp and very hard to defend.
- A captured piece changes colour and goes into the capturer’s hand.
- Instead of moving, you may drop any piece from your hand onto any empty square.
- Pawns may never be dropped onto the first or the last rank.
- A promoted piece goes back to being a pawn when it is captured.
- A drop may give check, and a drop may deliver checkmate.