Displacement chess is a family of

chess variants A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be c ...

in which a few pieces are transposed in the initial standard

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

position. The main goal of these variants is to negate players' knowledge of standard

chess openings A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defen ...

Variations

The following variations were tried in master or grandmaster tournaments: * White's king and queen are transposed. This arrangement was tried in a correspondence tournament in 1935 with the participation of grandmaster

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

. * The is transposed with the , so that both bishops are on the and both knights are on the , as shown in the diagram. This variant is sometimes called ''Mongredien chess'', after

Augustus Mongredien Augustus Mongredien (1807–1888) was a corn merchant, also known as a political economist and writer. He was a leading amateur British chess master. Life He was born in London in 1807, of French parents. His father was a French officer who f ...

, the sponsor of a tournament held in London during 1868 under the auspices of the British Chess Association, in which several strong British players took part, including

Joseph Henry Blackburne Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late ...

. According to David Pritchard, this is one of the most popular forms of displacement chess. * The knights and bishops are transposed. * The rooks and bishops are transposed. This array was suggested by J. R. Capablanca after his match with

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Cham ...

, but did not become popular. This variant is also called ''Fianchetto chess''.Fianchetto chess
/ref> * ''PP random chess'': the kings remain on e1 and e8, one of the rooks must remain on the a- or h-file, and the bishops are placed on opposite-colored squares. Proposed in computer chess-playing client Chess4Net by Pavel Perminov.

References

External links

D-Chess.com
*

by

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first official World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and c ...

", ''ChessCentral.com''. Blackburne– Potter: Displacement chess game (knights and bishops are transposed) {{Chess variants, state=collapsed Chess variants