Diana Chess

Diana Chess

A 6×6 variant with no Queens and no Knights. Only Rooks, Bishops, King, and Pawns. Clean, positional play on a compact board.

Setup

Board: 6×6 (six files, six ranks).

Setup (FEN): rbbkr1/pppppp/6/6/PPPPPP/RBBKR1

Black (rank 6): Rook, Bishop, Bishop, King, Rook, empty. White (rank 1): Rook, Bishop, Bishop, King, Rook, empty.

Each side has: 1 King, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 5 Pawns (files a–e occupied; f-file back rank empty).

Rules

• Rooks, Bishops, King, and Pawns move as in standard chess.
• No Queens and no Knights exist in this variant.
• Pawns move one square forward only (no double-step).
• No en passant.
• No castling.
• Pawns promote on the far rank to Rook or Bishop only.

Win Condition

Checkmate.

Strategy

Without Queens, the game is slower and more positional. Bishops are limited to one colour each, making the pair complementary — losing one cripples your coverage of half the squares. Rooks need open files, which are created slowly with only single-step pawns. The King is relatively safer but the small board means it’s never far from danger.

Attribution

Traditional variant, 19th century. Public domain.