Chigorin

Chigorin

White replaces both Bishops with Knights. Four Knights vs two Knights and two Bishops — a fundamental asymmetry that changes positional evaluation.

Chigorin Chess — starting position

Setup

Board: Standard 8×8.

Setup (FEN): rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNNQKNNR

White: Rook, Knight, Knight, Queen, King, Knight, Knight, Rook (+ 8 pawns). Black: Standard setup.

Rules

All standard chess rules apply. Castling is available for both sides.

Win Condition

Checkmate, same as standard chess.

Strategy

White has four Knights — superb in closed positions with lots of outposts, but weak on open boards where Bishops dominate. White should keep the position closed and create pawn chains that give Knights stable squares. Black should open the position and trade pawns to give their Bishops long diagonals. White’s pawn promotion choices become interesting since they already have plenty of Knights.

Attribution

Named after Mikhail Chigorin. Variant design is traditional. Public domain.