Half Chess

Half Chess

Standard pieces on a 4-rank board. Armies start adjacent with no gap — contact is immediate and violent.

Half Chess — starting position (8×4)

Setup

Board: 8 files × 4 ranks.

Setup (FEN): rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR

• Rank 4 (Black back rank): r n b q k b n r
• Rank 3 (Black pawns): p p p p p p p p
• Rank 2 (White pawns): P P P P P P P P
• Rank 1 (White back rank): R N B Q K B N R

Rules

• Standard piece movement applies, constrained by the 4-rank board.
• Pawns move one square forward only (no double-step — there is no room).
• No en passant.
• Castling is allowed (King and Rook are in standard positions).
• Pawns promote on the far rank (rank 4 for White, rank 1 for Black).
• Since armies start adjacent, nearly every piece can capture or be captured on move 1.

Win Condition

Checkmate.

Strategy

There is no development phase — the game is tactical from move 1. Every pawn trade immediately opens lines to the back rank. The King is extremely vulnerable with only 4 ranks of space. Knights are limited by the board’s depth (few useful squares to jump to). Rooks dominate once files open. Games resolve quickly.

Attribution

Traditional mini-chess variant. Public domain.