Petty Chess

All standard piece types on a 5-file, 6-rank board. Single copies of each piece make every loss devastating.

Petty Chess — starting position (5×6)

Setup

Board: 5 files × 6 ranks.

Setup (FEN): rnbqk/ppppp/5/5/PPPPP/RNBQK

Rank 6 (Black): r n b q k
Rank 5 (Black pawns): p p p p p
Ranks 4–3: empty
Rank 2 (White pawns): P P P P P
Rank 1 (White): R N B Q K

Each side has: King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, 5 Pawns.

Rules

Standard chess movement for all pieces.
Pawns move one square forward only (no double-step).
No en passant.
No castling (King is on the edge — no room to castle meaningfully).
Pawns promote on the far rank to Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight.

Win Condition

Checkmate.

Strategy

Every piece is a single copy — losing any piece is devastating. The Queen is overwhelmingly powerful relative to the board size. The single Bishop is colour-bound, making half the board permanently inaccessible to it. Quick tactical strikes are the norm given the compressed space. Guard the Queen jealously; losing it is almost always decisive.

Attribution

Traditional small chess variant. Public domain.