Chigorin Chess before the fifth move, and to castle that early he must move the f- or h-pawn to develop the g8-bishop and weaken his . Chigorin Chess Chigorin Chess is a chess variant invented by Ralph Betza in 2002. It was named after Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin. Betza commented that The game follows all the rules and conventions of standard chess, with two differences: Chigorin Chess was meant to emphasize the contrast between the relative values of knights and bishops in standard chess. Betza commented that it was a good introductory variant for chessplayers, like his earlier Almost Chess. Betza considered that
Janus Chess checkmate cannot be . Due to the extra pieces, each player starts the game with considerably more " power" compared to standard chess; however, the game has only a slightly higher material "power density", since there is more room for players to maneuver pieces because of the larger board (10×8 = 80 squares). Due to the different board and pieces, players are unable to use normal chess opening theory, and chess tablebases have limited value in the endgame. Janus Chess has been popular in Europe with regular tournaments drawing strong players. Several chess grandmasters have played this game including Viktor