Chad (chess variant) Chad (chess variant) Chad is a chess variant for two players created by Christian Freeling in 1979. It is played on an uncheckered 12×12 gameboard with one king and eight rooks per side, where rooks are able to promote to queens. The inventor's aim was "to create a game of tactical and strategical depth that was both simple and elegant to express the concept of "mate"—the 'pure' chess game". The game was played for many years at the Fanaat games club in the Netherlands and was featured in the periodical "The Gamer" 6 in May–June 1982. Each player owns a
Almost Chess Almost Chess Almost Chess is a chess variant invented by Ralph Betza in 1977. The game is played using a standard chessboard and pieces, except the players' queens are replaced by chancellors, which combine the moves of a rook and a knight. Almost Chess was featured in NOST magazine "Nost-algia", beginning with issue 205. Other than the replacement of queens by chancellors (notated "C"), the game follows all the rules and conventions of standard chess. The Fool's mate in Almost Chess begins 1.Cc3. Replacing queens with chancellors imparts a radical change to the nature of the chess game, despite the