Crazyhouse

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Crazyhouse is a chess variant similar to bughouse chess, but with only two players. Whenever a player captures a piece, that player receives a piece of that type but of his color. Promoted pawns turn back into pawns, when captured. Rather than move during a given turn, a player may place one of his acquired pieces (called "pocket" or "reserve") on the board on any unoccupied location. Pawns may not be placed on the first or eighth rank. The game was played by many chess grandmasters, including Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky.

1 Gameplay
2 Variations
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Gameplay

For recording games, the usual algebraic notation of chess is extended to allow specifying the drop of a piece. For example, "p@d5" means "pawn is placed on d5 from reserve".

Crazyhouse is a very tactical game with initiative playing the most important role. Endgames as known in chess do not exist - the queen exchange does not simplify the position, but on the contrary, usually sharpens it to a high extent. Gambits, like the King's or Queen's gambit, should usually be avoided in Crazyhouse. For example, after 1. d4 d5 2. c4? dxc4 3. Nf3, black can simply play 3. ... p@d5 (place captured pawn on d5) with white having no compensation.

Pieces in crazyhouse have different values to that in chess. Their approximate values are as follows:

knight - 2 pawns
bishop - 2 pawns
rook - 2 pawns
queen - 4 pawns

[edit] Variations

There are variations of the game, which are known under different names:

Loop Chess - promoted pawns keep their rank when captured [1].
Chessgi, Neo Chess - promoted pawns keep their rank when captured; you are allowed to drop pawns on the first rank [2].
Siamese Chess - A two player version of bughouse chess, but still played on two boards. Turn order goes counter/clockwise, each player making a move with their white then black pieces.