Atomic Chess

Initial setup

e1, e8: King
d1, d8: Queen
a1, a8, h1, h8: Rook
c1, c8, f1, f8: Bishop
b1, b8, g1, g8: Knight
a2-h2, a7-h7: Pawns

Moves at a Glance

Click on a piece below to see its moves

Sliding capture or non-capture,
can be blocked on any square along the ray
Unblockable leap (capture or non-capture)
Non-capture only
Capture only

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Piece ID value Moves (Betza notation) Remarks
King K - K Can castle with Rook, moving 2 steps towards it
Queen Q 9.5 RB or Q
Rook R 5 R
Bishop B 3.25 B Color-bound
Knight N 3.25 N
Pawn P 1 mfWcfF Promotes to Q, R, B, or N on reaching last rank

Pawn peculiarities

Castling

A King that has not moved before can move two squares in the direction of a Rook that has not moved before, in which case that Rook is moved to the square the King skipped over. This is only allowed if all squares between King and Rook are empty, when the King is not in check on the square it came from, and would not be in check on any of the squares it skipped over.

General rules

Differences with FIDE

Pieces explode on capture, destroying everything in the area including themselves. You win by destroyig the King rather than checkmating it; exposing your King to destruction is not forbidden (just stupid).

Strategy issues

Since any capturing piece destroys itself in the explosion, Kings can never capture.

A King taking shelter next to the opponent's King (which, after all, cannot capture) is immune to capture, as such a capture would destroy your opponent's King in the explosion. So many end-games (even KQK) can be drawn by tailing the opponnet's King!