Mad Monty Chess

Mad Monty Chess

Mad Monty Chess is a variant on the game of chess. It was created during the summer of 2020 by Monty Newborn, in cooperation with friends, Milo Nelson, Karen Patterson and Zoran Lazetich. Milo, Karen and Zoran went along with Monty’s idea to introduce a new dimension to the game, an extension of the well-known Chess960 (also called Fischer Random Chess). This variant randomly first places the White pieces on the first rank (with some constraints), and then places the Black pieces opposite their counterparts on the 8th rank. Chess960 gets its name from the fact that there are 960 different ways that the pieces can be so arranged.

For Mad Monty Chess, there is the assumption that you are a bit mad at your opponent when the game begins. Otherwise why is it that you enter into a battle aiming to kill its king! With Mad Monty Chess you have the opportunity to make life difficult for your opponent even before the first move is made (just as with Chess960). Of course, it could do unto you as you do unto it! The game is played on the standard 8 × 8 chess board with the standard pieces, and with the 16 pawns initially placed on their usual squares. The piece placement phase is then entered. A coin is flipped to determine who plays White and moves first. White then places one of Black’s pieces on one of the eight squares a8-h8. Then Black places one of White’s pieces on one of the eight squares a1-h1. Players alternately place, one at a time, the opponent’s remaining 7 pieces on a8-h8 for White and a1-h1 for Black. The regular game of chess follows though there is no castling, and though both bishops can be placed on squares of the same color. The idea is to place your opponent’s pieces in such a way as to make life for she or he as miserable is possible! There are many more than 960 ways that the pieces can be so arranged.

Let’s take a look at a game recently played between Milo and Monty.

Newborn (White) Nelson (Black)

Piece placement phase: