Game Rules | Info

Learn the Rules

Below is all the information you need to learn the rules of Push Chess. If you are still confused about certain rules, you can test out the Online Program or contact me.

Before I start, it's important to acknowledge other versions of Push Chess. I know other people have thought of different variations on this game, but I maintain that this is the most fun, interesting, and straightforward version. I've put some time into making sure that these rules are the best they can be.

Ok, let's learn!

Starting Position

Push Chess starts out a lot like normal chess, but the pieces are all one rank closer to the center. White makes the first move.

Moving the Pieces

In Push Chess, pieces move in the same way they would in normal chess. However, there are a couple of special cases that should be clarified:

Castling isn't allowed.
Special pawn moves: Pawns can never move two squares forward; there is no en-passant capture.
Promotion: It's okay if pawns are on their first rank, nothing happens. If pawns ever move to their last rank for any reason, they are promoted to the piece of their owner's choice immediately. Obviously, you can't promote to a king or a pawn.
'Illegal moves:' Making moves that put the king in danger is allowed. Kings can even be next to each other! It is also possible to make a move that pushes your own king off the board... but don't. :)

Captures/Pushing

Capturing is the last "special case," and the most important one. It's what makes push chess unique.

The rule in text: (you can skip to the pictures if you like)

A captured piece isn't removed from the board, but instead it is pushed in the direction of the capture. If a piece is pushed into another piece, the other piece is also pushed in the same direction. If a piece is pushed off the board, it is removed from the game.

If a piece is pushed, it can't move during the next turn. (Each time a piece is moved on the board, any pieces not pushed as part of the move are able to move again)

Important cases:

You CAN push your own pieces, but you CAN'T capture your own pieces. In other words, you can only push your own pieces as a result of capturing and pushing an opponent's piece.
Pawns CAN'T push by going straight forward. They push by capturing, like all of the other pieces.
Knight captures are complicated: A piece captured by a knight isn't just pushed one square, but instead is forced to "hop" in the same direction that the knight did. This can start a chain reaction, just like other captures.

Ok, that was confusing. Let's look at some examples so we can understand what exactly the rule is talking about.

Take the following position, where white wants to capture the knight with their bishop:

In *normal chess,* the resulting position would have the bishop on the knight's old square, and the knight would be gone:

In Push Chess, however, the Knight doesn't just disappear. Instead, it's pushed in the direction it was captured, landing one square away from the bishop:

Note that in the above right position, the knight is circled. That's because any piece that is pushed is unable to move for black's immediate reply. Black's next move would have to be with their king.

If other pieces lie in the path of a pushed peice, it can start a chain reaction:

Other pieces capture just like the bishop does. It can be horizontal or vertical, not just diagonal:

Knights are a little different. Pieces captured by a knight are pushed in an L-shape, just like the knight moves.

Notice the white bishop in the above diagram was pushed off the board. If a piece is pushed off, it's out of the game.

That pretty much covers capturing in Push Chess! There's some weird cases covered earlier, refer to the rules if you need to.

Game Termination

You win a game of push chess if:

Your opponent's king is pushed off the board
Your opponent can't make any moves(stalemate)
Your opponent gives up

The game is a draw if:

Both players agree
It can be demonstrated that no progress can be made by either side

There IS NOT a draw by insufficient checkmating material since even king vs. king could technically be won.

Hopefully that covers all of the rules... Once you play a few games, they're quite easy to get used to. If you have any questions or comments, please do drop me an email!

Have fun!