Really Bad Chess

Really Bad Chess is an interesting take on an old favourite. It is chess but with random pieces, in random positions. Need three bishops and 10 knights? No problem.

A pawn on the back row? Why, of course, you can.

You can forget about memorised openings here. Chess pieces appear at seemingly random positions. At first, it may seem like a trivial version of chess, however, this game really gets you thinking about how to play. It flips chess on its head, but in a way that will help you understand the game better.

Really Bad Chess has a number of modes of play. The standard ranked mode starts off easy, with you being assigned a greater proportion of good pieces. In the image above, for example, white starts the game with four queens to black's zero. The more you play, and the more you win, then the more the algorithm flips the advantage to your opponent. This makes for a great introduction to chess for newcomers to the game. You can really focus on how your pieces move and interact without worrying about being crushed in a few moves by a powerful AI. Conversely, the 'freeplay' mode lets you choose the difficult at the beginning.

'Daily board' and 'weekly board' challenges complete the package, both letting you compete against other players in beating the board. There is even an option to turn off the AI and have a board to play against a nearby human if you know any.

In summary, I really like Really Bad Chess, and I think I'll keep using it to help me train.

+1 Geek Experince point for Zach Gage and Noodlecake Studios Inc.

If you are still here, then you might like to read our other chess-related posts.