Atomic Chess

Atomic chess is like normal chess with the following modifications:

• Pieces explode, leaving squares empty. After a capture is completed, the capturing man explodes. The square that the capture occurs on is 'ground zero'. All pieces (not pawns) that are on squares adjacent to ground zero(horizontally, vertically and diagonally) are destroyed in the explosion. For example:
  
  When white plays Nxd5, the following happens:
  • The pawn is captured,
  • The knight now on d5 explodes.
  • The knights on e5 and c6 are caught in the blast,
  • The pawn on d4 is not affected.
  The position after Nxd5 is then:
  
  Of course Nxd5 is obviously a bad move, since Nxf7 wins on the spot by exploding the bishop on f8, the knight on f6, and the king on e8! winning instantly. From the above it should be clear that an en-passant move's 'ground zero' is the square the capturing pawn moves to. The captured pawn is then removed and the explosion takes place.
• There are two types of king attacks: direct and indirect A direct attack is just like check in chess:
  
  An indirect attack is attacking a man that will explode the opponent's king when captured (such as the f7 pawn below):
  
  

• The aim of the game is to explode the opponent's king or to bring about a position where the king is directly attacked and cannot defend or explode the opponent's king safely.

  You are not allowed to make a move that causes your king to explode in the process. This effectively means kings cannot capture other pieces and it is therefore legal for two kings to touch.

• Direct attacks have to be responded to either by capturing/exploding, blocking or moving the king, or by exploding the opponent's king safely (see 5). Indirect attacks can be ignored (though this is of course unwise!).

  It is possible to mate with the queen unaided. Black cannot capture the queen:
  
  

• Exploding the opponent's king takes priority over direct attacks. This means that in a position which would be checkmate (see below), or when directly attacked, but you can explode the opponent's king, this move wins the game, even if a direct attack is left on after the move (unlike chess where it is not possible to finish a move in check even if it mates the opponent). This is because the explosion of the king ends the game.
  
  Here Bxa2 wins (and is the only legal move).

A few tips

• Beware! There are a lot of patzer traps in atomic. The most common is the opening move 1. Nf3:
  
  The only reply to this move is f6. Any other move would allow Ne5 or Ng5. 1. ... d6 at first glance appears to save the game too, but after 2. Ng5 f6 (or f5 it's forced otherwise Nxf7 (Kd7 loses to Ne6)) 3. Nf7 wins the queen, since 3. ... Qd7 4. Nxd6. and 3. ... Kxf7 is illegal.
• Keep an eye on exchanges and avoid overcrowding areas with pieces that can be attacked easily. What in chess would be a simple piece for piece exchange can leave you material down. Even what would be an exchange sacrifice in chess can net much more in atomic.
• Pawns can provide effective shelter, use them carefully.
• Watch the pieces and pawns around the king for indirect attacks. Also beware kamikazee missions with the rook and especially the queen.

See Also:
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