Atomic Chess
Every capture detonates, wiping out the surrounding squares.
Atomic Chess keeps standard movement but makes capturing catastrophic. Because the explosion also destroys the capturing piece, exchanges are never neutral, and a king caught next to a capture simply ceases to exist.
- Players
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Changes
- Capture rules
- Where to play
- Lichess
Atomic Chess rules
- 01
When a capture occurs, the captured piece, the capturing piece and all non-pawn pieces on the eight adjacent squares are removed from the board.
- 02
Pawns are immune to the blast unless they are the piece being captured.
- 03
If a king is caught in an explosion, its owner loses immediately — this replaces checkmate as the usual way games end.
- 04
Kings may never touch, and a king may not make a capture (it would destroy itself).
- 05
Checkmate is still a win, but blowing up the enemy king is far more common.
How it changes your play
The king becomes a liability near any contested square. Keeping it two squares away from every possible capture is the central defensive skill.
Pieces defend by proximity rather than by attack: a defender standing next to the target dies in the same blast, so 'protecting' a piece often means moving away from it.
Fast wins to know
Atomic has famous forced wins inside ten moves. Learning the first few — and the defences against them — is most of the early learning curve.
Questions about Atomic Chess
- Can the king capture?
- No. Because the capturing piece is destroyed in the explosion, a king capture would be suicide and is therefore illegal.
- Do pawns explode?
- Pawns are not destroyed by adjacent explosions. They only disappear if they are the piece captured or the piece capturing.
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