Singles Bughouse

42floors.com/blog/posts/how-do-y … to-love-it (includes a video)

Harrumph. Didn’t anybody tell these players to move the piece and press the clock with the same hand?

Also, with just 2 players Half Bughouse is a much better game. Only one board and one set of pieces is involved. Captured pieces stay off the board, as in regular chess.

At any move, a player may make any normal, legal chess move or capture, OR may move any friendly piece (already on the board) to any empty square, subject to the following rules:

  • King moves must be normal, legal king moves.
  • Captures must be normal, legal chess captures.
  • Pawns may not be placed on the first or eighth ranks, except when promoting normally from the seventh.
  • Of course, checks must be respected, and checkmate ends the game.

Here is a typical Half Bughouse brevity:

  1. h2-g6 h7xg6
  2. Rh1xh8 a7-g3
  3. Bc1-e3 b7-f4
  4. Rh8xg8 f4xe3
  5. Rg8xf8+ Kxf8
  6. Qh8+ Bc8-g8
  7. Nb1-h7+ Ke8
  8. Qh8-f8 mate

Bill Smythe

Crazyhouse is a 2-player variant that is popular online. When a piece is captured, it changes color and you can use it just as in bughouse. For example, white captures a black knight, then it converts into a white knight that may be dropped on a future move.

Unfortunately, this game can get messy face-to-face because you need two chess sets.

If you really wanted to play this game face to face, you could make some Shogi-like tiles that indiate ownership by orientation, not color.

Or you could just play Shogi.