Checkless chess, also known as prohibition chess, is a chess variant governed by a single change to the standard rules: neither player may give check unless that check is also checkmate. Every other rule of orthodox chess, including piece movement, castling and pawn promotion, remains unchanged, but the prohibition on ordinary checks forces players to maneuver pieces into attacking positions without ever threatening the enemy king outright until they can deliver mate in one stroke. The variant's exact origin is uncertain, though scholars point to Max Lange's 1857 work Sammlung neuer Schachpartien as containing one of the earliest documented references to the idea. Checkless chess found its most lasting home in chess problem composition, where setting a legal, checkmate-only position often requires the kind of unusual fairy checkmate patterns that make the variant a favorite subject for problemists rather than a widely played over-the-board game.
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1. Checkless Chess (Wikipedia)
Lead, earliest documented reference
Scholars have identified Max Lange's 1857 work Sammlung neuer Schachpartien as containing an early reference to this game.
Lead, chess variant framing
Checkless chess, also called prohibition chess, is a chess variant with one fundamental rule change
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