Chad (chess variant)

Chad is a two-player chess variant played on a twelve by twelve uncheckered board, in which each side has one king and eight rooks that can promote to queens. The game was created by Christian Freeling in 1979 out of a desire to craft a game of tactical and strategic depth that was both simple and elegant, and it gained recognition through the Netherlands-based Fanaat games club and an appearance in The Gamer magazine in May-June 1982. Each player controls a fortified three by three castle surrounded by a twelve-square wall; the king cannot leave its castle and moves like a chess king or knight, while rooks move freely across the board and automatically promote to queens upon entering the enemy castle. Captures require specific positioning, with rooks and queens only able to capture when one piece occupies the opponent's wall and the other sits in their castle, while only kings can capture within their own castle; check occurs whenever a king faces an enemy rook or queen regardless of walls, and White moves first under standard chess capture and checkmate victory conditions.