The Chess Variant Pages



Check out Shako, our featured variant for April, 2023.

Top 50 Games on Game Courier

Based on records of finished games on Game Courier, the games listed here have been sorted and ranked based on how many times each has been played here. The number of games played links to the logs of the actual games. The name links to a page with one or more presets for playing the game. In some cases, this will include alternate sets or boards that make use of the same settings file. Since more games have been played on Game Courier than there are official pages for, not every game will be linked to a preset page. You will also find links to settings files you can select for playing the game. These are listed in order of popularity. Since the preset defining a game does not have to include a settings file, and because settings files just weren't used when the earliest presets were made, some games here do not have any. In the rare instance in which a game has no preset page and no settings file, you can still find a preset for it by going to one of the games actually played.

The URL can take the following arguments: sort=rank to sort by rank, sort=alpha to sort alphabetically, min=number to filter out games played fewer than the given number of times, max=number to filter out games ranking above the rank given by the number, and past=number to filter out games finished before the given number of seconds before the present. Default values are sort=rank&min=0&max=0&past=0. For max and past, zero values really mean infinity. When all numeric filters are zero, it will include never-played games to give a complete listing of all games available on Game Courier.

Note that you are going to find here presets with rule-enforcement and others without it, and sometimes both will be available for the same game. Most presets without rule-enforcement will clearly state that they lack it. In case it doesn't, you can tell for sure by clicking the Edit button in a game's menu page and checking whether the code for rule-enforcement is there.

RankNumberNameSettings
1453Shogi default Japanese-PNG Japanese-CSS Motif-CSS Symbolic
2300Chess with Different Armies Unequal Armies default Knights-Colorbound Colorbound-Rookies Colorbound-Knights FIDE-Rookies Rookies-Colorbound Colorbound-FIDE FIDE-Colorbound Rookies-FIDE Knights-Rookies Rookies-Knights FIDE-Knights Knights-FIDE Nutty Knights Colorbound-Rookies_MOM Colorbound Clobberers Unequal_Armies_GS Remarkable Rookies Knights-FIDEss Colorbound-Knights_MOM FIDE-Colorboundvv Knights-Colorboundv FIDE-Knightss Knights FIDE-Colorbounds Classic-Rooksversion1 Colorbound-Knightsv Colorbound-Knightsvv FIDE-Knightsss Colorbound-Rookiess Knights-FIDEs Knights-Rooksversion Knights-Men NeglectedKnights
3243Symmetric Chess default rules
4232Chinese Chess GB-set fairychess
5202Chu Shogi chu
6201Chess JPG-Alfaerie default fairychess Chess3 PNG-Magnetic JPG-Alfaeriev CSS-Motif
7187Janggi default SWAP
8171Cetran Chess 2 asymmetric asym1tourney asymmetric-enforced reversed_symmetric asymmetric to carlos-sagi5 cameron-jeremy cetran2 sagi-carlos3 Cetran2 Asymmetric qrknchsaKSNRCAQH sqhrkncaHQRCKANS hcsraqnkHQCRAKNS ksnhcaqrAHCSRQNK krhcqnsaHACNKQRS rkqnaschKRQNCAHS crhnqskaANHRSCKQ mirror-symmetric
9169Glinski's Hexagonal Chess default PNG-Magnetic-Earthtones PNG-Magnetic-Earthtonesvvv alf PNG-Alfaerie-nicelooking
10153Fischer Random Chess Abstract special Alfaerie Abstract2 FRC01 FRC02 special-sagi-carlos makov-sissa
11122Ultima Galactic Galacticnocheck fairychess
12120Alice Chess default MagneticPieces alf
13115Eurasian Chess newrules Eurasian fairychess
14101Pocket Mutation Chess Alfaerie-fpd mageofmaple greg
1598Sac Chess default Default-Standard Default-Alternate Default-Abstract abstract
1696McCooey's Hexagonal Chess default
1784Omega Chess Alfaerie Omega Chess
1881Rococo Alfaerie
1980Grand Chess Abstract fairychess
2079Circular Chess default JPG-Motif 2
2174Shako Cazaux standard newcazaux
2271Opulent Chess AlfaerieNew Alfaerie NoRules
2271Shatranj Alfaerie-CSS
2467Modern Shatranj carrillo carrillo2 Modern_Shatranj
2566Universal Chess Alfaeries asymmetric Alfaeries-asymmetric Alfaerie reversed-symmetric73 reversed-symmetric24 JM-CC Alfaerie40std
2665Gross Chess default fairychess
2763Capablanca Chess' default capa final capa defaultvvv
2860Latrunculi XXI Set2 Set9 Set1 Set8 Set4 Set3 Set7
2959Makruk (Thai chess) Alfaerie2r Alfaerie Alfaerie3 Alfaerie2 Alfaerie4
3057Falcon Chess Alfaerie
3057Caïssa Britannia default
3255Petteia XXI Set7 Set2 Set1 Set9 Set4 Set6 Set8 Set3
3352Kamikaze Mortal Shogi Symbolic Japanese-CSS Japanese-PNG
3352Crazyhouse Galactic
3549Euchess Euchess default
3647Maorider Chess default Maorider Chess Checkered
3746Colossus Quad rules
3845Berolina Chess Chess3 Alfaerie
3944Shatranji default
4042Cetran Chess 3 asymmetric-enforced Alfaerie xqnabsmzkyrcAMBZQRCYNSXK yxnsmzrkcabqBZAMXCNRSKYQ amyszbkqnrcxRYKANZSQMXCB zcxmbqysrnkaCANKMZQYXSBR xbmacsrnkzqyCBQKMYXRAZNS
41414-WAY CHESS 4-WAY CHESS
4141Pocket Shogi Copper default
4340Courier Chess AlfaerieCourier Alfaerie def
4340Apothecary Chess-Modern ApothecaryChess-Modern Apothecary_Chess-Modern
4340Different Pawns Random Chess default
4340shako_balbo default standard
4739Wildebeest Chess default Wildebeest Chess Wildebeest Chess with rules Wildebeest
4838Catapults of Troy
4838Dimension X Dimension X
4838Anti-King Chess II Alfaerie
Total Variants Listed: 50
Total Games Played: 4824


Written by Fergus Duniho
WWW Page Created: 07 April 2015