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How to play Horde Chess: rules and setup

Horde Chess is played by 2 players on a board with 8 × 8 squares. White moves first. An army of white pawns faces Black's complete chess army.

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Play Horde Chess

Quick answer

Horde Chess is an asymmetric chess variant on an 8×8 board. White has 36 pawns and no king, while Black has the usual 16-piece army. White moves first, and pawns on the first two ranks may advance two squares. White wins by checkmating the black king; Black wins by capturing every white piece, including promoted ones. This guide covers Horde Chess. Check the movement, capture and game-ending rules below before applying rules from another variant.

Players
2
Board
8 × 8 squares
First move
White moves first.

Ruleset and sources: Horde Chess

Setup

Game illustration
Game illustration. Follow the setup instructions to prepare a new game.

Base rules: chess. White has 36 pawns and no king: ranks 1–4 are full, plus pawns on b5, c5, f5 and g5. Black has the usual 16 pieces on their normal squares. White moves first.

Board
8 × 8 squares
Players
2
First move
White moves first.
Rules used here
Horde Chess

Moves and captures

  • Legal moves

    All pieces move as in chess. White's pawns move and capture like ordinary pawns and promote on the eighth rank to a queen, rook, bishop or knight. White has no king and is never in check; Black must keep its king safe and may castle normally.

  • Using the board

    Select a piece to see its legal destinations, then select a highlighted square. When several promotions are available, choose from the promotion panel.

Special rules

  • White pawns on rank 1 or 2 may advance two clear squares.

  • A double step from rank 1 cannot be captured en passant.

  • Black must answer checks.

Winning and draws

  • White wins by checkmating the black king.

  • Black wins by capturing every white piece, including promoted pieces.

  • Stalemate is a draw, including when all of White's remaining pawns are blocked.

  • A player may claim a draw after threefold repetition or 50 moves by each side without a capture or pawn move.

Example

Sources and rule verification

Ruleset covered
Horde Chess
  1. Lichess — Horde rules
  2. Fairy-Stockfish variants (implementation reference)
  3. Fairy-Stockfish — variant definitions (43b66c8, implementation reference)

This guide describes play on ChessPlayX. Platform-specific conventions are stated in the relevant sections; tournament administration may differ.

A separate rule-review date is not recorded for this guide. The update date is not a verification date.