Update

chess.md

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ At the competitive level **clock** (so called *time control*) is used to give ea
 
 Currently the best player in the world is pretty clearly Magnus Carlsen from Norway with Elo rating 2800+.
 
-During covid chess has experienced boom among normies and [YouTube](youtube.md) chess channels have gained considerable popularity.
+During [covid](covid.md) chess has experienced a small boom among normies and [YouTube](youtube.md) chess channels have gained considerable popularity. This gave rise to [memes](meme.md) such as the bong cloud opening popularized by a top player and streamer Hikaru Nakamura; the bong cloud is an intentionally shitty opening that's supposed to taunt the opponent (it's been even played in serious tournaments lol).
 
 ## Chess and Computers
 
@@ -50,6 +50,24 @@ Playing strength is not the only possible measure of chess engine quality, of co
 
 { Nanochess is actually pretty strong, in my testing it easily beat [smallchesslib](smallchesslib.md) :') ~drummyfish }
 
+## Variants
+
+Besides similar games such as [shogi](shogi.md) there are many variants of chess, i.e. slight modifications of rules, foremost worth mentioning is for example chess 960. The following is a list of some variants:
+
+- **antichess**: The goal is to lose all pieces or get stalemated, rules are a bit changed, e.g. castling and checks are removed and taking is forced.
+- **chess 960** aka **Fisher's random**: Starting position is randomly modified by shuffling the non-pawn rows (with these rules: king must be between rooks, bishops on opposite colors and black/white's positions are mirrored). The rules are the same with a slight modification to castling. This was invented by Bobby Fisher to emphasize pure chess skill as opposed to memorizing the best opening moves, he saw the opening theory as harmful to chess. Chess 960 is nowadays even advocated by some to become the "main" version of chess.
+- **[chess boxing](chess_boxing.md)**: Chess combined with box, players switch between the two games, one wins either by checkmate or knockout.
+- **different pieces**: Some variants use different pieces, e.g. empress (moves like rook and knight) or amazon (queen/knight).
+- **fog of war**: Makes chess an incomplete-information game by allowing players to only see squares they can immediately move to (this is similarly to some strategy video games).
+- **horde chess**: Asymmetric starting position: large number of black pawns vs a white army of traditional pieces. Rules are slightly modified, e.g. black can only be defeated by having all pawns captured (there is no black king).
+- **infinite chess**: Infinite chessboard.
+- **minichess**: Smaller chessboard, e.g. 4x4, 4x8 etc. Some are already solved (e.g. 3x3).
+- **more players**: E.g. 3 man chess or 4 player chess allow more than two players to play, some use different boards.
+- **old chess**: The rules of chess itself have been changing over time (e.g. adding the 50 move rule etc.). The older rule sets can be seen as variants as well.
+- **puzzle**: For single player, chess positions are presented and the player has to find the best move or sequence of moves.
+- **racing kings**: The starting position has both players on the same side, the goal is to get one's king to the other side first.
+- **3D chess**: [3D](3d.md) generalization of chess.
+
 ## Programming Chess
 
 Programming chess is a [fun](fun.md) and enriching experience and is therefore recommended as a good exercise. There is nothing more satisfying than writing a custom chess engine and then watching it play on its own.