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Wormhole Chess is a variant of traditional chess played on a modified board with unique teleportation mechanics.
- Start with a standard 8×8 chessboard.
- Remove the leftmost two columns and the rightmost two columns, leaving a 6×8 board.
- The four central squares of the board form the Wormhole — a special zone with unique rules (explained below).
Each player begins with 6 pieces:
| Rook | Rook | Bishop | Knight | Queen | King |
|---|
- White’s pieces are arranged as listed above on their back rank.
- Black mirrors this setup from their perspective.
- Bishops naturally start on opposite-colored squares.
The Wormhole is an alternate plane of existence on the board. Pieces can enter and exit it under special conditions.
- A piece may enter the Wormhole using its normal movement rules.
- Entering counts as ending the move inside the Wormhole.
- Multiple pieces can occupy the Wormhole at once.
- The king may never enter a wormhole.
- While inside, a piece cannot be captured or interacted with except by another piece inside the Wormhole, using normal capture rules.
A piece may exit the Wormhole onto any empty square on the board if:
- It does not capture when it exits.
- It cannot immediately re-enter the Wormhole on the same move.
- Once it exits, it must stay on the board until captured or moved normally.
| Action | Allowed? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enter Wormhole like a normal move | ✅ | Counts as full move |
| Capture while entering | ❌ | Must land cleanly |
| Capture while inside Wormhole | ✅ | Only against another Wormhole occupant |
| Exit to any square | ✅ | Must not capture |
| Exit and enter again immediately | ❌ | No “bounce-back” abuse |
Why I thought of this idea.
I initially liked the idea of 3d chess by Star Trek, but realize it requires special boards to acquire etc.
I liked the idea of the through-the-void movement. So this was born our of a desire to play something similar without having to buy a special board.