Mini-Chess Variants

Mini-Chess Variants

In this hustle-bustle world, it often happens that we just don't have the luxury of a nice, long game of chess. So why not try one of these "Mini-Chess" variants? They tend to last from 10 to 20 minutes -- just right for a coffee break. They are also great for kids just learning chess, or for kids whose attention spans have been short-circuited by mass entertainment.

The moves of the pieces are as in regular chess, except that pawns cannot take the double first move. Petty Chess and Speed Chess allow castling, but Quick Chess and Elena Chess do not. Pawns may be promoted, if you like, to any piece of their color captured earlier in the game.

All these variants, and many more, are found in Hans Bodlaender's Chess Variant Pages.

Petty Chess According to Pritchard (The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants,1994 ), Petty Chess was invented by B. Walker Watson in 1930, and first published in the September 1930 issue of the British Chess Magazine.	Speed Chess About Speed Chess, Hans Bodlaender says "Around 1992, a chess variant was given to visitors of Centre Parcs, a Dutch company that rents holiday houses. During a certain period, visitors received a special package, including this game. The game was invented by Mr. den Oude. The game was titled: Chess - the Speed Game; the mentioned date of invention is 1988."
Quick Chess Quick Chess was invented by Joe Miccio in 1991, and is published by Amerigames International.	Elena Chess Elena Chess was invented in 1999 by Sergey Sirotkin. I believe he named it after his daughter.