Before RaiseChess
People have hidden chess pieces for more than a century and bet on chess for twenty years. RaiseChess owes something to each of the games below. This is where the ideas come from, and what is new.
- 1899
Kriegspiel Hidden information in chess
Henry Michael Temple. Each player sees only his own pieces; a referee who sees both boards says which moves are impossible and announces captures and checks.
- trad.
Banqi, Jieqi Face-down pieces
Traditional Chinese variants of xiangqi. The pieces are shuffled face down and turned over during play. Neither player knows what is under a face-down piece.
- 1989
Dark chess Fog of war
Jens Bæk Nielsen and Torben Osted. You see only the squares your pieces can move to. Hidden is where the enemy pieces are, not what they are.
- 1998
Concealed chess / Stealth Chess Pieces only the owner sees
US patent 5,957,455, Chester P. Aldridge. Pieces with an opaque back: the owner sees them, the opponent does not and works them out from their moves. The army is the standard one.
- 2003
Poker Chess The name
Ralph Betza. Playing cards are the pieces, and the pieces on the board make up a poker hand. No betting and nothing hidden.
- 2005
Betting Chess Poker betting on chess
Patent application WO 2007/067273, Marc Esserman and Camilla Hrdy. Pieces are dealt at random, repeats possible, with betting rounds, blinds, pot-limit and a fold that loses the game. Before the chess starts every piece is revealed.
- 2012
Chess Poker Poker betting on chess
A proposal on the chess.com forum: ordinary chess with betting rounds after moves 15, 30 and 45. A reply names the problem – in a game of perfect information a bet has nothing to say.
- 2017
PokerChess Cards, chips and a board
ThorGold. A small board, playing cards as pieces, chips, raise and fold. The hidden part is the hand of cards; a card placed on the board is face up.
- 2019
Choker Poker betting on chess
An app by Queenside Games. The pieces are dealt as cards with betting rounds and a fold; if nobody folds, the dealt pieces go on the board and the pot is decided by open chess.
- –
Hidden Random Chess Face-down pieces
On the Chess Variant Pages. Western chess in the spirit of Jieqi: the pieces start face down in random order and are revealed on the move. Unknown to both players.
What RaiseChess adds
Every element above has a precedent. What we have not found is a game that puts them together:
- The pocket pieces stay face down during play, and only their owner knows them.
- Each one is drawn independently – three queens are possible, so are three pawns. The deal is unequal on purpose.
- A bet or a check before every move, with call, raise and fold – betting on pieces the opponent is still reading.
- A showdown on material after a set move, or play to mate; chips carried through a heads-up match with rising blinds.
The games that bet on chess kept the board open, so a bet carried no information. The games that hid pieces had nothing to bet. In RaiseChess every move of a face-down piece is information, and that gives the bet something to say.
Know an earlier game that belongs here? Write to us through the association form – we will add it.