Introduction to crazyhouse Part 1
Well you have played some games on the FICS Chess Server
and now you are wondering which chess variants you can
play on this server? OK we will introduce you to those
variants as part of a FICS Newsletter series. We start
with the chess variant crazyhouse. First you might ask,
what crazyhouse is. By looking in the crazyhouse help file,
you will get the following:
Crazyhouse is a variant of chess similar to Bughouse,
except that it is played between only two players,
on one board. The special feature of the game is
that when you capture a piece, you receive a piece
of the same kind, but of your colour. Rules for piece
drops are the same as in Bughouse, i.e. any
piece may be dropped on any open square with the
exception that pawns may not be dropped on the 1st or
8th rank. (...) During crazyhouse play, you will be
periodically notified whenever you receive captured
pieces. You will be told the type of piece you received,
and the set of pieces that you are currently
holding. You are also notified when your opponent's
holdings change. Both player's holdings are displayed
whenever your board position is refreshed. Strength
assessment takes held pieces into account, not just
pieces on the board. A special move notation is needed
to drop one of your held pieces onto the board. The
notation for making a drop is P@fr, where P is
a piece you are holding [PNBRQ] and fr
is the empty destination square. Example: N@f5
would drop a knight on square f5. For checkmate to
occur, there must be no possibility of avoiding
checkmate by a drop interposition. This means either the
opponent is not holding any pieces, or in the case of
check along the 1st or 8th rank by a queen or rook, he
holds no pieces other than pawns. It is also possible to
checkmate by contact checks, knight checks, and double
checks. To claim a draw by repetition, the same board
position must be reached 3 times with the same player to
move. The count restarts whenever a pawn is moved, a
capture is made, or a piece is dropped. Note that this
may be inadequate for some situations where each player
drops a particular piece, which is immediately
exchanged, then dropped again etc.
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That sounds quite theoretical? Let us look at a
typical crazyhouse position:
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For a normal chess game the above position looks quite
harmless. But after the moves:
1.Bf7+ Kf7 2. Ng5+ Ke7
Even here you might not even see the danger, but after
3.N@d5+
Nd5 4.Nd5+ Ke8
the last pawn in hand mates with
In crazyhouse you rarely have endgames. Mostly the games
are decided by mating attacks in the midlegame. Crazyhouse
got popular on the Internet chess servers, as it is quite
complicated to play it over the board.
Key Concepts
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Initiative
If there is one thing critical in crazyhouse, it's
initiative. White has this at the beginning of the
game, by virtue of moving first, and Black is at a
large disadvantage to begin the game. In normal chess,
there's a lot of talk about tempo, but tempo means
nothing in crazyhouse. You may have superior
development, but if your opponent has initiative, you
will likely lose.
What is initiative? It is the ability to force your
opponent to react. For instance, when you place the
king in check, he must react to your move. He cannot
further his attack. Ten checks in a row can make a
materially superior opponent defenceless. The key thing
to remember is this: if you set up a trap and gain
material, the material is useless if you cannot defend
against the maximum attack your opponent can mount with
the pieces he has in hand.
A common use of initiative is to utilise a piece
storm where a player drops pieces turn after
turn, forcing a king to run for cover. Given enough
material, checkmate can result.
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Contact Attacks
Especially with the king, a contact attack is almost
always necessary to force checkmate. Contact attacks
are where there are no open spaces between the attacker
and the defender. For instance, if the king is resting
on square h8, a pawn on g7 is a contact attacker. A
rook on g7 would not be, as he is not attacking the king.
The exception to the contact rule is the
knight. Knights are very valuable in crazyhouse because
your opponent cannot block a knight attack. It is a
common mistake in crazyhouse for players to value
knights as they are valued in normal chess. A
valuation system for beginners places knights about
1/2 point higher
than rooks with all other pieces remaining equal. Thus,
Queens are worth approximately 9, Knights 5.5, Rooks 5,
Bishops 3 and Pawns 1. Pawns have an exponential value
factor, however, due to their threat of placement on
the 7th rank with imminent queening threatened. Thus 4
pawns is not worth 4, but more in line with 8, almost a
queen. Any knight attack is a contact attack.
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Off-axis Attacks
Everyone who has played chess has experienced these
attacks in normal chess. It's commonly called a fork,
and in normal chess, it is usually done by the knight
due to the fact that forks with other pieces are
difficult to set up as you're already attacking one
piece when you move to fork. In crazyhouse, however,
dropping a piece can set up a fork with a bishop or
rook, often with devastating results.
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Consider a case where the king is on e8 and the queen
is on a4 with a pawn on c4. A bishop drop on B5 is
check, but forks the queen behind, protected by the pawn.
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I call these attack off-axis because it rarely works
out that a fork is like the example above. By putting
an attack on two different lines, it's impossible to
block both attacks with a drop. These attacks are very
useful for winning material as they never happen in
real chess!
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Weak Squares
Squares that are normally not weak in normal chess are
weak points in crazyhouse. F2 is a weak square for
white at the beginning of the game. F3 is also weak
because of a possible knight attack. Fienchettos are
almost always bad because they open up 7th rank
squares for pawns. Nothing is worse than losing a rook
and having a pawn promoted because you opened up g2 or
b2 and traded your protecting bishop away.
In general, king-side castling can hurt more than it
helps because it is far away from the protection of
the major pieces. Queen side castling is almost
preferred in most cases. If you must castle, consider
building up a second row of major defenders on the f,
g, and h files for additional protection.
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Sacrifices
Sacrifices are always risky in normal chess. They are
doubly so in crazyhouse. Why? Simply because the
valuable piece you sac is now in your opponent's hand to
throw back at you the next time he gets
initiative. Often, pieces are sacrificed to continue a
contact check piece storm. As long as checkmate
results, the captured material doesn't really matter
but if initiative is recaptured by your opponent,
all those extra pieces are now in his hand. Choose
carefully before sacking pieces.
How do I improve
Crazyhouse can be difficult to improve at. The emphasis is
on tactics and mating patterns. If you are weak with
either of these, study up. Checkmate that are rare or
impossible in normal chess happen commonly in
crazyhouse. Watch for forks and pins. Both are your best
friend and worst enemy
Mating Techniques
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The N@h3-threat
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White is lost after:
1. ... N@h3+
After 2.gxf3 there is 2.R@h1++
The most common mate in crazyhouse however is after
2.Kh1 R@g1+ 3.Rxg1 Nf2# Quite funny, isn't it??
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The Fianchetto-threat No 1
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White plays the harmless looking move:
1.N@f6
and threatens 2.Bh6#
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The Fianchetto-threat No 2
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White can play
1.B@h8
and after 1. ... Kxh8 2.Q@f8 Q@g8 the
little pawn mates with
3.p@g7
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