Which Variants?
Lichess is kind enough to support 8 different variants - CRAZYHOUSE, CHESS960, KING OF THE HILL, THREE-CHECK, ANTICHESS, ATOMIC, HORDE, AND RACING KINGS. But which of the variants benefit standard chess? Let’s dive deep into it.CRAZYHOUSE
Starting with Crazyhouse. This is a 2 player version of bughouse. In some opinions, it is to teach us, is this trade going to benefit me? Will I end up with a worse position than when I started?
CHESS960
Chess960. 960 possible positions to start with. This sharpens your tactical skills and helps you better develop your middlegame plans.
KING OF THE HILL
This variant requires sharp tactical skills by the players. Watch out for those sacrifices!
THREE-CHECK
Three-Check is not the most beneficial variant to you. Players sometimes just blunder pieces of checks.
ANTICHESS
Your coach always say to not blunder your pieces. But in this variant, you’re literally blundering all your pieces. Not good if you want to not blunder in standard chess.
ATOMIC
Atomic. Interesting. Nuke the king. In my opinion, it sometimes benefits you. Not the best variant.
HORDE
Ok. Well, Horde, it isn’t like standard chess. But I can say that it helps you spot checkmates.
RACING KINGS
This variant is sharp, but not really beneficial to standard chess. More like helping you to have a plan to out-race your opponent.