Welcome to the The Collection of Racing Kings Studies forum!
**Racing Kings** (**RK**) is a chess variant. The objective of the game is to move one’s own king to the last rank and do it faster than the opponent.
All pieces are positioned at the first two ranks and both players see the board from the same perspective. The starting position is following:
Standard chess rules apply, with the following restrictions:
• It is not allowed to attack the opponent’s king. The concept of check is entirely forbidden.
• The king is not allowed to move to a square which is attacked by an opponent’s piece (just like in standard chess).
The game is finished if one player moves their own king to the last rank. However, if white moves his king to the last row, and black moves immediately that their king to the last rank, the game is draw (in order to compensate the fact that white player started the game.)
- **Material vs king placement**: You can win a rook, or even a queen, and then a bishop as well for free? Generally speaking, that might be a pretty good idea. But if your pieces are undeveloped and the opponent has a huge advantage in king position, it'd be better to focus on stopping their king first. A classic example is the rookpin on the long diagonal: lichess.org/83YkRGsD. However, if your opponent has suboptimal king placement and undeveloped pieces, it can be worth it to stay put and collect some material first, only to block on for example the 6th rank. A good example is this opening: lichess.org/qMkfhbxM
- **Bishops **are generally much stronger than **knights**in a middlegame or endgame. Knights are slow, whilst an active bishop can cover an entire diagonal and in doing so cause serious problems for your opponent. In middlegames, knights are strongest when used to trade with other pieces or when put somewhere (especially directly) below the enemy king. In endgames they serve more to help block a check and free your king to walk upwards than to stop the opponent, though of course there are situations where that does occur.
**Introduction**
Rules: lichess.org/variant/racingKings
Team: lichess.org/team/lichess-racing-kings
**Openings**
RoyalManiac - Modern Racing Kings openings: an introduction: lichess.org/study/V39gYCxO
Babosos - Babosos's Racing Kings Openings: lichess.org/study/Y99XJRCs
ChessWhiz and co. - Racing Kings Openings: lichess.org/study/7qOrZwG6
ThisIsRex - Racing Kings Nd4 Opening Study: lichess.org/study/BQjVra2I
Yehonatan-Chess - The 4 Main Openings In RK: lichess.org/study/1ObGxG61
ThisIsRex - Racing Kings Kh3 Opening Study: lichess.org/study/afHGNLsp
Tesset12 & Francis920 - Bd4 Nc3 Brief Opening Guide: lichess.org/study/cBVDlIzz
FalconPower & konstantinua00 - Racing Kings: lichess.org/study/PqLGDCk0
Yehonatan-Chess - Racing Kings Bad Openings: lichess.org/study/zNVkvHj9
RoyalManiac - An untheorised idea in Kg3 Nxf2 Kf4 for black: lichess.org/study/lTn5B1Jy
Yehonatan-Chess - Bh4 RK Opening Repertoire: lichess.org/study/Vh2Gpstm
**Advanced**
Yehonatan-Chess - Top Level RK Moves/Openings: lichess.org/study/G0wnJEZL
**Endgames**
RoyalManiac - RoyalManiac's Racing Kings endgames: lichess.org/study/T0fbzyFL
**Tactics**
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings puzzles: lichess.org/study/oWzlQqEs
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #1, #2 and #3: lichess.org/study/UarW4OS0
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #4, #5 and #6: lichess.org/study/tdcwBHtz
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #7 and #8: lichess.org/study/4aME6RmL
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #9 and #10: lichess.org/study/UGt0ox7u
E101 - Racing Kings Puzzles: lichess.org/study/nEVtmo0J
sriramprasad - Racing Kings Puzzles: lichess.org/study/vlAb1Df6
**Videos**
Racing Kings Academy www.youtube.com/channel/UCIgF0b-pO61O_q6uj8VSVkg
2021 RKWC Final: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwh9aMrTP0Y
2019 RKWC Final: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEijxlmmFvc
**Miscellaneous**
Racing Kings Academy: sites.google.com/view/racingkingswc/home
Rex's Racing Kings Site: sites.google.com/view/rexrk/rexs-rk
Racing Kings Puzzles: chessvariants.training/Puzzle/RacingKings
RoyalManiac - How to improve in Racing Kings: lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/racing-kings-tips#4
RoyalManiac - How to improve in Racing Kings II: lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/yess-i-finaly-hit-2000-rk?page=2#11
Thanks to the house discord for creating this list of racing kings resources. @Guitar09
All pieces are positioned at the first two ranks and both players see the board from the same perspective. The starting position is following:
Standard chess rules apply, with the following restrictions:
• It is not allowed to attack the opponent’s king. The concept of check is entirely forbidden.
• The king is not allowed to move to a square which is attacked by an opponent’s piece (just like in standard chess).
The game is finished if one player moves their own king to the last rank. However, if white moves his king to the last row, and black moves immediately that their king to the last rank, the game is draw (in order to compensate the fact that white player started the game.)
- **Material vs king placement**: You can win a rook, or even a queen, and then a bishop as well for free? Generally speaking, that might be a pretty good idea. But if your pieces are undeveloped and the opponent has a huge advantage in king position, it'd be better to focus on stopping their king first. A classic example is the rookpin on the long diagonal: lichess.org/83YkRGsD. However, if your opponent has suboptimal king placement and undeveloped pieces, it can be worth it to stay put and collect some material first, only to block on for example the 6th rank. A good example is this opening: lichess.org/qMkfhbxM
- **Bishops **are generally much stronger than **knights**in a middlegame or endgame. Knights are slow, whilst an active bishop can cover an entire diagonal and in doing so cause serious problems for your opponent. In middlegames, knights are strongest when used to trade with other pieces or when put somewhere (especially directly) below the enemy king. In endgames they serve more to help block a check and free your king to walk upwards than to stop the opponent, though of course there are situations where that does occur.
**Introduction**
Rules: lichess.org/variant/racingKings
Team: lichess.org/team/lichess-racing-kings
**Openings**
RoyalManiac - Modern Racing Kings openings: an introduction: lichess.org/study/V39gYCxO
Babosos - Babosos's Racing Kings Openings: lichess.org/study/Y99XJRCs
ChessWhiz and co. - Racing Kings Openings: lichess.org/study/7qOrZwG6
ThisIsRex - Racing Kings Nd4 Opening Study: lichess.org/study/BQjVra2I
Yehonatan-Chess - The 4 Main Openings In RK: lichess.org/study/1ObGxG61
ThisIsRex - Racing Kings Kh3 Opening Study: lichess.org/study/afHGNLsp
Tesset12 & Francis920 - Bd4 Nc3 Brief Opening Guide: lichess.org/study/cBVDlIzz
FalconPower & konstantinua00 - Racing Kings: lichess.org/study/PqLGDCk0
Yehonatan-Chess - Racing Kings Bad Openings: lichess.org/study/zNVkvHj9
RoyalManiac - An untheorised idea in Kg3 Nxf2 Kf4 for black: lichess.org/study/lTn5B1Jy
Yehonatan-Chess - Bh4 RK Opening Repertoire: lichess.org/study/Vh2Gpstm
**Advanced**
Yehonatan-Chess - Top Level RK Moves/Openings: lichess.org/study/G0wnJEZL
**Endgames**
RoyalManiac - RoyalManiac's Racing Kings endgames: lichess.org/study/T0fbzyFL
**Tactics**
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings puzzles: lichess.org/study/oWzlQqEs
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #1, #2 and #3: lichess.org/study/UarW4OS0
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #4, #5 and #6: lichess.org/study/tdcwBHtz
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #7 and #8: lichess.org/study/4aME6RmL
RoyalManiac - Racing Kings Puzzle Battle positions, events #9 and #10: lichess.org/study/UGt0ox7u
E101 - Racing Kings Puzzles: lichess.org/study/nEVtmo0J
sriramprasad - Racing Kings Puzzles: lichess.org/study/vlAb1Df6
**Videos**
Racing Kings Academy www.youtube.com/channel/UCIgF0b-pO61O_q6uj8VSVkg
2021 RKWC Final: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwh9aMrTP0Y
2019 RKWC Final: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEijxlmmFvc
**Miscellaneous**
Racing Kings Academy: sites.google.com/view/racingkingswc/home
Rex's Racing Kings Site: sites.google.com/view/rexrk/rexs-rk
Racing Kings Puzzles: chessvariants.training/Puzzle/RacingKings
RoyalManiac - How to improve in Racing Kings: lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/racing-kings-tips#4
RoyalManiac - How to improve in Racing Kings II: lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/yess-i-finaly-hit-2000-rk?page=2#11
Thanks to the house discord for creating this list of racing kings resources. @Guitar09
Thank you @Arjan_chess2 for posting these resources! I will put the studies that you have here on the team!
Do you think you could separately post all of those studies and some more that you think are helpful?
@Guitar09 said in #4:
> Do you think you could separately post all of those studies and some more that you think are helpful?
Sure though it will take me a few days and I haven’t check most of the lines out
> Do you think you could separately post all of those studies and some more that you think are helpful?
Sure though it will take me a few days and I haven’t check most of the lines out
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