# New chess variant: duck chess! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game, chess\ **Created:** [October 13, 2022, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213 "2022-10-13T23:44:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/41 "2022-10-25T22:49:10Z")
That’s fair. I was going to say you could do a daily game, but it looks like that’s not an option on duck chess. And vs computer is only standard and 960. Because they’d need to train a model for each variant? I’m not sure how expensive that would be. Could be prohibitive. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/42 "2022-10-25T23:18:02Z")
Neither am I. But one more thing to consider is that you can use not only your K and Q, but also the duck itself, to herd the opposing K by denying squares to it. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/43 "2022-10-31T16:26:39Z")
Am I missing something? It seems like you could still trap a King on the first rank by planting a Rook on the second rank. The King has to move first; he can’t interpose the duck and then move. If he puts the duck where it would block the rook, the other player can simply remove it on their turn. I can see that a player with just K+R vs K probably couldn’t force mate as can be done in normal chess, but they could keep the enemy King trapped on the back rank indefinitely. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/44 "2022-10-31T16:34:52Z")
I might be missing something you’re saying, but it seems that you think the king can’t walk into check on the first part of the move. King moving into “check” then protecting himself with duck is perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/45 "2022-10-31T16:38:24Z")
D’oh. I knew I must be missing something. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/46 "2022-11-01T00:27:48Z")
Yeah, if I understand the rules correctly, there’s no such thing as ‘check’ in duck chess. You win by capturing the opponent’s king. I’m starting to get a craving to play a few games of this with someone. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213/47 "2022-11-08T10:05:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yeah, if I understand the rules correctly, there’s no such thing as ‘check’ in duck chess. You win by capturing the opponent’s king. > > I’m starting to get a craving to play a few games of this with someone I’ve never been a good chess player and I haven’t played in maybe 10 years. I lost interest because I just never could make a game of it against even a low-intermediate player. But I am interested in duck chess. I’ve watched some games on YouTube and it’s definitely interesting. I really wish there was a computer/AI version I could play against but I don’t think there is one (yet). I’m too shy to play against people online. I take way too long and make odd (bad moves). If anyone ever hears of a duck chess computer I’d love to check it out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-chess-variant-duck-chess/973213.md?page=2)