Special rules
The Comeback rule
Choose Comeback above. Everything else is normal chess.
- Count points. Pawn 1 · knight 3 · bishop 3 · rook 5 · queen 9. Kings don't count. Your score is what you still have on the board.
- The line is 5. Being up to 5 points behind is part of the game. You can pick 3, 5 or 7.
- Finish your move more than 5 behind and you get comeback points: one for each point past the line.
- Spend them to bring back fallen pieces. Pieces return to your back row, pawns to your pawn row. A fallen piece can come back as itself or as any cheaper piece.
- One comeback per piece. A piece that came back and is captured again is gone for good. A promoted piece falls as a pawn. A rook that comes back can't castle.
- No surprise attacks. A returning piece can't give check, and a comeback can never checkmate or stalemate.
- Checkmate comes first. Checkmate and stalemate end the game before any comeback.
Why it's fair
- It can't put you ahead. After a comeback the leader is still at least 5 points up. Only your moves can turn the game around.
- Losing on purpose never pays. You can't get back more than you gave away.
- The leader decides. Comebacks only follow a capture past the line, so a strong player has to manage the lead and choose the moment to win. On the board, an amber ring marks a capture that would cross the line.
Standard rules: checkmate wins. Stalemate, threefold repetition, fifty moves without a capture or pawn move, and too little material to checkmate are draws.