This chess variant first appeared in the Marseille newspaper “Le Soleil” in 1925. It gained
significant popularity in the late 1930s, attracting renowned grandmasters including Alexander Alekhine,
Richard Réti, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, and André Chéron. On each turn, a player can either move one
piece twice or move two different pieces. A few special rules apply:
1. If a player gives check on the first move, the second move is forfeited (press the red pass button).
2. The king cannot move into check on the first move and out of it on the second.
3. It is required to immediately move out of check or shield the king on the first move.
4. En passant capture must be executed on the first move of a turn, and only one pawn can be captured en passant per turn (not two as in Alekhine's version).
5. To balance the game, White begins with only one move on his first turn.
6. Specific to this program: When a player has made the first of his two moves, the other player must press the yellow acknowledge button. (This is because the program must check if the king is threatened.)
Comment: While the en passant rule rule differs slightly from Alekhine’s version, this change has minimal impact. Either way, this variant bears little resemblance to traditional chess. To move the queen out early is generally not bad. Checking the king on the first move is unwise, as it costs the player his second move. An interesting tactical option is indirect piece protection: by positioning your king so that capturing your piece would result in check, you force your opponent to forfeit the second move if it is captured.
Reference
Marseillais Chess | Wikipedia
• You can download my free Marseillais Chess program here, but you must own the software Zillions of Games to be able to run it (I recommend the download version).
• Don't miss my other chess variants.
© M. Winther, April 2025.
