People behind the games

Chess variant authors

Meet some of the designers whose ideas became playable variants on PupusaChess. Select a tile to read a short biography and open the related rules pages.

Chess variant author

José Raúl Capablanca

José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942) was a Cuban chess prodigy and the third world chess champion, holding the title from 1921 to 1927. Famous for his clear positional play and endgame technique, he also designed Capablanca Chess in the 1920s, expanding the board and adding two compound pieces.

On PupusaChess

Capablanca

Biography source Portrait by Unknown photographer — source, Public domain

Chess variant author

Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) was an American grandmaster and the eleventh world chess champion. In 1996 he introduced Fischer Random Chess, now usually called Chess960, to reduce dependence on memorized openings and make original play begin with the first move.

On PupusaChess

Chess960

Biography source Portrait by Bert Verhoeff / Anefo — source, CC0 1.0

Chess variant author

David Bronstein

David Bronstein (1924–2006) was a Soviet and Russian grandmaster, world championship challenger, and one of chess's most celebrated creative players. In the late 1940s he promoted the player-built starting-position idea later known as Placement Chess, Pre-Chess, or Shuffle-Chess, in which the back-rank pieces are placed alternately before normal play begins.

On PupusaChess

Placement

Biography source Portrait by Eric Koch / Anefo / Dutch National Archives — source, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL

Chess variant author

Yasser Seirawan

Yasser Seirawan is an American grandmaster, 1979 World Junior Champion, four-time United States champion, author, and commentator. Together with Bruce Harper he unveiled Seirawan Chess in 2007, adding the hawk and elephant to orthodox chess through a new gating mechanism.

On PupusaChess

S-Chess

Biography source Portrait by Georgios Souleidis — source, CC BY 2.0

Chess variant author

Christian Freeling

Christian Freeling (1947–2026) was a Dutch designer of abstract strategy games. His many designs include Havannah, Dameo, and Grand Chess, the highly regarded 10×10 chess variant he created in 1984.

On PupusaChess

Grand

Biography source Portrait by Christian Freeling, inventor of abstract games — source, CC BY-SA 3.0

Chess variant author

Madoka Kitao

Madoka Kitao is a retired Japanese women's professional shogi player, teacher, and promoter of the game. She devised the rules of Dōbutsu Shogi as an approachable introduction for young children; illustrator Maiko Fujita created its friendly animal-piece artwork.

On PupusaChess

Dobutsu

Biography source Portrait by Unknownspb; retouched by PawełMM — source, CC BY-SA 4.0

Chess variant author

Miguel Illescas

Miguel Illescas is a Spanish grandmaster, eight-time Spanish champion, trainer, author, and computer scientist. He worked on IBM's Deep Blue team and later created Dragon Chess, whose reserve dragon combines the moves of a bishop and a knight.

On PupusaChess

Dragon Chess

Biography source Portrait by Przemysław Jahr / Wikimedia Commons — source, CC BY-SA 3.0

John Tenniel illustration of Alice stepping through the looking-glass

Chess variant author

V. R. Parton

Vernon Rylands Parton (1897–1974) was an English teacher and prolific inventor of chess variants whose designs were often inspired by Lewis Carroll. He created Alice Chess in 1953 and Racing Kings in 1961, two of his best-known games and both playable on PupusaChess.

On PupusaChess

Alice Chess Racing Kings

Biography source Illustration by Sir John Tenniel — source, Public domain
Representative Alice artwork is used because no freely reusable portrait of Parton is currently known.

Chess variant author

Peter Michaelsen

Peter Michaelsen is the designer of Cannon Shogi, introduced in February 1998. The variant keeps the standard 9×9 shogi framework while adding four cannon families inspired by Xiangqi and Janggi and replacing the normal pawn array with five more mobile soldiers.

On PupusaChess

Cannon Shogi

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Cannon Shogi rules guide — source
Representative Cannon Shogi artwork is used instead of an author portrait.

Two players playing Duck Chess at Exeter Chess Club

Chess variant author

Dr Tim Paulden

Dr Tim Paulden was president of Exeter Chess Club in Devon, England, when he invented Duck Chess in early 2016. The game adds a jointly controlled rubber duck that blocks one square and must be repositioned after every ordinary chess move.

On PupusaChess

Duck Chess

Biography source Photo published by Exeter Chess Club — source
The source photograph shows Duck Chess being played at Exeter Chess Club.

Fog of War Chess position from White's limited-information view

Chess variant authors

Jens Bæk Nielsen & Torben Osted

Jens Bæk Nielsen and Torben Osted created Dark Chess together in 1989 after experimenting with a correspondence game under altered visibility rules. Now widely known as Fog of War Chess, their design hides most of the opposing army and makes capture of the king, rather than checkmate, the goal.

On PupusaChess

Fog of War

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Fog of War rules guide — source
Representative Fog of War artwork is used instead of author portraits.

Chess variant author

Jean-Louis Cazaux

Jean-Louis Cazaux is a French historian of chess and board games, author, and prolific game designer. His creations include Rollerball, Metamachy, and Shako, the 10×10 chess variant he completed in 1990 by adding the cannon and elephant to the orthodox army.

On PupusaChess

Shako

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Shako rules guide — source
Representative Shako artwork is used instead of an author portrait.

Chess variant author

S. D. Streetman

S. D. Streetman, also credited as Steven Streetman, created Spartan Chess. Recorded in 2010, the deliberately asymmetric design pits an orthodox Persian army against Spartans with two kings and an entirely different set of pieces. Streetman has also described how he designed and balanced the game.

On PupusaChess

Spartan

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Spartan Chess rules guide — source
Representative Spartan Chess artwork is used instead of an author portrait.

Kyoto Shogi starting position with international pieces

Chess variant author

Tamiya Katsuya

Tamiya Katsuya is the Japanese game designer credited with inventing Kyoto Shogi around 1976. The compact 5×5 game is distinguished by pieces that flip after every move between paired identities, including the lance and tokin whose names combine to form ‘Kyoto’.

On PupusaChess

Kyoto Shogi

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Kyoto Shogi rules guide — source
Representative Kyoto Shogi artwork is used instead of an author portrait.

Tori Shogi starting position with international bird pieces

Chess variant author

Toyota Genryu

Toyota Genryu was a pupil of the ninth shogi Meijin, Ōhashi Sōei. Modern accounts credit Toyota with inventing Tori Shogi in 1799, although the bird-themed 7×7 game was traditionally attributed to his master. It is one of the oldest shogi variants to use captured-piece drops.

On PupusaChess

Tori Shogi

Biography source Representative image from the PupusaChess Tori Shogi rules guide — source
Representative Tori Shogi artwork is used instead of an author portrait.