Welcome to the new home of Consulchess on the web. What began as an adventurous chess variant now has a place built for the whole journey: discovering the rules, making a first move, finding human opponents, training tactics and returning to games worth studying.
This is more than a digital board. The app brings the Consul, free castling and the full 10×8 game into one fast, modern experience. You can begin as a guest in seconds, then go as deep as you like — from a relaxed game against the easiest bot to rated competition and detailed post-game analysis.
A familiar game with a new centre of gravity
Consulchess keeps the strategic language that makes chess timeless, then changes the geometry. Two extra files widen the board. The Consul moves on queen-like lines for up to three squares and can jump in ways no orthodox piece can. Free castling turns king safety into a genuine choice instead of one of two fixed patterns.
Those additions create positions that feel recognisable without feeling solved. Openings branch earlier, blocked lines can hide sudden Consul jumps, and every king-and-rook arrangement asks a fresh castling question. If that sounds unfamiliar, the Rules & FAQ explains every detail with diagrams and examples.
Play your way
The board is ready whenever you are. Move by click or drag, choose your colour and time control, and let the app handle legal moves, clocks, Consul-FEN and the variant’s special rules consistently.
- Meet a full ladder of Consul bots, from welcoming practice partners to the strongest search setting. Difficulty changes the range of moves the engine is willing to choose, so weaker levels play more naturally than an engine that merely stops thinking early.
- The C++ Consul engine runs as WebAssembly in a background worker. Its search stays in your browser and the interface remains responsive while it calculates.
- Play live online games with real clocks, increments, unlimited play and custom time controls. Post an open game in the lobby or challenge a specific player.
- After the result, step backward and forward through the game, inspect the evaluation and move-time charts, and run a deeper engine review when a position deserves another look.
Learn by doing
A new variant is easiest to understand with pieces in hand. The learning tools are interactive, so the rules become moves and decisions instead of a wall of notation.
- Work through the guided tutorial to get comfortable with the larger board, the Consul’s slide-and-jump movement, free castling and en passant.
- Only legal destinations are highlighted, and required moves turn each lesson into a small practical challenge rather than a passive slideshow.
- Build tactical vision in the puzzle trainer, keep track of your progress and return for the Puzzle of the Day.
- Use the full Rules & FAQ as a lasting reference — including the 65 castling patterns and the 42,000-starting-position world of Consulchess 42k.
Compete and connect
Consulchess has always been most exciting when ideas cross the board between people. The online competition features are designed to make that easy, whether you have one friend in mind or want to join a larger event.
- Play rated games, follow your Elo and see where you stand on the global leaderboard.
- Enter scheduled arena tournaments, receive pairings automatically and watch the standings change as games finish.
- See who is online, manage incoming and outgoing challenges, and resume a live game when it is your turn.
- Create an account to preserve your game history and identity, or jump straight into an unrated game as a guest with no registration barrier.
Made to feel like your board
The app adapts around the game instead of asking the game to adapt to a single screen. The board and tutorial reflow for phones, tablets and desktops; past positions remain safely read-only while you review them; and settings let you choose board colours, sound sets and whether game sounds play at all.
The whole experience speaks eight languages — English, German, French, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese, Russian and Chinese — so more players can meet the variant in a language that feels natural. Accounts add saved games, profile history and security controls, while guest play keeps the front door wide open.
This launch is a starting position, not an endgame. There are opponents to meet, puzzles to solve, tournaments to contest and plenty of strange new Consul tactics still waiting to be named. Set up the wider board, choose your first opponent and make the move that begins your own Consulchess story. Welcome — Consulchess is here.