Online Guide to Progressive Chess
I. Introduction
What is PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
What are the rules of PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
Who plays PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
What does a typical game look like?
How is a progressive game notated?
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Onward to the mates and ghosts page.
What is PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
Progressive chess is one of the most popular chess
variants in the world, if not the most popular. It is
played around the world, and regular correspondence
world championships are held.
The concept of the game is very simple. White gets
one move, black gets two moves, white gets three moves,
and so on. As you can well imagine, the games are not
usually very long!
What are the rules of PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
The rules for progressive chess are fairly simple:
- White begins the game with one move. Black follows with
two consecutive moves. White then plays three consecutive
moves, and so on. A
single collection of consecutive moves is called a SERIES.
- If one side begins the series in check, that side must
spend the first move of his series getting out of check.
If he cannot do so, he is in checkmate, and the game is over.
- If one side delivers check in the middle of a
series, that side forfeits all of
its remaining moves. For example, if white delivers check
on the third move of five in his series, play would immediately
shift to black, who would then be allowed six moves.
- If a pawn moves forward two squares in a single move of
a side's series BUT NO FURTHER, the opposing side may spend the first move
of his series to capture that pawn en passant (assuming he has
a pawn in position to do so, as per normal chess rules).
- If the side to move has no legal moves, even in mid-series,
and is not in check, a stalemate occurs (progressive stalemate).
- All other rules are as per normal chess.
Who plays PROGRESSIVE CHESS?
Progressive chess is most popular in Italy, where
the Italian Progressive Chess variant is played. In
Italian progressive chess, check can only be delivered
on the LAST move of the series. There is also a
variant English Progressive Chess, in which no piece
can move twice in a series until all other pieces have
moved at least once. For more information on the
various types of progressive chess and who plays them,
consult
the Chess Variant Pages page on progressive chess.
This guide is written for Scottish Progressive Chess,
but, since that sounds confusing, the game is universally
referred to simply as progressive chess throughout these
pages.
What does a typical game look like?
By now you are probably wondering what a typical game
looks like. Here is a short example, taken from
the finals of the 1996 WIPCC.
WIPCC 1996 Finals
White: Juraj Lorinc
Black: Juha Kivijarvi
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1. d4
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2. d5 c5
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3. dxc5 Qxd5 Qxd8+
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4. Kxd8 Kc7 e5 Bxc5
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5. Bh6 Nc3 Rd1 Rd6 Nb5#
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How is a progressive game notated?
Notice the convention of notation used in the game. The
numbers are not ascribed to general moves, but instead
a single number is designated to each series. This is
the standard way of notating a progressive chess game.
In addition to the algebraic form of notation, there is
a more compact notation called PPGN (Portable Progressive
Game Notation). Files using this notation end in .ppg.
This notation is similar to PGN, but each number designates
an entire series. An example follows:
[Event "WIPCC '98 Preliminaries"]
[Date "1998"]
[White "Norman, David"]
[Black "Geissler, Norbert"]
[Result "0-1"]
1.e4 2.d5 Nc6 3.Qg4 Qxc8 Qxd8+ 4.Kxd8 dxe4 Nf6 h5 5.b4 b5 bxc6 cxb7 bxa8Q+
6.Kd7 Nd5 e3 e2 Ne3 exf1Q#
This notation is meant to be easily parsable.
By now, you are ready to learn about
mates and ghosts.
Or return to the table of contents page.
