Alice Chess

Alice chess is a chess variant invented in 1953 by V. R. Parton which employs two chessboards rather than one, and a slight (but significant) alteration to the standard rules of chess. The game is named after the main character "Alice" in Lewis Carroll's work Through the Looking-Glass, where transport through the mirror into an alternative world is portrayed on the chessboards by the after-move transfer of chess pieces between boards A and B. This simple transfer rule is well known for causing disorientation and confusion in players new to the game, often leading to surprises and amusing mistakes as pieces "disappear" and "reappear" between boards, and pieces interposed to block attacks on one board are simply bypassed on the other. This "nothing is as it seems" experience probably accounts for Alice chess remaining Parton's most popular and successful variant among the numerous others he invented. Move rules At the beginning of the game, pieces start in their normal positions on board A, while board B starts empty. At each turn, a player can choose whether to move on board A or B. Pieces move the same as they do in standard chess, but, at the completion of its move, a piece goes "through the looking-glass", transferring to the corresponding square on the opposite board. This simple change has dramatic impact on gameplay. For example, after the opening moves 1. Nf3 e6, the white knight and black pawn transfer after moving on board A to their corresponding squares on board B. If the game continued 2. Ne5 Bc5, the knight returns to board A and the bishop finishes on board B (see diagram).