Board
The board has five files and six ranks, so pieces meet quickly and games stay tactical.
Rules
Pocket Shuffle Chess Rules
Pocket Shuffle Chess is played on a compact 5x6 board with seeded, mirrored shuffled back ranks. It keeps normal chess tactics but removes slow opening setup.
Starting setup
Each game uses a seed to create a shuffled back rank. The setup is mirrored for both sides for fair play.
Piece movement
Kings, queens, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns move like normal chess pieces on the smaller board.
Pawn rules
Pawns move one square forward and capture diagonally. There is no two-square first move and no en passant.
Promotion
Pawns promote on the far rank. In the current game rules, promotion is to a queen.
Castling
There is no castling in Pocket Shuffle Chess.
Winning
Checkmate wins. Resignation and flagging on time also end the game where those modes apply.
Draws
Stalemate, insufficient material, threefold repetition, or an agreed draw are draws.