Bughouse Night - For MCCL Members Only

Starts: Jul 25, 2016 @ 6:00 PM

What:  Bughouse tournament for MCCL members only.  Join MCCL today.

Where:  Rainbow Elementary, 50 Nance Rd., Madison, AL  35758

When:  6:00-8:00 p.m.

Description:  Bughouse Chess is a popular chess variant played on two chessboards by four players in teams of two.  During MCCL meetings at the YMCA in July, we will go over the bughouse rules and let kids practice with partners.  We will use a time control of 5 minutes with no delay.  Teams can sign up during MCCL meetings on July 11 and 18th. 

This is a free event for MCCL members only.  If you are not a member, you can join here. 

A Guide to Bughouse

Bughouse is a game played by two teams, usually consisting of two players each. On each team, one player will play White, while the other plays Black on a board next to them, across from their opponents. Each individual game requires its own clock. Bughouse is traditionally played with blitz time controls, with each player having five minutes or less to make their moves.

The game begins when the clocks are started and each team's "White" player makes their first move. After this, the games continue as normal chess games, with the following major exceptions:

  1. When a player captures a piece, he must pass it to his partner. For example: if a team's White player captures his opponent's rook (a black piece), he must pass it to his partner, who is playing Black. If a pawn promotes and is then captured, it reverts back to being a pawn when it is passed.
  2. On each player's turn, he may choose to either make a regular chess move on the board, or place one of the pieces his partner has passed to him on the board. There are no restrictions on where pieces may be placed, with the exception that pawns cannot be placed on the first or eighth ranks.
  3. The game ends when any player is checkmated or runs out of time on either board. That player's team loses the game. Keep in mind that a player is not checkmated if he has the potential to block a check by placing a piece there, even if he doesn't have a piece "in hand" yet; the possibility of his partner passing something to him is enough to keep the game going.