Minesweeper Chess

How to Play

The Board

Minesweeper Chess is played on an 8×10 board — 8 columns (a–h) and 10 rows (1–10). White occupies rows 1–2 and Black occupies rows 9–10 in the standard chess arrangement. Rows 3 and 8 are empty at the start.

Starting positions: Back rank (row 1 for White, row 10 for Black) is R·N·B·Q·K·B·N·R. Pawns are on row 2 (White) and row 9 (Black).

The Fog Zone

Rows 4–7 are the fog zone. At game start, four mines are placed randomly within those 32 squares and the zone is covered in grey fog. The mine counter in the panel shows how many mines remain on the board.

When any piece lands on a square, the fog lifts from that square and all of its immediate neighbors that are in the fog zone. One ring only — there is no cascade reveal. Revealed squares show their mine-adjacent count exactly like classic Minesweeper (1–8, colour-coded), or nothing if clear.

When all four mines have been either discovered (their square revealed) or removed from the board, all remaining fog lifts permanently and the game continues as standard chess.

Mine Interactions

Piece	Lands on mine	Result
♔ King	Yes	Royal Sapper — mine is removed silently, king is unharmed.
♙ Pawn (sapper action)	Forward square	Mine removed, pawn stays in place. Turn passes. Safe even if no mine is there.
♙ Pawn (normal move)	Yes	Pawn destroyed. Mine cleared.
Any other piece	Yes	Piece destroyed. Mine cleared.
♖♗♕ Sliding pieces	Passes through	No effect — mines are only triggered at the landing square. Sliders can jump any mine they don't stop on.

Pawn Sapper Action

Select a pawn and a 💣 icon appears on the square directly in front of it. Click the icon to use the sapper action: the pawn stays put, and any mine on that square is removed. If there is no mine, the pawn has wasted its turn — but this also means pawns can legally pass their move, making zugzwang significantly harder to achieve.

The sapper action is not available while the king is in check (it cannot resolve check).

Castling, Promotion, and Special Rules

Castling follows standard chess rules: king and rook must not have moved; squares between them must be empty; the king must not be in check, pass through check, or land in check. Mines in the castling corridor are treated as empty for the path-clear test, but the king would trigger them if it landed on one.

Promotion: White pawns promote upon reaching row 10 (Black's back rank); Black pawns promote at row 1. Promotion is automatic to Queen.

No en passant. No 50-move rule. The fog zone naturally slows early development, so games routinely extend well past 50 moves before meaningful contact — the 50-move draw rule is therefore not enforced.

Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate

Standard chess check and checkmate rules apply. A king in check must resolve it on the next move; moves that leave the king in check are illegal. Stalemate (no legal moves, not in check) ends the game as a draw.