Setup chess is a simple chess variant with lots of varying positions. The rules are as follows:
- The game starts with an empty board.
- The game gets allocated a random number between 18 and 36 (inclusive).
- In the first stage of the game:
- Each player puts in turn a piece on the board. The white player begins.
- Pawns need to be placed on the second (white) or seventh (black) rank. All other pieces on the first (white) or the eighth (black) rank.
- A player can put pieces until the summed value of their pieces equals the allocated number. A pawn is 1 point, a knight and bishop 3, a rook 5, a queen 9 and a king 0.
- For instance, for 26, one could place two rooks, two bishops, two knights and four pawns.
- The king is placed last on the board (and must be placed). By putting the king on the board a player essentially indicates that they are done with their piece placement.
- You cannot put more pieces of one kind than there are in a normal game set. So no more than 2 bishops, knights, or rooks, and no more than one queen.
- The clock is used during this stage of the game. If one player is done while the other is not, the clock should keep running for the player that is not done.
- In the second stage of the game, you just play chess like normal. Castling is not allowed.