I rarely post games I haven’t tested to death these days, especially Chess variants, which I stopped designing 20 years ago. But I like this one so I’m posting it. It’s simple, clear, and addresses a key problem confronting modern Chess: extensively memorized openings. It may help reduce draws too. Every self-respecting game designer should try to fix Chess at least once in their lives.

This solution combines elements from two previously proposed solutions: Chess960 and Seirawan Chess.

Equipment: a Chess set.

Setup: Place the pawns in the normal starting positions, and place all the remaining Chess pieces next to the board.

Rules: Players take turns. On your turn, you must, if possible, place one of your off-board pieces onto any empty space on your back rank, and then make a normal Chess move. Castling is not allowed. Otherwise the rules are the same as for normal Chess.

It’s not clear whether a pie rule is needed.