Rules comparison
A quick side-by-side before you dive into the full rule text.
| Topic | Berkeley | Cincinnati | Wild 16 | RAND | English | CrazyKrieg | Dutch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Referee response to illegal tries | “Illegal” or “No” means the try is illegal on the true board; “Nonsense” means it was impossible on your own board or repeated. | “Illegal” or “No” means the try is illegal on the true board; “Nonsense” means it was impossible on your own board or repeated. | Illegal attempts are private: only the mover sees “Illegal move”, and the opponent hears nothing until a move is complete. | “Illegal” or “No” means the try is illegal on the true board; “Nonsense” means it was impossible on your own board or repeated. | “Illegal” or “No” means the try is illegal on the true board; “Nonsense” means it was impossible on your own board or repeated. | “Illegal” or “No” means the try is illegal on the true board; “Nonsense” means it was impossible on your own board or repeated. | Not fully sourced in the currently available references. |
| Capture announcements | After a legal capture, the captured square is announced to both players. En passant is announced like a regular capture, using the square from which the pawn is removed. | After a legal capture, the captured square is announced to both players. En passant is announced like a regular capture, using the square from which the pawn is removed. The referee also says whether the captured material was a pawn or a piece. | After a legal capture, the captured square is announced to both players. En passant is announced like a regular capture, using the square from which the pawn is removed. The referee also says whether the captured material was a pawn or a piece. | After a legal capture, the captured square is announced to both players. En passant is announced like a regular capture, using the square from which the pawn is removed. The referee also says whether the captured material was a pawn or a piece. | A capture is announced with the capture square, calculated from the captured player’s side. En passant is announced explicitly as en passant, using the capturing pawn’s landing square. The referee still does not generally name the capturing man or captured man. | After a legal capture, the captured square and reserve identity are announced to both players. En passant is announced like a regular capture, using the square from which the pawn is removed. Promoted pawns are announced as pawns because they enter reserve as pawns. | The known Dutch note identifies the capture square and whether the capturing man was a pawn or a piece. It does not identify the exact non-pawn piece in the documented example. |
| Check announcements | File, rank, long diagonal, short diagonal, knight, and double checks are announced. | File, rank, long diagonal, short diagonal, knight, and double checks are announced. | File, rank, long diagonal, short diagonal, knight, and double checks are announced. | File, rank, long diagonal, short diagonal, knight, and double checks are announced. | Long, short, rank, file, knight, and double checks are announced. | File, rank, long diagonal, short diagonal, knight, and double checks are announced. | Not fully sourced in the currently available references. |
| Pawn-capture handling — “Any?” rule handling | No built-in “Any?” rule in the original ruleset. A compatible modification is documented: the player may ask, and if the answer is “yes”, then must do a pawn capture. | Before each ply starts, the referee publicly announces that the player has a pawn capture whenever at least one legal pawn capture exists. The player may now try to make captures with their pawns, or may not. | Before each ply starts, the referee publicly announces the number of legal capturing pawn moves. The player may now try to make captures with their pawns, or may not. | Before moving, the referee announces the squares on which the mover’s pawns have currently valid capture tries. | A player may ask whether any pawn capture exists. If the answer is “Yes”, the player must try one pawn capture; if that try is illegal, the player may make any legal move. | A player may ask whether any pawn capture exists. If the answer is “Yes”, the player must try one pawn capture; if that try is illegal, the player may make any legal move. | The documented Swart problem is framed in an “Are there any?” context, but no complete source has yet settled whether the capture-type announcement applies generally or only in problem-specific contexts. |
| Promotion announcements | Promotion is not announced and should be handled silently. | Promotion is not announced and should be handled silently. | Promotion is not announced and should be handled silently. | The fact that a pawn promotes is announced, but not the promoted piece type or promotion square. | Promotion is not announced and should be handled silently. | Promotion is not announced. If the promoted pawn is later captured, it enters reserve and is announced as a pawn. | Not fully sourced in the currently available references. |
| Reserves and drops | No reserves or drops; play uses only the normal pieces on the board. | No reserves or drops; play uses only the normal pieces on the board. | No reserves or drops; play uses only the normal pieces on the board. | No reserves or drops; play uses only the normal pieces on the board. | No reserves or drops; play uses only the normal pieces on the board. | Captured units change color and enter public reserves. A player may spend a turn dropping a reserve unit onto an empty square; the drop square is not announced. | Not fully sourced in the currently available references. |
| Best fit | Best fit if you want the Berkeley reference rules and the Berkeley-based online play model used on this site. | Best fit if you want the historical Cincinnati article and its public try-based referee workflow. | Best fit if you want the ICC-style public announcement model with counted pawn tries and no public illegal-move call. | Best fit if you want the 1950 RAND historical reference, especially its spectator/referee culture and more information-rich pawn-try announcements. | Best fit if you want the 1933 English Gambit Club rules with simple capture-square notices, explicit en-passant notices, and a classic Yes/No pawn-capture question. | Best fit if you want Crazyhouse reserves and drops inside a Kriegspiel hidden-board/referee model. | Best fit if you are reading or composing historical problems that rely on distinguishing pawn-made captures from piece-made captures. |