By: William Stewart of OnlineChessLessons.NET
Bughouse chess is a well-known variant that combines teamwork, tactics, speed, and initiative. The rules are very similar to normal chess, the main exception that it involves teams of 2. When a player on one board captures a piece, he passes it to his partner to place on his board (partners play opposite colors). Pieces must be placed on open squares, and pawns may not be placed directly on the 8th rank. The time control is usually 5 minutes in standard competitions, however it’s very common to see 2 or 3 minute games on the internet. While bughouse is typically scorned by serious players, it does serve a variety of useful purposes.
What does Bughouse bring for beginners and children that regular chess does not?
Bug is extremely popular with children and does wonders to promote the game on a scholastic level. The teamwork element is enthusiastically exploited by kids who thrive on learning chess in an interactive group setting. Aside from attracting more younger players to chess in general, bughouse also greatly improves tactics. While Teichmann said “Chess is 99% tactics” – bughouse relies on tactics even more. As player’s may drop extra pieces on the board at any time, positional chess is typically pushed to the backburner and tactical awareness is heavily rewarded. Bughouse also relies heavily on seizing the initiative, an excellent skill to develop among scholastic players that is easily applicable to normal chess. Developing pattern recognition through bughouse can be very effective as well (opening patterns, attack and defense, tactics, etc..)
Time, Sitting Pieces and Great Teamwork
While bughouse promotes chess (specifically among children), develops tactical ability, and emphasizes the importance of the initiative – it has some downsides as well. Time is always a very important factor in bug, because being up on time can win you a lot of games. “Sitting” is possible when you are up on time and want your partner to get you pieces to help you launch an attack or defend a weakened position. Bug is almost always played a 5 minutes or lower, so players are trained to move extremely fast.
Just like Blitz, experienced player should keep it in moderation
For the same reason that blitz is bad for serious chess, bughouse trains you to immediately and superficially analyze positions. This can also lead to a weakening of positional understanding, as deep maneuvers and long-term strategy take the back seat to lightning-fast play and explosive tactics. I believe it is precisely this reason that deters many top players from the game, although GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Lev Aronian have been known to enjoy the game on occasion.
Great for beginners and to get kids into the game
Overall, bughouse is a fantastic promotional tool for scholastic chess. In limited doses, it truly can help an amateur player progress in certain areas. However, past a point it can damage your long-term progress and may inhibit deep and meaningful growth in your standard chess game. Personally, I would not recommend bughouse chess for serious chess players trying to become masters. However, I enjoy the game and I think it is an exceptional tool as a gateway for attracting children to real chess.
Original Article on what is bughouse chess can be found on William’s website.
Don’t get the connection.