Fairy chess is the area of chess composition, in which there are some changes to the rules of chess. The term was introduced by Henry Tate in 1914 and has resisted change since then. Thomas Dawson (1889–1951), the "father of fairy chess", invented many fairy pieces and new conditions. He was also problem editor of Fairy Chess Review (1930–1951).
Although the term "fairy chess" is sometimes used for games, it is more usually applied to problems where the board, pieces, or rules are changed to express an idea or theme impossible in orthodox chess.
Types of changed rules in fairy chess problems include:
New stipulations: Probably the most-used alterations are new stipulations instead of a direct mate stipulation. A lot of them were invented and some became established. Selfmates and helpmates are nowadays often considered to be orthodox (not fairy) stipulations. Among others are: reflexmates, various types of seriesmovers or recently very popular helpselfmates.
New conditions: Encompassing all changes of rules including rules for captures, checks, checkmates, general movement abilities, etc. Many were invented; some became established: circe chess, Madrasi chess, Andernach chess, monochromatic chess, patrol chess, Einstein chess and numerous others.
New chess pieces: Conventional chess pieces are generalized in many ways (grasshopper, nightrider, cannon, etc.). See main article Fairy chess pieces.
Different boards: One can vary board size from 8×8 to other sizes (10×10, 8×10, unusual board shapes, etc.) or use different geometries: cylinder (vertical and horizontal), anchor ring or torus and others.
There are fairy chess problems that combine some of these changed rules.
All entries in the world championships and in the FIDE Albums are divided into eight sections: directmates (2-movers, 3-movers and moremovers), endgame studies, selfmates, helpmates, fairy chess and retro and mathematical problems.
