King of the Hill
Bring your King to the centre to win the game.
The rules
Ordinary chess, plus one extra way to win: march your king to the centre.
The four central squares — d4, d5, e4 and e5 — are the hill. Get your king to
any of them, legally and without being in check, and you win immediately.
Checkmate still wins as well. Everything else is unchanged.
What changes
The king stops being a liability to be hidden and becomes your fastest attacking
piece. Castling is often wrong: it walks your king away from the goal.
Games are short. Because both sides are running for the same four squares, a
slow positional plan usually loses to a direct one.
What to watch for
Control the hill, not just the run to it. A king cannot step onto a central
square that is attacked. Covering d4, d5, e4 and e5 with pieces is a defence in
itself, and often a better one than chasing the enemy king.
Watch both goals at once. It is easy to become so occupied with your own
march that you miss the opponent arriving first. Every move, ask how many moves
their king is from the hill.