description Los Alamos Chess Overview
Los Alamos Chess is a six-by-six chess variant created in 1956 to test the MANIAC I computer. It removes bishops from the game, adapting the material to the smaller board and simplifying the position space used by the early computer program. The variant belongs to the history of early computer chess and illustrates how board size and piece selection were altered when researchers began testing chess-playing machines.
help Los Alamos Chess FAQ
Why does Los Alamos Chess use a 6x6 board without bishops?
Paul Stein and Mark Wells created the variant in 1956 for the MANIAC I computer at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The smaller board and removal of bishops reduced the position space and simplified the program, which led to the nickname anti-clerical chess.
What pieces are used in Los Alamos Chess?
Each side uses a six-square back rank containing a rook, knight, queen, king, knight and rook, plus six pawns. The game therefore removes both bishops from standard chess while keeping the main rook, knight, queen and king structure.
Can pawns double-step, castle or promote to bishops in Los Alamos Chess?
No. The commonly documented rules remove castling and the pawn double step, which also removes en passant, and pawns cannot promote to bishops.
Why is Los Alamos Chess important in computer history?
It was the simplified chess-like game used by the MANIAC I program in 1956, one of the earliest successful computer chess experiments. The program was written by Paul Stein and Mark Wells and could evaluate positions several plies ahead despite the machine's limited capacity.
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