Relay Chess: What If Chess Was Played Like A Relay Race?

Have you ever been in a game where the opening went badly, the position became cramped, and you found yourself wondering, “What would Stockfish play from here?”. Grandmasters and strong players often survive early difficulties and convert small advantages into wins, but learning to do the same as a developing player can be tricky.

This inspired me to think about phase-based team chess, where different players handle different parts of the game depending on their strengths and weaknesses.

How did i come up with this chess variant?
While i was playing a game on Lichess, i suddenly got into a losing position. So I immediately thought "What would Stockfish do in this position?", and then it struck to me: What if there's a chess variant where the weaker player plays first, then passing the game on to a stronger player to convert it? Like a relay race? I even thought of another strand: Reversed Relay Chess, where the stronger player plays first, then passing it to his teammate, who would try to convert it to a win.

Acknowledgment!
While writing this blog, I discovered that a form of relay chess already exists (for example, relaychess.com), where players take turns playing the same game. My goal here is not to claim that i invented this idea, but to explore extensions: Introducing rating based phases and structured formats to help players learn survival and conversion skills more effectively.

Concept
Relay Chess with rating-based phases is played on a single board by teammates who play a game, then pass the game over to another teammate after a fixed number of moves.

The Key Rules are:

1. The rules of standard chess, you win by checkmating the opponent.
2. Each teammate plays a designated block of moves.
3. Players cannot talk to each other after the handoff. For example, the teammates who aren't playing are allowed talk to each other, but they are not allowed to talk to their teammate who is still playing.

The good thing is that rating or skill gaps can be applied to the phases, creating learning opportunities.

Example Formats:

1. 2v2 Relay (Ascending)
   Moves 1–30: lower-rated teammate
   Move 31 onward: higher-rated teammate
   Goal: Survive the early phase, then convert the advantage.

2. 4x4 Relay (Ascending)
   Moves 1–15: ~600 rated player
   Moves 16–30: ~1200 rated player
   Moves 31–45: ~2000 rated player
   Moves 46 and onward: 2000+ rated player
   Goal: Progressively higher-rated players handle increasingly critical phases.

3. Reverse Relay (Descending)
   Strong teammate plays the first 20 moves
   Weaker teammate plays the 21st move and onwards
   Goal: Teach strong players how to make a playable opening, and to teach developing players to convert the position to a win.

Why does this matter?
This variant teaches skills that standard chess often does not emphasize:

For weaker players: How to survive a difficult position, understand threats, and avoid blunders.

For stronger players: How to create positions that are playable and teachable, rather than just winning right away.

For all players: Teamwork, phase awareness, and learning the cause-and-effect between different stages of a game.

Open Questions
I’m curious how the Lichess community would refine these ideas. Could these formats be adapted to online tournaments? Could evaluation-based scoring encourage stronger teaching opportunities? I genuinely welcome feedbacks and discussions.

My thoughts about it:
It is an effective learning opportunity, everyone can improve. Stronger players can create playable positions, and they could also try to win the position their teammate made for them. Weaker players can learn to survive, they can try not to blunder, and they can learn how to convert positions to a win.

I'm willing to turn this idea into a playable variant on Lichess.

Charles Caballero, January 2026