In the world of
chess problems, the word "fairy" means "
unorthodox", and "fairy chess" is a blanket term for a vast range of games which are based on, but different to, chess. Few of these variants are commonly played over the board; they most often appear in problems and compositions. Some of the common ways in which fairy problems deviate from standard chess rules are:
- The addition of new pieces with powers not possessed by ordinary chess pieces (for example, the grasshopper)
- Differences in the layout or size or topology (see cylindrical chess) of the board
- Additional rules restricting the range of legal moves (for an example, see maximummer).