A Guide to Secret Level Crazyhouse

Hello, friends.

I know many people continue to be interested in the history of crazyhouse and bughouse chess and are asking the same questions. Many were familiar with my research into the origins of these variants, and some readers were somewhat confused by the patchwork nature of my research. When I began my research into variant chess crazyhouse and bughouse in 2017, very few people in the world had any idea about their history – these were researchers familiar with David Pritchard during his lifetime, some people who worked at the Variant Chess magazine and the community associated with http://ftp.chessvariants.com/

However, in reality, almost no one has read the original, old German book "Archiv der Spiele oder fortlaufende Beschreibung aller Spiele der Vorwelt" (1821), which first described the proto-variant crazyhouse Doppelschachspiel.

I published the first chapter of my research in the summer of 2018 and three more by the end of the year. A huge number of things were completely unknown. I spoke with old FICS players, and they were either convinced that Crazyhouse was invented online, or they knew nothing.

One of my friends, Chronatog had been chronicling chess variants online since the late 90s. For example, he knew how Ralph Betza "reinvented" the game in 1964, calling it Chessgi, and then Alex Randolph patented the same thing under the name Mad Mate. Even fewer knew the facts about the origins of Bughouse Chess.

I created this guide to my research for easy navigation through the chapters.

1. The Origins of Crazyhouse
Proto Crazy
Decoder zh (co-authored with visualdennis)
Through the Time

2. Crazyhouse in the 20th Century
First History of the House
Second History of the House

3. Chapters on Bughouse Chess
Quest for Memories
Correspondence Fragments
Bug Division
Coffee and skittles in a glitch house
Masters Guild
Bughouse Openings: Incomplete History

4. Classification of the Crazyhouse Family
New Crazy Worlds
Crazyhouse Genealogy