(Chess Life, March 2003)
Between rounds at tournaments, or late at night at chess clubs, bughouse games abound. Bughouse is a chess variant played with two boards and four players. During bug, pieces captured on your partner’s board can be placed on your board. If your partner plays Black, you will play White. As your partner captures White pieces, he hands them to you. On each turn, you may move your pieces already on your board, or place a piece given to you by your partner. You may not place a pawn handed to you by your partner on your first or eighth rank. Because of the symbiotic relationship between bug partners, bughouse is sometimes called Siamese chess.
The following bug tips are intended to give you a flavor of the game and touch on the life lessons that bug imparts.. As in chess, you learn to handle winning and losing from bug. Your concentration may improve, since the pressure of finding moves in a limited period of time focuses your attention. In bug, as in other partner games like bridge, you enhance your interpersonal skills by connecting with your partner. The partner aspect of bug is one of its greatest pleasures. The two tips given here focus on that essential partner relationship. Three more tips (covering openings, mates, and the joy of bug) will be featured in part two of this article (May 2003).
To play bug, you should know basic chess. Mastering chess rules (including recognizing checks and checkmates) and being familiar with algebraic chess notation are essential building blocks for good bug. (If you need to refresh your knowledge of chess rules or notation, visit the United States Chess Federation website, www.uschess.org and read through the materials for beginning chess players). With bug, as with any game, do more than read about it. To excel at bug, play it often.
Bug tip #1: Pick an awesome partner..
It is said that ninety percent of one’s happiness in life comes from one’s choice of spouse. Similarly, picking the right bug partner is critical. My ideal partner is generous, attentive, and a good sport. In the bug context, generosity includes letting me pick my color or opponent, sharing bug knowledge, and putting up with my quirks. Attentiveness is shown by asking me how I’m doing, looking at my board, and giving me compliments. Being a good sport means not getting upset at the mistakes I make that cost us games. In bug, a loss on time or by checkmate for one partner means that the whole team loses.
Different partner characteristics may be important to different people. Take your individual personality into account. If you like to tease or joke around, find a partner who is open to that kind of interaction. Or if you prefer little talk and more action, find a silent type who forgoes commentary for moves. Having a partner who uses physical gestures, like shaking hands or giving hugs after victories, might be desirable.
An awesome partner, however defined, must communicate with you. Although it’s possible to play bug without talking, generally partners make requests or issue commands to each other. Not all partner requests are dictated by the bug position on the board. In bug, as in life, it’s common to desire what one doesn’t truly need. In the position below, it is Black to move and win. As Black, you might ask your partner to hand you a Black rook for a mate in one (m1). Upon closer examination, you could have used pieces already on your board to mate.
A rook handed over would have allowed m1 (R@a1 mate; that is, a Rook dropped at a1 is mate). Yet asking for that rook strains your partner, as it is not easy to capture a rook on command in chess or in bug. Your playing mate in two (m2) on the board (…Ra1+ followed by …Qa2 mate) is thus preferred. Over time, you will get better at differentiating your wants from your needs. An awesome partner will patiently encourage your bug growth.
Bug tip #2 Let one partner lead.
Bug is more congenial if one partner takes the role of leader. If your partner is more experienced, let him guide you. Trusting his judgment can be relaxing, especially if you are bugging to escape individual pressures from chess tournaments or in your real life. If your partner worries about both of your positions, and you just worry about surviving on your game board, that’s a lot less bug to figure out. On the other hand, if you are a better bug player than your partner, you will likely find it enjoyable to lead him. With your pointing out threats or handing him pieces so that he survives, he can have a great bug experience. Whatever your partner situation, you should know the following two critical bug terms.
1. Wait
Most bug games are played at the time control of five minutes per player. Just as in tournament chess or blitz chess, getting low on time narrows your options. But if you and your partner play fast early, your team will build up a time lead so that you may tell your partner to wait, When waiting, he stops moving and let his time run until you tell him, “Go!” The most common reason for a wait request is because a piece captured on his board will allow your opponent to place that piece with checkmate. The team that is waiting is said to be “sitting.”
2. “At” versus “on”
Have you ever noticed that sometimes fresh eyes can see things better? In chess and in bug, you may be stymied as to the best move. But a kibitzer (in chess) or your partner (in bug) may look over at your board and immediately see the ideal plan. If your partner sees a move for you, he is allowed to tell you that move. However, he cannot physically reach over and make the move on your board. So your partner will communicate with algebraic notation. Shorthand terms communicate whether you should use a piece already on your board (“on”) versus dropping in a piece from your hand (“at” or “@”). The term “your hand” refers to all the pieces your partner has captured on his board and given to you, but that you have not dropped on your board.
In the following position, you (White) have a N in your hand and a N on the board that could both go to f5.
White should play 1. N@f5 as opposed to 1. Nf5, which is just a trade after 1…Bxf5 2. Rxf5. After 1. N@f5 Bf5 2. Nf5, White maintains a strong attack. The White N on f5 supports a later White piece drop on g7 or h6. Thus your partner advises you, “N at f5.” That means drop the N in your hand at the square f5.
About the authors: Alexey Root was the 1989 U.S. Women’s Chess Champion and enjoys playing real-life bug. Eric Wiggins is one of the top ten bug players on the Internet and in real life. Eric plays on FICS and ICC as GhostShell; his handle on USChessLive is sylph.