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Crazyhouse – how to drop captured pieces

A captured knight can come back and deliver a fork.

Board diagram · Crazyhouse
White has a knight in reserve. Black’s king is on h8 and queen on d8.

How does this variant work?

Two players share one board. A captured piece takes your colour and enters your reserve. On your turn, you can drop a reserve piece on an empty square instead of moving. Captured promoted pieces return as pawns. Pawns cannot be dropped on ranks one or eight.

What should you look for in your first game?

Checkmate remains the goal. A dropped piece may immediately give check or block an attack on your king. Check the opponent’s reserve if you think you have a mating net.

Try it yourself

What does a white knight attack if dropped on f7?

Show the answer

It checks the king on h8 and attacks the queen on d8. That is a knight fork.

An easy rule to overlook

Dropping a piece takes your whole turn. You cannot move a knight and then drop a pawn from reserve. Compare an ordinary move with a drop before you choose.

Keep practising

Read the full rules · Read the related chess guide · See all variants