Spychess: A Total Capture Chess Variant with a Hidden Spy Piece for Counter-Intelligence and Situational-Awareness Training

Spychess is a chess variant designed by Rauf Muradov (pen name Rauf Qaraişıq). It is standard chess played under the Total Capture rule (any piece, including one's own, may be voluntarily captured; DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23122834), with one additional layer: before the game, the program secretly designates one or more pieces (never the king) as a spy. The spy plays normally for its owner until a preset number of the owner's moves has been played (the "fuse"); from then on the program makes it move in favour of the opponent. The game ends as in standard chess (checkmate or draw); there is no extra scoring system. The document describes three modes: (1) symmetric play with one spy per side and an identical fuse for both; (2a) counter-intelligence mode, in which the player must identify and eliminate a spy among their own pieces; and (2b) ally recognition mode, in which the player must recognise a covert ally among the opponent's pieces and protect it indirectly through positioning, where protection itself may expose it. Fuse levels are named Alpha (10 moves), Bravo (15) and Charlie (20), giving nine configurations in total. The concept is intended as a training game for threat detection, deception and asset protection. The underlying Total Capture rule was first recorded in writing by the author on 19 September 2013, in two letters sent to himself by Royal Mail (postmarked 19 and 20 September 2013); both envelopes have been kept sealed.