Atomic chess

In Atomic chess, a capture removes much more than the captured piece. It creates an explosion centered on the capture square. The captured piece, the capturing piece, and pieces on the eight immediately adjacent squares are removed, with one important exception for pawns.

Pawns that merely stand next to the explosion survive. However, a pawn that is the captured piece is still removed, and a pawn that makes the capture is also removed because the capturing piece is always part of the explosion. This distinction prevents the misleading idea that every pawn is immune.

A king cannot make captures because the capturing piece explodes, and a king cannot destroy itself with its own move. A game can still end by traditional checkmate, but it also ends immediately if an explosion removes the opposing king. Capturing a seemingly minor piece next to the king can therefore be a direct winning threat.

Another counterintuitive consequence of the rules used by Lichess and Chess.com is that the two kings may become adjacent. Neither can capture the other because that capture would also destroy the capturing king. King safety therefore has to be understood through explosion radius as well as ordinary attacks.