Multi-chess (Multiple Chess, Chess57) is like standard chess except that the players can, before play begins, swap places of the king + queen with each other, or the bishops. The method generates 57 different positions, all non-mirrored (except the standard position). The players in turn swap, firstly, the king, secondly, the queen. Thus, when the king is swapped (relocated), the other piece (the relocatee) ends up on the king's square. When the queen is swapped, the relocatee ends up on the queen's square. Knights and rooks cannot be swapped. The bishops mustn't end up on the same square colour, and the king cannot become a relocatee (i.e. swapped by the queen).

Black begins by swapping his king. Alternatively he can forgo this possibility (by pressing the king). While the turn is still with Black, he now has the option to relocate his queen. White may not relocate his queen so that a mirrored position occurs. When White has made his king + queen swap (or dispensed with this possibility) he immediately starts the game by making the first move. Note that it is possible for the king to swap with the kingside bishop, but this necessitates that the queen be swapped with one of the bishops so that the bishops end up on different colours.

Note that the king retains his castling rights even if it has been relocated. The castling rules are simple and derive from Chess960. King and rook end up on their usual squares. The only difference is that the king can make longer leaps than usual (or shorter, or none at all). All squares between king and rook must be empty and unthreatened.
Note! If the king starts the game on a castling destination square (c or g), castling on that side is done by moving the rook instead of the king.

With these relocation rules the rooks remain in their natural positions, and the bishops are always positioned so that there is still a choice to develop them on either of the queenside or the kingside. The knights are ready to immediately attack in the centre. This maintains the strategical ambiguity of the initial position. All positions are non-mirrored. This ensures that there exists a strategical tension, which makes games interesting. Black relocates first. White should command the game, and in this way he can take command of the strategical situation. The most conservative relocation, it seems, is to change place between king and queen, which is a convenient way of avoiding theory. Remember that the resultant castling positions are always the same as in standard chess.