Heaven & Hell Chess is a chess variant played on two stacked 8x8 boards, the top board representing Heaven and the bottom board Hell. Play within each board follows the rules of normal chess except that a piece captured in Heaven is transferred to the corresponding square in Hell (the "damnation" rule). Any piece of either color on the bottom square is removed from play. Win by checkmating the King in either Heaven or Hell. Repetition is a loss.
 
Play in Heaven is fundamentally altered by the damnation rule. Sacrificing pieces is often advantageous because it increases the strength of your forces in Hell. The interplay between the two boards requires delicate balancing. The moves that improve your position on one board can weaken your position on the other. Players commonly will be winning on one board and losing on the other. The game then becomes a race to see which player can accomplish checkmate on the respective boards faster.
 
The game gives rise to interesting tactical situations. A piece in Heaven is impervious to capture if it would check the enemy King from the same position in Hell. A King that is directly above an opponent King can never be in check. A King in Hell cannot move to a space beneath an attacked friendly piece. Sacrifices that would be unthinkable in regular chess (e.g., a Queen for a Pawn early in the game) are common.
 
In variant II, the players begin with a full complement of pieces on both boards. Variant III also features a full complement of pieces on both boards, with Hell reverse oriented. Pawns transferred to Hell in variant III reverse directions.
 
Variants IV through VI follow "reincarnation" rules. In the reincarnation variants, pieces captured in Hell are transferred back to Heaven. Both boards are equivalent and pieces cycle back and forth between them. The opening arrays correspond to the opening arrays of the first three variants.
 
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