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Metamate^®, the chess piece that copies its neighbours

Metamate^® is a chess variant designed in Geneva. Before the game, each player replaces one of their pieces with the Meta, a piece with no moves of its own that copies the pieces next to it. Strong when surrounded, powerless when isolated, it makes players calculate, improvise and adapt, where opening preparation and memorisation dominate the modern game.

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Key facts

What: A chess variant and training piece: each side replaces one standard piece with a Meta.
Where: Designed in Geneva, made in Switzerland.
Founder: Alban Vogel, designer, Geneva.
Since: Project started in 2023.
The Meta: No moves of its own: it copies the allied pieces on the squares next to it. Isolated, it cannot move. As an M4, it also copies the opponent's pieces.
Levels: Five: M1 (forward–back, M1.1, or left–right, M1.2), M2.1, M2.2, M3 and M4. Each capture raises the Meta one level.
Recognition: Praised by 15 of the world's top 30 players, four world champions among them (April 2025).
Pieces: Paper (free printable kit), Club and Pocket.
Online: Rules, tutorial, puzzles and games against a bot or other players at metamate.ch.

Recognition

Praised by the world's best players

of the world's top 30 players

world champions among them

In April 2025, at the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris, the circuit co-founded by Magnus Carlsen, Alban Vogel showed the piece in person to the world's best players, among them Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Vidit Gujrathi and Gukesh Dommaraju, then reigning world champion.

In summer 2025, the Biel International Chess Festival hosted Metamate^®.

GM Rinat Jumabayev and Metamate^®Biel International Chess Festival 2025 · Metamate^® YouTube channelWatch on YouTube

Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Metamate^®ChessBase India YouTube channelWatch on YouTube

How it works

The Meta has no moves of its own. It copies.

Before the game, each player replaces one of their pieces, any but the King, with a Meta. The piece replaced sets its starting level: a pawn gives an M1, a knight or a bishop an M2, a rook an M3, the queen an M4.

The Meta copies the pieces on the squares next to it: surrounded by a rook and a bishop, it moves like a rook or like a bishop. Isolated, it cannot move. The copy lasts one move and is worked out again every turn. Each capture raises the Meta one level; at M4 it also copies enemy pieces.

The physical piece is made of two parts: turning the body on its base shows its level, so the evolution is visible on the board. Training with the Meta sharpens a player's vigilance and reading of positions; back to classical chess, the board suddenly seems simpler, more readable.

Learn the rules in the tutorial

The five levels

Level	Copies	Replaces at the start	After a capture
M1.1	2 directions: forward and back, alliesA pawn→ M2.1 or M2.2, player's choice	A pawn	M2.1 or M2.2, player's choice
M1.2	2 directions: left and right, alliesA pawn→ M2.1 or M2.2, player's choice	A pawn	M2.1 or M2.2, player's choice
M2.1	4 orthogonal directions, alliesA knight or a bishop→ M3	A knight or a bishop	M3
M2.2	4 diagonal directions, alliesA knight or a bishop→ M3	A knight or a bishop	M3
M3	8 directions, alliesA rook→ M4	A rook	M4
M4	8 directions, allies and enemiesThe queen→ Final form	The queen	Final form

M1.1 and M1.2 are the M1's two orientations, chosen during formation for a Meta placed on the 2nd or 7th rank; notation tells them apart only to resolve an ambiguity. M1 evolves into M2.1 or M2.2, as the player chooses, then into M3, then into M4, its final form.

What the Meta makes possible

New moves, including a first: the triple check.

Meta-Castle: A Meta copying an unmoved Rook or King can participate in castling, even if the Meta has already moved.
Meta-Bridge: M4 only. If an M4 is adjacent to an enemy Meta, it copies the pieces that the enemy Meta can copy. Chain: M4 → enemy Meta → copyable pieces.
Meta-Mate: A checkmate delivered by a Meta. A Meta and its King can checkmate an opposing King on their own.
Triple check: Three pieces simultaneously threaten the King — a first in chess history, made possible by the Meta.Discovered by Eric Delpin (February 2026).
Promotions: The Meta promotes if it reaches the last rank copying a pawn, or if it arrives there touching an allied pawn. Pawns can also be promoted to Meta (in addition to classic promotions).

Why it matters

Adding to chess rather than replacing it

The modern game is dominated by opening preparation and memorisation. Metamate^® does not replace chess: it adds one piece to the existing game. Strong when surrounded, vulnerable when isolated, the Meta acts as a strategic limiter that makes players calculate, improvise and adapt.

In a filmed interview, Bobby Fischer once floated the idea of finding another piece, a remark he never followed up. Decades later, a Geneva designer took him at his word, while staying close to the essence of the game.

The founder

Alban Vogel

Designer · Geneva

Alban Vogel is a UX designer based in Geneva. He turned to 3D modelling in 2023, out of curiosity, with no specific goal. A question asked one evening set everything off: what if humanity, when it created chess, had left out a piece — which one would it be?

An occasional player, he develops Metamate^® on his own: design, prototyping, manufacturing, legal filings, outreach to clubs and presentations to professional players. No investor, no team: a 3D printer and a conviction.

The pieces

The Meta exists for real, in three versions.

PaperA free printable kit: colour in, cut out and play. A PDF in six languages.

ClubThe competition piece: no magnets, 35 × 35 × 57 mm, fits standard chess sets, eight matte colours.

PocketThe design object: two two-tone Metas (one white, one black), 28 × 28 × 77 mm, held by magnets, with a protective frame that doubles as a stand.

Press kit

Photos and logos

Free to use for press coverage. Each file downloads in its original resolution.

Photos

The name is written Metamate^®.

Press contact

Writing about Metamate^®?

For interviews, images or any question, write to Alban Vogel directly.

contact@metamate.ch

Contact: Alban VogelFounder · Geneva, Switzerland
Email: contact@metamate.ch
Phone: +41 79 194 35 40
Instagram: @metamate.chess
Website: metamate.ch