We made a prototype for a chess variant where you have to push pieces off the board to take them (the king can still capture).
What I like about it is that it seems more intense than normal chess, as the game doesn't get simplified much as it goes on, because most of the pieces stay on the board since they are hard to get rid of. And you can make some cunning moves with a well-placed push. I had lots of games where I was in desperate situations and was able to reverse the course, and vice versa, which I believe makes it quite entertaining until the end, and there is not such a big focus on taking a simple pawn for example.
What do you think of it?
I played it a lot but I still don't know if there is some strategy or opening that would make the game unplayable for the opponent. If that were the case, the rules would need to be tweaked I guess.