| 1 | p.boxed |
| 2 | | Most pieces look the same but behave very differently. |
| 3 | | They generally move like an orthodox queen, |
| 4 | | but capturing rules are complex. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | p |
| 7 | | Note: 'Baroque' is the initial name thought by the author, |
| 8 | | but 'Ultima' is also largely adopted. |
| 9 | a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/people.dir/abbott.html") |
| 10 | | He prefers 'Baroque' |
| 11 | | , and I think me too. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | h3 Specifications |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ul |
| 16 | li Chessboard: standard. |
| 17 | li Material: "standard". |
| 18 | li Non-capturing moves: often like queen. |
| 19 | li Special moves: none. |
| 20 | li Captures: very special. |
| 21 | li End of game: standard; see below. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | h4 Pieces names |
| 24 | |
| 25 | p Pieces names refer to the way they capture, which is described later. |
| 26 | ul |
| 27 | li Pawn : pawn or pincer |
| 28 | li Rook : coordinator |
| 29 | li Knight : long leaper |
| 30 | li Bishop : chameleon |
| 31 | li Queen : withdrawer |
| 32 | li King : king (same behavior as in standard chess) |
| 33 | p. |
| 34 | Besides, a new piece is introduced: the immobilizer, written by the letter 'm' |
| 35 | in FEN diagrams and PGN games. It is represented by an upside-down rook: |
| 36 | |
| 37 | figure.diagram-container |
| 38 | .diagram |
| 39 | | fen:8/8/4m3/8/8/8/3M4/8: |
| 40 | figcaption Immobilizers on d2 and e6. |
| 41 | |
| 42 | h3 Non-capturing moves |
| 43 | |
| 44 | p. |
| 45 | Pawns move as orthodox rooks, and the king moves as usual, |
| 46 | one square in any direction. |
| 47 | All other pieces move like an orthodox queen. |
| 48 | |
| 49 | p. |
| 50 | When a piece is adjacent to an enemy immobilizer, it cannot move unless |
| 51 | the enemy immobilizer is adjacent to a friendly immobilizer or chameleon |
| 52 | (cancelling the powers of the opponent's immobilizer). |
| 53 | p |
| 54 | | Note : this corresponds to the "pure rules" described on |
| 55 | a(href="http://www.inference.org.uk/mackay/ultima/ultima.html") this page |
| 56 | | , which slightly differ from the initial rules. |
| 57 | | The aim is to get rid of the weird suicide rule by weakening the immobilizers lock. |
| 58 | | In particular, in the original rules two adjacent immobilizer are stuck forever |
| 59 | | until one is captured. Note that it's still the case if all chameleons disappeared. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | h3 Capturing moves |
| 62 | |
| 63 | p. |
| 64 | Easy case first: the king captures as usual, by moving onto an adjacent square |
| 65 | occupied by an enemy piece. But this is the only piece following orthodox rules, |
| 66 | and also the only one which captures by moving onto an occupied square. |
| 67 | All other pieces capture passively: they land on a free square and captured |
| 68 | units are determined by some characteristics of the movement. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | p Note 1: the immobilizer does not capture. |
| 71 | |
| 72 | p. |
| 73 | Note 2: for passive captures, a 'X' is added at the end of the move notation, |
| 74 | to indicate that something was taken (replaying the game is necessary to know where). |
| 75 | |
| 76 | h4 Pawns/Pincers |
| 77 | |
| 78 | p. |
| 79 | If at the end of its movement a pawn is horizontally or vertically adjacent to an |
| 80 | enemy piece, which itself is next to a friendly piece (in the same direction), |
| 81 | the "pinced" unit is removed from the board. |
| 82 | |
| 83 | figure.diagram-container |
| 84 | .diagram |
| 85 | | fen:7k/5ppp/2N5/2n5/3rB3/8/PPP5/K7: |
| 86 | figcaption 1.Pc2c4 captures both coordinator and long leaper. |
| 87 | |
| 88 | h4 Coordinators (rooks) |
| 89 | |
| 90 | p. |
| 91 | Imagine that rook and king of the same color are two corners of a rectangle |
| 92 | (this works if these two pieces are unaligned). |
| 93 | If at the end of a rook move an enemy piece stands in any of the two remaining |
| 94 | corners, it is captured. |
| 95 | |
| 96 | figure.diagram-container |
| 97 | .diagram |
| 98 | | fen:8/2b4K/2q5/3p1N1p/8/8/2R5/k7: |
| 99 | figcaption 1.Rc5 captures on c7 and h5. |
| 100 | |
| 101 | h4 Long leapers (knights) |
| 102 | |
| 103 | p. |
| 104 | A knight captures exactly as a queen in international draughts game: by jumping |
| 105 | over its enemies, as many times as it can/want but always in the same direction. |
| 106 | In this respect it is less powerful than a draughts' queen: |
| 107 | on the following diagram c8 or f6 cannot be captured. |
| 108 | However, the knight does not have to maximize the number of captured units |
| 109 | (as is the case in draughts). |
| 110 | |
| 111 | figure.diagram-container |
| 112 | .diagram |
| 113 | | fen:2n4k/3r4/5b2/3p4/1m6/3b4/3N4/K7 d4,d6,d8,a5: |
| 114 | figcaption All marked squares captures are playable from d2. |
| 115 | |
| 116 | h4 Withdrawer (queen) |
| 117 | |
| 118 | p. |
| 119 | The queen captures by moving away from an adjacent enemy piece, in the opposite |
| 120 | direction (without jumping, the path must be free). |
| 121 | |
| 122 | figure.diagram-container |
| 123 | .diagram |
| 124 | | fen:7k/8/8/3Qr3/8/8/8/K7 a5,b5,c5: |
| 125 | figcaption 1.Qa5, 1.Qb5 or 1.Qc5 captures the black rook. |
| 126 | |
| 127 | h4 Chameleon (bishop) |
| 128 | |
| 129 | p The chameleon captures pieces in the way they would capture. So, it |
| 130 | ul |
| 131 | li pinces pawns (if moving like a pawn), |
| 132 | li withdraws from withdrawers, |
| 133 | li leaps over long leapers, |
| 134 | li coordinates coordinators. |
| 135 | p ...and these captures can be combined. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | p. |
| 138 | Remark: the move indicated on the diagram doesn't capture the black pincer |
| 139 | on e5, since it is a diagonal move (not like a pawn). |
| 140 | |
| 141 | figure.diagram-container |
| 142 | .diagram |
| 143 | | fen:7k/8/8/r3pP2/2n5/8/B7/K7 a5,c4: |
| 144 | figcaption 1.Bd5 captures the two marked pieces. |
| 145 | |
| 146 | p. |
| 147 | Besides, chameleon immobilizes immobilizers (but cannot capture them since they |
| 148 | do not capture). |
| 149 | |
| 150 | p. |
| 151 | A chameleon captures the king in the same way the king captures, which means that |
| 152 | a chameleon adjacent to a king gives check. |
| 153 | |
| 154 | h3 End of the game |
| 155 | |
| 156 | p. |
| 157 | Checkmate or stalemate as in standard chess. Note however that checks are more |
| 158 | difficult to see, because of the exotic capturing rules. For example, on the |
| 159 | following diagram the white king cannot move to e5 because then |
| 160 | the black pawn could capture by moving next to it. |
| 161 | |
| 162 | figure.diagram-container |
| 163 | .diagram |
| 164 | | fen:7k/8/8/p4r/4K3/8/8/8 e5: |
| 165 | figcaption 1.Ke5 is impossible |
| 166 | |
| 167 | h3 More information |
| 168 | |
| 169 | p |
| 170 | | A good starting point is the |
| 171 | a(href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_chess") Wikipedia page |
| 172 | | , which also gives pointers to other interesting pages (including |
| 173 | | chessvariants.com, as usual). |