2 | Most pieces look the same but behave very differently.
3 | They generally move like an orthodox queen,
4 | but capturing rules are complex.
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.
15 p Pieces names refer to the way they capture, which is described later.
17 li Pawn : pawn or pincer
19 li Knight : long leaper
22 li King : king (same behavior as in standard chess)
24 Besides, a new piece is introduced: the immobilizer, written by the letter 'm'
25 in FEN diagrams and PGN games. It is represented by an upside-down rook:
27 figure.diagram-container
29 | fen:8/8/4m3/8/8/8/3M4/8:
30 figcaption Immobilizers on d2 and e6.
32 h3 Non-capturing moves
35 Pawns move as orthodox rooks, and the king moves as usual,
36 one square in any direction.
37 All other pieces move like an orthodox queen.
40 When a piece is adjacent to an enemy immobilizer, it cannot move unless
41 the enemy immobilizer is adjacent to a friendly immobilizer or chameleon
42 (cancelling the powers of the opponent's immobilizer).
44 | Note : this corresponds to the "pure rules" described on
45 a(href="http://www.inference.org.uk/mackay/ultima/ultima.html") this page
46 | , which slightly differ from the initial rules.
47 | The aim is to get rid of the weird suicide rule by weakening the immobilizers lock.
48 | In particular, in the original rules two adjacent immobilizer are stuck forever
49 | until one is captured. Note that it's still the case if all chameleons disappeared.
54 Easy case first: the king captures as usual, by moving onto an adjacent square
55 occupied by an enemy piece. But this is the only piece following orthodox rules,
56 and also the only one which captures by moving onto an occupied square.
57 All other pieces capture passively: they land on a free square and captured
58 units are determined by some characteristics of the movement.
60 p Note 1: the immobilizer does not capture.
63 Note 2: for passive captures, a 'X' is added at the end of the move notation,
64 to indicate that something was taken (replaying the game is necessary to know where).
69 If at the end of its movement a pawn is horizontally or vertically adjacent to an
70 enemy piece, which itself is next to a friendly piece (in the same direction),
71 the "pinced" unit is removed from the board.
73 figure.diagram-container
75 | fen:7k/5ppp/2N5/2n5/3rB3/8/PPP5/K7:
76 figcaption 1.Pc2c4 captures both coordinator and long leaper.
78 h4 Coordinators (rooks)
81 Imagine that rook and king of the same color are two corners of a rectangle
82 (this works if these two pieces are unaligned).
83 If at the end of a rook move an enemy piece stands in any of the two remaining
84 corners, it is captured.
86 figure.diagram-container
88 | fen:8/2b4K/2q5/3p1N1p/8/8/2R5/k7:
89 figcaption 1.Rc5 captures on c7 and h5.
91 h4 Long leapers (knights)
94 A knight captures exactly as a queen in international draughts game: by jumping
95 over its enemies, as many times as it can/want but always in the same direction.
96 In this respect it is less powerful than a draughts' queen:
97 on the following diagram c8 or f6 cannot be captured.
98 However, the knight does not have to maximize the number of captured units
99 (as is the case in draughts).
101 figure.diagram-container
103 | fen:2n4k/3r4/5b2/3p4/1m6/3b4/3N4/K7 d4,d6,d8,a5:
104 figcaption All marked squares captures are playable from d2.
106 h4 Withdrawer (queen)
109 The queen captures by moving away from an adjacent enemy piece, in the opposite
110 direction (without jumping, the path must be free).
112 figure.diagram-container
114 | fen:7k/8/8/3Qr3/8/8/8/K7 a5,b5,c5:
115 figcaption 1.Qa5, 1.Qb5 or 1.Qc5 captures the black rook.
117 h4 Chameleon (bishop)
119 p The chameleon captures pieces in the way they would capture. So, it
121 li pinces pawns (if moving like a pawn),
122 li withdraws from withdrawers,
123 li leaps over long leapers,
124 li coordinates coordinators.
125 p ...and these captures can be combined.
128 Remark: the move indicated on the diagram doesn't capture the black pincer
129 on e5, since it is a diagonal move (not like a pawn).
131 figure.diagram-container
133 | fen:7k/8/8/r3pP2/2n5/8/B7/K7 a5,c4:
134 figcaption 1.Bd5 captures the two marked pieces.
137 Besides, chameleon immobilizes immobilizers (but cannot capture them since they
141 A chameleon captures the king in the same way the king captures, which means that
142 a chameleon adjacent to a king gives check.
147 Checkmate or stalemate as in standard chess. Note however that checks are more
148 difficult to see, because of the exotic capturing rules. For example, on the
149 following diagram the white king cannot move to e5 because then
150 the black pawn could capture by moving next to it.
152 figure.diagram-container
154 | fen:7k/8/8/p4r/4K3/8/8/8 e5:
155 figcaption 1.Ke5 is impossible
160 | A good starting point is the
161 a(href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_chess") Wikipedia page
162 | , which also gives pointers to other interesting pages (including
163 | chessvariants.com, as usual).