+++ /dev/null
-p.boxed
- | Most pieces look the same but behave very differently.
- | They generally move like an orthodox queen,
- | but capturing rules are complex.
-
-p
- | Note: 'Baroque' is the initial name thought by the author,
- | but 'Ultima' is also largely adopted.
- a(href="https://www.chessvariants.com/people.dir/abbott.html")
- | He prefers 'Baroque'
- | , and I think me too.
-
-h3 Specifications
-
-ul
- li Chessboard: standard.
- li Material: "standard".
- li Non-capturing moves: often like queen.
- li Special moves: none.
- li Captures: very special.
- li End of game: standard; see below.
-
-h4 Pieces names
-
-p Pieces names refer to the way they capture, which is described later.
-ul
- li Pawn : pawn or pincer
- li Rook : coordinator
- li Knight : long leaper
- li Bishop : chameleon
- li Queen : withdrawer
- li King : king (same behavior as in standard chess)
-p.
- Besides, a new piece is introduced: the immobilizer, written by the letter 'm'
- in FEN diagrams and PGN games. It is represented by an upside-down rook:
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:8/8/4m3/8/8/8/3M4/8:
- figcaption Immobilizers on d2 and e6.
-
-h3 Non-capturing moves
-
-p.
- Pawns move as orthodox rooks, and the king moves as usual,
- one square in any direction.
- All other pieces move like an orthodox queen.
-
-p.
- When a piece is adjacent to an enemy immobilizer, it cannot move unless
- the enemy immobilizer is adjacent to a friendly immobilizer or chameleon
- (cancelling the powers of the opponent's immobilizer).
-p
- | Note : this corresponds to the "pure rules" described on
- a(href="http://www.inference.org.uk/mackay/ultima/ultima.html") this page
- | , which slightly differ from the initial rules.
- | The aim is to get rid of the weird suicide rule by weakening the immobilizers lock.
- | In particular, in the original rules two adjacent immobilizer are stuck forever
- | until one is captured. Note that it's still the case if all chameleons disappeared.
-
-h3 Capturing moves
-
-p.
- Easy case first: the king captures as usual, by moving onto an adjacent square
- occupied by an enemy piece. But this is the only piece following orthodox rules,
- and also the only one which captures by moving onto an occupied square.
- All other pieces capture passively: they land on a free square and captured
- units are determined by some characteristics of the movement.
-
-p Note 1: the immobilizer does not capture.
-
-p.
- Note 2: for passive captures, a 'X' is added at the end of the move notation,
- to indicate that something was taken (replaying the game is necessary to know where).
-
-h4 Pawns/Pincers
-
-p.
- If at the end of its movement a pawn is horizontally or vertically adjacent to an
- enemy piece, which itself is next to a friendly piece (in the same direction),
- the "pinced" unit is removed from the board.
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:7k/5ppp/2N5/2n5/3rB3/8/PPP5/K7:
- figcaption 1.Pc2c4 captures both coordinator and long leaper.
-
-h4 Coordinators (rooks)
-
-p.
- Imagine that rook and king of the same color are two corners of a rectangle
- (this works if these two pieces are unaligned).
- If at the end of a rook move an enemy piece stands in any of the two remaining
- corners, it is captured.
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:8/2b4K/2q5/3p1N1p/8/8/2R5/k7:
- figcaption 1.Rc5 captures on c7 and h5.
-
-h4 Long leapers (knights)
-
-p.
- A knight captures exactly as a queen in international draughts game: by jumping
- over its enemies, as many times as it can/want but always in the same direction.
- In this respect it is less powerful than a draughts' queen:
- on the following diagram c8 or f6 cannot be captured.
- However, the knight does not have to maximize the number of captured units
- (as is the case in draughts).
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:2n4k/3r4/5b2/3p4/1m6/3b4/3N4/K7 d4,d6,d8,a5:
- figcaption All marked squares captures are playable from d2.
-
-h4 Withdrawer (queen)
-
-p.
- The queen captures by moving away from an adjacent enemy piece, in the opposite
- direction (without jumping, the path must be free).
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:7k/8/8/3Qr3/8/8/8/K7 a5,b5,c5:
- figcaption 1.Qa5, 1.Qb5 or 1.Qc5 captures the black rook.
-
-h4 Chameleon (bishop)
-
-p The chameleon captures pieces in the way they would capture. So, it
-ul
- li pinces pawns (if moving like a pawn),
- li withdraws from withdrawers,
- li leaps over long leapers,
- li coordinates coordinators.
-p ...and these captures can be combined.
-
-p.
- Remark: the move indicated on the diagram doesn't capture the black pincer
- on e5, since it is a diagonal move (not like a pawn).
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:7k/8/8/r3pP2/2n5/8/B7/K7 a5,c4:
- figcaption 1.Bd5 captures the two marked pieces.
-
-p.
- Besides, chameleon immobilizes immobilizers (but cannot capture them since they
- do not capture).
-
-p.
- A chameleon captures the king in the same way the king captures, which means that
- a chameleon adjacent to a king gives check.
-
-h3 End of the game
-
-p.
- Checkmate or stalemate as in standard chess. Note however that checks are more
- difficult to see, because of the exotic capturing rules. For example, on the
- following diagram the white king cannot move to e5 because then
- the black pawn could capture by moving next to it.
-
-figure.diagram-container
- .diagram
- | fen:7k/8/8/p4r/4K3/8/8/8 e5:
- figcaption 1.Ke5 is impossible
-
-h3 More information
-
-p.
- | A good starting point is the
- a(href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_chess") Wikipedia page
- | , which also gives pointers to other interesting pages (including
- | chessvariants.com, as usual).
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