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2 | | Most pieces look the same but behave very differently. |
3 | | They generally move like an orthodox queen, | |
4 | | but capturing rules are complex. | |
32cfcea4 | 5 | |
26c1e3bd | 6 | p |
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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. | |
32cfcea4 | 12 | |
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13 | h4 Pieces names |
14 | ||
15 | p Pieces names refer to the way they capture, which is described later. | |
16 | ul | |
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17 | li Pawn : pawn or pincer |
18 | li Rook : coordinator | |
19 | li Knight : long leaper | |
20 | li Bishop : chameleon | |
21 | li Queen : withdrawer | |
22 | li King : king (same behavior as in standard chess) | |
15c1295a | 23 | p. |
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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: | |
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26 | |
27 | figure.diagram-container | |
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28 | .diagram |
29 | | fen:8/8/4m3/8/8/8/3M4/8: | |
30 | figcaption Immobilizers on d2 and e6. | |
15c1295a | 31 | |
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32 | h3 Non-capturing moves |
33 | ||
b41d5704 | 34 | p. |
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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. | |
15c1295a | 38 | |
2316f8b8 | 39 | p. |
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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). | |
15c1295a | 43 | p |
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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. | |
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50 | |
51 | h3 Capturing moves | |
52 | ||
b41d5704 | 53 | p. |
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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. | |
15c1295a | 59 | |
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60 | p Note 1: the immobilizer does not capture. |
61 | ||
62 | p. | |
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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). | |
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65 | |
66 | h4 Pawns/Pincers | |
67 | ||
68 | p. | |
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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. | |
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72 | |
73 | figure.diagram-container | |
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74 | .diagram |
75 | | fen:7k/5ppp/2N5/2n5/3rB3/8/PPP5/K7: | |
76 | figcaption 1.Pc2c4 captures both coordinator and long leaper. | |
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77 | |
78 | h4 Coordinators (rooks) | |
79 | ||
80 | p. | |
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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. | |
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85 | |
86 | figure.diagram-container | |
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87 | .diagram |
88 | | fen:8/2b4K/2q5/3p1N1p/8/8/2R5/k7: | |
89 | figcaption 1.Rc5 captures on c7 and h5. | |
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90 | |
91 | h4 Long leapers (knights) | |
92 | ||
93 | p. | |
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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). | |
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100 | |
101 | figure.diagram-container | |
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102 | .diagram |
103 | | fen:2n4k/3r4/5b2/3p4/1m6/3b4/3N4/K7 d4,d6,d8,a5: | |
104 | figcaption All marked squares captures are playable from d2. | |
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105 | |
106 | h4 Withdrawer (queen) | |
107 | ||
108 | p. | |
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109 | The queen captures by moving away from an adjacent enemy piece, in the opposite |
110 | direction (without jumping, the path must be free). | |
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111 | |
112 | figure.diagram-container | |
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113 | .diagram |
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. | |
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116 | |
117 | h4 Chameleon (bishop) | |
118 | ||
119 | p The chameleon captures pieces in the way they would capture. So, it | |
120 | ul | |
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121 | li pinces pawns (if moving like a pawn), |
122 | li withdraws from withdrawers, | |
123 | li leaps over long leapers, | |
124 | li coordinates coordinators. | |
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125 | p ...and these captures can be combined. |
126 | ||
05084186 | 127 | p. |
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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). | |
05084186 | 130 | |
15c1295a | 131 | figure.diagram-container |
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132 | .diagram |
133 | | fen:7k/8/8/r3pP2/2n5/8/B7/K7 a5,c4: | |
134 | figcaption 1.Bd5 captures the two marked pieces. | |
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135 | |
136 | p. | |
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137 | Besides, chameleon immobilizes immobilizers (but cannot capture them since they |
138 | do not capture). | |
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139 | |
140 | p. | |
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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. | |
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143 | |
144 | h3 End of the game | |
145 | ||
15c1295a | 146 | p. |
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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. | |
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151 | |
152 | figure.diagram-container | |
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153 | .diagram |
154 | | fen:7k/8/8/p4r/4K3/8/8/8 e5: | |
155 | figcaption 1.Ke5 is impossible | |
32cfcea4 | 156 | |
e081ffe3 | 157 | h3 More information |
32cfcea4 | 158 | |
c75838d9 | 159 | p |
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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). |